Rumbling Thunder
After making their way from the Rock Farm, the group were on the way to Appleoosa, for both Twilight and Applejack’s sake. The former for her gym battle, and the latter sent to retrieve something sent. They were very nearly there, and had decided to take a break in the forest on the edge of the city. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie decided to take the time to sit down, and eat some of the delicious baked goods Pinkie had stored in her bag. Rainbow was sitting on the edge, cleaning Shuckle’s shell, not because she cared about whether it was clean or dirty, since the way she saw it Shuckle was awesome either way, but Rarity had kept bugging her about it, only stopping now to eat. Applejack was lying against one of the trees with a piece of hay in her mouth, resting and enjoying the sun now that it wasn’t beating down on them so harshly. She didn’t typically relax, but enjoyed taking in the moment with her friends. However, a small explosion brought her out of that moment.
“Wh-?!” She dropped the hay from her mouth and flailed her arms, looking to her left. A tree near her had been struck with something, a small amount of smoke rising from the broken bark. “Can ya be more careful with that, Twi? Blasted attack almost hit me!”
“That’s impossible, Applejack. Swift is an attack that never misses its target, and the target was that tree.” Twilight explained, her Eevee standing in front of her with it’s legs poised.
“You know, you could relax a little? You’re in a nice forest with nice food and nice people.” Rarity reasoned, sticking her finger out with a smile on her face.
“We’re almost at Appleloosa, so unless you want me to be underprepared against the gym leader Thunderhooves, then I will continue and make the utmost preparations. This was a task given to me by Celestia herself, and things will only get more difficult after Sapphire Shores. Free time like this is the perfect time to train my Pokemon.”
“Well can ya at least do it a little farther away? Ya might end up gettin’ one a’ us hurt.” Applejack sighed.
“I suppose I could use this opportunity to go out and train against some wild Pokemon and do a little extra research while I’m at it. Very well.” She nodded, taking a step away from the group and venturing off into the woods while Applejack watched with a sigh.
“Sometimes, I don’t get that girl.” She shook her head.
“Rather enthusiastic, isn’t she?” Rarity smiled, pressing her hands together. “Dedicated to a craft. Respectable, is it not? I wonder if everyone from Canterlot is like that?”
“Dedicated is one word for it.” Spike muttered, before going back to staring at Rarity.
“Much better! No distractions.” Twilight smiled, her hands on her hips. She’d been looking through her encyclopedia and searching for any absent berries or fruit that might be beneficial to her while walking, but came up with nothing but a small brown jacket someone had irresponsibly left behind, looking like something Spike might wear if he was trying to be cool. Eevee on the other hand was staring back at the direction they came in. “We won’t worry about them. So it’ll be fine if we just train.” With that, she sent all her Pokemon out (except Gengar). Ralts and Hoothoot.
“We’re going to be doing serious work from here on out. We’ll start with practicing long-range attacks on some trees now. If any wild Pokemon come out, don’t hesitate against them. But if it’s one we haven’t seen it’s best to weaken them, and I’ll be able to send them off to Professor Zecora. Understood?” All three of them nodded, and they went out.
Eevee kept practicing its Swift on the trees, while Hoothoot flew above and landed on a tree, its eyes glowing with Foresight as it sought out any wild enemies hiding or lying in wait. As they were about to attack, it unearthed them, before Eeevee changed its targets from trees to the wild ones hitting them with Swift and knocking them back. Under Twilight’s orders it didn’t let up until they were weak, and she threw a Pokeball at them, catching all sorts of Pokemon such as Cubone, Spinarak, Seedot and Foongus, registering them in her Pokedex. She smiled at the results, nodding to herself and thinking about how perfectly things were going, and if Celestia would be proud of her for all the new research she was doing. As she was looking at the Pokedex, something leapt up from behind one of the trees shooting at her in a Rapid Spin. When she looked up with wide eyes, she called out to her Pokemon.
“Ah! Hit that thing!” She ordered, raising her arms in defence. Ralts was the first to respond using a Magical Leaf, hitting the Pokemon head-on and making it miss Twilight. When the trainer lowered her arms, she recognised the tan figure with its clay body and red markings.
Twilight gasped as she looked to the Baltoy, the fight in Los Pegasus flashing through her mind, and she began looking around for the redhead it surely belonged to, but no sign of her.
“A wild Baltoy. Of course.” She sighed, before looking at the Baltoy. It wasn’t making any move, waiting to see what she’d do. As she stared back at it though, she felt frustration building up in her body. Despite not actually being there, Twilight could see the redhead it had belonged to, laughing at her.
“So this is Celestia’s golden girl?”
Twilight clenched her fist.
“What a joke.”
“Deal with it Ralts.” On her command, the psychic-type fired off another Magical Leaf, but this one was stopped short by a Mud Slap, before the Baltoy spun straight at Ralts and knocked it away.
“Come on, just hit it with a Magical Leaf and it’ll go down.” Ralts was hesitant at Twilight’s sterner tone, but began firing off the same attack, but small boulders came down both blocking the blows and pinning the fairy-type down. The Baltoy went in for another attack, but as Twilight was about to order another attack, something with multiple legs dropped on her head, causing her to scream. She tried swatting it off her, but it jumped down in front of her. Baltoy’s attack was blocked by a Nincada, who jumped on it and sapped its strength with a Leech Life.
“Look like you’re having some trouble with this thing.” A snickering voice spoke behind her.
”What do you want, Rainbow?” She sighed.
“To watch your training. It looks awesome. You’re beating so many other Pokemon!” The sporty girl pumped her fist with a grin.
“My Pokemon are getting results for the most part, if that’s what you mean.”
“What I mean is you guys look awesome.” She smiled, stars in her eyes.
“...Right. Well maybe you should get back with the others. You’ll be caught in the crossfire after all.”
“I’m not worried about that. I’m too quick on the draw. Have to be if you wanna be part of Spitfire’s crew.”
“Well I’m afraid they’re a lot faster than you. Your speed couldn’t compare to theirs.’’ Twilight shrugged, stating it as if it were matter of fact, not really caring what Rainbow thought.
As the two spoke, more Pokemon made their way out of the grass and trees, their eyes glowing as they hungered for battle against the pair of outsiders. Twilight was about to turn to them and continue her training, pretending Rainbow wasn’t there. “That so? I bet I could beat every Pokemon in this area before you could blink.”
“Fine, go ahea-” Before Twilight could finish her sentence, Rainbow had summoned Taillow, along with her own Eevee.
“Wing Attack the bugs, Scratch the ground-types and Quick Attack everything else! Oh, and be as awesome as possible while you do.” Taillow flew around the woods, hitting the wild insects with its wings, while Nincada and Eevee dashed along the ground, hitting everything they could with their speed with their claws and paws. In a few seconds, most of the wild Pokemon had fainted. Twilight was shocked at how quickly she’d worked, wondering if the girl’s ability to cover ground could assist her in other ways, but before she could say anything the multicoloured trainer pointed to the last Pokemon standing, the Baltoy. “Now all in one direction!” The trio turned to where their trainer was pointing, jumping at their final target.
Suddenly, it was knocked back into a tree and fainted from a single hit, but it wasn’t from an attack by any of the two trainers’ Pokemon. Instead, the Baltoy had been knocked to the side by a glowing metallic tail that belonged to something else entirely, something that had leapt in front of them, taking. The thing in question was large, having a feline appearance with a mess of shaggy black fur that had a blue muzzle pointing through, snarling at the Baltoy it had just defeated with a mean look on its face. Roaring, it hit the downed Pokemon with another Iron Tail, sending it into another tree and, if Twilight’s ears weren’t failing her, cracked it.
“What in the…” Twilight muttered, but before she could do anything else its eyes shot towards the two of them, making them flinch. It snarled, swinging its tail at all three of Rainbow’s Pokemon, who managed to avoid it and gain distance, stopping at Twilight and Rainbow’s feet.
Emanating electricity from its body, hitting all Pokemon in the area. All of Twilight’s Pokemon and most of Rainbow’s had taken heavy damage from the attack, a few of them even fainted after the single attack. But it wasn’t done. Eyes full of rage, its gaze was now directed at the trainers. Once more, electricity surrounded it. When it looked Twilight in the eyes, she could tell it was aiming for her first. But all her Pokemon, tired already from the constant battles, had fainted. She thought she was done for, until she realised something pressed against her feet. When she looked down, she realised there was still one option. Nincada was there. When it shot the electric attack, her legs moved, scooping Nincada up on the top of her foot and kicking it straight into Luxray’s attack.
“Nincada!” Rainbow looked at it with wide eyes, before glaring at Twilight. “What did you do that for?!”
“Relax already.” Twilight sighed, relaxing slightly, before pointing at Nincada, who was completely fine as it landed on the electric-type’s head. “It’s a ground-type. Electric attacks are useless.”
“Whoa…” Rainbow blinked, before grinning. “Let’s get ‘em now Nincada! No more messing around!”
“All you do is mess around.” Twilight thought, watching with a sigh.
“Leech Life!” On Rainbow’s command, Nincada bit into the electric-type, who for its part grit its teeth, trying to shake the bug-type off. Suddenly, it arched its body back, once more becoming surrounded with electricity. “Hah, nice try buddy, but that won’t work!” She smirked, acting as if she’d known the whole time.
“Uhh… Rainbow?” Twilight piped up, staring at it. Once more, it was focused on the pair of trainers, with its body arched back, before leaping towards them.
“Get down!” Rainbow grabbed Twilight, pulling the two under some bushes while the electric feline jumped over them, its body crackling with lightning and its eyes full of rage. As it landed, the pair watched it run through the woods, not even turning back to them. Twilight sighed, shutting her eyes before they shot back open again when she felt something land on her head.
“Ahh!” She got up with a yelp, waving her arms above her head to brush Nincada off, while Rainbow just snickered. “Not the time, Rainbow!”
“Come on, you gotta admit it was pretty funny!”
“I don’t have to admit anything.” Twilight sighed, before they went back to their Pokemon, using their Potions and a few Revives. Rather, Twilight used hers and Rainbow asked to borrow a few on account of leaving most of them behind at the picnic.
“What in the world was that?!” Rainbow, staring where the Pokemon had just been, asked.
“It’s a Luxray. An electric type and a powerful Pokemon at that. They’re natural hunters. I’ve read about it before.” Twilight sat against a tree trunk, sighing and rubbing her head. “It was so agitated… I guess it was just lashing out at everything in sight, and we weren’t actually being hunted by it. But what I want to know is what was it doing here? This isn’t its natural habitat at all. It’s far too hot for something with that much fur, and an electric-type in a place where ground-types are so common is unlikely. It’s got to belong to someone.” She glanced to Rainbow, whose eyes were directed elsewhere, and sighed. “Are you listening?”
“Uhh… Twilight?” Rainbow muttered, looking around the woods with a tone that made the Canterlot girl wonder if it was something important. “I think I found the owner.”
Twilight followed Rainbow’s gaze, the two of them seeing a foot poking out under a bush. The two approached the foot seeing the body attached to it, was a young man in torn jeans and a T-Shirt, along with a singed black jacket tied around his waist. His most noticeable feature was high pale cyan mohawk. And judging from his condition and what those two had just ran into, it was fair to guess that his torn clothes weren’t a fashion statement.
“Well, this guy looks crazy enough to try to own something like that, so he’s a definite candidate.” Twilight spoke, but Rainbow didn’t immediately respond.
“...Rainbow?”
“I know this guy.” She softly knelt down staring at him, before grabbing him by the collar. “Hey Thunderlane! Wake up!” After shaking him for a few moments, he groaned opening his eyes slowly.
“What the… Rainbow? Is that you?” Thunderlane asked, slowly standing up.
“Rainbow, do you know this guy?” Twilight looked confused, and Rainbow chuckled.
“This guy? It’s just Thunderlane. He’s from Ponyville too. Oh and don’t let the mohawk fool you, dude’s a real wimp.”
“I am not! Stop telling everyone that!” He shot back, before wincing. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“I’m travelling now. We ran into that Pokemon that almost got us. Was a real monster, yeesh. You called it a Luxray, right?”
“That ‘monster’ is mine.” He sighed, looking at the confused expressions of Rainbow and Twilight as he straightened up, wincing and holding his forearm. “A few weeks ago, my brother and I got jumped by a couple of guys. They were really strong, and I ended up losing my Luxio. Not just that, but it wasn’t enough for them and they took my brother’s only Pokemon too. He was so distraught, soI promised him I’d find them. ‘Leave it to your tough big bro’, that’s what I said. Now… I found Luxio, but it wasn’t the same anymore. It evolved, and it attacks everything in sight no matter who. But I’d never forget the first Pokemon I ever got.” He gritted his teeth, both anger and pain written all over him. “I don’t know what they did to him, but they warped Luxio. My partner is caring and protective, but now he attacks everything in sight.”
Twilight listened, silently in thought. The way that Luxray had acted was far more aggressive and actively hostile than most wild Pokemon she’d seen. It reminded her in a way of the Camerupt in San Palomino, but it felt different. For one, it hadn’t used any strange moves and while it was hostile, the Camerupt was far angrier than this electric-type, and there was something about the aggression too, aside from its intensity. She couldn’t explain it but something… felt different between the two. For its aggression, the Luxray seemed more normal so to speak. But perhaps if she subdued it, there would be use in bringing her closer to an answer.
Rainbow, meanwhile, had stood up. “Right, that settles it. Thunderlane, we’ll help you find your Luxray and bring it back. Your brother’s Pokemon, too.”
“Works for me.” She folded her arms. “Shall we get going, then?”
“Yeah, we just have to…” Thunderlane trailed off as he looked past the two of them at something on the floor. The girls turned back to follow his vision, seeing the brown jacket Twilight had abandoned. “That’s… That’s Rumble’s Jacket…. That’s my brother’s!” His eyes slowly widened. “Did he follow me here?! Where did you find that?!”
“Uhh… By a tree.” Twilight sounded worried now.
“I have to go!” Thunderlane bolted immediately, ignoring any plants and bushes in his way, with Twilight and Rainbow following close behind, not that it was difficult, he couldn’t run that quickly in his condition.
The small group followed Luxray’s trail, leading them past the woods and towards a range of hills that Twilight remembered was called Macintosh Hills, the land getting more sandy and stony as they went on, not to mention uneven with large boulders jutting out of the ground. They heard some grunting and yelling in the distance, heading towards it, thinking that Luxray and Rumble might be there and, as it turned out, they were half right.
“Argh! Hold still you little brat!”
“Let me go already!” A young voice yelled. The group hid behind some rocks, peeking out and seeing a couple of people in erratic, but matching uniforms carrying along a small black-haired boy they’d tied up, but his kicking was the cause of much irritation for each of them if the look on their faces was anything to go by.
“First the Pokemon start getting loose, now we have to babysit crybabies like you. I’m not in a good mood right now.” The grunt who seemed to be the leader of the two, said with a growl. Their uniforms were a pale grey with blue pinstripes, red lines on the edge of the sleeves, collar and bottom of the trousers, yellow gloves on their hands with black rings all over them and pointed edges on the fingers making them look more like talons than hands. The tops of their shoes were an even darker grey, almost metallic like armour, their eyes covered with circular lenses that looked like a Venonat’s eyes.
“And if you keep messing around then… Well, what good is setting a trap without bait?” The young boy’s eyes widened, the voice and fight leaving him quickly after that. Thunderlane watched with a clenched fist and gritted teeth, indicating to the girls that this was the brother he was talking so much about.
“We need a plan.” Twilight muttered. “If we can distract them and keep a certain distance away before capturing them and freeing-”
“Uh, while you were talking rainbow already just went over there.”
“Huh?” Twilight bnlinked, looking up to see Rainbow was indeed gone, running towards the group, stopping right in front of them.
“Hey! Let him go!” The hot headed girl pointed at the small group, already having summoned her NIncada and Taillow to her side, while the pair of goons looked to Rainbow in shock.
“There are people here too?!”
“This is just great, more messes to clean up.” The pair sighed.
“I know who you are! You’re Team Chaos, aren’t you?! You won’t do whatever you want here!”
Twilight saw the pair flinch, before leaning forward with scowls on their faces to try and look tough, bringing their Pokemon out while Rainbow was giving her’s commands.
“Taillow, hit them with Wing Attack while Nincada Scratches the kid’s bindings!” Taillow flew in the air, before diving straight down at the Team Chaos grunts, while Nincada scuttled along the ground at top speed to Rumble with its claws primed and ready to cut through the string. However, neither of them reached their target. As Taillow was about to reach the grunts, it was stopped when something leapt up into the air, jabbing the bird in its chest with one of its stingers that glowed purple, knocking it back into the sky before its wings had even connected.
Instead of the strings, Nincada struck a Pokemon, one covered its body in leaves, leaving only its yellow nonchalant face exposed, but even then it refused to show more than its eyes. Before Nincada could do anything, the tall grunt smirked.
“Cover it, Swadloon.” It opened up the leaves, wrapping them around the ground insect.
“Just cut your way out!” Rainbow yelled, but became confused as nothing happened. She caught a glimpse of a sticky string connected from the lax bug’s mouth to the inside of the leaves it used to cover Nincada, who flailed frantically as it was covered in just ten seconds.
Twilight watched in shock as Rainbow’s fast Pokemon were dispatched almost as quickly as their own attacks, looking to the one that had attacked the flying-type. Now that it stood still, she found it similar to a grey wheel, with eyes on the side and four stingers that seemed to be the closest thing it had to limbs.
“You shouldn’t have messed with us, girl. Team Chaos crushes all in its way.” The shorter grunt commented, a smirk on his face. “Just like how Whirlipede will crush your little bird with a Rollout.” The wheel-like Pokemon immediately began spinning, before leaping up at Taillow, who flapped its wings out of the way, but Whirlipede kept trying the same thing, slowly but surely increasing in speed each time.
“Throw it, Swadloon.” The tall grunt commanded, and Swadloon flung the cocooned Nincada up straight at Taillow. The bird dodged, but its eyes widened when it was hit with a Rollout.
“Did you forget about Whirlipede? You might be fast, but he gets faster with every second.” The short grunt folded his arms as both her Pokemon dropped to the ground with a third. “But some people just can’t handle that type of chaos.” Rainbow reached for another Pokeball, about to call out her Eevee.
“String Shot.” Swadloon shot its silk at her hand, keeping it - and her Pokeball - shut. The sporty girl grit her teeth, trying to tug her hand away. The grunts looked to the side with a smirk, and Rainbow followed their gaze and realised Whirlipede hadn’t slowed down, and it was coming right at her. Her efforts redoubled, but she didn’t get fare. She thought she was a goner until she was successful in her pushing, not only flying back but bringing Swadloon with her right into Whirlipede’s rollout, hitting its ally head-on.
“What?!” The grunts were shocked, about as shocked as Rainbow was.
“Ralts!” A certain cry made her turn around, to see tTwilight’s fairy-type Pokemon standing on a rock.
The grunts drew their attention to the small Pokemon. “A psychic-type! Get it, Whirlipede!”
The wheel-like insect drew back and turned around, going straight for Ralts, much to Rainbow’s concern.
“No!” She ran straight towards Ralts, unsure of what she was going to do but knew that the small Pokemon wouldn’t even last a hit against that kind of momentum. But she was still attached to Swadloon, and couldn’t make it before it collided with it and the stone, destroying both. But Rainbow’s shock was short-lived when Whirlipede was knocked into the air by a Psychic attack,. Ralts… stood fine next to Hoothoot, whose eyes were glowing, an afterimage being what Whirlipede struck.
“I’m formulating a plan and you just run right in, Rainbow.” Twilight stood up with a sigh. “At least I could make a new one while your attitude showed me what the enemy can do. Ralts might not be strong, but it makes for a good decoy.”
“Heh, I knew I could count on you!” Rainbow smiled, giving a thumbs up while Twilight just sighed. Whirlipede came down, deactivating its Rollout, but it was struck with an Iron Head from something in the air before it could be commanded again, falling unconscious next to Swadloon. The Team Chaos members stepped back, their Pokemon getting defeated easily, as the ferocious stone reptilian Pokemon flew down towards them, Thunderlane walking forward, his arms folded.
“S-Stay back! We’ve got friends all over, you kids won’t get off scot-free!”
“Give me one good reason why Aerodactyl shouldn’t tear you both apart with smoldering hot teeth.”
“What were you thinking?!!” Thunderlane yelled at his brother, who had just been untied. “Do you have any idea how hurt you could’ve got?”
“I just wanted to try and help get Luxio back…” He mumbled, looking down at his feet, while Thunderlane just sighed.
“I don’t want to lose you too.” He gave the black-haired boy a tight hug, which he reciprocated with a sniffle. Both Rainbow and Twilight smiled. Thunderlane turended back to the two of them. “Thank you both.”
“No problem! That’s what friends are for!” Rainbow grinned.
“What are you smiling about? You just got yourself in trouble.” Twilight folded her arms.
“Well hey, it all worked out in the end.” Rainbow proclaimed, pointing at Twilight.
“Through sheer dumb luck and the fact that I saved you. Otherwise you’d be roadkill without the road.” Twilight pointed out.
“Well at least I decided to do something! They might’ve got away while you were rambling about all that nerd stuff!”
“Uhh… girls?” Thundrerlane tried speaking up upon hearing something echo, but the girls ignored him.
“Don’t blame me just because being headstrong failed, which isn’t exactly surprising.”
“Hey, just because I can think on my feet doesn’t mean I’m headstrong!”
“It’s a lot better to think with your brain.”
“Girls!” Thunderlane yelled, attracting their attention this time.
“What?” They both yelled right back, making Thunderlane arch back for a moment, before speaking.
“Something’s coming… And I think I know what it is.” As he spoke, another roar echoed out. The grunts, scared, tried to wriggle away as fast as they could. But even if they had been fully mobile, they would not have been able to outrun the black-furred feline that sprung up the hill. Twilight saw it bounding towards them from down the hill and got another Pokeball out, Rainbow and Thunderlane doing the same.
“Get behind me, Rumble! Come on out Electrike!” Thunderlane ordered and while his younger brother did so he threw his ball up in the air, summoning a small green canine with a pointed tail.
“Use your Nincada, Rainbow!” Twilight looked to Rainbow.
“You don’t need to tell me twice!” The sporty girl grunted, summoning her bug-type while Twilight brought out Eevee, before checking her Pokedex for any other important data.
Luxray: The Gleam Eyes Pokemon
It can see clearly through walls to track down its prey and seek its lost young.
“I see. We still have some time. If we want to beat this thing we need to restrict its movement. if you can dig a hole, then-” Twilight got cut off, as Luxray closed the distance, releasing electricity from its body as it charged, forcing the group to break apart, missing most of them save for Electrike. Luxray slid on the ground, turning back to face them with rage written all over its face.
“It’s me! Don’t you remember, Luxio?” Thunderlane pleaded.
“Technically it’s Luxray now.” Twilight commented. “And this isn’t the time for that! Rainbow! Your Nincada!”
“On it! Quick Attack!” Rainbow grinned, her bug type swiftly rushing Luxray, hitting it in the head. “Like that? Cuz that’s not all!” She got out another Pokeball.
“Rainbow, you need to make it use dDig! That’s the most effective move!” Twilight protested, but Rainbow just grinned, sending Taillow out.
“Wing Attack that thing and make it dizzy!” She pointed at Luxray, and both her Pokemon dashed towards the electric lion, darting around it. Taillow flew circles around the feline, hitting it at different angles with its glowing wings, Nincada scratching its face and legs. Twilight panicked when its body sparked with electricity, gobefore shooting lightning straight at Taillow. Only for it to curve at the last second and head straight for Electrike, who received the attack without a scratch. Twilight looked at the small canine confused. Even if it was an electric-type as well it should’ve sustained some damage. Come to think of it, it had taken an attack from Luxray before but if anything it looked better for wear rather than worse.
“That Electrike…” Twilight began.
“Its ability is Lightningrod.” He grinned, and a look of realisation was written on Twilight’s face.
“Huh?” Rainbow meanwhile, was confused.
“All it means is we don’t have to worry about Electric Attacks.” Twilight turned back to Luxray, a smile on her face. “Now don’t let up! Swift, Eevee!” Twilight’s normal-type shot stars straight at the feline, while Rainbow’s Taillow and Nincada kept up their assault. It attempted another Thunderbolt, that went straight to Elektrike. “If we’re safe from electric attacks then I can send you two out!” Twilight called out Hoothoot and Ralts, ordering the former to use Reflect and the latter to hit Luxray with a Confusion.
“Alright! We’ve got this i n the bag!” Rainbow smirked, pumping her fist in the air. Even Twilight could find it hard to doubt that. Luxray was injured, panting, with its frustration intensified but fatigue crept in. “Now one more time, Taillow! Hit it with a Quick Attack!”
Taillow darted around Luxray again, even faster than before. The feline bore its fangs, before snapping its jaws in the air. Both Rainbow, Twilight and Thunderlane were shocked to see Taillow between its sharp fangs, as it tightened its grip making the bird Pokemon cry out in pain from the Bite attack.
“Ah! Help Taillow, Nincada!” Rainbow ordered, and Nincada jumped to action hitting Luxray with a Fury Swipes.
“Keep up your assault, Eevee.” Twilight ordered, making Rainbow look to her.
“Hey! You might hit Taillow!”
“Swift isn’t the type of attack to miss its target. Even if they were, your Nincada is fast enough to avoid it.” Twilight shook her head. True enough, the stars exploded on Luxray but while Nincada was close it got indirectly hit by one of the small explosions and smoke surrounding the Luxray, as well as the Pokemon around it.
“Hey! you just hit Nincada!” Nincada wasn’t that hurt to the contrary, but between the attack itself and the resulting smoke it was stunned, but that was all that was needed.
When the group saw Nincada next, it was launched into a rock. As the smoke cleared Luxray’s tail shimmered like silver or stainless steel.
“That’s Iron Tail!” Thunderlane yelled, a confused look on his face. “But he never had that move. I don’t even think he can learn that easily.” Luxray spat Taillow to the ground, before its eyes glimmered as it looked to Electrike and it pounced straight at the canine, Eevee firing off more Swift attacks but it did nothing to deter the lion.,
“This isn’t good.” Twilight watched with wide eyes. “Luxrays are known hunters, their instincts unparalleled.” Even if they ran, would they be able to escape something sas monstrous as this? And if it managed to defeat Electrike, then it could use its attacks freely. “Ralts, use Confusion on Electrike, get it away from there!” Before Luxray could sink its teeth in, Electrike was flung away into the air, where it was caught by Hoothoot, who flew as high as it could. Unfortunately with its small body and the extra weight it couldn’t get far, while the feline was already leaping up at them.
“Hoothoot, throw Electrike now!” Twilight yelled, and Hoothoot obeyed, tossing Electrike as far as it could, the flying-type getting hit by Luxray's teeth. “Good! R-Rainbow, that means we’ll need your Pokemon too!”
“Hey, they’re still hurt!” Rainbow shot back.
“Reflect is still active, they’ll be fine.” Twilight waved her hand.
“Just like Hoothoot?” The flying-type in question was knocked to the ground wincing in pain. Aerodactyl roared as it flew down with a Fire Fang at Luxray’s back, but it was met with an Iron Tail, knocking it away.
“Electrike is our best defence against that thing so we need to keep it safe! What don’t you understand about that?”
“That’s not true, we need to attack with full force before it can strike!” Rainbow shot back.
“I don’t see why you’re complaining when you’re the one who should’ve just used Dig in the first place, but you wanted to show off with your bug’s scratches!”
“We can’t go that slowly like you or we’ll lose-”
“You’re the one who doesn’t think things through! We’ll lose if we rush in like you!”
Before Rainbow could retort, they heard a cry of pain. Electrike was knocked into a boulder. It tried getting up, but soon fell, fainting.
“Electrike!” Thunderlane gasped before glaring at the girls. “What are you two doing? We need to help Luxray. Can’t you see it? Luxray is hurting so much. He saved Rumble so many times, but now...” He gritted his teeth, an arm over Rumble, who stared at what was happening in despair. Thoughts ran through his head, before he stepped back, and started running.
When they all turned back to Luxray, someone was right behind it. The trainers froze when they saw Rumble standing right there.
“Please stop.” He pleaded, staring at what was once his brother’s Pokemon. Luxray, who had been approaching the cornered Electrike, turned back to look at Rumble. The boy was sweating, but his fear for himself was outweighed by the worry for someone else. “I-I don’t know what happened to you, but this isn’t you. You’re just out of control and afraid. Please, stop.” He smiled. “We’re here for you.”
Thunderlane was already running towards him, screaming his younger brother’s name, only getting halfway when he found himself tripping, his injuries sustained making him sloppy.
For his efforts and leap of faith, Luxray leapt towards him, its fangs shining with an attack readied.
In the heat of the moment, Twilight didn’t know why her body moved like that with such urgency, why she managed to outrun even Rainbow Dash who’d been charging forward with her, or why her first instinct wasn’t to formulate a plan or bark out orders. She just ran, tackling Luxray, knocking it off course just enough to make its fangs break off a piece of a boulder near Rumble. She felt that her words wouldn’t travel as fast as her feet, which was idiotic to her since there were very few things that were faster than sound. Yet, it worked. Instead, Luxray’s attack hit a rock. The bad news was the fully-evolved electric-type glaring back at Twilight, its body charging with electricity without warning. Twilight screamed, immediately letting go as her body and clothes became burnt.
It was then that Rainbow caught up, she dived forward, pulling Twilight away from another attack from Luxray’s fangs.
“Wing Attack, Taillow!” Rainbow ordered, and the flying-type shot forward, darting around and hitting Luxray over and over, while the elecfeline’s eyes gleamed, and it readied its fangs.
“Rainbow! That won’t work again!” Twilight complained. “Lightningrod’s no longer an option and Reflect isn’t there to pr-”
“Wait for it.” Rainbow grinned, and a growl could be heard coming from Luxray, followed by a thud. Confused, Twilight turned her head to see it had tripped, its paws and body wrapped up in a sticky string, the end of which could be seen in the grip of Taillow’s talons. “You said we needed to stop it moving, right?”
The feline in question was thrashing around, sinking its fangs into the string, and it was starting to break it apart. Its body emanated with electricity, helping to burn it off.
“Yeah but… I don’t think it’ll hold for long.” Twilight pointed out, and Rainbow just chuckled.
“Just needs to hold it long enough.” As Luxray began getting up, the ground beneath it cracked. Suddenly, Luxray’s eyes widened as it was hit in the stomach by Nincada, who had shot right out from the ground. It winced in pain for a moment, its shining eyes squeezed shut. When it next opened them, its eyes were unfocused, and as it began to fall to the ground, Thunderlane threw his Pokeball.
“Man, my uniform was ruined.” Twilight sighed. Her clothes were in singes now, covered with dirt.
“Hey, you got off easy.” Thunderlane winced as he leaned against a rock, staring at his Pokeball. Rumble sat next to him, Thunderlane’s hand on his head.
“Come on you too. We gotta get back soon.” Rainbow insisted.
“I guess we’re not that far from Appleloosa. Spike will probably be wondering where I am.” Twilight said.
“Then we shouldn’t waste time. Now come on already!” Rainbow pulled Twilight up, grabbing her arm and leading her to where their friends were. At least, where Rainbow assumed their friends were.
“I’m in no rush to be around large groups of people right now. Not after an idiotic move like that.” Twilight sighed, rubbing her head. “Glad you finally used Dig through. At least one of us made a good decision in the end.”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow frowned.
“Me jumping in there. It was so brash and idiotic, and only got in the way. I don’t even know why I thought it would be a good idea.”
“Idiotic? Twi, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen you do!” Rainbow raised her arms in the air, a huge grin on her face. “You just ran in there, not caring what happened to you and tackled that huge thing like it was nothing!”
“It was very clearly something. Just one look at me proves that.”
“Still, it was awesome! Almost as awesome as me, I dare say.” The energetic trainer gestured to herself, chuckling. “And that’s impressive cuz I’m pretty awesome.”
Twilight sighed. “Let’s just get back to the others. We’ll be at Appleloosa soon.”
“Don’t you worry about that! I’ll get us there and to Appleloosa before you can blink!” Rainbow grinned, pulling Twilight along once more while Thunderlane and Rumble hurried behind as fast as they could. Twilight and Rainbow hadn’t recognised at the time why Twilight did what she did, doing a move so unlike her, going in herself rather than commanding her Pokemon. In that moment when she could see Luxray raring to attack Rumble, the thought of Spike flashed through her head, and she would try to protect him all the same.
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I'm kind of surprised, it's been quite some time since the last update happened
10302152 Life got in the way and the chapter ended up being longer than I thought.