//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: A New World, a New Ranger // by ed2481 //------------------------------// “I fucking hate this... just because I don’t have thumbs I don’t have to be the only one hauling all the beams back and forth,” a grumpy Anna muttered under her breath as another of the large metal beams stabbed into her back, again. “It’s not my fault I don't have thumbs!” “At least you’re not laying the bricks... I hate the noise of the scraping,” Sven grunted as he trudged along beside his sister. The mighty Tyranitar had a large pair of wet concrete buckets balanced across his broad shoulders. “Ehhhhh.... why don’t we just dump this and make a run for it?” she asked, glancing up at her brother. “Because we made a promise,” Sven stated flatly. “And part of being a Pokemon is keeping your promises, especially when defeated in battle.” “But it’s sooo boooooorrriiinnng,” the Lairon groaned out. “We’re almost done and you know it so shush,” Sven replied blandly. “Once we’re done with this, we can find something that you’ll like more, I promise Anna.” Anna rolled her eyes but let out a stubborn sigh. “Fine....” The pair walked along in silence towards the construction site when Sven felt something light impact off of his stony neck. He frowned and looked down to see a peculiar looking dart lying on the ground. Another impacted off of his back and he whirled to see a pair of unicorns armed only with blowpipes staring at him, their eyes wide with shock. Anna also felt something pinging off her metal back and she too turned around at the unicorns. “What the fucking hell are you doing!” The two unicorns, along with another few who appeared out of the crowd did the only thing they could think of, shoot out more darts at the pair. Sven calmly set his burden on the ground, careful not to spill any of the concrete and then reached over to unclip Anna from the harness. Then, he looked down at his sister. “Is this interesting enough for you Anna?” he asked as his eyes began to glow red. A dart bounced off her forehead and she snorted. “If not, it’s a great stress reliever,” she replied, her head angling down. “HEADBUTT!” She charged towards the group of ponies. “You’re so cool Zubs!” Bruce Claw shouted happily as his relatively new Zubat flapped around his head. It might have looked kind of scary at first, but the young griffin had looked past that, and now he was convinced that ‘Zubs’ was the coolest, and cutest, bat on earth. “Master Bruce, I think you’d better come inside,” Alfred, the family’s loyal griffin butler, called. Bruce was currently standing on the balcony with Zubs. “I’m afraid I’ve heard of some rather unpleasant business in town.” “I’ll be fine Alfred, I’ve got Zubs to protect me!” Bruce replied with a grin as the Zubat landed on his head. “Besides, who would bother going through all the trouble of com-” *bzp* Bruce dropped like a stone as a dart embedded in his neck. Zubs took flight above his master, fluttering worriedly there. “Shit! We missed!” a pegasus exclaimed from a nearby cloud. “Master Bruce!” Alfred exclaimed as he rushed up to the now unconscious griffin and pulled the dart out of his neck. “Come out here this instant!” he shouted up at the clouds. “Shit! He heard us!” the other pegasus shouted, his wings opening as he leapt out of the cloud. Zubs was not naturally a violent Pokemon. Sure, he was a Zubat and most humans, and other Pokemon for that matter, viewed their kind as a nuisance to be swatted away. And yes. That hurt. That hurt a lot. But Zubs had always known he’d find someone, somewhere, to take him in. And now. Someone had made the mistake of attacking that someone. “CONFUSE RAY!” the Zubat shouted as his jaws opened wide and an ultrasonic wave washed over the pair of fleeing pegasus. The effects were immediate. The pegasi flew on as if they hadn’t been effected. That is, until they slammed face first into one another and went plummeting downwards into the ground. Alfred glanced at the little bat and nodded his thanks. “You take care of those two, I’m going to see about getting Master Bruce back on his feet. Thank you Zubs.” With that, the griffin turned and walked away, carrying Zub’s master with him. Of course, that was fine with Zubs. It had been forever since he’d had a good drink and he’d just been handed two very large juice pouches. “These ponies are idiots,” Abby grumbled angrily as she stalked towards the doors of the station, Kasai at her side. “Yeah, ‘Let’s attack the monsters that have supernatural abilities, I’m sure nothing will go wrong’,” he replied his voice becoming a mocking falsetto. “Instead, all this idiot, ‘Business Mind’ is doing is making more of a mess for me to clean up,” Abby continued, her voice turning much harsher as she pushed the doors of the station open and looked at Kasai. “Think you’re up to ‘Protecting’ yourself from any darts that come at you? Or using Agility to dodge?” “Yeah... though I’m a bit concerned for you,” he replied, glancing at the Ninetails. “You don’t know what moves you can do, not only that but if you do get hit with a dart... what effect will that have on our young?” Abby skittered to a halt in front of the station’s fence gate and looked down at herself. “... I didn’t think about that.” Kasai frowned as he turned to face her directly. “...maybe you should sit this one out Abby... I don’t want you to get hurt, let alone our pup. Maybe Lex and I can handle this since we both know Agility and Protect very well.” Abby’s jaw shifted into a snarl of anger, but Kasai could tell it wasn’t directed at him. He knew very well that Abby didn’t like being stuck on the sidelines. “You know it’s for the right reason... not only that but you’re very stress at the moment,” the Arcanine stated as he walked up to her and give her a nuzzle against her head. “You need some rest... I know how you are when you don’t give yourself time to cool down once in a while. And right now you’re near boiling point.” Abby let out another growl but it subsided and she leaned into is nuzzle. “Just... don’t get hurt Kasai... I don’t want to be raising this little bundle of fur by myself.” “I promise,” he said with a chuckle. “I would pinkie promise, but I don’t have one so I just promise Lex and I will come back in time for supper okay?” “Okay...” Abby’s jaws turned into a small pout and she leaned away from him, licking him on the lips once before she added. “I’ll go get Lex so that you two can get out there and try to get the situation under-” she winced as an explosion went off somewhere off in the city. “-some form of control.” “Blasted... better hurry and get him,” Kasai told Abby as his ears perked up and around to find the source of the explosion. “If those idiots keep harassing Pokemon there won’t be much of a city left to keep under control.” “Tell me about it,” Abby growled, turning on her heels. “I love you,” she called over her shoulder as she rushed into the building. A few minutes later, Lex exited and ran up to him, his ribbons giving him a boosted ‘jump’ every few feet. “Ready to do lots of running?” Kasai asked without glancing down. “Yeah, let’s just get this over with,” Lex said, shaking his head slightly. “Whoever is orchestrating this is an absolute idiot.” “Agreed... this way, whoever used Explosion was a couple of blocks down.” The Arcanine bolted out of the gates and into the busy, and rather panicked, streets with Lex following close behind, his ribbons enabling him to keep up with the much larger dog. The source of the explosion was fairly obvious once they reached the area where it had happened. This was because the concrete streets were blackened and charred along with the five ponies whose fur had been completely burned off in the front. They were lying on the ground around a large white and red orb who was glaring at them with its dot eyes. “AND STAY DOWN!” it shouted at them, its angry mouth set in a snarl. “THAT’LL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH AN ELECTRODE!” Kasai eyed all of the ponies, making sure that they were all breathing faintly before he walked up to the Electrode. “Hey, you caused a lot panic with that move of yours.” “AND?” the Electrode demanded as he glanced at the now deserted area around him. “WHAT OF IT? THEY SHOT ME WITH DARTS AND TRIED TO CATCH ME IN A NET!” “I understand you have the right to defend yourself,” Kasai replied with a nod of his head before a hard glare shot over at the Electrode. “But you could’ve harmed innocents with that Explosion. Not only that only that but you damage the streets and the side of a building. You should’ve used a move like Thunder Bolt.” “I’M AN ELECTRODE! ALL I DO IS EXPLODE!” the Electrode countered with a roll of his eyes. “FIND ME A POWERPLANT AND I’LL GO THERE! BUT IF PONIES ATTACK ME WITH DARTS I WILL EXPLODE! ALSO! TALK LOUDER! I CAN BARELY HEAR YOU!” Kasai frowned. “What?” he blinked twice. “Because of the explosion Kasai,” Lex answered with a small roll of his eyes. “He must have blown out his ‘ears’.” “Oh....” Kasai cleared his throat and speak the same level as the Electrode. “WHAT YOU DID WAS STILL WRONG. THEREFORE AS PART OF THE POKEMON RANGERS I MUST ASK YOU TO WAIT FOR THE GUARD AND GO WITH THEM PEACEFULLY. I’M SURE THEY WILL HELP YOU FIND A PLANT SO YOU CAN PAY BACK THE DAMAGE YOU DID.” “YOU’RE ARRESTING ME?!” The Electrode shouted back, his face more puzzled than anything else. “MORE OF DETAINING... BUT IT SHOULD ONLY BE TEMPORARY,” Kasai replied back. “FINE! I’LL JUST STAY HERE I GUESS! I DON’T WANT TO GET IN LEGAL TROUBLE! IT’S A HASSLE!” the Electrode said, glancing down. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR CORPORATION,” Kasai shouted with a smile before glancing down at Lex. “THAT-” he cleared his throat again “-that went well.” “Let’s keep going,” Lex said with a nod as he turned and started off, his ears were picking up the sound of someone roaring. Kasai gave the Electrode a final nod and then easily caught up to him. “I think all that time rutting with Abby has given you a pretty good idea of how to talk like her,” Lex snarked as they ran along. “Though, how you actually learned much from that, I’m not sure.” Kasai rolled his eyes. “Ha. Ha. Ha. ...it’s more of just listening of how she talks during our missions and learning from that, thank you very much. I have a working brain too you know.” “Oh, I know,” Lex replied, a small chuckle leaving his throat as he used his ribbons to launch himself over a slow pony. “It’s just that you use your head more than it.” The Arcanine blinked slowly for a moment. “HEY!” Lex snickered. Kasai just looked at him with a small scowl before they came upon the source of the roaring. “STAY AWAY FROM ALEX!” Ty, the Tyrantrum roared angrily as a group of ponies armed with blowguns tried to get at the unconscious form of a Samurott between his clawed feet, several darts sticking in its neck. “Hold that joke, Play Rough!” Lex shouted before he launched himself into battle, his ribbons swirling around him as him in a fleshy whirlwind of fairy power, slapping into the ponies and sending them flying. One of them managed to get a bead on him and launched a dart but Lex’s ribbon caught it by the base and launched it back at him. Kasai had to admit, as much of an insufferable snark Lex was to be around at times, there were several reasons why Abby kept him around, besides the fact that Rill would be distraught without him. The Arcanine then spotted a pony standing from afar, aiming at Lex, but the Arcanine charged forward. “Flamethrower!” he shouted, launching a column of fire just right in front of the pony. The mare jumped in fright as she turned to see Kasai charing at her. “Headbutt!” he called out again, lowering his head and ramming it into the mare. The mare went flying into the far wall and Kasai glanced back to see that Lex had taken care of the other ponies and was now trying to talk down Ty. “Hey, it’s alright, he’s going to be fine,” Lex called up to Ty as the incredibly angry Tyrantrum. “HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!” Ty roared down at the Fairy as he shuffled his feet angrily. “Because I do!” Lex shouted up. “And unless you’d like a Moonblast to the face, you’ll calm down!” Ty glared at him for a long moment before letting out an angry growl and looking down at Lex. “Who are you two anyways?” “We’re Abby’s Pokemon, Ty,” Kasai replied, remembering the name Abby had told him the night before. “And your Father is fine, he’s just asleep, knocked out by the darts.” Ty glanced down at the darts in his father’s neck and nozed him gently with his muzzle. “Are... are you sure that he’s alright? I just got him back... I don’t want to... he just dropped like a stone.” “I’m sure... but we can get some Guard ponies to help take him to a hospital to make sure,” Kasai informed the Tyrantrum. Ty looked down worriedly again before nodding his thanks. “I... thank you,” the large, red, dinosaur Pokemon said with a small smile. “No problem, it’s what we do,” Lex said with a shake of his head. “Indeed... just wait here with your Father till the guards come okay?” Kasai stated, looking at Ty. “Right... I can do that,” Ty said before glancing at the downed ponies. “And if any of them regain consciousness then I will Stomp on them.” “Do try and avoid killing them please,” Lex said with an exasperated sigh before he turned to Kasai. “Come on, we need to head back to the station and send teams to take care of them and that Electrode before it gets bored and tries to blow someone else up.” “Right,” Kasai with a sigh as the two turned and ran back to the station. Meanwhile, Abby lay in her bed, trying to get some more sleep. It was not a battle that she was winning. Not by a long shot. Her mind was troubled. Kasai was out there, risking his life and remaining limbs for the Pokemon of the city while she lay on this stupid mattress in the dark. A small breath of fire sprouted from her mouth before she shook her head and it dissipated. The last thing she wanted to do was set off the smoke detectors. Then everyone would be over worked, tired, and worst of all, wet. Not to mention that as a Ninetales, she had a certain instinctive dislike to being wet. Of course... that was hardly the biggest issue on her mind. No... she knew that Kasai and Lex would be fine. They’d faced worse than this before. No. What was really on her mind was the child she was carrying in her womb. She’d felt herself getting just a little bit bigger every day, not to mention that her body just felt...weird to her. Her fur felt too soft, her tails too perky, and that very morning she’d awoken to discover small wet spots around her six small nipples. Now, Abby didn’t really know that much about pregnancy outside of what she’d been taught in school, and she certainly didn’t know anything about pregnant Ninetales. Speaking of which, her tails seemed to have minds of their own at the moment, twitching and jerking by themselves without her controlling them. Worst of all, Abby was worried not just about the pregnancy itself, but of the future that the pregnancy presented. She, Abby Trombley, was going to be a mother. The Ninetales shut her eyes and tried not to think about it. Kasai said that she’d make a great mother. Of course he did, he was her mate, he always supported her. The truth was though, Abby didn’t know. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do as a mother. She’d had two and she still wasn’t sure! Being a mother by itself back on Earth would have been hard enough... but now? In this situation? A time when she barely had her ‘paws’ underneath her in the first place? No... there was no way she’d do well. The Ninetales was sure of it. She’d screw something up. Her pups would turn out horribly and she’d have no one but herself to blame. Kasai would turn away from her in disgust and- STOP IT! she shouted at her subconscious. That’s not helping at all... dammit me. She closed her eyes tighter and tried her best not to think about it all. “Get a grip Abby,” she muttered. “You’re too good for this kind of thing. Just focus on what’s actually happening right now. Moping won’t help anything at all.” That’s certainly the right attitude to take, her thoughts said, the voice a bit... different than what Abby was used too. It was colder, more regal. The Ninetales blinked twice. “...what?” Oh, don’t mind me, the voice replied with a small, almost amused chuckle. And before you think you’re crazy, don’t. “I’m going crazy,” Abby groaned, letting out a whimper and covering her snout with her paws. I just told you not to do that, the voice said and Abby could hear a slight note of annoyance in it. You’re not ‘talking to yourself’. “Oh really? It kind of feels like I am,” Abby grunted, her snout still covered. Well, I suppose you kind of are talking to yourself, but not in a dissociative personality disorder kind of way, the voice replied. I’m your inner Ninetales, not a figment of your imagination brought on by extreme stress. “You say while I’m in the middle of a small mental breakdown,” the Ninetales replied. Okay, so it doesn’t seem like this was the best time, but still, you’re driving yourself crazy Abby, the voice said soothingly, losing a bit of the ice. Just... relax about motherhood. You’ll be fine, it’s instinctual for the most part, trust me. “... if you’re my inner Ninetales then you have just as little experience raising children as I do,” Abby retorted pointedly. I’m your instincts, the voice replied. Besides, Pokemon are born into the wild more than they are born while living with humans. Do you think that they get a physical instructions manual on how to raise their young? Abby wilted under that and then let out a sigh. “Just... let me sleep.” Oh yes, because I was the ‘one’ interrupting that, her inner Ninetales snarked before quieting down. Abby let out a sigh and closed her eyes, hoping that Kasai would get back soon... she needed someone... anyone... to lean on.