//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A New World, a New Ribbon // by Scarletmenace //------------------------------// Clara sighed as she picked up another piece of broken wood from one of the nearby stands with her ribbons before placing it into a wagon filled with similar debris. "I still can't believe that we have to pick up this mess." Clara muttered as she dropped another beam of wood into the wagon. Saul said nothing as he looked over his shoulder and at his mate, his eyes dimming back to their normal shade as he finished using psychic to lift a log. He continued to stare at Clara as she continued her task of clearing the market, her back turned to him as she focused on her current task. With an unreadable expression on his face, Saul dropped what he was doing before walking up behind Clara. With one swift motion, Saul pulled her into a tight hug as he rested his head on her shoulder. Clara let out a small gasp at the sudden contact, her ribbons releasing their cargo of cluttered wood as the appendages shot out in surprise. She turned her head to direct a small glare at her mate, but hesitated once she saw the small tears building up at the edges of his eyes. "What's wrong, Saul?" Clara asked in concern as she turned around to let him know that he had her attention, her ribbons cradling his head as she looked at him worriedly. Saul stared at Clara with a somber expression for a few seconds before he let out a small sigh as he replied to her question. "I… I'm sorry Clara." Saul finally muttered as he continued to let his head be supported by Clara's ribbons. Now it was Clara's turn to be confused. "About startling me? It's alright, I can just pick this stuff up again." Clara said as she began to stroke Saul's cheek with one of her warm ribbons. Saul slowly shook his head. "It's not that… It's the fact that I let you down when you needed me most. It has always been my job to protect you, and I failed you," Saul confessed as he directed his gaze at the ground; however, his gaze was quickly shifted back to Clara as her ribbons lifted his head. "It was not your fault, Saul. That Foongus came out of nowhere, so it could have happened to anybody." Clara said with a small frown as she resumed stroking Saul's cheek. "Besides, I was able to defend myself this time around now that I have this new body." She reassured him. Saul released another sigh. "You're right, it's just that I'm used to being the one protecting you, not the other way around." He stated honestly as he leaned further into the embrace. Clara frowned slightly as she returned his embrace. Saul has always been protective of her, even when he was just a little Eevee. The reason for this behavior was partially her fault: When Clara was still in rehabilitation after the incident, she would heavily rely on Saul to calm her down if she had one of her panic attacks, or worse. It didn't take long for the little Eevee to develop a behavior that was similar to that of a watchdog as he would sleep by her side every night, growling at people who tried to approach her when she was asleep. This continued for the next five years before Clara was deemed fit enough to leave her caretakers and begin her long awaited Pokémon journey with Saul by her side. Clara couldn't help but sympathize for her mate, for she knew that all too familiar feeling of having one of your lifelong tasks suddenly ripped away from you. Having been transported to a new world meant no more Pokémon contests, and that thought alone was severely depressing. However, unlike Saul's predicament, contests might be introduced to Equestria in the future, meaning that it was still possible that she could continue to pursue her passion. "It's okay Saul, I'm not the little girl that I used to be. Not just because of this new body, but because you helped shape me into the woman that I am today." Clara stated with a smile as she continued to stroke Saul's cheeks. Saul looked like he was about to disagree as he opened his mouth to reply. However, he was quickly silenced as Clara pressed her lips against his, effectively cutting him off. The two stayed together like this for several seconds before Clara pulled away from the kiss with a radiant smile. "The thing is Saul, you have always helped me when I needed it the most, but I have never been able to truly return the favor. So now, I want to help you. I don't want to be that little girl that you watched over day and night, or the trainer that you won all those contests for. Instead, I want to be the mate who will always stick by your side, no matter what the situation might be." Clara whispered as she brought Saul into a crushing hug, which he gladly returned. The two Pokémon remained oblivious to the world until another voice introduced itself. "Ahem." Maiden coughed as she walked up to the two Eeveelutions who were still embracing one another. "Can't I leave you two alone for ten minutes without coming back to find you cuddling?" Clara and Saul both blushed as they abruptly pulled away from each other, quickly remembering that they were not the only ones helping clean up the mess from this morning's incident. "Sorry, it's just that Saul had something on his mind that he needed to tell me." Clara apologized as she brushed some dirt off her ribbons. "After all, finding out that we are on a totally different planet can be stressful for just about anyone." Maiden nodded in understanding as she began to pick up some debris with her psychic. "Still, it's not fair to the other two ponies who are helping to clean up this mess if the ones who caused most of the damage don't pitch in some effort." Maiden stated as more debris was thrown into the wagon with her superior psychic skills. Clara puffed out her cheeks in irritation at the mention of the two guards from earlier. "Well they shouldn't have tried to steal Saul from me when we were doing nothing wrong." Clara huffed as resumed her task of cleaning up the stalls. Maiden frowned at Clara's response, but otherwise kept quiet as she continued to help the duo. That unfortunate incident from earlier had been the bane of Clara's day. After Arceus had finished relaying his message to the world, Clara found herself in an awkward predicament when both offending parties realized the severe misunderstanding. To make matters worse, Melon and the rest of the group came bursting into the marketplace with a brown mare that Clara later found out to be the town's mayor, Wax Stamp. Needless to say, the party was shocked at the market's condition after the scuffle. Stalls were shattered into piles of lumber, produce and other goods littered the ground, and even the cobblestone road was crack and blackened from the lightning bolts produced by the two guard's thundercloud. After having a heated argument with the two guards known as Steady Light and Star Dust, the major decided to punish both offending parties by having them clean up the marketplace that they had nearly leveled. So here they were now, cleaning up pieces of shattered stalls and wares as they tried to restore the market to its former glory. The three Pokémon continued to work in silence as they sped up the process with their powers, unfortunately they were interrupted yet again as another voice decided to join the fray. "So, how's it coming along guys?" Light said as he trotted into clearing, a few bandages wrapped around his torso from his earlier engagement with Clara. "Just fine Light, you can go back to helping Dust now." Clara rudely shrugged Light off using the new psychic link that Maiden had created for the ponies. Light sighed at Clara's response. "Look, I know you're still upset about what me and Dust did, but I came to apologize for the misunderstanding from earlier. It was wrong of me to try to take Saul from you, but I figured it was the fastest way to get him some medical attention after that mushroom knocked him out." Light frowned as he approached the irritated Sylveon. "Anyway, me and Dust felt quite bad about it after we had some time to think things over, and we just wanted to know, will you accept our apologies?" Light finished as he held out a hoof intending for Clara to shake it. Clara thought carefully at the guard's words as she looked at his outstretched hoof. It was obviously a genuine apology, but she just didn't know how to respond to it after all that had transpired that day. Clara briefly shifted her gaze at Saul as she waited for any sign of his approval. After a few moments, Saul nodded towards Clara before he rubbed up against her side in support. Shifting her attention back to Light's hoof, Clara gave a small sigh as she grasped the outstretched hoof with one of her ribbons. "I accept your apology, just promise me that you will never try anything like that again. It's one of the fastest ways to get yourself mauled by a Pokémon." Clara said with a small smile as she shook his hoof. Light nodded with a sigh of relief before letting an elated smile form on his face as he shook Clara's ribbon. He felt much better now that she had accepted his apology. The guilt had been eating at him all day. His smile turned into a look of confusion as he saw Clara scan the space behind him. He was about to ask what she was looking for until Saul spoke up. "Where is Dust anyway? I thought for sure that she would be the one apologizing about earlier… no offense." Saul stated the last part sheepishly, afraid that he might have insulted the stallion. However, Light seemed to take no offense to this at all as he grinned at Saul. "None taken. I also expected Dust to be the one to apologize to you guys, but she had another idea in mind. So instead, she sent me to bury the hatchet in case there was any bad blood between me and you two since I was the one that caused the incident." Light admitted, his playful grin dying down. "What do you mean by other plans?" Clara asked, quirking her head to the side. Light opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as a blue streak landed in-between Clara and him, throwing up a cloud of dust from the rapid descent. "Hey guys, I'm back!" Dust chirped as she hefted a heavy package off her back, eliciting a thunk as it hit the ground. However, no one returned her greeting as they were all too busy spitting out the dirt that had flow in their mouths thanks to Dust's touchdown. "Welcome back." Light finally muttered as he finished getting the last bits of dirt out of his mouth. "You better have brought some drinks with you, Dust. I don't plan on spending the rest of my day grinding sand in between my teeth." A grin threatened to split Dust's face. "Nope! But I got something way better." She said cheerfully as she bent down and bit the package's tie, letting the cloth unfold to reveal its contents. Clara leaned her head forward eagerly as she tried to get a better view of the package's contents as the last of the cloth unfurled. At first glance, one would guess that it was a large watermelon; however watermelons aren’t silver with bright red stripes running down its sides. She had to cover her eyes with her ribbons as the sun glistened off the giant fruit, creating a bright, silver light that shined directly at her. Light was the first one to recover as a large smile broke across his face. "A platinum melon!" He exclaimed before shifting his gaze at Dust, "But where did you get it? I thought they weren’t suppose to be on sale until the next few days." "Oh, I have my sources." Dust snickered at Light's reaction. However, her snicker quickly died as Light gave her a stern look. "I didn't steal it, I swear! Melon gave it to me as a get-well present once I got out of the infirmary." She emphasized by exposing her bandaged foreleg. It was Light's turn to snicker at Dust. "I know, I just wanted to see you get flustered, that's all." He chuckled as Dust's cheeks turned red with embarrassment. The three Pokémon continued to watch the couple quarrel for several moments before walking over to one of the trees to rest in the shade, knowing that this was probably going to take a while. "I think they would make a cute couple." Clara giggled as she laid on her belly, letting the grass tickle her underside. "That they would." Saul chuckled in agreement as he followed Clara's idea and laid down right beside her. "It's a shame that Melon and Leaf had to head back to the farm to work on the harvest." Maiden chimed in using her regular manner of speaking, "I'm sure Leaf would have loved to see those two bicker." She chuckled. Clara hummed in agreement as she leaned against Saul's side, rubbing her sides against his warm coat. She purred happily as Saul licked her cheek, a gesture which she quickly returned before pulling Saul into a kiss. Maiden felt awkward as she stared down at the two Eeveelutions who were currently partaking in a contest to see who can share the most affection. Why do I feel like I am the Aipom in the middle? Maiden thought to herself as she got up and approached the still bickering ponies. "Ahem," Maiden coughed, breaking up Dust and Light's conversation as they stared up at Maiden in surprise. "Sorry." Dust said sheepishly as she realized that she forgot that the others were present. Quickly realizing that two other Pokémon where not with her, Dust looked up at the Gothitelle with a confused expression. "Where are the other two?" Dust asked as she looked behind the Maiden in a attempt to spot them. Maiden directed her thumb over her shoulder at Clara and Saul who were still laying in the shade, grooming one another. "They decided to follow your example while they waited for you guys to finish flirting." Maiden said with a blank expression. Both Dust and Light's cheeks flared up as they realized what Maiden was implicating. "I-I'll go get the knife!" Dust said hastily as she rushed towards her saddle bag that she had tossed down along with the melon, obviously trying to change the subject. Unlike Dust, Light was quickly able to regain his composure before beckoning the two Eeveelutions out from under the shade to join them. Everyone was gathered around the platinum melon when Dust returned with a large sword resting on her back. Everyone but Light stared wide-eyed at the pegasus as she leaned her head over her shoulder before grabbing the hilt of the claymore with her teeth and drawing the blade's steel into view. "That's no knife." Clara gulped as Dust lifted the five foot long claymore over her head, preparing for a downward strike. Clara and the others had no time to react as the claymore was swung downward at blinding speeds, cleaving through the platinum melon's flesh and causing a flood of melon juice to coat everyone present. "OH! This is a good one!" Dust said enthusiastically as she freed her weapon from the melon, ignoring the irritated glares from everyone else as the silver liquid continued to drip off of their now soaked bodies. "Why did you use your sword and not the knife that I loaned you?" Light asked Dust as he continued to glare at his partner. "I couldn't find it." Dust admitted sheepishly, rubbing a hoof behind her neck in embarrassment. "Just when I finished grooming too," Clara muttered as she examined her white coat that was now stained in a light metallic sheen. Though it may have looked pretty now, She knew it was going to become a major pain later once the juice would dry up, leaving her coat all matted and sticky. Saul lifted one of his stained paws up to his face before giving it an experimental sniff. It had an odd but pleasant smell to it, one that reminded him of the starf berries that Clara had bought for them shortly before coming to this world. With mild hesitation, he gave his paw a quick lick. Saul's eyes shot open as the melon's flavor hit his tongue, tingling all his taste buds in unison. "Clara, Maiden! You have to try this, it tastes just like a starf berry!" Saul exclaimed in excitement as he began to lick the juice off of his fur vigorously. The other two Pokémon looked at Saul in confusion before each of them gave an experimental lick as well. Both of them paused as they analyzed the taste before breaking out into large grins. "He's right! It does taste like a starf berry!" Clara grinned as she followed Saul's lead and began to lick her ribbons with vigor. Unlike her friends, Maiden was able to keep a somewhat dignified appearance as she suckled the tip of her mitten-like hand, a happy hum escaped her throat as she enjoyed the taste. Despite being covered in melon juice, Light couldn't help but stare at the three Pokémon in amusement as they continued to relish the melon's taste. "You know, the actual melon tastes pretty good as well." Light chuckled as he motioned towards the melon that Dust had just finished dividing into equal slices. Quickly abandoning her efforts of cleaning herself, Clara's ribbons shot forward and grabbed one of the slices before reeling it back in like a fish. Saul and Maiden soon followed Clara's lead as both of their eyes glowed an eerie blue, each of them using their psychic powers to levitate a slice over to their eager mouths. Dust and Light watched the Melon slices float over their heads in wonder as they both tried to process exactly how the two Pokémon were able to accomplish this feat. "Exactly how are you guys able to perform magic anyway?" Dust inquired, grabbing a melon slice for herself as she settled down next to Light. "You don't have a horn or anything to channel your spells through, yet you still continue to go against everything that I was taught at the academy." "It's not magic." Clara stated as she continued to devour the melon, taking advantage of the telepathic link so that she didn't have to abandon the delicious fruit in order to speak. "Each Pokémon has special moves that they can use. The move that Maiden and Saul used was called psychic, and it can be used for battle, or for basic usage like lifting a melon." "So can you perform psychic as well?" Light asked, becoming increasingly interested at the idea that such feats could be performed without the use of magic. Clara shook her head as she briefly directed her attention at Light, her cheeks still full of melon as she continued to chew her food. "Nope, Sylveons can use several psychic type moves though, but I can't use the move psychic." "So psychic is a move, but also a type?" Dust chimed in, a confused expression on her face. "Ugh my brain hurts." "We can discuss it later, but for now, let's eat." Light butted in as he took a bite from his own slice. However, Saul ignored Light's request as he remembered a certain question that he wanted to ask Clara. "Speaking of moves, I have been meaning to ask you something Clara." Saul spoke up, ignoring Light's sigh. Clara's ears twitched as she lifted her head up from her nearly finished slice. "What is it, Saul?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "I was wondering how you were able to perform those moves so well. You have only been a Sylveon for two days, yet you were still able to pull off an advanced move like hyper beam." Saul said with a worried expression. Of course, Saul actually hadn't seen the attacks since he was still asleep thanks to that Foongus's spore, but Maiden had told him enough by describing what she witnessed near the town hall. Clara frowned as she pondered what Saul was asking. Exactly how did she perform those feats without any source of training? Sure, she had seen all the moves in action before, but they had been used by other Pokémon, not herself. She thought about it carefully for a few more seconds before she came up with a hypothesis. "It could be that every other human that has been transported to this world have been able to control their powers just as well as any other Pokémon." Clara paused as she thought of another possible explanation. "Or maybe... maybe it is fact that I'm a Sylveon." This earned her a few confused stares. "Can you be more specific?" Maiden asked, clearly interested in Clara's hypothesis. Clara nodded before continuing. "I think the answer to our question is the fact that I am a Sylveon, or more specifically, the fact that I am a Eeveelution." Clara said, ignoring the confused stares from her friends as she continued. "Think about it, Eevees have an unstable DNA column that allows them to adapt to even the harshest environments. Maybe it was thanks to these genes that I was able to adapt to this new body so quickly." The small group was silent as they mulled over Clara's idea. Saul and Maiden had a look of realization as they both came to the same conclusion as Clara, but Dust and Light just stared at the Pokémon in confusion, both wondering what the heck they were talking about. "I still don't understand any of this. A different world, humans, Pokémon… it's all so confusing!" Dust groaned as she chewed on platinum melon's rind in irritation. "I agree, as much as I wanted to drop the subject, I can't help but try to comprehend what you just said." Light admitted with a sigh as he tossed his melon rind into a nearby wastebasket. "I think that it is best that we continue this conversation when Melon and Leaf are present. After all, we have a plethora of information to share with you guys, and I prefer not to repeat everything multiple times." Maiden said as she gazed up at the farm in the distance. Everyone nodded in agreement before cleaning up the mess they had made, and resuming their earlier tasks of cleaning. *~* It had been several days since the Pokémon fiasco at the town's market. By now, all the debris had been removed from the clearing and most of the stores had been rebuilt or remodeled. As each day passed, it became more and more obvious that the Pokémon were adjusting well to their new home, some even making friends with the local ponies. The news only got better when the town's mayor received a letter from Canterlot, stating that they were sending a unicorn scholar who was to teach the local guards how to cast a translation spell that could be used on the Pokémon. However, there were still some ponies having trouble. Not with the Pokémon, but with what was brought along with them. Golden streak let out a heavy sigh as he pulled another cart full of weird-looking rocks out of one of his many mines. They came in a variety of shapes and colors that were not like anything he had ever seen. He had found some that resembled a ruby with what looked like fire trapped inside of it, whiles others would even have odd sun-like formations. Regardless, Streak still had no idea what to do with these new stones. With a heavy grunt, Streak placed his latest cart next to a dozen other's that contained the same weird stones. I'm going to have to take a sample of each one to Melon's new friends. I have a hunch that they might know what this stuff is. Streak thought to himself as he strapped on another cart harness before making his way down one of his oldest tunnels. He was only down a few hundred feet down the tunnel before a small glow from one of the walls caught his attention. Carefully un-strapping his harness, Streak stepped away from the cart as he approached the glow. The prismatic light only grew brighter as he approached it, till finally, he was standing right in front of the source. He lifted a foreleg to cover his eyes as the glow turned into a blinding light, before settling back down to its gentle glow. Cautiously, Streak leaned forward to examine the source. It was a beautiful multi-colored crystal that continued to glow dimly in the dark cave. He watched in fascination as lights seemed to dance from inside the stone as it showed off its beauty. He moved in closer when he saw a shape flash within the stone. In the middle, was a black DNA helix that sat at the epicenter of the piece. Realizing that he might have something special, Streak quickly took out one of his smaller picks as he began to beat away at the surrounding rock. After several minutes, Streak finally pulled the uncut stone out of the wall and stared at the piece in awe as it rested in his hoof. However, he was interrupted as a low growl emanated from deeper within the cave. Before he had a chance to react, a strong force rammed into his side as he tumbled into his cart. Disoriented, Streak slowly lifted his head to see a raptor-like creature standing over him, a clearly angry expression written on its features. "Gabite!" The dragon-like creature roared as a blue ball of energy began to form in its mouth. Streak could only stare in horror as the Pokémon released a blue stream of fire directly at him.