Spike covered his eyes so his eyes could get used to the light. Even though they spent no real time in the Reverse World, it had felt like a few weeks, and the Reverse World was much dimmer than the outside. Once his eyes stopped hurting, he lowered his arm and looked around. He was standing on a large dirt trail in the middle of a large forest with trees almost up to the clouds. Around him stood Blitzle, Ponyta, Sableye, Keldeo, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity. Arbah, Victini, and Rainbow were in the air, and Pinkie was bouncing around in a large circle. Spike took a deep breath. The air smelled clean and had a rejuvenating feel to it that made Spike feel like he could take on Missingno all by himself. Arbah floated in front of the group and looked at them.
"Follow this path to reach the Meadow Zone. Once there, go talk to Shaymin to learn some more about the Zone and how it has been affected. Remember, keep us posted on how things are going by finding a reflective surface, and escape to the Reverse World whenever you need. Even if they are busy, I was told to keep my eyes on you at all times except when they are. Good luck!" Arbah then teleported back to the Reverse World, leaving a small bag behind.
"That was... informative." Spike grumbled. Arbah was fun to hang out with and talk to, but he just got so aggravating sometimes because of how much he teleported around. Not like it was his fault: he was a unique Abra that was capable of teleporting into and out of the Reverse World. Due to this, he had become Giratina's friend and helper, doing jobs and delivering messages for the Legendary. The bigger issue is that he must have been so used to Giratina knowing what he was talking about that he didn't explain half of what he said. "How it has been affected? Missingno made all the Pokemon violent and angry, right?"
"Not necessarily." Twilight sighed. "All Palkia said was that Missingno was 'driving Pokemon apart from each other'. Given how most Pokemon already love fighting, I don't think that being violent is what is being referred to." Twilight dug into the bag. Palkia had made a dimension inside to hold everything they would need or want to carry. It had the Elements of Harmony, way more food than any of them thought was necessary, a spare rope for Applejack, an extra party cannon, lots of berries, a few dozen hold items for the Pokemon, quills, ink, lots of scrolls, and a list of the Attractions. More than enough things for what they'll need, but with the words 'just in case' running through her head, she knew it would be worth it. Plus, that much stuff would normally weigh them down, so the whole 'dimensional inside' made things helpful.
Victini shrugged. "Maybe they're just mistrusting, or rude, or ignore each other, or something. Maybe it hasn't affected all Pokemon yet. Who knows?"
Blitzle smiled. "We will. Let's get moving. The sooner we get to the Meadow Zone, the sooner we can stop Missingno." Taking the lead, Blitzle galloped ahead at a very fast pace, but not as fast as he had been able to go on Equestria. He missed the amount of speed he had due to the magic. He was still really fast, but he couldn't move like lightning anymore. As he came to a loop around a large tree, he stopped and looked back. "I think that we're almost there."
Pinkie bounced over. "Hey, who's that Pokemon?" She pointed at a small rabbit that looked like Lopunny.
"It's Buneary!" Victini called. Upon hearing them, the Buneary turned.
"Oh, hi there. Are you going to the Pokepark?" She shook her head. "Well, you aren't going to get in. There's a Snorlax sleeping in front of the entrance and it won't wake up. I tried attacking it, but it didn't even flinch. Since we can't go in yet, do you want to play a Skill Game?"
"What's a Skill Game?" Rainbow looked expectantly at Twilight, who was bewildered.
"That's right! We never told you about Skill Games!" Victini yelled in alarm. "A Skill Game is the usual way that Pokemon makes friends in the Pokeparks. There's Chase, which is tag, hide-and-seek, battles, and Obstacle Hop, which often consists of running and jumping around a small obstacle course to get to the end. Some Pokemon only want to give you a Quiz, though, so pay attention to the Pokemon and places around you."
Buneary nodded. "Many Pokemon issue the Skill Game and won't be friends with those that lose, while others only need you to give them a challenge. No one's ever beaten Chesnaught in battle, but he's friends with any who actually decide to fight him. Well, no one in the Meadow Zone. I heard that he once fought Blaziken to a tie and only Charizard from the Granite Zone has ever beaten him. He isn't bitter about it, though. So, anyone for a game of Chase?" Buneary was immediately tackled by Rainbow and Blitzle, and Victini and Pinkie just jumped on the pile.
"Uh, you can get off her now." Fluttershy said, prompting the pile to stand up. To their immense surprise, Buneary wasn't there.
"Looking for me?" Buneary called. Looking around, they found her leaning against the tree. "I'm not the fastest Pokemon in the park, but I've learned to do quick dodges to avoid being caught or hit by an attack. What, you thought I was just going to run away from you? You're in for a rude awakening then. Most Pokemon in the Park don't just run away, because then it would be a race of who's faster. No, we like to make things harder. Me, I just dodge and jump really high. Some throw out attacks, others escape to somewhere you may need to Obstacle Hop towards and then run away when you get close, and the Aipom especially like to climb into trees, so if you can't knock them down, you lose." Buneary giggled. "Come on, you can still catch me." She jumped straight up to avoid Blitzle and kicked hard off the tree to avoid Rainbow. She landed next to Pinkie and slid under her legs as she made a move and did a jumping roundhouse kick on Victini to knock it away. She did a small hop to make Blitzle jump over her and then did a large one to leap past Ponyta. She then found herself lassoed around the waist.
"Gotcha!" Applejack tugged at the rope, dragging Buneary in. "I win."
"All you did was restrict my movement to a smaller area. You tag me to win." Buneary jumped right at Applejack and ended up going right into her hat, knocking it off. While Applejack was distracted with her hat, Buneary goaded Rainbow into flying at her and used the rope to crash her into Applejack, removing her grip on the rope. Buneary quickly untied the lasso and jumped over Spike and Sableye. "Nice try!" Keldeo swung its sword, and Buneary ducked it and jumped backwards. As she landed, she felt a tap on her back. Looking behind her, she saw Fluttershy.
"I got you, I think. Do I need to tackle you or was the tap okay?" Fluttersy smiled.
"How'd you do it?" Buneary was both surprised and impressed. "I thought I would have avoided you."
"I just saw how you jumped away from Keldeo and guessed where you'd land. You jumped high, so it was, um, kind of easy." Buneary laughed.
"Not the first time that happened to me, honestly. You guys are good at this other than my dodging. Let's be friends and do this again some time."
Applejack pushed herself up. "Sounds good to me. How do you suppose we move that Snorlax?" Ponyta used Flamethrower, but Snorlax stayed sleeping.
"Maybe with an electrical shock!" Blitzle used Wild Charge, but ended up bouncing off of Snorlax's side and getting flung into the tree. "Or... maybe not. Ow." Applejack and Pinkie tried to knock it up with either a buck or a party cannon, but they didn't do anything.
"Having fun, or should I just do it?" Victini asked from Twilight's head.
"Get off my head!" Twilight shook Victini off, and jumped up and down a few times to get rid of the energy Victini gave her. "How are you so sure you can do it?"
"Easy." Victini flew over and put a hand on Snorlax. "Wait for it... wait for it..."
"YAAAAAAAWN." Snorlax rubbed his eyes. "I must've overslept. I'm more energized than I usually am."
"No, I just gave you energy." Snorlax looked down a bit and saw Victini.
"Oh, thank you. I came out here to greet Buneary, but she might have gone in already." Snarlax turned to the entrance. "Maybe another day."
"I couldn't go in, you were in the way." Buneary called up.
"Was I? Strange. I thought I slept right by the tree. Oh well, must have rolled." Snorlax let out another yawn. "Hello Buneary, I would guess that your friends are waiting for you."
"You're right! I woke up later than usual! They must be so worried!" Buneary began hopping through the entrance. "I'm here guys! I'm here!"
"I guess I'll head back to the Cavern Zone." Snorlax began to walk into the Park. "Maybe I'll grab a Big Berry." As he disapeared from view, Twilight closed her eyes.
"Alright. The Meadow Zone is just ahead. We need to find Shaymin who will explain everything we need to know." She turned to Keldeo. "You do know what Shaymin looks like, right?"
Keldeo nodded. "It looks like a small green bush with two flowers on it at the minimum. If it's happy, then more flowers appear. Well, usually." Before giving Twilight a chance to ask for clarification, it started walking towards the entrance. "Come on, we have a Meadow Zone to get to." Not needing to be told twice, they all followed Keldeo down the path out of the forest and into the Meadow Zone.
As they walked into the Meadow Zone, they saw that it seemed peaceful. There was a battle going on between a large green insect and a purple monkey with two tails that ended in hands, a pink deer chased a small dog-like creature with leaves on it, but other than that nothing really strange was going on. Spotting Buneary talking to a few small squirrels and a brown puppy, they walked over. Buneary turned and smiled.
"Hi!" Buneary yelled with its friends. "I'm glad you didn't get lost. These are my friends, the Pachirisu brothers, Emolga, and Lillipup."
"We made a new friend yesterday after you left." Lillipup shook some grass next to him. Hidden behind the grass was a small bush. "Wake up already." The bush moved a little, and then uncurled revealing a small creature.
"I'm Shaymin. It's nice to meet you." Shaymin rubbed its eyes and yawned. "Sorry, I was busy last night. A strong wind blew a load of volcanic smoke and ash into the Meadow Zone, and I was absorbing it so the Zone wasn't poisoned. It took a while, and since it was night I had to get help from Butterfree to intercept it early." It looked at Fluttershy who had somehow gotten an inch from its face. "Um... hi there."
"You're so cute! You look like a green hedgehog!"
"Well, I am. Specifically, I'm a hedgehog." Twilight and Keldeo groaned. Shaymin couldn't help but laugh at their reaction. "Mew thinks it's cleverer than it really is."
"Shaymin, has anything strange been happening in the Meadow Zone?" Victini asked. "Other than the increase in Legendary appearances." Catching on, Shaymin nodded.
"Lots of Pokemon here are being kind of aloof. Not too much, but enough to be strange. Venusaur had a big fight with his friends Blaziken and Empoleon, and has completely cut the Meadow Zone off from the Meeting Place and the rest of the Pokepark. He also banned playing the attractions." Shaymin looked sad. "Makes things difficult, right?"
"Closed the attractions?" Buneary cried. "But I love Bulbasaur's Daring Dash! We're so good at it!" Emolga landed next to her friend.
"Don't worry. A nice Pokemon named Jirachi went to talk with him about it. Bulbasaur isn't happy about it either, and has been discussing it with this really scary Pokemon by the Attraction Sign. Come on, let's go talk to them." Emolga started flying away, causing Buneary to follow. Sableye and Spike shrugged and followed with the others.
"-and that's when I unleashed my Fire Blast attack. They didn't stand a chance." A large brown lion-like creature stood by a Bulbasaur about a third of its size. It looked up as a large group approached, as did Bulbasaur.
"Oh, you guys again. I told you, I really shouldn't let anyone run my Attraction, Venusaur's orders. Keep us safe and all, you know?" Bulbasaur sighed. "I don't have to like it, but until I'm told otherwise..." He trailed off as the lion put a paw in front of him.
"Hold. Is that Victini and Keldeo I see?" Its stoic face softened into a smile. "It is. So this is the group Jirachi has told me about, is it?" When Victini nodded, it closed its eyes. "I see. In that case, I suppose I will have to pull rank. Bulbasaur, open the attraction not on the orders of Venusaur, leader of the Meadow Zone, but on the command of Entei, the Legendary Volcano Pokemon."
Bulbasaur blinked a few times, and then gave a small smile. "Well, can't argue with that. Venusaur might, but I can't. So," Bulbasaur looked back at the group. "in order to play Bulbasaur's Daring Dash, we need teams of four. Do you guys all want to play?"
"Oh, don't worry. We have a plan." Emolga smirked as she flew up. The Pachurisu brothers sent electricity upwards to Emolga, who sent electricity around herself in a sphere. After a few seconds, she flew back down. "We made a signal for when you re-opened the Attraction." Not long after, many Pokemon came over.
Bulbasaur couldn't help but laugh. "Alright then. Make your teams."
"Hold up!" A large green insect walked over. "Venusaur forbid the Attraction from being played. Bulbasaur, you know this. You can't do this."
Keldeo walked over. "Come on, Blades. You're only saying that because you don't want us to know ho much you like the attraction, and you don't want anyone else to play it when you can't. You follow the rules too much." Blades didn't show any reaction, so Keldeo chuckled. "You're just mad that I beat you in our last fight."
"It wasn't a fair fight! I was tired from running the Daring Dash!" Blades fumed. "You had just arrived and you didn't wait for the countdown to end before you attacked!"
"Which I admitted. Good to know you're still as easy to anger as before." Keldeo smiled as Blades realised what had happened. "Come on Blades, run the attraction. Me, you, Leafy, and Ribbon, just like old times."
Blades sighed and gave a smile. "Alright. But we're having a rematch after, got it?"
Keldeo gave a huge grin. "Absolutely." It turned to Twilight's amazed look. "I've been to the Pokeparks before, so has Victini. We know some of these Pokemon."
"Alright, I need to know the teams." Bulbasaur looked overjoyed that so many wanted to participate.
"Scyther, Keldeo, Sylveon, Leafeon."
"Pachirisu, Lillipup, Buneary, Pachirisu."
"Caterpie, Magikarp, Weedle, Shroomish."
"Aipom, Aipom, Aipom, Aipom."
"Ambipom, Sceptile, Vigoroth, Persian."
"Blitzle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie." Blitzle looked at the named three. "You okay with that?" All three nodded in approval.
"Accelgor, Jolteon, Weavile, Greninja."
"Minccino, Pikachu, Tauros, Electrike."
"Enough!" Bulbasaur cut off any other teams from entering. "The eight spots have been filled. Does anyone not know how to play Bulbasaur's Daring Dash?" Pinkie raised her hoof. "Alright. This is a relay race, where your team of four races around the track once each. You can't go until being tagged, and each runner needs to complete a lap. Yes, we can tell if you only do three, Aipom. Decide your order, and get ready to go." Bulbasaur began walking away. "Oh, the track is this way."
"We may be slow, but we have fun!" Caterpie was giving a 'rousing' speech to its team. "What we lack in speed, we make up for in determination! Let's go!" Its team seemed into it, but points for effort don't translate into speed.
"Blades, take an early lead. Pass it to sis, and I'll go third. Keldeo, use your water pumps hoof skill. We will win this!" Sylveon was better at planning than Caterpie. The Aipom were just jumping around, and Buneary was debating which Pachirisu should run first.
"Okay, which one of us takes the longest to get up to speed when running?" Rainbow raised her hoof and Blitzle nodded. "Be first. I'll go second, and Pinkie-"
"I'll be last!" Pinkie bounced around happily.
"Okay then. Applejack, be third. Remember, we don't need to win this to get that Prism Piece charged up, we just need to make sure that everyone is having fun. Winning is a nice bonus, though." Victini flew over and sat on Blitzle's head looking worried.
"I have a bad feeling about that team with a Weavile on it. They aren't from the Meadow Zone."
"Victini, what does that have to do with anything?" Applejack shook her head. "We aren't from the Meadow Zone either, but that isn't stopping us from participating."
"Yeah, but didn't Venusaur lock the Meadow Zone down so that no one could come in." Victini glanced back at the team. "Jolteon usually are in the Granite Zone, Accelgor hang out in the Cavern Zone, Greninja are usually in the Haunted or Beach Zones, and Weavile are in Cavern, Haunted, or Iceberg Zone, but never in the Meadow or Lava Zones. I may not be listing the Areas they are usually in, but that shouldn't matter now. One or two of them being here I can understand, but all four of them here? This isn't normal." Victini flew over to the sidelines as Applejack and Blitzle shared uneasy looks.
"Okay, go to the start line!" Bulbasaur looked excited to have his Attraction run again. He nodded to Entei, who waited until Weedle, Rainbow, Jolteon, Pachirisu, Blades, Aipom, Ambipom, and Minccino had stepped up.
"Bulbasaur's Daring Dash is about to begin." Entei looked at Bulbasaur, who nodded happily. "3. 2. 1. GO!" Everyone took off running at high speed... other than Weedle. Blitzle saw this and laughed as he stepped to the line.
"Nice try Weedle, but we all know you're faster than that. Now stop fooling around and run!" Weedle actually picked up speed and, while not as fast as the other runners, was moving at a reasonable pace. Magikarp flopped over to its lane and looked at Blitzle.
"Thank you for that. Usually the other teams and the crowd cheer even though we're always the last ones, which makes losing feel good. The last time we raced, right before Venusaur closed the Meadow Zone down and banned the Attraction, this one team started booing and jeering at us and somehow got the rest of the crowd to do it as well. It... really hurt. When you started laughing, we all thought it was going to start again. I saw Weedle start to slow down and turn to leave the track, but when you finished it started going faster than I've ever seen. I... We can't do anything to thank you enough."
"Actually..." Blitzle glanced back down the track before looking right at Magikarp. "There's something you can do for me, and it's basically what I did for you. Be nice and friendly to everything that comes into the Meadow Zone, and make it as welcoming as it once was. Sound fair?"
"Absolutely."
Rainbow took off running, leaving any worry behind as she focused on her hooves hitting the dirt track and propelling her forward at a high speed. She glanced to side and saw Aipom and Ambipom were each running with bananas in their tails, eating as they ran. In her head, that seemed similar to how Ahuizotl was described, and wondered if A.K. Yearling had somehow met the monkeys and used them as inspiration. Before she could keep thinking in that direction, she heard the crackle of electricity directly to her left, and slowed down for a second as Jolteon sent a bolt of lightning across the field and hitting Blades. "HEY! What was that about?" Jolteon merely growled and sent another bolt at her, which she avoided by accelerating. "Alright, Victini was right about your team. Hey Blades, do you have any ranged attacks?"
"Only my friends can call me Blades. But yes, I do." Blades fired off a Razor Wind. "Ambipom, Aipom, help me out here." Jolteon jumped another Razor Wind, but was hit by Swift.
"Thanks Scyther." Rainbow spread her wings, still running but using them to increase her speed. She sprinted down the track with the battle raging on close behind her. Spotting the finish line, she clenched her teeth and focused on getting to Blitzle. She tagged him by putting her hoof right into his nose. "GO!"
"Don't need to tell me twice." Blitzle ran off, and Rainbow took to the air, performing a loop and performing a high-speed tackle right into Jolteon, although not preventing it from tagging Weavile.
"What are you doing?" Bulbasaur ran over the the fighting duo. Using Vine Whip, he separated the two. "No fighting, you could interrupt the race!"
"This team doesn't care about the race!" Blades lunged at Jolteon, who ran under him and hit him with Double Kick before firing Pin Missile. Ponyta backed away and used Flamethrower to intercept the attack, while Twilight caught it with magic.
"Gotcha!" Twilight didn't miss the fact that Jolteon was about to attack with electricity, and moved out of the way even as the lighting changed direction right into the waiting Electrike. "What? Why did you attack him?"
"It didn't mean to." Electrike ran over. "I have the ability Lightning Rod, so Electric type attacks always hit me and make me more powerful."
"That's useful." Twilight made a shield to block a Pin Missile. "Do me a favor, and electrocute Jolteon's team as you run." Electrike nodded and ran to the line, where it was tagged by Pikachu.
"Burn!" Victini shot a fireball at where Jolteon had been held by Twilight. Bulbasaur dived for cover as Jolteon was hit. "Twilight! Behind you!"
Twilight caught Weavile mid-lunge. "Nice try, but I'm not a Psychic type, nor is this a Psychic move. You're not getting out of this." Twilight flashed a smile before being slammed into by Greninja, dropping her telekinesis. Weavile lunged again but Blades was faster.
"Pick on someone your own style." The two began slashing at each other, Weavile unable to use superior agility to its advantage as Blades was able to keep up and block it at every slice. Jolteon was using speed to avoid attacks until Buneary drop-kicked it.
"Who said Jump Kick had to be vertical?" Buneary began using Pound with her ears to pin Jolteon to a tree. "Pachirisu, go!" Pachirisu tackled Jolteon and used Super Fang and Hyper Fang.
"Blitzle, what are you doing? Fight!" Ponyta sent another Flamethrower at Accelgor. "I can't keep up with him on my own, and Pinkie is already running. You shouldn't worry about it!"
"There are Volt Absorb and Lightning Rod Pokemon here, I wouldn't be of much use. Accelgor dodges every physical attack I try." Blitzle Flame Charged forward, which Accelgor dodged, jumping right into a Flamethrower.
"You can definitely help someone else then." Ponyta used Flame Charge into Accelgor. "Don't stand looking impressed, catch Greninja before it comes back around."
Blitzle glanced up and saw Pinkie crossing the line. "How the- most teams haven't started the fourth lap! Are we just that fast?" He blinked and Pinkie was somehow already on top of Accelgor shouting 'TAG!' and 'Catch me if you can!'. "Maybe I shouldn't worry about it." Greninja charged for Fluttershy while she wasn't paying attention, but mid-jump it slowed down, covered in webbing.
"Eat String Shot, cheater!" Weedle yelled as Caterpie joined it in firing the string to catch Greninja. "You almost stepped on me as I tagged Magikarp!" Greninja tried to pull the strings off, but only ended up tying itself in a knot.
"A stopped water type I need to hit? Sounds like fun." Blitzle used Wild Charge and slammed right into Greninja. After Blades sliced through Weavile, Ponyta and Pinkie blasted Accelgor, and Jolteon was kicked by Buneary again, the four turned into the dark mist signifying them as Missingno's Glitched Pokemon. Instead of the mist dissolving as it had before, it reformed into a shadowy version of a large Pokemon with two large teeth.
"This is Raikou, one of my fellow beasts." Entei stepped forward. "Or rather, this is his form. Missingno is trying to use a Legendary to stop you on your quest. Do not let him succeed." Entei and Glitch Raikou charged at each other.
"I'm not going to do nothing!" Blitzle ran towards the fight. "Come on, this is our fight. For the Pokepark!"
"FOR THE POKEPARK!" A number of Pokemon ran towards the point of impact as if the Meadow Zone itself was joining the fight, but as Entei and Raikou collided, a strange portal appeared and sucked everyone into it. Looking around, they found that they were in some strange dimension.
"Oh, it isn't Raikou's turn yet. I called first dibs." Looking at the voice, they found a dark figure of about Mew's size. It had two horns and held a ring in each hand. "I think I shouldn't have bothered though. You don't look too strong." It juggled the rings for a second before giving a toothy grin, revealing spiked teeth. "Let's play a game. It's called 'Ring Around the Enemies'. If I catch you in one of my rings, you lose. If you lose, well let's just say you don't want that." It then threw one of its rings at the group, which expanded as it flew. "Fair warning: I've never failed to catch all my foes."
"Tell us about some of the stranger Pokemon you've come across. It might be nice to hear some off the more out-there Pokemon because, according to Giratina, the Pokemon in the Pokepark aren't exactly normal. So by knowing the extremes we can try and prepare for the Pokemon we will meet."
"Who do you want to hear about first? Evo, Copy, Atmos, Energy... Geez, I know a lot strange Pokemon."
"What about some of my friends? There's Twitch, Coney, Egg, and that's only a few. I'm not even counting the trainers or groups of Pokemon yet like the Puzzlers or the Fighter's Assembly."
"That's all? What about all the Teams we know that seem odd even for Rescue Team standards? Team Rival, Team Honey, Team Soundwave, Team Grapple. First four off my head."
"Ooh, lots of choices. Which should we choose?"
"Meh, I don't care. As long as they're cool, that's fine with me."