5 - Departing Pastoria
{Let’s jump into the middle of a screaming match, eh?}
“And you have no sense of colour coordination whatsoever!!”
“At least the Great and Powerful Trixie helps the many smile, and at a reasonable price!!”
Rarity and Trixie stood a few lengths apart, bellowing at each other, still in the upstairs of the Pokémon Centre. A small crowd had gathered. Aengus and Paddy had both pulled up chairs, and had drinks. All three attendants from behind the long counter had foregone any pretense of doing their job and stood among the gathered.
“Just because you can’t scrape enough bits together with your traveling ‘act’ to afford formal attire doesn’t mean I overcharge!!” Rarity snapped, with an unladylike gob of spit flying up and out, and lazily splatting roughly halfway between the two.
“Hardly out of the price range of the Great and Powerful Trixie, but most of Ponyville, well, that’s another matter! Speaking of scraping bits together, how did you ever manage to open a second, let alone third storefront with so little foot traffic?!” retorted Trixie with teeth bared. “There are better-crafted, more fashionable dresses with decent prices at Barnyard Bargains! Everypony’s been talking about it....”
Veins in Rarity’s eyes bulged, as did those in her forehead as she angrily and deeply gasped. “That mass-produced, yesteryear trash, better!? You clearly have NO fashion sense, as if the hat and cape weren’t a dead giveaway!” hollered Rarity hoarsely.
“A dead giveaway, like Spike’s obvious feelings for you, and how you stomp all over his affection?!” returned Trixie with a savage smile. “You’ve been using and abusing him for years! Makes you either oblivious to the Nth degree, or an absolute bitch, pardon my Prench!”
Rarity gasped as her nostrils flared. “I suppose you would be an expert at being such a mare, wouldn’t you!? And your bold-faced lies, accusing me of mistreating my dear Spikey-Wikey!! I would never do such a thing, unlike you!”
Trixie sneered again, and spoke at a regular volume. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Rarity snarled what sounded like they were supposed to be syllables and words, but did not resolve into any. She caught a glimpse if the brothers out of the corner of her eye, and wheeled around at them. “And what are you two staring at?!!”
“Oh, do go on; we’ve been learning plenty,” said Paddy. Aengus nodded as he took another sip through his straw. Rarity stomped and scoffed loudly in response.
Trixie mockingly laughed, “Trixie has grown bored, and will take her leave.”
Paddy said, “We will in a moment.”
“You are nopony’s boss,” Trixie smarted off as she joined the crowd heading down the stairs, as it seemed the show was over.
Pulling out the corresponding Safari Ball, Paddy smirked as it clicked. “Guess again.”
Trixie’s shriek at being dragged into the ball was cut off quickly as she disappeared in specks of green light. Rarity fumed, “Serves her right, too. Paddy, be a dear, and keep her in there for as long as possible.”
{Now that the atmosphere is more chill}
A popcorn vendor with a full tray had just pushed through the crowd to the top of the stairs, and looked at everybody else leaving. He sighed, hanging his head, and muttered, “Man, and I rushed to ready enough for everyone, too....”
Paddy stood up and started towards him. “I wouldn’t mind some for the road, and...wait, let me see this.”
The vendor showed his selection of popcorn, caramel corn, and kettle corn balls. Paddy sniffed at the kettle corn, smiled, and said, “I’ll take the whole lot, sir.”
“Oh? Oh! Very good, sir!” the vendor said as an enormous smile broke across his face.
Paddy pulled out his wallet as Rarity stood there, still smoldering, but settling. Aengus came up beside her, and began scratching and rubbing at her neck. Her irritation began sloughing off as her eyes rolled back blissfully. He said, “All of that yelling and screaming, over her messing with your mane and outfit years ago? That wasn’t worth all the hullabaloo, and there are certainly worse things than temporarily green hair, or brown stripes on a dress. You’ll give yourself an ulcer like this, you will.”
Rarity cooed, “Oh my Celestia, how are you so good at this? You’re a na-a-a-aagggh, ow, ooh....”
“So that’s where you carry your stress, got it,” said Aengus as he worked at something at the base of Rarity’s neck and onto her withers. Her legs seemed a bit like putty. She opened her eyes to see Paddy take the entire contents of a vendor’s tray, one with a neck strap as if he were peddling amidst a crowd at a sporting venue, and tuck all those delicious treats into a black leather satchel with red accents...but as bag after bag, ball after ball, went into his satchel, it barely showed any sort of bulge, nor did Paddy show any signs of burden.
Rarity’s head jerked back as she said, “What kind of magic messenger bag does your brother have, that he can fit so much inside? How can something be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?”
Aengus gave Rarity’s back muscles one last squeeze and stood up as he said, “We have no idea. The professors give bags like these to the new Pokémon trainers without telling them about that. Sooner or later we all figure out they can carry far more than what should be physically possible without weighing us down. Take mine, for example. You don’t like Pokéballs, I know, but you have some idea of how much one weighs. Guess how many I’ve got in here.”
Rarity gave an ambivalent shrug. Aengus knelt down and opened his bag in front of her, beckoning her to look in. Rarity’s lower left eyelid twitched involuntarily as her jaw fell open. She saw rows and rows and rows of the things, all neatly organized and segregated by exterior colour pattern. Aengus said, “Pokéballs, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, Premiere Balls, Luxury Balls, Net Balls, Timer Balls, Quick Balls, Dusk Balls, and so the list goes. Tallied up, I’m carrying well over two-thousand of them, but the bag seems to weigh no more than ten kilos. Only one Master Ball, but I’m saving that if I should find something truly legendary.”
“That’s...unbelievable,” Rarity blurted airily.
“Sure seems that way at first, but I’ve gotten used to the idea. Back home in Johto, there are some who say all the timbers, planks, and iron fasteners for Cianwood City were carried there from Ecruteak City in a single trip, but in only one trainer’s bag,” said Aengus with a slight roll of the eyes. “I think it’s an absurd tale.”
Paddy came over to them. Everybody else had cleared out except the three attendants, who had returned to their posts...each having resumed the glazed-eye look of monotonous doldrums from day after day standing behind the counter with nigh unto nothing to do, under the strain of unanswered hopes and prayers for a little human contact, against the soul-crushing reality that what they just saw would far-and-away be the highlight of their entire career manning the counters to the Union Room, and it was all downhill from here. Paddy gave them a short glance, then looked his brother in the eye. “No reason to stick around here.”
{In a town between a brackish marsh and the sea}
Aengus nodded. The three descended the stairs and left the building. It was nearing sunset. Rarity took in the sight, and a deep breath. Salt was in the air, as was something more boggy. The ocean peeked back at her from the southeast, between the buildings. There were other creatures like Aengus and Paddy around, of different ages and builds, but they for the most part stood in one spot for a few seconds, then took a single step. These people looked straight ahead at nothing in particular, showing no reaction to anyone who was, or anything that happened, around them at all. Rarity stared in confusion as a few turned at perfect right angles along exact cardinal directions. She took a long look at a muscular man who was barefoot, wearing a white karate gi, black belt, and red headband. She looked over at Paddy then back at the man. “Are the reds only an accent colour for your stallions, or whatever you call the adult males of your kind? Both of you in white and black, with only a touch of warm colour.”
“It’s ‘man’ for one, but ‘men’ for more,” Aengus said.
Paddy said, “That’s a martial artist, a man who studies and practices unarmed combat. I couldn’t tell you which martial art though; there are many. His uniform looks a bit...stereotypical, almost like a caricature. For me, I’ll be going to begin my studies at university shortly after returning to Johto, and these are our official colours, black and white, with red as the tertiary.”
Rarity looked over Paddy more closely, and said, “Darling, that’s vermilion, not red. Same colour family, and close cousins, yes, but definitely not the same.”
Paddy grumbled, “Picky, picky, picky; they’re both red....”
“One has to be picky to set the trends,” replied Rarity with a self-important lift of her chin. She watched the karate man step due west and stand there for a moment, then stepped one pace south, snapping between the directions sharply. Rarity asked, “Why is he doing that?”
“What? The pointless wandering, step by individual step?” Aengus asked with a frown.
“Yes.”
“I have no idea,” sighed Aengus. “I set out on my Pokémon adventure almost eleven years ago. I was eleven years old. Even then I noticed many towns have this very strange behaviour, walking around one step at a time in one of four directions, then waiting there for nothing in particular, rinse and repeat. Only in Kalos did they behave like normal people.”
“I see,” Rarity drifted off. She examined the buildings then, and her eyebrows scrunched again. She walked forward and peered around the side, then looked back at Aengus in confusion, but with hint of comprehension. She ran toward a nearby, box-like house. She pursed her lips, and started back toward Aengus and Paddy. She said, “Did you also notice they put every entry door on the south-facing side?”
“Sure did,” Aengus answered. “Why that’s a thing is anyone’s guess. It makes no sense, but there it is.”
Rarity stared at him incredulously, slowly shaking her head. “Surely you can see how bizarre a place this is, yes?”
Aengus muttered, “Gee, Rarity, whadiya’ want me to do? Get a circular saw and start chopping out new doorways?”
Rarity looked around a saw a younger-looking thing nearby, one that had a filly’s feminine charm, dressed in green. She walked up to this juvenile human and began, “Pardon me, miss, but where is—”
“Some Trainers deliberately prevent their Pokémon from evolving,” said the girl in a bright voice. “They wait until the Pokémon levels up and learns certain moves.”
Rarity glared at her a moment, then walked away, muttering, “Still interrupting me after ‘is.’ Of all the nerve....”
Rarity saw a woman dressed in a beige sundress and pink cropped vest, carrying a pink umbrella. She strode toward this person as well, saying, “Ma’am, I am in desperate need of a sewing supply store. Where might I find the closest one?”
The lady answered, “Someone gave me a berry, so I planted it and grew some more. Then, I took the Berries and cooked them into Poffins. All the work is worth it when I see how happy they make my Pokémon!”
This human resumed her random, single-step wandering with the occasional ninety-degree turn. Rarity blinked a few times, then her face and voice soured. “Thank you so very much for the polite, not-at-all on topic answer, you walking discredit to the females of your species!”
Rarity went back toward the girl in green, who did the same unpredictable step-by-step chaotic walking path. “Let’s try this again without any interruptions, darling. I need supplies. Where can I buy fabric and thread?”
“Some Trainers deliberately prevent their Pokémon from evolving,” said the girl in an equally bright voice as before. “They wait until the Pokémon levels up and learns certain moves.”
Giving up, Rarity closed her eyes and trudged back towards Aengus and Paddy. Both brothers shook their heads; Aengus’s face expressed commiseration, while Paddy’s resembled an annoyed parent whose child had just poured all the flour on the kitchen floor and was playing in it. Aengus lamented, “Now you see what we have to put up with every bloody day.”
Rarity gawked at the man, and griped, “That hurt...that was actually painful, talking to those two! My mind is actually cramping from what they said! I sincerely hope and pray this isn’t what everypony talks like! Or I suppose ‘everyone’ would be better-fitting in this case.”
Paddy sighed, “It’s not everyone we come across, but it sure is the bulk of them.”
“The future of your species looks rather bleak,” Rarity said curtly.
Aengus nodded. “Tell us something we don’t know.”
Paddy took a step from his brother, toward the south, then looked back and said, “Well, Aengus, you said you’re planning on getting that last badge, right? I have something else to do in the meantime. I’ll be in Solaceon Town.”
Aengus did not look amused one bit. “Really? Solaceon? You’re not really going to—”
“Yes, I am,” interrupted Paddy pointedly. “And if you were wise, dear brother, you’d do the same thing. You want every advantage you can get, especially for that one fight.”
“Yeah, I know; why do you think we’re way out here in Sinnoh?” Aengus retorted.
Paddy voice softened in tone more than in volume. “Look, Aengus, I know what this means to you, and what it’ll mean for mom, but you have to be more patient. You’re sick of the waiting, yes, but it won’t delay you that much, and it’s the only way you’ll maximize her results. Going on two years; what’s one more week?”
“I appreciate you want to help, Paddy, I really do,” said Aengus, easing off the irritation. “And yes, the results from the last time you suggested...that, were great. But that was way longer than just a week; that took nearly four months. I don’t have that kind of patience. Not anymore. Besides, I’m confident in her.”
“I’m telling you,” Paddy insisted. “It’ll be worth putting in the time.”
Aengus shook his head. “Maybe when we get back to Johto, I’ll think about it then.”
Paddy grimaced. He resumed walking along as he said, “If you insist. I’ll see you in Solaceon in, what, the day after tomorrow?”
“Sounds about right,” Aengus said. “Good luck; hopefully it won’t take you long.”
“You too.”
Paddy turned the corner westward and was out of sight. Rarity looked up at Aengus and asked, “Care to explain what all that was about?”
“You’d be happier not knowing,” said Aengus with a slightly uncomfortable and disturbed look on his face. “Much happier.”
“Uh...huh....”
“Never you mind that; there’s something I’d like you to put on for now,” Aengus said in a much more amiable voice.
Rarity raised her eyebrows in interest. “Oh, you do, do you? Since I very much doubt you have a pony’s formal attire in your bag, I presume you have a chic accessory?”
Aengus snickered a moment, and shook his head. “No, not chic at all; this is something purely pragmatic. It’ll help you quite a bit.”
Rarity gave him a doubtful, sideways glance as he rummaged in his satchel. After a moment he pulled out a black framework helmet, but not an ordinary one. This one had half a dozen glowing balls about the size of a shooter marble on its top, and what looked like earpieces that would set behind Rarity’s eyes. Her ears could easily fit in the wide gaps between the metallic slats. Her mane, however, might suffer. Rarity gave the thing one look and her ears flattened. She quipped, “Suppose you could find something a little more garish?”
Aengus smirked. “I warned you it wasn’t fashionable.”
“You said ‘not chic at all;’ that could be a plain, single-colour, unadorned cotton shirt. You didn’t say ‘it looks heinous.’ There’s a tremendous difference,” Rarity nearly whined.
“Well...it looks heinous. Put it on,” said Aengus.
Rarity grumbled, “You can’t possibly be serious.”
“This thing is called an ‘Experience Share.’ This will help you learn from battles others partake in, as if you were in the fight yourself,” Aengus explained as he adjusted the headset. He carefully helped her ears between the metal bars as he continued, “I doubt your one-upping of Trixie covered every bout you’ve been in, but it doesn’t sound to me like fights in Equestria much resemble a Pokémon battle. You’d do well to learn from Feraligatr, Rapidash, and the others.”
The lower edge rested against Rarity’s horn as he tightened the device. Rarity sighed, “Fine, I suppose it’ll help with your championship matches.”
“Yes,” Aengus answered, slowing the rate he tightened the fitting cinch. “Now tell me if it hurts from over-tightening; it needs to stay put, not cause pain.”
“It already hurts,” Rarity grumped.
“I meant physically, not your pride.”
“My horn. It hurts against my horn.”
“Oh.”
After a minor adjustment, Aengus stood up straight. He said, “You’re right; it doesn’t look good at all. But it wasn’t built with looks in mind; as I said, it’s functional, not sporty. Shall we be off?”
Aengus started eastward. Rarity walked beside him, asking, “Where are we going?”
“We’ll be going to the Gym in Sunyshore City in the morning,” said Aengus. “For tonight, we’ll stop at Hotel Grand Lake, which is along the way. It is the only five-star accommodation in the region.”
“Ooh!” squealed Rarity. “A five-star hotel, you say? The only in the area? Aengus, darling, I’m thrilled you booked such a place! Lead on!”
Aengus snickered as they walked through the gateway building, ignoring the people in there, each vacantly staring at the wall. Upon emerging, they found themselves in a wide block of tall grass. They were partway across the acre before something rustled nearby. Both turned to see an otter-like creature with burnt orange fur, blue flaps on its forelimbs, a circular yellow flap of skin around its neck, and two tails crawl out from behind a thick tuft of pampas grass. It growled at the two of them.
{How would you like to fight today?}
“Ah, a Buizel,” said Aengus thoughtfully. “Not really worth capturing...tell you what, you’re up. Rarity, let’s see what you have.”
“What I have?” Rarity asked. “Darling, are you asking me to fight this innocent animal?”
Aengus frowned, “It’s not as innocent as you think it is. But yes.”
Rarity hesitantly stepped forward. She sputtered, “Okay, so...wha...how do you want me to go about this?”
“Use your horn.”
“You want me to ram this little guy with my horn? Aengus, it’s used for magic, not skewering!” Rarity protested.
Aengus scoffed, “Then blast him! Use your Horn Attack!”
Rarity complained, “This hardly seems like—”
The Buizel suddenly shot forward at Rarity, covered in water which seemed to come from nowhere that splashed twice on its way before slamming into her side. She yelped and was driven back a step. Wincing, Rarity looked at her tail, now drenched and hanging in the coastal dirt, quickly coating it in wet sand. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at the Buizel, with her horn charging. “It...is...on!”
A tip of the hat to the old web comic 8-Bit Theatre, from back in the day.
Rarity's first Pokémon battle, and it took the same kind of stimulation it did to get her into a pillow fight with AJ. Looks like she wasn't expecting something like Aqua Jet. I believe she's learning that she has much to learn, and just how peculiar a world she's been drug into. How well will she adapt?
Paddy's also stepped out for a bit, toward a different town where he and Aengus will meet up in two days. At least Rarity won't have to worry about getting into another shouting match with Trixie for awhile. But how will they fare? And what was Paddy on about, and how well will that work out for him?
Wait and see; the answer is coming soon. Thanks for reading. 
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This fucking story. Naturally I had to read it not long before playing the Pokemon Sun & Moon demo, and congratulations, you made me feel guilty for catching pokemon.
I now desperately want to see fanart of Rarity in the EXP Share.
I somehow get the impression neither Aengus nor Paddy have even the slightest intention of letting Trixie and Rarity go after their victory.
7660446
Wasn't meaning to invoke guilt....
It'll be cool if you switch povs from Rarity to Trixie and Twilight as well now and then
Good choice for all the pokepuns of the videogames
Maybe try some funny pony puns as well lol.
I wonder... if Tirek got caught here wouldn't it be funny if he was renamed?
Ah, yes. The good ol' "Welcome to Corneria" routine.
7660825
Naturally. I remember when these were new; I followed 'em then.
I can't remember whats in the town Trixie is heading to. What is it again they are going to do?
7660658
That was semi-sarcastic, but the story did put a perspective on pokemon catching/training that I'm sure most people have never considered,
7661307 Daycare center.
Best-case scenario: He's planning to have the daycare staff level Trixie up as far as possible, in exchange for money.
More-likely-case-scenario: He's going to try and breed Trixie (probably with a Ditto), in order to get a "Trixie" with perfect IV stats.
Looking forward to reading more of this story.
...Granted my anticipation mostly revolves around whatever is going to happen when Twi figures this out and sets out to rescue Rarity.
7660727 oh god yes let it be his playtime/prison and have cerberus with him too as legendarys
7661652 Oh god, we already have enough Pinkies thanks to the mirror. Imagine the disaster caused from having tons of Trixie's, not as bad as Pinkie but still.
This isn't the show... This is the game/comic Pokémon world we're everyone just stands there like zombies