//------------------------------// // Chapter 37 // Story: A New World, a New Ranger // by ed2481 //------------------------------// I’m afraid I must leave you here, Luke told Mage as he stood outside of the door to Scarlet’s room. I’ve already told her that you’re coming. I will be in my room. “Alright,” Mage said. “See ya round Luke.” Luke gave her a slight smile and vanished, leaving her alone in front of the door. For a moment, Mage considered knocking, then shrugged and floated through the door. “Hello?” She called. “I was hoping to talk to Abby’s mom.” “Well you came to the right room,” a woman’s voice spoke out as a Serperior slithered into view, a kind smile on her face. “Hi, you must be Mage, Luke told me you were coming.” Mage smiled. “That’s me, nice to meet you Scarlet.” “And it’s nice to meet you too, especially if you’re a friend to Abby. I always like meeting her friends... well, the very little ones she actually informed me about anyways, heh.” Scarlet chuckled lightly as she moved to an opening on the floor and coiled up. “Still, beggars can’t be chooser right? I should be thankful that someone actually wants to visit me, I need the break between crunching some numbers.” “I suppose setting up a whole new Ranger Union must be pretty tough huh?” Mage asked. “Pretty much... especially considering I’m the one mostly setting things up. Abby is good at a lot of things, but planning something to last for the far future is not her forte,” the Serperior said with another small chuckle, slowly shaking her head. “That and math, but that’s another story.” Mage chuckled. “Sorry to hear that,” she said. “But I was actually hoping you could answer a question of mine.” Scarlet’s head tilted slightly with an inquiring raise of her eyebrow. “Oh really? And what question would that be?” “Well,” Mage began. “Luke said you were the Top Ranger in Unova, and since that’s kinda where our whole fugitive thing started, I was wondering why you didn’t end up tracking us down,” she shrugged. “I mean, Abby found us, so I guess we didn’t cover our tracks as well as we thought we did.” A thin smile crossed the Serperior’s face. “No... you really didn’t, especially after what happen with the wedding. It only took me a day to find where Gene and Belle were currently hiding.” Mage winced. “Yeah so... what gives? Not that I wanted more Rangers to come after us but I’m kinda curious.” “Simple, I knew it wasn’t just a normal case of Pokephilia, it was... something more,” Scarlet replied. “You see, like Abby, I did the same thing of tracking down most wanted Pokephiles in my region and seeing if it was... well, true love or not. Most of them were, some of them weren’t. So after I read the follow up report of how the raiding of the wedding went, and heard Cynthia, Iris, and Juniper were there... well, I knew it wasn’t a case of Gene ‘brainwashing’ Belle into loving him. Mostly because, if it was, he would’ve been stopped by any of the Champions long ago.” Mage nodded. “Cynthia and the others were cautious about believing us at first,” she remembered. “And... thanks, for not coming after us, those first few days were... they weren’t all that pleasant.” “You’re welcome... beside, if I did my mom would slapped me across the face with a vine... or her tail,” the Serperior answered, the last part trailing off into a slight mutter. “Oh?” Mage asked. “What do you mean by that?” Scarlet blinked and opened her mouth to dismiss what she’d said, but she stopped herself and thought for a short moment. “You know... I don’t think I need to hide this anymore,” she murmured to herself before fully looking up at Mage. “I mean if did chase after Belle and Gene, then my mother would give me a beating with her Vine Whip attack, because she’s a Serperior.” Mage blinked and looked at Scarlet in confusion. “Sooo... are you adopted?” Scarlet chuckled lightly and shook her head. “No, she’s more of my step-mother, I still have my biological dad. You see, my dad had a falling out with the woman he loved and she filed for a divorce, leaving me under his care. My dad’s Serperior, which he had since she was a Snivy during his trainer days, kinda help in raising me and well... the two slowly began to feel more towards each other because of that.” The Serperior shrugged her leaf blades sprouting around her neck. “I never really questioned it much till I was around seven or eight, but she was all motherly as another mother would be, even if she was Pokemon. It’s one of the reason why I don’t judge harshly on some of the Pokepllias in my region. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t basically.” Mage smiled. “Aww, sweet story.” “Heh, thanks, you’re probably the only one outside of my team who knows that,” Scarlet said with a small shake of her head. “I guess I really have no excuse to hold anymore Pokemon secrets anymore huh?” “Nope, not really,” Mage said with a shake of her head. “Boy, the things I can tell...” the Serperior mused as she closed her eyes and a thin smile curled on her lips. Mage chuckled. “I suppose it is quite liberating huh?” “One could say that,” Scarlet agreed. “I mean, I don’t really hide the fact I’m training a Zoroark who’s been masquerading as a human to become a detective.” She glanced up at Mage to see her giving the Serperior a queer look. “I broke your mind again, didn’t I?” “Just a little bit, yeah.” “Well you can learn more about that once Xerox is done with whatever he is doing in Fillydelphia,” Scarlet informed the Mismagius. “Other than that, all I can say he’s probably the only ‘human’ in Equestria,” she stated, two vines coming out to give out air quotes when she said human. Mage shook her head and chuckled. “Well, I look forward to meeting him, but for now, I should probably head back,” she smiled. “Thanks for answering my questions.” “It was no problem, if you have any more you like to ask feel free to visit me again,” Scarlet said with a small smile. “Though I’ll probably be out of my room soon. I want to explore this place a bit and maybe find a nice quite area to work on my moves. I might be good with Vine Whip but I know Serperiors can do a lot more than that.” Mage smiled. “Good luck.” “Thanks, say hi to Abby for me, I’m also looking forward to meeting Gene and Belle officially this time,” Scarlet said, a small chuckle rolling through her throat. “I don’t think bumping into them once really counts.” Mage blinked and opened her mouth to ask when that had happened, but shook her head and chuckled. “Next time.” The Mismagius phased through the door, still chuckling silently. “So, how is Fang holding up by the way?” Kasai as Gene as the Gallade lead him down the streets of Ponyville. “He’s been fine,” Gene said with a shrug. “Ever since I found him in Canterlot, he’s been his usual old self,” Gene paused for a moment and added. “Except for when he tried to maul Blueblood, but he had it coming.” “Blueblood?” the Arcanine asked with a puzzle frown. Gene grimaced. “Annoying Prince we ran into up in Canterlot... he attacked Fang and tried to crash our wedding.” Kasai let out a low ‘ooo’.“That must have not ended well for him, the trying to crash your wedding part.” “Not sure how, but he ended up in the hospital with toxic shock,” Gene smiled. “I think he got attacked by a Muk or something.” The Arcanine winced slightly, though a small chuckle rolled out of him. “I bet he’s not going to try anything stupid ever again.” “I hope so,” Gene said. “He’s had two chances, I doubt he’ll live through a third.” “Eh, one would hope,” Kasai said with a small shrug before looking forward and around the streets. “So, where is the old Houndoo-” Kasai was knocked to the ground by a black and red blur before he could finish the sentence. “Kasai!” Fang shouted. “Good to see you again!” Kasai took a moment to regain his bearings before giving the Houndoom a toothy canine grin. “Hehe, same for you Fang. How’ve you been?” Fang chuckled. “Can’t complain, how’s Abby?” Fang sniffed the air. “She’s a... Ninetales?” Kasai grined widen as he rolled back onto his paws, pushing Fang off of him. “Not just any Ninetales, but the most gorgeous one of them all, and she is doing good for being two and a half weeks into pregnancy.” Fang gave a toothy grin. “Congratulations old friend.” “Hehe, thanks, though it was bound to happen since she became a Ninetales eh? You know how frisky she could get sometimes,” Kasai stated with a witty smile and a loose chuckle. Fang smiled. “True, true,” he said with a nod. “So what brings you to Ponyville?” “Abby and I are thinking of reforming the Ranger Union here, so we’re actually going to head to Canterlot soon. However, we heard Gene and Belle were here so we thought to come by and visit them, along with telling that Abby and I are Rangers.” A thought clicked into Kasai’s mind as he looked at the Houndoom’s surprised expression. “Oh... right, you weren’t there during all of that. Ummm... surprise?” Fang blinked twice. “Yeah, that is a surprise,” Fang shook his head and chuckled. “But I suppose I can see it in my heart to forgive you.” Kasai smiled wide at Fang. “Thanks, I knew you wouldn’t have it in ya to get all mad at me; after all, who else would you wrestle with?” Fang smirked. “Is that a challenge?” “Maybe,” Kasai said as he took a few steps back. “Same rules, no moves, just pure strength?” “Sounds good to me,” Fang said. “You have first move this time.” “Why thank you,” Kasai said before running at a full charge at the Houndoom. Gene, and the surrounding ponies, stopped what they were doing as the pair of giant dogs clashed, rolling around together in the dirt, raising a cloud of dust up above them. Then, they went about their daily business. It was Ponyville, a pair of giant dogs wrestling was nothing special really. Gene chuckled as he watched Fang and Kasai bout it out, they did this every time they met up. Kasai worked on using his weight to rolled on top of Fang and attempted to keep the Houndoom pinned beneath him, but Fang managed to twist out from beneath him. “Nice try,” Fang said with a smirk. “But no dice.” “Hey, I’m just getting warmed up,” Kasai said with a grin as he rushed forward, attempting another tackling pin. Seeing the attack coming, Fang crouched back on his back legs and, once Kasai was close enough, launched himself up and over the Arcanine. Landing behind Kasai, Fang turned himself around and ran back towards the Arcanine, intent on knocking him to the ground. The Arcanine slide to a stop and was knocked down by the tackle. “Omph!” Kasai grunted. “You give?’ Fang smirked, jumping on top of Kasai. “Heck no!” Kasai stated back in defiance as he rolled onto his back, bringing Fang with it as he was now sandwiched between the ground and a nearly three hundred and fifty pound Arcanine. “Ow.” Fang mumbled from beneath Kasai. “You give?” Kasai asked with a small grin as he tilted his head to the side to hear his response. “Never!” Fang squirmed around, trying to get the Arcanine off of him. “... fine. Just get off of me.” Kasai chuckled as he rolled off his back and off of the Houndoom and stood a few feet away from him. “When will you ever learn, never jump on my back,” he stated, continued to chuckle as he gave himself a good shake to lose some dirt and grass stuck to his fur. Fang grumbled to himself and pouted. “Hey cheer up, you almost had me,” Kasai told him as he walked up to Fang and give him a slightly nudge with his shoulder. “Beside, this makes us what, even in the terms of wins?” Fang thought for a moment. “I think so,” he smirked. “You know this means that next time, there’ll be no holding back.” “Hehe, of course, I can’t wait till that time,” Kasai said with a grin. “Anyways, now that’s over how about we catch up on some events eh?” Fang nodded and smiled. “Sounds good to me.”