//------------------------------// // Chapter 33 // Story: A New World, a New Ranger // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Abby and Kasai walked off of the train, tails intertwined with each other, Justice and Claire had chosen to fly above the train rather than go within its cramped interior so she was expecting them to show up sometime soon. For the time being though, she was content to sit off to the side with her mate. “Oh, I’m so happy,” Abby said with a grin. “Hehe, I can tell,” Kasai replied, giving her a lick across her cheek. “And so am I, and I bet the others will to. I’m sure they miss all of the Justice puns he love to make,” he stated with a large grin. “Who wouldn’t? They’re hilarious most of the time,” Abby said, smirking. “I’m pretty sure he almost won over Articuno with them when she rescued us... almost.” “It would have been interesting if he did,” Kasai said with a small chuckle. “Heheh, yes it would,” Abby agreed. “Though you know he’d never have shut up about it.” “True,” the Arcanine agreed with a nod. “Still, it’ll be nice to have him back, and I’m sure your mother will be happy with the same on seeing Claire again.” “Yes I’m sure she will,” Abby agreed before her keen eyes spotted a large shape moving towards them. “Kasai!... Abby?” Abby couldn’t help a smile from crossing her face as the familiar voice of Professor Hastings filled her ears, now in the body of a large Conkeldurr. “Professor!” Abby exclaimed, running towards him, a smile on her face she got up onto her hind legs and licked his face. “It’s good to see you!” The Professor chuckled and wiped the slobber from his face. “It’s good to see you too Abby, I’ve been hoping to find some of the Rangers and I got word that you were here, I’m glad that I didn’t make the trip for nothing.” “Hehe, well it would seem, and you get two Rangers too. Scarlet should be around here too,” Kasai informed him. “Yep, mom’s here,” Abby said, several of her tails wrapping around Kasai’s singular one. “I’ve been doing my best to keep order in the city and make sure that the Pokemon and the ponies don’t fight too much... I haven’t been 100% successful, but I have been trying my hardest.” “That’s all I could ask for,” Hastings said with a nod. “By the way, how’s the old leg holding up Kasai?” The Arcanine smile as he held out his prosthetic limb and moved it about. “Hasn’t given me any trouble since I got here, so it’s a-okay.” Hastings nodded again. “Good, glad to see my handiwork can stand up against... whatever happened that brought us here.” “It was Arceus,” Abby answered with a small shrug. “I talked to him a while ago.” “Yes, yes,” Hastings waved the answer off. “More referring to the energy used in the transfer but no matter now, I came to ask for your help.” “With setting up a new Ranger Union?” Abby asked, tilting her head to the side. “Don’t worry about it, I’m scheduled to see the Princesses about it soon and mom is working on the specifics so I don’t make an idiot of myself, you’re welcome to help too.” She gave him a smile, another of her tails subtly wrapping around Kasai’s. “Princesses hmm?” He stroked his beard. “As long as it’s not Princess Twilight Sparkle, she and I don’t exactly see eye to eye.” “I haven’t even heard of her,” Abby stated with a frown. “What happened to make you two fight sir? You’re normally not exactly the type to upset politicians.” Hastings sighed. “We ran into each other while I was in the middle of a heated argument with that troublesome Champion Iris,” He shook his head. “It was about that ‘wedding’ a few years back.” “Oh... right... Gene and Belle,” Abby said with a small nod of her head. “Yes,” Hastings said. “Coincidentally, once we’ve set up the new Union, I know what your first mission will be,” He said with a smile. “I see... I told you, they’re impossible to catch, I’ve spent weeks after them sir,” Abby said with a small frown. “And to be honest, I don’t really think they deserve it after what I’ve seen of them together...” Hastings frowned. “You’ve seen them? Together?” “More like from a distance setting up their camp sir,” Abby replied before shaking her head. “It was always in places that were too far away for me to call in any backup and as much confidence in my team as I have, I didn’t want any of them to get hurt against Gene’s team. He’s strong, sir.” Hastings nodded. “That may be true, but I know exactly where they are now, some town called Ponyville, and if I can explain things to the Princess, perhaps she’d be willing to assist us hm?” “That’s the thing sir...” Abby said slowly, leaning ever so slightly against Kasai for moral support, and she felt him leaning back. “I don’t think they deserve us chasing them and ruining their lives... I’ve seen enough of the bad Pokephilia cases, don’t think I haven’t, Luke is a living example of one, to know what it looks like and them... they’re not,” she told him, looking straight into his eyes. Hastings stared at her, eyes wide for a moment before composing himself. “Abby, I understand where you’re coming from with this, but they only appear happy, this is one of the times when we can’t judge by appearance alone.” Kasai emitted a very soft growl of annoyance. “And how are you sure about that?” he asked out loud. “How can you really be sure they don’t deeply love each other just like-” he stopped himself and closed his mouth shut, his ears flattening a bit from his mistake. “Just like any two humans?” Hastings finished incorrectly. “We know he raised his Gardevoir from when she was a Ralts, any relationship like that cannot be a healthy one.” He eyed Abby for a moment. “Speaking of healthy, have you gained weight?” He asked, earning him a glare from Kasai. Abby closed her eyes for a moment and then leaned heavily against Kasai. “Yes, that tends to happen when someone becomes pregnant.” There was a heavy thunk as Hastings’ concrete walking cane fell to the ground. “You... and I just... but when...” He shook his head. “I need to check in with you more often, I wasn’t even aware you were dating someone.” “I have been for several years actually,” Abby said, nuzzling Kasai. “We’ve been keeping it rather secret really... though that wasn’t very hard, I couldn’t get pregnant as a human.” “Yeah... though now she’s a Pokemon it became very... easy,” Kasai finished up. Hastings nodded, then froze, then- “WHAT!?!” Abby’s ears rolled back at the volume and she leaned against Kasai some more. “Kasai is my mate and has been for a long time now Professor. I know that Gene and Belle are wonderful people because we took the time to get to know them like I did with every one of the ‘couples’ I brought in. The ones I brought in? They were clearly abusive in some way but Gene and Belle? No, they’re golden, like Kasai and I.” She paused for a moment. “And if you have the balls to dare suggest that I forced myself on Kasai or brainwashed him I’m going to hurt you in ways that you cannot imagine, sir,” she finished, a low growl building in her throat. Hastings stared at her in shock, his mouth hanging open, and his cane still laying on the ground. “You-you were the best!” He shouted, still shaking his head. “I still am,” Abby replied simply. “And I’m going to remake the Pokemon Rangers here in Equestria without the harmful Pokephilia laws because honestly sir, we have more important things to worry about than matters of the heart.” Hastings took a deep breath and grabbed his cane. “I simply cannot believe what I’m hearing,” He said. “One of my Top Rangers? ... No, three really,” He remembered Solana and Lunick’s betrayal in Manehattan. “Four actually; Scarlet knew about us for a long time but never reported it,” Kasai informed him. “In fact she basically did the same thing Abby did on some of the Pokephilia cases coincidentally.” Hastings closed his eyes, the grip on his cane tightening. “This was exactly what I wanted to prevent,” He said. “What? Love?” Abby demanded, a small, imperceptible hint of blue tinting her eyes. “This. Is. Not. LOVE!” He stamped his cane so hard the ground shook. “I wanted to speak to the Princesses about preventing cross breeding!” “Well it’s too late for that,” Abby replied, a growl building in her throat as more blue started to fill her eyes. “I think I’ve been about as ‘cross bred’ as you can get at this point thanks to Kasai’s amazing stamina and I honestly don’t give a damn what you think about that, Professor.” Hastings glared at Abby, hate in his eyes. “Why you-” He picked up his cane, shifting it in his hands so he could hold it like a club. Abby’s glare intensified and her eyes glowed fully blue as her tails whirled around her, unexpected energy wiping out from her body. “Professor Hastings... for all your life you have denounced love...” she stared up at him and into his eyes. “From this point on you will-” “Abby no!” Kasai shouted out, shoving his body hard enough on her to make her stumble. “He’s not worth it!” Abby stumbled, the blue draining from her eyes and the upwelling of energy that Hastings had felt surrounding him vanished like fog in the morning sun. The Ninetales stood there for a moment, her entire body bristling before she turned to Hastings. “Go now before I hurt you, sir,” she said through gnashing teeth, her tails still swirling behind her, blue still hedging her vision. Hastings was in no way a stupid man, well, actually a lot of people called him that, and a lot worse, but not based on his actual intelligence. He knew how dangerous Ninetales could be at times, the Union was usually responsible in one way or another for helping people after any... incidents, so, after seeing that, he decided not to push his luck and high tailed it out of there, before Abby could change her mind, leveling a glare in their direction before he continued on his way. Abby snarled and glanced at Kasai. “That was... all me Kasai... that wasn’t the other.... that... FUCKING ASSHOLE!” she roared. “He didn’t even listen to me despite the fact that he’s known me for years and agrgtgrfgrf!” Abby’s sentence trailed off, too much anger flowing through her to even allow a single word to escape her mouth. “Like your mother said, stubborn as a sleeping Snorlax,” Kasai said calmly as he let out a hard sigh. “And just because he’s stubborn didn’t mean you could just... curse him for his blind sighting.” Abby just glowered at the ground. “Why not? I was going to make him feel all the pain he’s inflicted on others... make him constantly aware of how those he hurt felt... whenever there was a Pokephilia couple nearby he was going to feel every bit of their love...” her jaw quivered with rage. “That... that bastard didn’t even listen to a word either of us said and then he just-!” “SHUT UP!” Kasai roared. “SHUT UP AND STOP TO THINK FOR ONCE BEFORE YOU MAKE A RASH MISTAKE!” Abby jumped in surprise, her ears falling back against the top of her head as her body slumped down in front of him, shocked into submission by her angry mate, small tears forming in her eyes. The Arcanine breathed heavily, staring down at the Ninetails. “Abby... I’m angry at him just as much as you are... but what right do you... or even us have to force that kind of punishment? Foolish or not, no one deserves that kind of ordeal and it’s just... wrong. And if you were going to do that then that’s not the Abby I know and love.” “But...” she trailed off, looking up at him from so far below. “I was just going to try and make him understand.” “By causing him pain?” Kasai stated. “Yeah, I’m sure that would work well,” he said very dryly. “He... he deserves it Kasai...” Abby muttered. “You know how much he’s put Gene and Belle through... all the pain he’s put you and I through because we’ve had to hide... it’s... it’s not fair that he gets to just run away like that.” “Life’s not fair in general, if it was I doubt we would be here in the first place and still be on Earth,” Kasai stated with a sigh. “I know it’s not but... I had the power to fix him,” Abby said, almost whimpered. “Again... by causing pain, last time I checked that’s not how you fix something,” he said. “If we’re to ‘fix’ him, then we just have to continue to just show him that we truly love each other still. And if he’s fine in being blind to it, then so be it.” Abby just lay slumped against the ground as emotions ran out of her, several of the guard had been attracted by the attention but upon seeing who was at the center of it, had decided they’d be better served by keeping other ponies away. Kasai walked up to her head and rubbed the side his head slowly against Abby’s. “So please... he’s not worth cursing... not worth in letting your anger get the best of you again...” Kasai whispered to her. “Just let it go and ignore him if he continues to just blabber out insults. For what can he really do now that we are in Equestria?” Abby leaned against his head and let out a sigh. “He’s going after Gene and Belle... more reason to get to them soon,” she said, straightening up, the fire returning to her body. “We’re going to get the family together, head to Ponyville... find Gene and Belle... and then... we’re going to set up the Rangers.” “Sounds like a plan the Abby I know would make,” Kasai replied with a smile. Abby smiled and licked his face. “Thanks Kasai... just don’t yell at me again please... kind of scared me,” she said, her voice lowering. “I’ll try... but I just wanted to get that out of my system,” Kasai said with a sigh as he pull away his head. “So, where are Justice and Claire anyways? You think they would’ve beaten us here.” At just that second, Justice descended from the clouds, Claire at his side. “Sorry, sorry, we got a little side tracked,” the eagle said, shaking his head. “Someone can’t get enough of my company it seems.” Claire rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure the females in flock of Unfezants couldn’t get enough of you ‘flexing’ at them.” “Old habits die hard, Justice is set in its ways you know,” Justice replied with a small chuckle. “Besides, I’ve known some wonderful Unfezants and I just wanted to see if any of them were old acquaintances of mine.” The Swellow just shook her head, though a small smile could be seen in her expression. She turned her head over towards Kasai and Abby. “So, we heard yelling on the way, what happen?” “Hastings happened,” Abby said blandly. Justice closed his eyes and Claire grimaced. “I see...” she said slowly. “Yeah,” Abby said dryly. “Let’s get going everyone, I’m sick of this place.” “Yeah... this way, the station we’re staying at isn’t far away,” Kasai said, gesturing his head down a road. “Good, we’ll follow you from above and I’ll attempt not to get ‘sidetracked’ again,” Justice said with a nod of his head. Kasai nodded his head and got on all fours and head off, Abby quickly catching up and together with the two fliers overhead, set off back to the station.