//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: A New World, a New Ranger // by ed2481 //------------------------------// “AXLE WHAT THE HELL!?” Abby roared at the Haxorus who was still standing proudly over his defeated, and bleeding, opponent. “Huh?” Axle blinked twice and looked down at Abby in confusion. “What?” “He’s BLEEDING BADLY and you nearly brought the WHOLE BUILDING DOWN ON US!” Abby shouted at him, her tails flaring around her. “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!?” “... reveling in the joy of combat?” Axle answered uncertainly before he glanced down at the still bleeding Tyrantrum. “It is not my fault that he took so long to go down.” Abby closed her eyes for a moment before she shouted. “THEN SHOW SOME RESTRAINT YOU DUNCE! THAT’S WHAT I TRAINED YOU TO DO!” Axle actually winced at that. “I-” “No! You are going to let me finish while you step off of this poor Tyrantrum’s shoulder while some of the Guard doctors try and stop the bleeding before he bleeds to death!” Abby continued, shutting down the Haxorus and impressing a great number of the guard who had been watching nearby. Cowed, Axle stepped off of the Tyrantrum, several of the Guard rushing up and beginning to apply large bandages to it. Thankfully, Axle’s cuts were straight so they were easy enough to patch and he had managed to avoid hitting any large bones or veins. Axle lowered his head, almost like a dog, and looked down at Abby, his claws fiddling nervously, Abby did not get incredibly angry often, but when she did... “What the hell were you thinking?” Abby repeated as she stared into his eyes with her red orbs. “Worse than just hurting him and destroying the building, you did all of that in a crowded urban area, there are onlookers outside who could have gotten seriously injured,” she continued, her tone becoming less angry and more rational as she fell into ‘ranger mode’. “Furthermore, there is not a single Pokemon Center in Equestria. What if you’d given him a crippling injury of some sort?” Axle had no answer for any of that. “But Abby... he attacked me. If I hadn’t stopped him then he would have-” “I don’t care if he attacked you,” Abby stated flatly. “I care about the way you defended yourself. You’re trained for this sort of thing Axle. First, use your tail to make them trip, then get them immobilized either in the center of the back or by the neck. None of that requires you to grab another Pokemon by the tail and swing him through the side of a building!” “I just wanted to have a good fight!” Axle shouted, at his wits end thanks to Abby robbing him of his moment of silence. “Is that so much to ask for?!” “If it nearly comes at the cost of lives, then yes!” Abby replied heatedly. “Yes, because you have never taken a life in the line of duty!” Axle snarled. “And yet when I almost do it is seen as some sort of great crime!” Abby bristled angrily. “That was different! Those people were monsters! Not someone clearly forced into something or desperately looking for someone which he obviously is!” Axle snorted and was about to respond when he let out a heated breath and huffed and turned aside. “...fine... put me in a Pokeball if you don’t like the way I’m acting. You’re obviously superior to me.” The Ninetales blinked twice and let out a sigh as she padded closer to Axle and gave his head a small nuzzle which he ignored. “I’m not saying that I’m superior to you Axle... I’m trying to help you understand your mistake.” Axle huffed again and then let out a sigh as he looked down at Abby, his eyes looking down at her red ones. “I know...” he said wearily as he began to slouch. “I just... my brain is still running in battle mode I just...” “I know,” Abby said, giving him another nuzzle. “I wish I had hands still, if I did, I’d give you a nice tension relieving rub-down. I know how much you like those.” “That I do...” Axle agreed as his mind drifted back to Abby’s hands running over his body, a cold cloth in them as they stroked down the length of his scaly body, cleaning away the gunk and grime that accumulates between the big plates of armor. “Perhaps we can find some way to do it here?” he asked hopefully. “I’ll look into it,” Abby said before she glanced over at the Tyrantrum who was seemingly recovered, or at least enough that he was no longer bleeding the way that he had been before. He was currently cocking his head at her, though his body was still lowered into an obvious pose of submission. “What’s your name?” she asked it, stepping away from Axle who just kind of stood there awkwardly as the Guard who were in the middle of rounding up the EPB members gave him a wide birth. “Ty,” the dinosaur answered uncertainly. “I... I’m sorry that I attacked you... it’s just that they’d been keeping me in that cage over there and... they kept on poking me and...” he trailed off shaking his head. “Do you think you can help me find Alex?” he asked, his head still bowed in submission though his eyes looked pleadingly at her. “Of course, my name is Abby Trombley and I’m a Pokemon Ranger,” the Ninetales said with a smile. “Are you okay? I know that Axle really did a number on you.” “I’m fine...” Ty answered before glancing at Axle. “Sorry...” “We had a fine fight so there is nothing to apologize for,” Axle said, stepping forwards. “And for my part, I am sorry to have hurt you.” “I’ve had worse... but thank you,” Ty said with a small shake of his head as he glanced down at the shoulder wound which had finally stopped bleeding. “I was thrashed half to death by a Tyranitar once, I’m nowhere near as injured at the moment.” “Good,” Abby said before glancing up at Ty’s head. “So, who is that we’re looking for?” “Alex... he’s kind of my father,” Ty answered a little awkwardly. “He found me when I was still in the egg and raised me as a son because he was never able to find a wife.” “Ah, I see,” Abby stated, nodding. “That’s kind of common so there’s nothing to be awkward about.” “Oh, thanks, I’ve never really had to explain that to anyone before,” Ty stated before he blinked. “Wait... if you’re a Pokemon Ranger, then why are you a Ninetales?” “Arceus turned a lot of humans into Pokemon when he brought us here,” Axle explained. “I don’t really get why... but I’m not Arceus.” “Oh... so Alex is a Pokemon of some sort now?” Ty inquired, cocking his massive head to the side. “Yeah, he should be,” Abby agreed with a small smile. “Now... wait here for a moment or two and then we can start looking for your dad.” Ty nodded and Abby turned her back on him, heading for Ace. The black maned unicorn was surveying the wreckage with a frown on her face as officers swarmed the warehouse. “Hey Ace, I’m heading out,” Abby said, doing her best to sound positive. “You okay here without me?” “Yeah, you’re fine,” Ace said, a contemplative frown on her face. “Also... I think we’re going to need some Pokemon on our side other then your ‘team’ and the few that some of the others are keeping as pets.” “Oh?” “Yes... if you and Axle hadn’t been here then we’d have lost some ponies, I know it,” Ace said, her voice quiet. She glanced over Abby. “So, thanks and any advice that you have would be appreciated.” “Of course, I’ll give it to you once we track down Ty over there’s father,” the Ninetales said with a swift nod. “We’ll try not to take too long.” “Right, keep him under control,” Ace stated, nodding her head before she walked off into the crowd of officers. Abby let out a small sigh, that had gone better than she’d been expecting it to. Then she turned back to Ty who had gotten to his claws and returned to his extremely impressive nine foot height. “You ready to go look for your dad?” Abby called up to him. “Yes, yes I am!” the Tyrantrum exclaimed with a grin. “Though I have to wonder how...” “Well, you could just walk down the streets and shout his name,” Axle suggested. “You are a nine foot tall dinosaur, you’re kind of hard to miss.” “If he was lost in the mall Axle...” Abby said, closing her eyes as she thought. “Though... at the moment, I can’t think of any other way to find your dad other than using scents and... well we’ve been here for I think five days or so, so I don’t think that will work again. Unfortunately, the odds of finding him by walking down the street are incredibly low.” Ty frowned, looking down at the ground before shaking his head. “I spent five days in that cage, I’m not going to let the odds stop me from finding Alex!” “Right, let’s get going then,” Abby stated with a nod before she frowned. “Also, why don’t you call him ‘dad’?” Ty blinked and then shrugged. “I know he’s my dad, I don’t need to remind myself of that all the time.” Abby blinked. “Okay then, let’s get a move on.” “I had no idea that the city was this big...” Abby grumbled as they walked down the street. After spending three hours lost in the middle of the city’s downtown district, and then getting turned around amongst all the casinos for an hour, night was starting to fall and they’d made little progress except for scaring the ever living Arceus out of a griffin when they’d asked for some meat. “It’s like one of the cities in Unova or Kalos...” Axle agreed with a groan. “I just want to find Alex,” Ty said, shaking his head. “He has to be around here somewhere!” “Hopefully...” Abby agreed, she didn’t mention the fact that her own mother hadn’t shown up yet, though, she had been several regions away from Scarlet when she’d been ‘grabbed’ by Arceus. “Though I think pretty soon we’re going to have give up the search... at least for the day.” Ty hung his head low and let out a despondent sigh before they all heard a voice call out to them. “Ty!?” a male voice shouted out from the crowd. Ty looked up, his eyes widening at just the sound. “Alex?!” he shouted, turning his head this way and that. “Over here son!” the voice exclaimed with a jolly laugh. The Tyrantrum continued to search wildly for the voice before his eyes locked onto a Samurott rushing towards them. “ALEX!” Ty shouted with a roar of excitement before he charged down the street, scattering a few ponies in his haste to reach his father. When he did, he bent his head down and slammed him into the ground, nuzzling him happily with his face. “Dad!” The Samurott chuckled happily as his arms rubbed Ty’s forehead. “Ty... I’m so happy to see you’re okay. I’ve been looking for ever since I got here, I swear I searched every inch of this city.” “I got captured by some of these ponies and they kept me in a cage,” Ty answered with a small snarl. “I was so worried about you...” The smile on Alex’s face dropped instantly to a serious frown. “What?!” he exclaimed in complete shock as he also noticed the rather large, blood stained bandages covering Ty’s shoulder. “What did they do to you!” “They kept me in a cage and beat me,” Ty answered unhappily. “I mean... they didn’t really hurt me... kind of hard to do that... but they made me really, really, really mad.” “Then why are you covered in blood stained bandages?” Alex demanded anxiously. “Well... I was still really angry when they let me out and all I wanted to do was fight so when Axle showed up in front of me...” Ty trailed off and glanced back at the Haxorus who was looking away as he and Abby stood a few feet back. “I kind of lost a fight.” The Samurott glanced over at Abby and Axle, a narrow glare directed at the two of them. “Is there a reason why you cut my son up like this?” he demanded. “Because he caught me by surprise,” Axle answered, still looking away. “And... I may have gotten a bit too caught up in the fight. But he’s fine okay? I already said I was sorry!” Alex continued to glare at the Haxorus for a moment longer before he closed his eyes. “Apology accepted... but your trainer should’ve trained you better self control in battles.” “I did,” Abby said as she stepped forwards. “Things have just been a little... tense for us lately with all these changes.” Alex tilted his head at her. “And that is a good excuse to justify the cuts your Haxorus gave my son?” he demanded further as he stood back on his feet. “I’ve been in mountain climbs that have been ‘tense’ and I still kept a cool head in it.” “Not at all,” Abby answered, shaking her head. “You have my deepest apologies Alex,” she said, bowing her head. “I’m Abby Trombley, Pokemon Ranger and I’m here to do whatever I can to help make this up to you and Ty.” “A Ranger huh?” Alex said with another examining tilt of his head. “Well... as long you make sure your Haxorus will be a bit more in control of his actions, I can consider that a good start.” “Thank you sir,” Abby said, giving him a smile as one of her tails whipped Axle in the leg causing him to wince. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” “Yeah,” Axle agreed, still looking away, tired of being the center of all this negative attention. “Can we change the subject please?” “Sure, Alex, where have you been staying?” Ty asked, nosing his father very gently with his muzzle. “Is it big enough for me?” A smile crossed the Samurott’s face from the nuzzle. “A shelter that’s been housing some other Pokemon like me... and no, I don’t think it will be big enough for you my tall boy,” he said with a chuckle. “But I’m sure we’ll find some place for ya to sleep, wide enough so you can lay fully on your side.” Ty smiled widely and gave his father another nuzzle. “Thanks Alex!” he said happily. “You’re welcome,” Alex replied with a jolly chuckle before he glanced back over at Abby and Axle. “I guess that’s another thing you can help us in if you want.” “Sure, though I don’t know where that would be either,” Abby agreed before shaking her head. “Anyways, Axle and I need to be getting back to the station, come there and ask for me if you need anything okay?” “Will do... and... thanks in all for helping us reunite,” Alex said, nodding his head towards Abby. “Yeah, thanks,” Ty agreed with an emphatic nod. “And thanks for rescuing me.” “Welcome on all three counts,” Abby replied with a foxy grin. “Come on Axle, let’s get ‘home’.” The pair walked off, leaving the father and son to catch up. Abby let out a tired sigh as she jumped into the bed beside Kasai. “You have no idea how long of a day I’ve had,” she grunted as she leaned her neck against his side. Kasai didn’t say anything, instead he simply licked her face. She smiled and leaned into his soft fur before there was a soft knock on the door. Abby... I’m afraid I’m about to make your day longer, Luke’s mental voice spoke in her head. There are three prisoners who are waiting to talk to you. Abby let out a groan and looked at Kasai. “You better be awake enough to snuggle after this...” “I’ll do my best,” the Arcanine replied with a sigh, licking her one more time. “Though for you, it shouldn’t be that hard to stay up. It would be like a stake out... just without the stake,” he said with a small chuckle. Abby’s lips turned up into a smile and she licked him across the muzzle before she rose from the bed and walked out the door to find Luke standing there, three unconscious ponies floating in the air around him. “Oh... this is going to be fun,” Abby said with a sigh. “Okay... let’s get this started...”