//------------------------------// // Non-Canon Holiday Bonus Chapter, Part 1! // Story: New Faces, New Friends // by ZephyrStrife //------------------------------// A/N: big, BIG spoiler warning! This chapter adds in characters that have not been introduced into the main story and the chapter takes place about 2 years later. If you don't want characters spoiled in the story I would recommend waiting until the chapter where I note that all characters of the story have been added. Aside from that I can only say that this chapter is going to be a nice little late holiday gift to y'all! And a big thanks to Bubba1995x for letting me add Volt to the festivities, Go show his story some love! The night air was biting hard in the Crystal empire, Hearth's warming was only two days away and a little four-legged electric spider was already making plans for what he would do in the warmer parts of Equestria when his team made their way south to meet up with their friends for the holidays... ... Little did they suspect that he was going to get his share of sugary goodness that would keep him forever out of their reach. "Kekeke..." He chuckled to himself as he rubbed his forelegs together, plotting his evil scheme to abscond with the treasures that would make even the mightiest of kings fall to his might. He was jarred out of his thoughts as a firm knock was heard from the doorframe, caused by the Huge blue turtle in the doorway. "Hey Volt, John's looking for you because we're almost ready to leave." Volt gives a small nod, "I'm almost ready Eclipse, I'll be right out." The little Joltik quickly made his way across the massive, in his view, crystal city that made up the strange entirety of the crystal empire in order to reach the train his friends were on. He had to wait a bit longer than he told Eclipse just to be sure that he could scare the daylights out of Holly Heart again just because of how fun it was and no matter how many times he did it she always had the same reaction that sent her leaping into John's arms. With barely more than a *tink* he dropped onto the train heading southbound and began to scuttle his way across the roof of the train, climbing down to the side before the hulking metal behemoth could pick up speed and crawled into an open window. The train car seemed pretty plain for a train heading to Equestria though; no lavish decorations, no pink frilly seats... Just a simple steel-grey set of walls and red cloth-upholstered seats. "Well, it's good that they finally took my advice and stopped making the train so girly." Volt squeaked with a smile as he dropped onto one of the seats, waiting for someone to open the heavy glass door so that he could continue his journey. After a while though even his limitless supply of energy had to take a breather as he began to curl up on the seat and nap, just a quick one... and only a light one so that he could know when someone was opening the door... Volt jumped a bit as the door slid open, admitting a Machoke and Gardevoir who ended up sitting on the bench across from him. The Gardevoir gave a tiny wave, prompting Volt to wave back, before leaning against the Machoke. The three pokemon sat in silence for a while before Volt finally spoke up. "So... you guys heading to Equestria too?" The Machoke shakes his head, "No, we're heading to Kinholdur to visit a couple friends for the holidays." "Kinholdur?" Volt asks as he tilts his head a little. "Yeah, the capital city of Canida, that's where this train is heading." "...Uh oh..." The train ground to a stop at the station, letting the doors open to reveal a sprawling station three times the size of the train station back in Unova. There was even a light mist of steam covering the ceiling as a few more trains pulled in. "Last call for train departures, after now the trains will only be arrivals in preparation for the holidays!" Comes a voice over the P.A. system. "Hey... Volt, right?" The Machoke began as he caught the little spider's attention. "Maybe you could come with me and Richard, Cousin Vinny actually has a video-communicator that goes directly to one of the Elements of Harmony over in Equestria. I'm sure that if your friends are as influential as you claim them to be then they'll have access to it." "Uh... Sure... I just hope John isn't too worried... Although Holly is probably panicking that I could jump out from anywhere right about now, I'm really good at startling her." "Good, come on, I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting Cousin Vinny and the gang." Derek chuckles as he begins heading towards one of the southern districts of the city with the Gardevoir in tow. Volt marveled at the large stone structures they passed, they all seemed to be chiseled right out of the ground without any issues and then given a layer of glaze, or gems or even what used to be considered precious metals. The designs on the buildings themselves seemed to be very fine, requiring precision that few pokemon could hope to have. Near the actual streetline were lots of small pictures that seemed to have been made by children or hatchlings, the subjects always seemed to have a range of themes, from heroes conquering evil dragons to a group of heroes banding together to fight the elder evil eye that had threatened the universe only recently. Volt couldn't remember the specific details too well, just that they had to fight a bunch of creatures that were like pokemon but weren't pokemon in order to help save the world. Then again, they did save the world, so the specific details really didn't matter... so long as the bad guy was stopped, since the end of the world would ruin anyone's day. And John wouldn't have let that happen. "Alright, here we are..." Derek says as they stop in front of a house that certainly looked like it was recently built. "Vinny had to make a few renovations, but... at least now he's got plenty of space for his inventions." He quickly brings his fist up and knocks surprisingly gently on the door, having it open a few seconds later to reveal a slightly-larger-than-normal Lopunny who quickly let out a small squeal of joy as she leapt up to hug the Machoke. "Ooh! I'm so happy you made it! We were wondering if you two had missed the train and got stuck on one of the outposts for Christmas, or Hearth's Warming... Whichever you prefer now." She giggled a little as she kissed his cheek and let herself fall to the ground. "Ooh... and who's this adorable little cutie?" She asks, looking at Volt. "I am Lord Volt! Ruler of the Crystal Empire and, soon, the world! All shall fear the might of my mighty blade Excalibur!" the little Joltik hopped a little before he drew a butter knife out from his spiky fuzz. "Well ain't that just adorable..." She chuckled as she leaned forward to pet Volt on the head, making him blush a little. "...I'm not cute... I'm terrifying..." He mumbled as he shuffles a little on Derek's shoulder. "Of course you are, Now... all of you, come on in, we were just about to have dinner." The Lopunny stepped aside to let the three pokemon in before closing the door behind her. "Dinner's almost ready so if you want to talk to Mick you might have to get a loud noisemaker." She chuckled. "No problem Jessica, We actually wanted to see if we could use Vinny's phone." With a loud *Clank* the aforementioned Diamond dog seemed to drop down from the ceiling, giving them all a good jump. "Of course you can!" He exclaimed as he seemed to spring up from the ground with a visible imprint of his pan on his stomach. "I'm good, my trusty pan broke my fall. Anyway... You said you wanted to use the phone?" "Yeah... You remember that cop, John... right?" Derek began to explain, getting vinny to nod a little as the group began to go deeper into the house. "Well, this little Joltik is his friend and he was headed to Equestria for the holidays, most likely with the Elements of Harmony." "Ah! I see, so you would like to contact Miss Sparkle and see if she's with John and Co. ... Right?" Vinny pieced together as they finally reached the living room. "Yeah, just want to let him know the little guy is safe." Derek replied as he followed the Diamond dog over to a large box-like object that had a slightly-opaque mirror embedded in the back of the panel on top. "Alright, let me just start it up... HEY CURLY!" Vinny shouts as he looks towards the stairs leading to the second floor. "I NEED YA DOWN HERE!" At his call a Pikachu leapt onto the banister, the little electric mouse had a miniature version of a bowl haircut that waved in the air as he quickly made his way down to the first floor and over to Vinny. "Yeah Vin?" "Need some help powering up the transmogrifier again." "No problem, just... Let... Me..." The pikachu let out a small grunt as he squeezed in behind the machine and began to fiddle around with a few wires. Vinny let out a small chuckle. "Those three are good boys... and pretty funny if you just sit back and watch them do what they do." Volt simply looked on in interest as the machine began to spark a little just before letting out a low hum as the crystal mirror and the panel in front of it began to light up to look kind of like a computer. Derek grinned a little as he flexed his fingers and got to typing on the panel. "Hey Derek... I'm going to go see Mick and Emma... As well as Gwen if she's in..." Richard informed the Machoke as he placed a hand gently on the fighting type's shoulder. "Alright... I'll meet with you soon, this shouldn't take too long." Derek said with a smile as the screen seemed to light up with a rough map of Equus. The screen began to zoom in on Equestria until it was just above ponyville, showing three small dots. One was focused on a giant crystal tree-palace, another was focused on the Equestrian Ranger HQ and the last one appeared to be at the pokemon center that sprung up in town. Derek began to mumble a little to himself. "Alright... It's likely Gene is with Twilight... so we should Check her castle first..." He tapped gently on the dot that was on the crystal tree. A little Pidgey appeared on the screen with a letter in its mouth as it looked to be tapping on a window. "Wait... Wasn't all this technology what caused Arceus to get mad in the first place because he's a technophobe or something like that?" Volt asked as he watched the bird pokemon curiously. "No... It was mainly because humans invented pokeballs... and he saw it as forced subjugation. While I don't completely agree with him... He wasn't completely wrong either. Lots of people had differing views on pokeballs... Like Jessica, she used them to help keep the pokemon she actually employed safe and to turn away people who would think of using her business as a way to get a free pokemon." "Oh... What kind of business did she have?" Volt inquired. "One that the police and rangers were always trying to get her arrested for... She ran a tight ship, but it was a business practice that was frowned upon for just having human employees... so her pokemon ones never got any better public treatment." "Oh... I see..." Finally the screen flickered a little, revealing a very confused violet alicorn. "Vinny? Why are you-... Oh! Hey Derek, What's up?" The Machoke chuckled a little as he pointed to the Joltik on his shoulder. "Just wanted to let John know that Volt here was okay." He explained quickly as the little lightning-spider waved a foreleg in greeting. "Oh! That's where he is! That should help Holly relax a bit then, she's been panicking over every little twitch out of the corner of her eye thinking that he'd jump out to scare her... John's just been worried though, One sec... I'll go get him." Twilight rushed off with a small flap of her wings, leaving a slightly-grinning Derek there just to look at a very nice piece of crystal wall. Within about a minute the alicorn was back, using her magic to drag a flame-headed monkey into view. "Hey John!" Volt squeaked out, brandishing Excalibur. "Hey Volt, Twilight told me you're in Canida... Why did you go to Canida?" "...Uh... Because... Well... Because I wanted to!" He stumbles a little at first before pointing the butter knife at the screen. "For now Holly Heart doesn't have to worry about me attacking her, but I will return soon... And then... All of the cookies shall be mine!" He squeaks out before launching off of Derek's shoulder and towards the kitchen. "Derek... you had better stop him before he gets to the cookies... Otherwise you'll have some big trouble to deal with." "John... Jessica's here... We'll be fine." At the mention of the Lopunny John's eyes shrunk a little. "W-wait... ... ... She's there?" He seemed to hiss out the last two words, making Derek sigh a little. "Yes John, and she's a really good person... You should already know that, Especially after she took care of you AND Holly when the Avatar of Fire nearly killed you." "How was I supposed to know he could absorb the fire out of me!? I thought he was just like a fire type and could still take damage from other types of attacks!" "It doesn't matter... what does matter is that she has everything under control here." Derek replies. "And don't worry... I'll escort Volt back to the Crystal Empire after tomorrow." The Infernape sighs a little and rubs his face like a small headache is coming on. "Alright... I'll let Holly and the team know where he is and when he'll be back." Derek let out a small sigh as the screen darkened, with Curly popping out from behind the machine smiling like a child. The Machoke knelt down a little to give the Pikachu a light pet on the head before he straightened and began to wander around the house, familiarizing himself with the new place. "Wow... This place IS big... Mick wasn't kidding when he sent that letter..." He mutters as he makes his way into a kitchen that looked quite like it belonged in at least a three-star restaurant. "I hope Richard isn't lost..." With a small chuckle he continued to search the house, trying on the first floor to see Jessica and Widget in the kitchen, Vinny in his normal inventing room throwing together yet another invention, and then the 'three stooges' as Vinny seemed to lovingly call the three Pikachu that lived in his home. Having no luck on the first floor he moved to the second, which was practically lined with guest bedrooms. Letting out a sigh he began to knock-and-check each room until he reached the second to last door on the left. Voices from the room stayed his fist as he began to listen. "...The children seem to be doing fine, How's it been with Jessica around?" "Oh, you know... She keeps trying to sleep with MY typhlosion, but I don't let her get to Emma, although Gwen's been more than happy to satisfy her urges since she likes to keep her distance from a 'territorial Typhlosion'." With a pair of chuckles the conversation continued. "I'm glad that you're all doing okay then... How long until Jessica reopens her bordello?" "I really don't know, after her little argument with the head of the rangers I'm surprised that Abby didn't try to arrest her on the spot. I do know that Gwen wanted to be one of the first employees if she does reopen, since we've kinda grown apart I can certainly understand her wanting to try something new." "Jessica's a good person... She'll make sure Gwen's safe, remember... Security was air-tight back in the day and I know Jessica wouldn't dare reopen without making sure it is again." Having enough with eavesdropping Derek quickly, yet gently, rapped on the door. "Come in." Mick calls happily from inside as Derek opens the door to reveal a large Typhlosion sitting on a matching-sized chair across from the loveseat that his Gardevoir was sitting on. "Hey Derek! I was wondering when I'd get to see you again." Mick smiled as he greeted the fighting-type. "Have a seat, I'm sure we're all about to get ready for hearth's warming eve." Derek nodded a little bit as he sat next to Richard, letting the Gardevoir cuddle into his chest and wrap his arms around the Machoke's midsection. Mick smiled as he let out a slight happy sigh. "You two are adorable together..." Richard let out a chuckle as he made himself a bit more comfortable. "So are you and Emma..." "I won't deny that, especially with the twins on the way... Mew says they're healthy but we are going to be going to a hospital once her due date gets closer." Mick looked up at the ceiling as he leaned back in his seat. "I love how soft she's gotten... She was absolutely adorable as a Quilava... but now that she's a Typhlosion she's just so fluffy!" Derek and Richard both let out small chuckles as the room descended into a warm silence. It seemed that for once... Peace was finally achievable now that so many risks and grand adventures were over with. Richard spoke up after a few minutes. "It's hard to believe you're only fifteen... Two years ago you were panicking over who to choose between Gwen and Emma... now look at you... All grown up with twins on the way and the head of the Canida branch of the Pokemon Rangers... For such a young kid you really have come a long way." "Yeah..." Mick sighs as he looked back down at his body, now a little over four times the height he was when he first arrived on Equus. "...I remember when I evolved the first time... It was such a head-rush that I got really dizzy and nearly knocked myself out on a rock. I'm just glad I was battling with Gene when it happened instead of a wild pokemon who would've taken the opportunity to kill me." He let out a slightly deeper laugh. "And then there was Twilight right after it happened... good lord I thought I was going to be stuck in her castle until I evolved again with how many questions she had, I'm just happy Gene held Emma back from tearing her apart." He put a paw to his chin in thought. "Actually... now that I think about it... I think it took the combined might of Gwen, Gene, Belle... and a few dragons to hold her back... although my head was still spinning so that could've just been something that my mind cooked up." He said with a shrug. "HEY MICK! GET EMMA, DINNER'S READY!" Jessica shouts from the kitchen. "That's my cue, I'll see you guys down there..." Richard and Derek both nod as the three of them get up and leave the room. Mick carefully walked down the steps alongside a slightly smaller, and much more rounded Typhlosion. As they reached the bottom of the stairs it was a little more apparent how far along Emma was in her pregnancy, the round arc to her belly was a bit more than noticeable as she slowly walked into the dining room to take a seat at the table. Mick leaned into her neck and gave her an affectionate nuzzle before sitting to her side. Derek, Richard, Gleaming Gem, Vinny, Volt, a Goodra, a shiny Greninja, and even the three Pikachu brothers; Larry, Curly and Moe were all seated at the table. Mick gave volt a small smile as everyone began to have a few small conversations. "Volt... I would like you to meet my parents." He says as he pointed to the Greninja and Goodra. The water type extended a hand to shake volt's tiny foreleg. "...Nathaniel, I've heard a lot of good things about your friends from Mick and a few of the other Rangers. I can't say I've worked with John personally, but I think I did manage to help him out of a few tough spots." "I doubt it... John's always going on about how he would fight completely undercover without using his pokemon often so that he could make sure they wouldn't get hurt." "He's a good man... Just like my Sensei, there's a great value in friendship and loyalty that those criminal organizations rarely understood." The Goodra gives a small laugh. "I'm sure everything worked out just fine dear... The little guy probably wants to hear about some of your adventures instead of your teachings..." She turned to face Volt herself. "I'm Margaret... It's very nice to meet you Volt." Widget moved quickly alongside Jessica as they finished placing food on the table for everyone to enjoy, taking their own seats. Jessica gently cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "...I'll begin the meal with a small prayer if no one minds..." She looked to everyone gathered, getting a small nod from each one that prompted her to begin praying. "...We thank Listai for this wonderful feast, her teachings of pleasure and enjoyment without gluttony or greed permeate all of our lives and bring us all closer together. We thank her for bringing us all together through the years as well as now. May we all continue to bask in her teachings of kindness, generosity and equality. For love and pleasure know no boundaries." Everyone smiled as she finished, with Larry, Curly and Moe being the first ones to dig in and start off the merry dinner. With the stress of the day winding down everyone had something to talk about, whether it was recent adventures to rediscovering lost friends that they still had yet to meet up with, it seemed like the perfect end of a wonderful day.