Starlight: Redshift

by the-pieman

Chapter 3

All the walking seen in the anime, how Ash’s group moans about things taking forever, and then just ending up in front of a landmark? Yeah, sure, like real-life has time skips like that. There’s not a whole lot going on, except seeing some more wild Pokémon

We’re working our way down a narrow path down the cliff and both of my pony companions are ogling every little thing, including a pair of Dugtrio that eye us with looks that would be malicious if they weren’t so small. They’re barely the size of one of the CMC members... and have nearly the destructive potential.

Still, we’re respectful and keep walking, without incident, until we’re tired of the sun beating down on the cliff. Thankfully, we come across a wider ledge less than a half hour of walking later, and can sit down.

And I see something truly glorious... the entrance to a cave!

The arched entrance leads to a nearly vertical shroud of darkness, the light of the sun barely illuminating a mere inch of the inside floor of the cave. I casually lean towards it,and can hear wingbeats and soft scraping noises.

Licking my lips with anticipation, I start towards the cave, where the cool shadows and awesome Pokémon will be the only things I need as I search f- “oof!”

I’m cut off from my trek by a telekinetic band around my stomach, and Twilight shouting at me. “What were you thinking? It’s a random hole in the wall! Do you even know what’s in there?”

“Of course!” I shout excitedly. “Do you know how awesome it would be if I got an Aron this early? Steel types are-”

“No! I already fought a supposedly weak one and I’m still pretty scraped up, without easy access to a hospital, that’s going to wait!” I am magically dragged further along the path, and set down once the cave is no longer in sight.

After a bit of walking, the path branches two ways. One down a slope along the edge of the cliff, and the other continuing further.

Twilight looks at me. “Alright expert, which way do we go?”

“I... I don’t know, we need a map.” I look down the sloped path and I see the outline of what look like buildings. “Let’s go check that out. If it’s a town, we can get supplies.”

Once we are all in agreement, we make our way slowly down the slope. Falling would be rather bad, so we take it slow. I figure now would be a good time for a bit of education.

“So Rarity, there are a few things you should probably know about Ledyba. As I said, they’re not very strong, but beyond that, they have weaknesses, just like all Pokémon.” I try and recall my knowledge of the Bug and Flying types. After two years in Equestria, I hope I’m not too rusty.

“But... I wouldn’t be using Ledyba to fight. I though you said coordinators-”

“Yes, coordinators don’t battle... usually. Wild Pokémon can still attack, and in that case, you have to either fight or run. Running may just make the wild Pokémon more agitated.”

Rarity looks down sadly. “Oh... so you mean...”

“Whether they want to or not, Pokémon will have to fight, so in that case, I’m going to tell you what types of Pokémon you should have Ledyba avoid combat with if you want to keep it healthy.”

“Well... if fighting really is a requirement at times... I suppose knowing how to keep her safe is important...”

I look at Rarity. “Her? How do you know it’s... nevermind.” I shake my head and refocus on my knowledge of type combinations. “Okay, Flying-types are weak against Electric attacks, as well as Ice, though Ice-types are a bit less common. It’s Bug-type makes it weak to Fire, and the combination of both it’s types give it double weakness to Rock type moves.”

Rarity seems to be taking a moment to process this, though Twilight seems to be paying rapt attention and already has a look of understanding. Maybe she will make a decent rival after all. Squeee! I have a rival!

“So, is there anything else I should know in the interest of her safety?”

I think for a bit. “Yeah. Ledyba as a species are known for having a high Special Defense stat, which means they take less damage from special moves, typically classified as non-physical. Actually, Fire attacks and Electricity attacks are mostly manifested as Special Attacks, so if Ledyba gets enough experience, she might be able to take a couple serious blows from moves that would normally cripple her.”

A thought enters my mind. “However... it’s physical Defense is rather lacking. As most Rock type moves are physical, and Ledyba is already incredibly vulnerable to them...” I turn to Rarity. “Keep her away from Rock types, understand? Pokémon battles between trainers have rules set by the Pokémon League, but to fight a wild Pokémon where the rules don’t apply, Ledyba could be killed. All Pokémon could.”

Rarity nods firmly. “Don’t worry, if I have to fight to protect her myself, I will do all I can even if it may cost me dearly.”

I give her an appraising look, then smile. “You two really are going to make great trainers... That whole ‘Friendship is Magic’ thing will take you far in this world.” The ponies smile.

“But...” I warn them. “Don’t coddle your Pokémon too much. They thrive on experience and training. While combat isn’t the only way to raise them to be strong, it’s the best way, and Pokémon mainly kept as pets or only used for show... they are the most likely candidates to end up as prey, more likely than wild Pokémon, as they’ve been denied the option to develop the strength to protect themselves.”

“So... how can I train her without fighting?”

I think for a bit. I honestly don’t recall any of them... guess those two years really did make me forget. “Uh... well you could just have play-practice, have them use their moves for recreation or such. Being in contests may not make her that strong, but it will definitely help her learn techniques. Any move combos you come up with to use in contests are fully legal to use in Pokémon battles.”

“So...” Twilight looks at me. “Combat training... but not through real combat? How about training them by having them practice on inanimate objects?”

“That works too, in fact coordinators do that as well. It’s a common practice for trainers if they’re not sure if their Pokémon is ready for a real battle. Of course, you should make sure that the rock or tree you are attacking isn't a wild Pokémon taking a nap. That could get ugly.”

---

Eventually, we get to the little seaside town, reminiscent vaguely of Pacifidlog Town from Hoenn. Vaguely.

For one, it’s by a huge cliff, not floating on the water itself. As well, even though its got the rural, almost pastoral look, with a some large fields between it and the forest, it’s got a series of stone ramps or stairs leading to the water forty feet below, where a series of stone docks protrude into the water. There’s even some sort of fishing boat or somesuch tethered in, and I can recognize a few more out further along the coast.

As we’re walking up, the smell of freshly-made food assaults my nostrils, and it hits me that I haven’t eaten in months. And that I’m hungry.

I’m all set to run into the town, until I realize I have no money, and stop on the nice, packed-dirt road. I sit down on the wooden sidewalk, and wonder how I’m going to rectify the issue.

“So I’m going to hope that I’m the only one who’s broke and that they will accept bits here...”

Rarity levitates out a purse gingerly. “Well, I suppose we can try. I can only hope it’s worth something as raw gold, at least, even though it’s only shiny.”

“Right, raw gold. Yeah, that should get us pretty far.” We continue on into the town, and we see what sort of shops they have around besides food. Getting some adventuring gear is also a high priority. Backpacks or satchels are definitely on the ‘to buy’ list, saddlebags will only carry so much. That and I have nothing but the clothes I’m wearing. Gonna need some adventuring duds for sure.

“Out of the way, important things, coming through!” a voice yells, and I jump out of the way in time to see a kid, probably a boy based on the hat, on a bike scream past me in the mach-5 range, bee-lining towards a larger building near the cliffside. Whoever the kid is, he’s got a big, white-wrapped package tied to the back of his bike, which falls off as he careens around a corner. The kid doesn’t come back for, likely not noticing in his haste.

I sigh, some people. Walking over to the package, I pick it up and try to figure out what might be in it. There’s a large delivery sticker on it, saying ‘To: Prof. Basswood’. What really catches my attention, though, is the ‘from’ line.

‘From: Prof. Oak’

Hot damn, whatever this is, is either super important or a bunch of pretty baubles. I give it 40-60.

But which Oak? Sam or Gary? Perhaps a descendant! The name is weighty, but the exact identity is a mystery. I have to open this thing!

As I begin to slip a finger under the packaging, standing on the empty street, I hear one of the ponies behind me clear her throat. “Ahem, are you sure you should be doing that, Anthony? It obviously doesn’t belong to you, and I’ve never taken you for a thief.”

“Oh come on, look at this! Professor, freakin’ Oak! Who knows what could be in here! I just gotta know!”

“Dear, you should return it and ask if it’s alright to know what it was, if you’re so curious.” Rarity admonishes me with a disapproving glare. I look down at the package, then back at the girls. they’re both looking unhappy, but Rarity more than Twilight.

“Fiiiiiine. Let’s find this Professor Basswood.” We start looking around for a building that might imply a research facility. Me actually looking for it, the ponies obviously not used to the designs of the houses and businesses around here.

Finally, I remember the slightly larger, not-wood-and-stone building the kid was heading vaguely towards, and facepalm. As we get ready to walk there, another human walks up, a skitty on her head. While she looks to be around eighteen or so, her face lights up and makes her look twelve when she sees the two ponies at my side.

She races over, and squees as she sees them, moving all around in a frantic haste to observe them from every angle. “Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen pokémon like those! Where did you get them?”

Oh yeah, everyone thinks they’re pokémon! This just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I grin. “I got them from Equestria. You wouldn’t believe it, but over there, these guys are everywhere!”

“Wow! I’ve never heard of that region! Wait, are you a trainer?” she looks at me with a bright, eager face, looking up to meet my face. I wonder if I’ve gotten taller, or if she’s just a bit short...

“Well, not legally... I was hoping to get my license here so I can buy pokéballs, and such. Right now, I guess you can just call these two my friends.”

Twilight’s face is priceless, a mixed look of bafflement, mild insult, and general ‘what are you talking about?’ I wish I had a camera. Rarity is hiding a smirk; she gets what’s going on.

“Yeah, I can’t really start my adventure proper, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind giving it a shot once I’m legal...” I give Twilight an evil glare like the one before the last battle. “Just don’t expect anything too amazing from them.”

Twilight’s sputtering, and Rarity starts laughing, drawing quizzical looks from the trainer and her Skitty, who has the most adorable look of confusion on its face.

“Anyway, I guess I’ll see you around, I’m gonna go get my license.”

The girl smiles and waves, before stopping. “Oh, before I forget! My name’s Beth! You got an éTech?”

“A what? Sorry, I’ve been in Equestria for quite a while and I’ve never been to this region before.” I rub the back of my neck. “I don’t even know this region’s name! Heh, kinda stupid, huh?”

“Oh, you don’t? Did you just move here or something? You’re in Otaria.” She smiles again, then starts walking away. “If we meet up again, we can trade numbers!”

Oh yeah, phones! And subways! And cars! And all the human things that Twilight and Rarity will freak out when they see! Human technology for the win!

“Yeah, I’ll see if I can’t find you when I’m... oh crap, I need to deliver this package. I’ll be right back!” I rush towards the lab, planning on showing off all the neat hi-tech crap humanity has pulled off to these ponies who don’t even understand the concept of batteries outside of gems charged for later.

And what’s in this box. Oh man I gotta know!

I’m practically skipping as we reach the lab, which is quite obviously a lab by the sign on it. Huh. They never were so blatant in the games... or the show.

Either way, I walk up, just now noticing that I’ve left a wake of curious people eyeballing a nervous Twilight and preening Rarity as we went along. Knocking on the door reveals it to be metal.

“Alright you two, come on! You don’t wanna get lost!” I’m gonna play up this ‘rare pokémon’ thing as much as possible. Twilight actually does scootch closer, though I think that’s because she’s taking my words at face value, and is probably not too comfortable with all the new people staring at her. Rarity, though is happily strutting at my side, grinning widely. She definitely enjoys the attention, that’s for sure.

Shaking my head a the stark contrast between the two ponies, I open the door to the lab and walk in. Gotta know what’s in here!

The door swings slowly open, and I peek in, to see a tall, blue-and-orange-haired woman listening to the kid from earlier explain, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She looks up, her mouth opening, until she sees the package in my hands.

“How did you get that?” she asks, moving towards me as the kid looks surprised, his eyes a little red. “Those are official- did you steal them?”

I roll my eyes. “Nah, they fell off this kid’s bike when he went around a corner. I’ve seen better turning from Linoone!”

The kid’s face screws up, and he shouts at me. “Hey! my bike’s, like, fifth-hand! I’d like to see you do better on my cra-” he freezes mid-word, the tall woman’s gaze having returned to him in a snap, a glare capable of lighting candles and freezing tap water focusing on him. “Er... on that rather unpleasant rusty pile of trash?” he smiles ingratiatingly.

The woman nods. Then, she turns back to me, her glare softening to a non-lethal level. “Well, thank you for returning it. I’ve been waiting on a restocking of the trainer licences and cards for a week now, and with Oak being so busy these days...”

“Trainer cards, huh? Funny that, I’m actually looking to get my own license!” I pause and hand the package to her “Legally of course.”

She chuckles and cocks an eyebrow. “You have the sign-up fee? And have you taken the exam yet? Also, aren’t you a little old to be just now starting your whole trainer’s journey?”

“In order: Maybe, no but I plan to, and let’s just say I’ve been held back by uncontrollable circumstances.” Like not growing up in the Pokémon world, then involuntarily moving to Equestria...

“Hmm... well, you can take the exam here, if you want to; the fee covers both your first try, and either your second try or your trainer card, depending on if you pass it. Oh, and what are those?” Her voice shifts from teacher-stern to curious and interested on the last sentence, and she starts leaning towards me. I look down, and see that Twilight and Rarity have nosed their way into the lab behind me, and Twilight is looking at all the books, shelves, and blinking electronic devices with awe and wonder.

I think that I should really give this woman a surprise. “Oh, they’re nothing special, really.” I call over to them. “Hey girls, if you want to be a trainer or coordinator, you’re gonna need a license. I suggest blending in to the public first though.”

As the woman looks confused, Twilight nods. “Alright, I prepared for this, including some basic dresses from Rarity. Just give me a moment...” She scrunches up her face, and the tall woman’s face turns to one of wonder as Twilight begins channeling magic.

Come to think of it, the woman’s probably the local Professor, judging by her accepting the package and wearing a labcoat and all.

Twilight fires a beam of energy to me, which then splits and arcs back to her and Rarity, causing them to gleam with a magenta glow for several seconds, shifting inside the light to a human shape. A moment later, they dropped gracefully to the floor, already shrouded with flying cloth as they quickly put on clothes. Had they been practising somehow?

I look at the shocked professor and draw her attention back to me. “Kinda neat, but if you’ve seen it once it loses the magic I suppose. Now how about those exams? Oh right, the entrance fee. Rarity?”

“One moment, darling, I’m still not used to these... fingers. Though I can certainly see how they could be useful!”

Twilight straightens the hem of her skirt, which only goes down to a little past her knees. “Alright, I cast the extra-length version of the spell, so it should last until we next go to sleep. Uhm, is there anywhere I can look over some of the material for the exam, ma’am? I need to, ah, touch up on the subjects at ho- hand.”

The professor just looks at the two. “That was the most amazing transform I’ve ever seen! Most Ditto can’t even change to something they aren’t specifically looking at; did you discover a new variant of the move? And when did you find time to teach them the language?”

I shrug. “Something like that, kinda. Still, like I said, it’s not that special once you’ve seen it. Oh, we’re gonna have to pay in raw gold, is that okay?”

The professor has a full-body twitch, her jaw dropping. “Raw gold?! Where did- how-” she just stops speaking. After a moment, her face changes back to a pleasantly amused look, and she smiles at me. “Of course it’s welcome, and will likely more than cover the fee. Do you already have a starter in mind from our selection, or have you not browsed it online yet?”

I think I may have broken her, because she just went saleslady. Well I’m gonna give her one hell of a goodbye, heheheheh.

“No, sorry I haven’t. What starters do you have available? I think Rarity will just stick with the Ledyba that’s been following us here.” The pokémon in question buzzed in the door, quickly clinging to the top of the door jamb, a look of fear on its face. From outside, a cry of ‘it got away!’ was heard.

“Well, you can check your éTech for the listing, or if you need to borrow a desktop, you can use one over there.” she points at a row of three computers, with dividers between them, on a single long desk.

“Thanks, Prof. Let’s just say that where we came from is pretty low-tech...” I give Twilight a haughty look. Tech is so much cooler than magic. “I’ll give your starters a look then. Come on Twi, I’ll show you how to use a computer.”

“A com-pewter? It doesn’t look like pewter...”

I chuckle and rest my arm across her shoulders. “Oh you silly, silly girl... here, let me teach you.” With that, I lead her over to the desk.

Sitting her down at the console, I show her the basics of the mouse and screen combination, and then work towards the keyboard, which leaves her bewildered and lost, trying to figure out how to coordinate ten tiny limbs all at once. Leaving her to practice on a text document, I sit down at another computer, and begin searching through the dedicated machine’s limited abilities. It has the starter list, a link for the exam questions, and comes with a headset for voice prompts. Twilight’s already looking around for help by the time I’ve already gotten the list open, and started perusing the short list of choices.

I help Twilight out by explaining the simple concept of the ‘scroll wheel’ and she is very interested in the machine as a whole.

I can’t wait to introduce her to all kinds of stuff. I return to the list and I am... less than impressed.

The list has nearly two dozen pokémon on it, but all but three are greyed out as selections. Apparently, there’s only a Chespin, two Turtwig, and a Tepig left at the moment, none of which are particularly interesting. Sure, each of them can become powerful, amazing pokémon, but they just suck so hard at first!

“Hey prof... do you think I could just go out and catch my own? I mean, I know how it works, I’d just have to deal with less chance of a capture because the target is healthy, right?”

The professor thinks it over for a moment. “I... suppose. You do appear to have plenty of... friends available to help if you get into trouble. Just avoid the forest if you can, for now. There’s plenty of very strong pokémon in there, but that’s also the downside.”

“Right. Training is best done against stronger opponents, but if you’re over your head, you should avoid the place until better prepared.” I pause. “Er, let’s just say I know the source material but have never had any chance for practical application.”

Gotta tone it down. If I end up belting out evolutionary lines down to amount of experience required to reach them, that’d look pretty crazy for a ‘new’ trainer.

The professor seems to understand my explanation, though, and asks again for the fee. By now, Rarity has figured out how to work a coinpurse with her fingers, and extracts a pair of gold coins, and it suddenly hits me how gigantic they are when not being thrown around like monopoly money. Each one is almost as big around as my eyes, and they’re probably solid gold, knowing ponies and their silliness around valuable materials.

Once more, though, it looks as though the professor is broken, as her mouth hangs open, and she sputters like a fish.

“Will this cover three exams? Possibly five, Twi and Rarity might need a second chance.”

The professor nods dumbly. “Ah, that’ll... that’ll cover it, definitely.”

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