A New World, A New Family

by Lance Skyes

6: Clearing the Air

“Greetings citizens of Equus, both new and old,” a powerful voice boomed within the minds of every being on the planet.

“Mamma, what's going on?” Roo asked, as she held close to her mother.

“I don't know, Roo,” Kanga replied as she tried to comfort her terrified daughter.

“Pinky, you're the psychic here,” Felix said. “Can't you tell us?”

“Just because I'm a Psychic-type doesn't mean I'm as smart as an Alakazam,” Pinky replied. “I don't have all the answers all the time, ya know.”

“Something tells me they don't know either,” Lyra commented aside to Bon Bon.

”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokemon realm,” the voice continued. ”You have no reason to fear me. I come in peace.”

Felix, Lyra, and Bon Bon were generally unaffected by that explanation, but merely a glance to the other Pokemon around them indicated that what was just said was very important.

“Felix, do you remember that book I showed you about myths and legends surrounding Legendary Pokemon?” Pinky asked as she noticed that Felix wasn't reacting much. “I'd refer you to that one chapter that explained how our world came into existence.”

Felix thought for a moment before he realized what Pinky was talking about. “You don't mean... this is that same Arceus? He's actually real?”

”I have revealed myself to inform you that I am the one responsible for the Pokemon's presence in this world,” Arceus continued. ”For the citizens of Equus, the Pokemon are the beings who have appeared over the past few days.”

“Look at that,” Pinky said. “I guessed that part right. It was Arceus who- GAAH!” Pinky shouted and leapt up into the air as Shelly bit down hard on her tail. “Ow, alright, it was you who helped me guess this was something like Arceus all along. That doesn't mean you have to bite me for not giving credit.”

”I have my reasons for bringing them here, and to the leaders I shall reveal them in time. But for now, a warning. The Pokemon, while some may not seem it, are just as intelligent as any race who calls Equus home. And, seeing as they are my subjects, I will not tolerate them being treated any differently than you would treat your fellow pony, griffon, minotaur, diamond dog, changeling, deer, hippocampi, zebra, horse, buffalo, cow, donkey, or dragon depending on which race you belong to.”

There was a pause, and Lyra was about to say something before she got cut off by Arceus speaking again. ”To my Pokemon, I say this. I brought you, all of you, here so that you could live in peace. Do not seek to harm the natives of this world, for I am the one responsible for your displacement. And to the Pokemon who went through changes when I brought you here, I say this.” Felix blinked once as he realized that Arceus was talking about him now. ”You are the ones who proved themselves worthy, those who were fair, kind, and good in the old world. Consider this your reward. And to all of you, as sapients, the laws of Equus and the varying countries now apply to you, and only the laws of Equus.”

Kanga gave a side glance towards Felix upon hearing this. She knew what Arceus was talking about, but it seemed to her that this completely flew over Felix's head at first. Maybe he'd get it after thinking it over for a minute...

”That is all for now, but just to be clear, the Pokemon are not to be harmed simply out of spite. If you have a problem with what I've done, feel free to contact me. I currently reside in an ancient temple deep in the Everfree Forest, or in a pocket dimension outside the space-time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.”

“Man, I can feel him smirking at that last bit,” Pinky commented.

”Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”

Then, there was silence. An unusual silence, however. It wasn't an awkward silence, it wasn't painful or strained, it was just... still. At least until...

“Oh, that's what he meant by 'only the laws of Equus'!” Felix shouted, startling those around him slightly. “I am just not functioning today, am I?”

There was another short pause before Lyra spoke up. “So...” she said, “I guess that means you guys are about stuck here, huh?”

”Looks like it,” Pinky replied with a shrug. ”I mean, you have to be pretty stupid and/or reckless to try to get Arceus to change his mind.”

Princess Celestia sneezed.

“If that's the case... what do you all plan on doing now?” Bon Bon asked.

Kanga blinked once. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“Well, I mean, I'm guessing you don't have a home now that you're in a different world, and-” Bon Bon started, but she stopped suddenly. “Wait, I just understood you!”

“That would be my doing,” Pinky said. “I took the liberty of setting up a psychic translator in your minds while there was a pause in our conversation. It's really powerful and is supposed to translate any and all Pokemon you talk to, but it's also really stressful on my powers, so it might not last that long.”

“Well thank you,” Bon Bon said. She then turned back to Kanga. “As I was saying, do you all have somewhere to stay?”

“No, actually,” Kanga said. “I mean, last night we just slept in a clearing in that forest over there.” She indicated the Everfree Forest in the distance. It was about at this time that everyone noticed Spear Pillar in the heart of the forest, but no one really paid it any mind.

“You mean... you all spent the night in the Everfree Forest?” Lyra asked, her expression a mixture of shock and impression.

“Is that what it's called?” Felix asked. “Huh, I guess that's good to know.”

Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the Pokemon. “You mean... you didn't encounter anything that tried to eat you or something in there?” Bon Bon asked.

“More than one flower tried to eat my brother and I,” Butters said.

“Other than that, nothing particularly odd,” Pinky added. “And even then, it wasn't even the worst place we've spent the night before.” The Slowbro shuddered at the memory of the time She, Piggy, Drake, and Felix, along with a couple of other Pokemon that Felix had at the time, got stuck in the Castelia Sewers one night when Felix was just a month into his journey.

Meanwhile, both ponies were silent for a moment as they tried to process the fact that these creatures had spent more than 24 hours inside the Everfree Forest, the most terrifying place within range of Ponyville. And they hardly seemed fazed, at that.

While the two were silent, Felix put a thought at the front of his mind. ”Pinky, can I get you to do me a quick favor?” His hope being that the Slowbro would pick his thought up with how diligently she scanned the thoughts around her normally.

Fortunately, he made his guess correctly. ”No, I'm not going to pin the blue one down for you,” Pinky replied.

”What?” Felix almost shouted out loud. The reply managed to stay in his mind, however.

”Calm down, I'm joking,” Pinky replied. ”Yes, those two are in a relationship and yes, they do plan on making it final tonight.”

”How did you- oh,” Felix thought. ”I am just not on my game today. Thanks, though.”

”Anytime, Felix,” Pinky replied, taking a moment to look into why her trainer asked her for such a favor.

“Hey...” Felix said out loud as he stepped forward towards the ponies. “Bon Bon, was it? Can I have a quick word with you?”

Bon Bon looked to her marefriend, who just gave a shrug in response. “I guess,” the earth pony said to Felix.”

“Good timing,” Lyra said. “Kanga, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Kanga asked. “I suppose so.”

Both sides gave nods to their partners before going aside with whomever asked for them.

“Alright, I'm not going to beat around the bush here,” Felix said to Bon Bon. “I know you and Lyra are together. And I mean... together.”

“Are you saying you have a problem with that?” Bon Bon asked, quizzically raising an eyebrow.

“No, no,” Felix replied. “In fact, I'm happy for you. You see... I've never been in a relationship before.”

“But you and Kanga seem so close,” Bon Bon replied with a curious tone. “You even have a child.”

“Roo isn't mine,” Felix replied. “And me and Kanga are just... in the world we lived in before yesterday, a relationship between me and her would have been... frowned upon, for lack of a better term. And even then we weren't- Never mind. That's not important right now. What is important is that you two took care of Roo for the past day, and I want to thank you for that.”

“How so?” Bon Bon asked.

“Pinky knows you plan on tying the knot with Lyra tonight,” Felix replied. “And if it doesn't conflict with any other plans you might have with her, I kinda wanted to help you with making your proposal... special.”

“Special how?” Bon Bon asked.

Felix took a deep breath before explaining himself.

Meanwhile, Kanga was talking with Lyra, while Roo was left with Pinky.

“If I haven't said this already, thank you for taking care of Roo,” Kanga said to Lyra. “These past few days have just been all over the place, and knowing Roo was being taken care of yesterday... I think Felix would say 'It means a lot to me.'”

“You're welcome,” Lyra replied. “Actually, Roo is kind of the subject of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Kanga asked.

“You see...” Lyra started. “I don't know if you were able to tell or not, but Bon Bon and I are in a relationship. And... I hate to admit it, but we were going a bit south. When Roo appeared on our doorstep yesterday morning though, a new kind of spark ignited between us. Roo seemed to refresh our relationship. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like she came into our lives for a reason.”

“Before you go any further,” Kanga said quickly. “I don't plan on letting Roo go a second time.”

“Oh heavens no!” Lyra said. “I wouldn't dream of breaking a mother away from her child. Especially after what I'm sure you went through yesterday. What I was actually asking was... what if we helped with taking care of her? I mean in the sense that we become part of your family with Roo as our centerpiece. I know it sounds stupid and I probably shouldn't have said anything about it in the first place, but... I don't know. Roo just holds something that Bon Bon and I been missing, and I felt like I needed to at least try.”

Kanga was silent for a moment before responding. “You'd actually be quite surprised at how stupid your proposal doesn't sound,” she said. “I mean, adopting yourself into a family is one of the more sane ways of extending your family in our world. Where we come from, Felix's 'family' is comprised almost entirely of Pokemon that he's caught throughout his journey, myself and Roo included. And by 'caught,' I mean Pokemon he already had battled others, and then once that Pokemon was weakened, Felix threw a Pokeball at it and captured it. That being said, it might be obvious that we aren't literally his family, but we become so close to each other...” Kanga trailed off as she struck one of her own nerves. After a few seconds' pause, she shook her head and continued. “My point is that we could probably do that.”

“Than-” Lyra started.

“However,” Kanga interrupted, “this is bound to two conditions. One, this has to be cleared with Felix. He's our main authority when it comes to matters that affect any one of us, especially if it affects the whole team. Second...” Kanga donned a serious expression. “It's only because Felix has been teaching me better trust skills lately that I haven't beaten the ever-living Krabby out of you and Bon Bon, assuming the whole time that you two were responsible for Roo's disappearance. I have some degree of trust in you two, seeing as Roo seems perfectly ok, but if you do anything to hurt her, or Felix, or any other member of my family... you'll be sorry. Do I make myself clear?”

Lyra stepped back a little and gulped before making several motions with her right hoof, consisting of drawing an X over her chest, flapping her hoof slightly, and finally sticking it in her eye.

Pinkie Pie sneezed, spawning a small cloud of confetti.

“What was that?” Kanga asked.

“A Pinkie Promise,” Lyra replied. “You know, 'Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.'” Kanga simply raised an eyebrow. “It's a... 'thing' in this town. Never mind. The point is I make the ultimate unbreakable promise that no harm will befall Roo or anyone else you care about by our hooves.”

Kanga was silent for a moment before replying to Lyra. “Good. Maybe this won't be the second decision I've made in this world that I'll come to regret.”

It was only a few more seconds of idle chatter later that everyone regrouped.

“Felix, there's something I need to ask you,” Kanga said, not willing to waste any time.

“Oh?” Felix asked. “That's funny, because there was something I wanted to talk to you about. You say what you want to say first, though.”

“Alright,” Kanga said. “Lyra was talking to me, and she told me that she and Bon Bon have become quite fond of Roo.”

“I guess I just have that kind of charm,” Roo said with an adorable smile.

“Anyway,” Kanga continued, “Lyra made a proposition to me.” The Kangaskhan turned to Lyra and gave her a nod.

The unicorn stepped forward towards Felix. “Um...” she started. “Would it be all right if... Bon Bon and I become a part of your family for the sake of helping to take care of Roo? I'd understand if you said no, it's just that-”

“I don't see a problem with that,” Felix said with a shrug.

“WHAT?” both Lyra and Bon Bon asked at the same time.

“You mean... you don't even have the slightest objection to us being a part of your family?” Lyra asked.

“Well of course I have slight objections,” Felix replied. “I hardly know you two, after all. But seeing as you two spent all of yesterday taking care of Roo, it's obvious you care for her just as much as any of us do. Plus, if you had any ill will against us, you surely would have acted upon it by now.”

“Well...” Kanga said, turning to Lyra. “If you've got Felix's vote, then I guess I'm on board with it.”

“If this decision binds us to this town, I'm good,” Pinky said with a shrug. “It seems pretty interesting. For instance, on our way in, I saw some ponies holding a Chess tournament. I love Chess.” Pinky was silent for a moment as she noticed the ponies looking at her in confusion and the Pokemon (save Butters and Breeze) face-palming. (Or face-vining in Felix's case.) “Um... plus with how many Pokemon there are in this town, it's not impossible that others from our team might be around here.”

“Hey, that's true,” Felix said. “I didn't even think about looking for the others while back in that forest. Oh, and while we're on the topic, I was planning a little trip for tonight.”

“How is a little trip on the topic of your lost team?” Butters asked inquisitively.

“Because the trip is up to that mountain over there,” Felix replied, turning and pointing towards a mountain looming in the north. “Don't ask me how, but I have a hunch a certain Tyrannitar might be up there.”

“Tartar?” Pinky asked.

“Exactly,” Felix replied. He then turned to Lyra and Bon Bon. “I think you two might like him. He's a bit... out of the ordinary for a Tyrannitar, but that just makes him good with strangers. (Well, by 'good with strangers,' I mean he doesn't try to attack them violently like most Tyrannitar do.)”

Both ponies raised a curious eyebrow at this.

“Oh calm down,” Felix said. “Even if he doesn't take you two well, I can stop him from doing something stupid. And even if he's not there, there is something else I'd like you two to see.”

“Like what?” Lyra asked.

Felix simply chuckled at this. “Oh, it's a surprise. But trust me, when you see it, you'll-”

*rumble*

Felix was cut off suddenly when he heard a familiar sound come from his midsection. Looking around, he noticed that a few of the others probably would have agreed with him.

“I don't need a translator to know what that means,” Bon Bon said with a giggle.

“Eh heh...” Felix said with a nervous chuckle. “Now that I think about it, I don't think any of us have had breakfast yet. We were so focused on getting here, we didn't bother to find any apples in that forest.”

“You mean you've been eating Everfree apples?” Lyra asked.

“Yes,” Kanga replied. “Why? Are they poisonous or something?”

“No,” Lyra replied. “They just taste awful.”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “They didn't taste that bad in my opinion,” he said. “In fact, they tasted delicious in comparison to the apples we had in our world.”

Bon Bon and Lyra just looked at each other before turning back to the Pokemon. “Well if that's what you think...” Bon Bon started, “just you wait until you taste apples from Sweet Apple Acres. They will blow your minds.” She then turned and indicated for the others to follow her. “Come on. We'll treat you all to some pies and fritters.”

“Really?” Felix asked. “I don't want you to spend more money than you have on us.”

“Oh, it's really no trouble,” Lyra said. “We're pretty well off, so we can treat you guys to a lunch, especially if you've never had Sweet Apple Acres apples.”

“If you're offering, I don't see why we should say no,” Felix said. He then turned to his Pokemon. “What do you all say?”

“I say let's go!” Roo cheered, nearly bouncing out of Kanga's pouch in her excitement.

“I guess that's the only vote that counts, huh?” Butters said. He was likely smiling, but it would have been difficult to tell.

“Seems like it,” Pinky said.

“I could go for some pie,” Kanga said with a shrug.

“Alright,” Lyra said. “Follow us.” She and Bon Bon then began walking off, the Pokemon following. However, Felix was pulled to the back of the group by Pinky.

“What is it, Pinky?” Felix asked.

“You and I both know that Tartar isn't the reason you want to bring everyone up to that mountain tonight,” Pinky replied.

“Alright, you've got me,” Felix said. “I wanted to get a nice backdrop for Bon Bon's proposal to Lyra, and-”

“Lying to me?” Pinky asked while shaking her head. “Come on, Felix. I was the second Pokemon you ever caught. We've traveled too long together for you to be forgetting what I can do.”

Felix simply let out a sigh. “Alright, fine,” he said. “There's more to it. But please, I am begging you, just this once, don't tell any of the others about it.”

“Felix, you really need to learn to give me more credit,” Pinky said. “You may know me as a... you call me a 'troll,' correct? But believe me when I say that even I know when boundaries are not to be crossed.”

Felix was caught speechless at this sudden change in what he'd likely call his most annoying Pokemon. “Th-thank you, Pinky,” the Meganium said. “I can't tell you how much this means to me.”

“How much what means to you?” Kanga asked. Both Felix and Pinky looked up to see that the Kangaskhan had fallen behind slightly to try to find out what the two were talking about.

“It's nothing,” Pinky replied.

“Yeah, nothing,” Felix added. “We were just talking about... where everyone else might be. Drake, Piggy, and Nana, I mean. Pretty sure we'll run into Nana if we look through that Everfree Forest again.”

Kanga was a little skeptical at this, but she figured nothing really bad could be afoot if Felix was in agreement with Pinky over something. “Alright,” Kanga said. “It would be nice to get to trying to bring the family back together as soon as possible.”

“Hey Felix,” Roo said. “There's something I wanted to ask you.”

“What?” Felix asked.

“Is there something different about you?” the young Kangaskhan asked. “I know something's changed about you, but I can't put my finger on it.”

Both Kanga and Felix looked up at each other with looks of confusion before just shrugging off Roo's comment and laughing.

Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon were looking back at the group.

“I dunno about you, but I think they're all really adorable,” Lyra said to Bon Bon with a smile.

“They are kinda,” Bon Bon said. “From what I can gather, though, they're just a drop in the bucket in terms of what these 'Pokemon' could be. I mean, for all we know, one could be as adorable as Roo, and the next one could be a huge three-headed dragon who will devour everything in its path!”

Lyra was silent for a moment before smiling and patting Bon Bon on the shoulder. “You can be a real pessimist sometimes,” the unicorn said. “But you know what? It's because of the little quirks like that that I love you.”

“Aw,” Bon Bon said with a smile. “It's sometimes hard to believe how sweet you can be, Lyra.”

“Yeah, well... I do have my moments,” Lyra replied, returning the smile.

Author's Note:

First off, I'm done providing Bulbapedia links. It's far more of a hassle than you might expect.
Sounds more to me like you're just being lazy.
Oh shut up, Pinky.
Next, you should probably know that I'm not going to write any more here until nightfall. All you need to know is that they all had lunch, then Felix and the others left to make some preparations. (Of course Roo is with Kanga. Why would Lyra and Bon Bon bring her to their romantic dinner?)
As for why Felix wants to bring everyone up to the mountain, half of the reason should be fairly obvious. I couldn't move the story forward very effectively without revealing it. As for more details, I'll go into it all in the next chapter.
Ah, I remember that night we spent in the Castelia Sewers. I don't think my wool ever got clean, even after I evolved.
Yes, Drake. It was a night we all remember fondly. By the way, where are you in Equestria right now?
I'm... looking for someone. Not Felix, but someone else.
Mysterious much? You're an Ampharos, not a Gengar.

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[Dismay]

Princess Celestia Sneezed

Bless you