• Published 9th Dec 2014
  • 4,517 Views, 664 Comments

Old Scars, New Chances - Arcticbrony



Ethan Summers is a Pokémon caretaker that has been hiding from the law for several years. But when Arceus sent them to a new world, he finds himself teamed up with an unusual and unwanted partner. And running away from his problems is not an option

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Chapter 23

It was early morning in Neighagra Falls Sanctuary. The sun’s rays were warming up the homes and the ponies within them as they were getting ready for the day ahead of them. Out in the streets, on the other hand, it was mostly quiet. Only the occasional bird chirp in the distance or the low rumble of the waterfall could be heard as most ponies were still waking up. It was there that Ethan and Jenny were making their way through the streets with a singular goal in their minds.

Jenny had been the first one to go out at what she considered to be an ungodly hour. No human, Pokémon, or pony was meant to be up that early. Even with the coffee surging through her systems, it could only help so much. But the fact was that she could not sleep; she had not gotten any sleep at all, so she figured that she would head out and see if they had gotten the newspaper for the day. Of course, the store who sold said newspaper would not be open, but the papers were usually just dropped outside by the mailpony or whoever else that delivered them. And to her luck, a stack of newspapers were sitting just outside the door to the store that sold them.

Fishing out a small pouch from within her tails, Jenny dropped a few bits on the stack of papers as she took her own and turned to walk back to the warehouse. But before she could make any distance or even open up her paper, she heard a voice calling her. It was the same nurse that they had talked with two days before. She was panting slightly as she came to a stop in front of her, it seemed like she had ran the entire way. And much to Jenny’s relief, she was carrying good news.

So now, she and Ethan were making their way to the hospital to speak to the pegasus that had been working with Shady.

“So what are we going to do once we get there?” Ethan asked as they could see the hospital in the distance.

“We are going to interrogate him, of course.” Jenny responded. It had been the answer that Ethan had been expecting but still…

“I knew that, I meant did you have some sort of plan or tactic in mind?” He had a few ideas himself, but Jenny was the veteran on the subject.

“A few… first we will just talk to him to see if he is willing to tell us anything or if he is going to be stupid about this.” What made things even worse was that they did not know how much time they had either. It could already be too late for all they knew, so it was key that they got the information that they hoped he had as soon as possible.

Understanding the meaning behind Jenny's words, Ethan silently agreed with a nod. He could see that Jenny was uneasy about this, by the look on her face and he understood why. She had told him, and him alone about what she had done to get the information out of Rigid Paper when she had cornered him. She had told him about how horrible she had felt about that in the days that had followed. She had always worked to achieve the better way, but with the limited about of time they had, she was scared that she would have to sink down to that level once more.

Entering the hospital, Ethan and Jenny walked up to the mare that sat behind the counter with a sleepy look on her face.

“Good morning, we are here to see the pegasus that came in here with a broken jaw a few days ago. We were informed that he is able to speak again now.” Ethan spoke, catching the attention of the mare, who looked flustered for a moment before she gathered herself.

“Oh yes, then you would be Ethan and Jenny right?” The mare asked, getting a nod from both Ethan and Jenny. “Great! If you will follow me, I'll take you to him.” She said before she got up and walked off into a hallway to the side, Ethan and Jenny following shortly after.

After a few minutes of walking, they came to the end of a long corridor that had doors leading down, the mare stopping in front of the last one.

“He is in here, I'm afraid that Captain Protocol nor any other members of the police have arrived yet, but they should be here soon.” With that, she quickly left the same way that the three of them came while failing to stifle a large yawn.

“So…” Ethan looked down at Jenny who was intently staring at the door. “Should we wait for the others?” Ethan asked.

Jenny hummed silently to herself as she thought about what to do. Protocol, as his name suggested, would probably do things by the book. She was sure that he understood the importance of speed in their current situation, but she was not sure whenever or not he would be willing to take that extra step to get what they needed. They had been given an opportunity and she would not waste it.

“No, let’s just start and see if we get anywhere before they arrive.” Jenny answered as she walked forward and pushed the door open.

The inside of the room was rather bland, as usual for a hospital room. There was only a single bed in the middle of the room, with a nightstand next to it. Laying in the bed was the pony that they were there to see. He had been staring at them from the moment they had walked inside, and Ethan had cringed slightly when he first laid eyes upon him.

He was cuffed to the bed, that much they could see. It pretty much made escaping impossible as he would have to drag the entire hospital bed with him, which would have been a feat on its own if he had been healthy, impossible in his current state. It was apparent that he had just had surgery done on his jaw, by the lack of fur around that area of his face and by the bandages and contraption that his lower jaw was held in. Most likely to help it heal correctly.

“What do you want?” The pegasus positively sneered at Ethan and Jenny. His voice was raspy and hoarse but that was to be expected from somepony that had not spoken for several days.

“We are here to ask you some questions.” Jenny asked as she walked over to the edge of the bed. Ethan chose to stay quiet as it seemed that the pegasus had directed his aggressiveness towards him as he spoke. In fairness, he had broken his jaw so he understood why he was not exactly pleased to see him again.

“I thought that was what they were getting the cops for.” He spat as he was looking down at Jenny. “And I sure as hell ain't saying anything before they get here.” Jenny let out a low growl at that response and Ethan was sure that he could feel the temperature in the room rise slightly.

“Oh, I’ll make you talk you-” Everyone was caught off-guard as a knock came from the door and a Chansey came in, carrying a small tray with what looked like breakfast on it.

“Good morning mist- oh,” she paused as she noticed that there were more individuals in the room than she had suspected. “Hello to you too.” She quickly came over her surprise and greeted both Ethan and Jenny with a big smile as she made her way past them and put the tray with food down on the nightstand besides the bed. “I was not aware that you were going to have guests today.” She spoke with a big smile to the pegasus, whose face had softened slightly after she had walked in.

“They are not guests.” The pegasus grumbled as he watched the chansey put his food down.

“If you say so.” The Chansey responded with a sing like voice before she turned to Ethan and Jenny instead. “Is there anything I can do for the two of you?” She asked with the same kind smile she had worn when she had spoke with the pegasus.

“N-no, we are fine.” Jenny answered, Ethan on the other hand had spend almost every second since the Chansey walked in, looking at the pegasus, studying his facial expressions and taking note of the change of tone in his voice.

“No, I believe that we have everything that we need, thank you for asking though.” Ethan smiled kindly as a small idea was forming inside his mind. “I was not aware that they had a Chansey here. Are you enjoying yourself here?” Ethan inquired. He was rather happy to see a Chansey at the hospital. Pokémon had slowly but surely gotten gotten more and more common around the town, but there was still a ways to go. So seeing a Chansey working in the hospital without him having had to help with it really lifted his spirits.

“Oh, absolutely.” She beamed. “I was training to be able to work in a Pokémon Center before, so it feels good to be able to help people, or ponies and Pokémon once more.” She looked back to the pegasus that had started poking at his food. “Everyone needs help and someone to be there for them, even if they are not such a good person to begin with, so I am happy that you are here to visit him.” Hearing this the pegasus turned to glare at the Chansey who only giggled at the show of aggression. “I need to get going to some other patients, but it was a pleasure talking with you.” As she walked out, Ethan felt his whole body shiver as what felt like a paw slide past his bottom. When he looked after the Chansey he could see her wearing a small grin, and just before she closed the door she winked at him.

He honestly was not sure how he felt about that.

But back to the matters at hand. He had gotten an idea, from the Chansey's visit. Ethan tapped Jenny's back to grab her attention and motioned to the door when she was looking at him. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity but did not say anything as Ethan walked to the door and motioned for her to follow.

“We will be right back.” Ethan excused them as the pegasus was currently engrossed with his meal.

Jenny followed Ethan outside, into the hallway and waited until he had closed the door to voice her concerns.

“What the hell, Ethan?” She snapped in a hushed voice. “We don't exactly have a lot of time on our hands before Protocol and the rest of the cops show up. They might get lucky and get him to talk, their way, but I don’t want to risk that.” This was the one and only lead they currently had on Shady and she did not want to miss it.

“I know… but I think I can get him to talk.” Ethan said to Jenny's surprise. “I have a plan, just… do you think you could give me some time alone in there with him? I think that I can get through to him.” He asked. It was usually easier to get individuals to open up, the less people that were around.

Jenny looked up to Ethan as a small battle took place in her own mind. On one side, she wanted to take care of the interrogation herself. She was used to it, having done it and seen it done several times before. But on the other side, she wanted to let Ethan do it. If he was the one that tried to make the pegasus talk, that would mean that she would not have to cross that line again. She was scared that she would have to do the same things to him that she did to Rigid Paper. She knew that what she had done was wrong, that she had gone too far. But in her mind, the ends had justified her means, and the fact that she could justify something like that scared her like nothing else. It went against everything that she had been taught and everything that she had stood for. No, she could not allow herself to slip even further down that line.

She hated herself for what she was going to do, but she could not allow herself to sink any further down… to stoop to that level again.

“I… it’s fine. I would ask what your plan was, but you do what you got to do.” Jenny said, trying to ignore the foul taste she felt in her mouth. She was disgusted with herself. “How long do you think that you need?” She asked as Ethan put his paw on the door handle once again.

“I don’t know, it may be a little while, but see if you can't persuade Protocol to let me handle this, at least for as long as you can. I'm only going to be talking to him, so there is nothing for him or you to worry about… Wish me luck.” And with that, Ethan opened the door and entered once more. Leaving a conflicted Jenny standing outside in the empty hallway.

Inside, the pegasus had seemingly finished his breakfast and had been glaring at Ethan from the moment that he stepped back in.

“You’re back.” Ethan was not sure if those two words could have had any more malice to them. “What are you going to do? Break something else this time around?” Okay, he had a good reason to be displeased with him, he did break his jaw after all.

“I just want to talk a little.” Ethan said in a calm voice as he kept his distance from the bed. He would have sat down if possible, but there were not any chairs in the room. “You haven't told any of us your name yet.”

“And I don't plan on it.” The pegasus snapped almost immediately. The aggression that had been there before the Chansey had visited was back with full force. Which was something that Ethan was happy about, it meant that he had probably been right in his assessment.

“Okay then, my name is Ethan in any case.” He waited a moment to see if he would get a reaction out of the pegasus from that, but when he stayed quiet, Ethan continued. “You know, you are in this pretty deep. It would help you a lot if you simply talked.” At this the pegasus simply started chuckling softly to himself.

“What is there to talk about? Me and Shady was just running a simple small poaching business.” An obvious lie, though if Ethan had not known about the organisation that they were working for, then he may have been a little more inclined to have believed said lie. Though perhaps there were a few strands of truth to what he had said.

“A couple of simple poachers huh? I wonder, why would someone such as you go into poaching? The easy money perhaps?” Ethan decided to hold off on the information about The Weavers for a bit longer. If he was too straightforward and aggressive about this, then the pegasus was more likely to wall back onto the defensive. And if that happened, then Ethan was not likely to get any information out of him at all.

The pegasus did not answer Ethan's question right away. But as Ethan held his kind smile, their eyes met and the pegasus gave in, if only a little bit.

“S-something like that I guess.” It was only a few words, but it was something that Ethan could grab a hold of and use. He did not necessarily like putting on his mask of deception, but the pegasus in front of him was not a leader, but a follower. And he was not too smart, that Ethan had already noticed, with how little he cared for hiding his own emotions.

“Yes, easy money with little risk. I mean, you don't harm anyone when all you do is capture some animals and deliver them to whoever you are told.” Ethan could feel himself getting a bad taste in his mouth as those words left his tongue, but it was a necessity. “Nothing to feel guilty over, right?” That was the first blow, and he could already see its effects.

The pegasus squirmed slightly in his bed, as if he was uncomfortable. Ethan could see his eyes shifting, mostly looking either down at the floor or at the wall in front of his bed, he had been unable to look Ethan in his eyes ever since they had begun to talk. But it seemed that the first blow was not going to be enough, as the pegasus was staying quiet. He would have to take a slightly more aggressive route.

“She seemed kind, that Chansey.” At those words, the pegasus looked up at Ethan once again, his ears perked and turned towards him. “I take it that she is the one that has been helping you, and taking care of you while you have been staying here. Is she also just a dumb animal to you?” Ethan had to hold himself back from grinning as he could see the eyes of the pegasus widening before he looked away.

“N-no… it’s not like that.” His voice was quiet, the persona he had been holding up earlier was shattered. Ethan's ears twitched as he could hear several pairs of hooves in the hallways. It seemed that the police was arriving.

“Then what was it?!” Ethan raised his voice, almost yelling as he slammed his paw down onto the nightstand. This was the part where everything would either go according to plan, or sink horribly. “You have seen for yourself that we are not just some kind of dumb animals, we are just as intelligent, as compassionate, as kind as any pony you would meet. Did you just not care? Was that it? Did none of that matter, as long as you got paid in the end?” Ethan could already see that the pegasus was breaking. He was not looking anywhere but straight down, refusing to meet or even look at Ethan. His whole body was even shaking. Ethan had won.

“N-no, it’s… n-no pony was supposed to get hurt. I didn't, I didn't know…” Ethan had to contain almost all of his anger as he heard what the pegasus spoke lastly with a much lower voice. “I… I did not want to know.”

“Well, things did not work out like you had planned, did they?” Ethan said as he now could hear Jenny and Protocol talk outside in the hallway. “Someone did get hurt… someone died.” At that the pegasus looked directly up at Ethan, tears streaming from his eyes, before he started muttering, repeating the word “no,” over and over to himself. “We already know about The Weavers. Why don't you tell me where we can find your partner. Where we can find Shady so that we can stop all of this.”

It probably would not matter even if Protocol and the other police came into the room at that point. Ethan had already managed to break through the barriers that the pegasus had managed to surround himself with. He had dealt with criminals, real criminals for many years, and what he saw in that pegasus was not a criminal. All he had ever wanted was some easy, money. He had never been prepared to really hurt anyone, or anypony. He was not capable of it. Maybe Shady or somepony else had convinced him that the Pokémon really were nothing more than dumb animals, perhaps he was too scared to ask any questions. Ethan was not exactly sure, but it did not matter. What mattered now, was whether or not he knew where they could find Shady.

“It… it may be too late already.” The pegasus started, just as the door opened and Ethan could hear a set of hooved slowly enter the room. “T-there was a base, an old abandoned mine that was north of the waterfall. We were supposed to bring the creatures that we had caught up there. T-that’s all I know, I swear!” He cried out.

“Well,” Ethan started as he turned around to face Protocol with a satisfied smile on his face. “It seems that we have our location.”


Jenny was walking alongside Brawly towards a location at the edge of the village where they all were supposed to meet up. After everything had been sorted out at the hospital, they had decided to go to the location that the pegasus had described as quickly as possible. The police needed a small amount of time to get ready for such an operation, as they had no idea what was waiting for them, so they took all necessary precautions.

Ethan had sent Jenny to pick up Brawly; he was a good fighter, so they thought that it would be good to have him with them. And as Ethan had put it, if they had gone without him, they would never have heard the end of it. Ethan himself had gone to give word to Mary Care, she would be useful in case there were some injured Pokémon at the scene. He had also mentioned something about someone else that he would bring along, but he had taken off before Jenny could ask any more so she was left to wonder.

Jenny had not even had any time to ask Ethan what he had done in that room with the pegasus before he took off. She had been more than a little curious and slightly put off when she and Protocol entered the room to see the pegasus reduced to a crying wreck of his former self. She was not sure if she should feel impressed or scared concerning Ethan. Whatever he had done had given them the results they were looking for anyway, so it was not that important anyway.

“You are unusually quiet today.” She commented as Brawly had not said a word the entire time since they had left their home. Not that he normally said that much, but he seemed a bit different to her, she just could not put her paw on what. She had just filled him in on what had happened as he did not need any more persuasion to come along. The only thing they had to deal with was having to convince Zoey that she had to stay behind. With the look that she had on her face when they left, let’s just say that Jenny did not want to be in Ethan’s place when they returned.

“You haven't exactly been chatting up a storm yourself.” Brawly commented with his trademark smile. “Something on your mind?” Jenny had half a mind to ask him the same thing, but decided to drop it.

“No, I guess not.” And with that the silence continued. Not that she had anything against that.

Protocol and the rest of the police had shown up to the meeting place shortly after Jenny and Brawly had gotten there. Now they were just waiting for Mary, Ethan, and whoever was the last one he was bringing.

They had waited for a few minutes, and Protocol was getting a bit impatient and was about to ask Jenny what was taking Ethan so long, when some screams could be heard from the direction of the village. Protocol and the rest of his police ponies got ready and was about to charge to see what was happening when something came into view in the distance.

It was much larger than any of them and was approaching with an alarming speed.

“It seems like Ethan brought some extra firepower along.” Brawly grinned as Scylla same to a slithering stop in front of the group. She had been cooped up for so long and was itching to finally get out and do something. And behind her, was Ethan who had been running besides her the entire way.

“You couldn't have gone around the town like I asked you too?” Ethan asked. More than a few ponies had gone into a slight state of panic when the large Gyarados had come slithering through town at high speeds. Ethan had tried to stop her, but she was so enthusiastic about the possibility of a fight that she just wanted to get going as quickly as possible.

“They will get over it.” She huffed, much to Ethan’s annoyance. But she had agreed to help, so he wouldn't comment any further on it.

“Are we all present now then?” Protocol asked. There was quite a distance they would have to travel to get to their destination so he wanted to get going as soon as possible.

“Just about.” Ethan told him with a smile as Scylla was looking over everypony that was present, assessing them.. Most of them felt a shiver as her gaze traveled over them. “Mary was making her way just after us, but it seemed like we may have outran her. If someone hadn't been in such a hurry.” He sent a small glare at Scylla who just huffed and ignored the comment.

But it did not take long for another figure to appear in the distance as Mary Care came running as fast as her legs could carry her, strapped with two saddle bags brimming with medical supplies. She was gasping for breath as she came to a stop, having galloped as fast as she could in a futile attempt to keep up with Scylla and Ethan.

“I… I am here.” She panted as she had to steady herself on something as to not collapse where she stood when she was catching her breath. She had just not noticed what she was supporting herself on. And when she looked up what she was was something huge and blue who was staring down on her with a curious look. “Oh, I… I am so sorry, I did not mean to-” was all that she got to say before Scylla started slithering along the ground, taking lead.

“Then we are all here. Let's waste no more time.” Protocol announced as he and his men quickly followed after Scylla.

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked Mary as Jenny had also gone on ahead after the rest of the group. They were not traveling at full speed, but they were rather keeping a good pace.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Mary replied as she and Ethan also got started. They were, to Mary's relief, not going as quickly as when she had tried to catch up to Ethan and Scylla earlier.

“That’s good then. Thank you for agreeing to come along with us.” Ethan smiled down at her as the two of them were still a small distance behind the rest of the group. “I really appreciate it.”

“Hey, it’s what friends are for, right?” Mary smiled right back. “Besides, it’s not like I could just sit back home and do nothing.”

“Heh, I guess you are right.” Ethan agreed as they kept going at a steady pace. Scylla thankfully having calmed down, if only slightly and lowered her speed accordingly. Ethan did not think that her enthusiasm was a bad thing, but it would perhaps be for the best that Protocol was leading their little operation as he actually knew where they were heading. “Come on, let’s catch up to them.” Ethan smiled as he sped up slightly.

“Hey, wait for me!” Mary shouted after him as she kept trotting after them. She cursed silently to herself as her saddlebags were not exactly light. She had wanted to come prepared in the case that they may need any of it, but maybe she had overdone it slightly.

And as she trotted to catch up with the rest of the group, a small pink tail slipped out of one of her saddlebags as they were bouncing around slightly, only hanging out for a few moments before slipping back into the bag, going unnoticed by anyone.