Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 48 – Play?

Sam and Alice’s Charizards cleared the trees separating Route 15 from the Ula’ula Meadows, coming towards the bay that would bring them to the ruins of the Tapu Village. Though unable to find any kind of store around, yet alone anything other than the ruins that appeared abandoned, they spotted a Pokémon Center just north of them.

With a signaling hand, Alice directed her and her brother’s Charizards to begin their descent. Both of them dove straight to the ground before the Center’s entrance, Sam holding his breath and white-knuckle gripping onto the handlebars of the saddle. With a swing down, both Charizards threw their wings open and parachuted themselves to the path at the foot of the Center steps. The moment the draconic Pokémons’ feet touched the earth, both Sam and Alice hopped off, both pulling their Ride Pagers out and bringing out their special Poké Balls from them.

As the balls brought the Charizards back inside, Sam looked out to the west as the sun already began falling behind the trees of the meadow. “I don’t know, Alice. I don’t think we’re going to have enough time to evolve Doublade and find Starlight and the others.”

Alice slipped her Ride Pager into her backpack, looking to the eastward path. “Right, so lets go evolve Doublade then.

Sam turned to face his sister, unsure if she was joking with her again, but was left wide-eyed to find her already making her way down the path. “Wait, are you serious? You don’t want to at least make sure they’re safe?”

“Like Plumeria said, the Kahuna and those two who brought Twilight at Spike to us probably already found them. That takes care of that, and now, we have the rest of the little afternoon we have left to get that Dusk Stone! Let’s get a move on then! That is, unless you want to get jumped by Prism out here alone?”

Sam’s feet remained planted while Alice’s continued walking, and as she prepared to turn the corner to leave him, he finally got the courage to go and follow her, sprinting until he was close behind.

“So…” Alice frowned, already pretty certain of the answer, “you have any idea where this Megamart is?”

“Other than somewhere on the south side of the island, not a clue.” Alice still huffed in disappointment. “What? It’s not like she pointed it to me on a map or something?”

“You could have asked! But typical man not wanting a woman’s directions!”

“That’s not the–! Okay, fine, I dropped the ball. How much time do you think we have before it gets dangerously dark?”

“I’d say we give it thirty minutes before we book it to the hotel outside the Haina Desert. With any luck, we’ll run into Starlight and the others too, so at the very least, something will work out for at least one of us.”

“Mm… great.”

As they continued walking, an intersection suddenly revealed itself. Straight ahead, the tree-lined tunnel to Route 13, to the left, a small hill led to a part of the base of the mountain where a single metal track for a tram at the bottom ran up past where the snow began to appear.

On the right, however, was the more peculiar of the paths. Though it was mostly covered in dirt, an asphalt road ramped down toward the beach, where, just a bit further down, the road had broken off as if a cataclysmic earthquake had destroyed it.

“I mean,” Sam wondered loud enough for Alice to clearly hear, “if there was any place an abandoned megamart would be, I suppose it would be where the roads are permanently closed.”

“I know.” Alice also appeared somewhat mystified by what could have possibly happened here. “It’s just so weird that everything’s broken in just this one spot.”

“Either the Ghost-types that live here are really strong…” Sam suddenly felt the first apprehensions about turning right than he had all day. “Or this place has some other dark history behind it…”

He suddenly felt a slap on the back from his sister, who sported a supportive, non-ironic smile. “Well, the sun’s not getting any brighter, and your Doublade isn’t looking any more like an Aegislash. Come on!”

As Alice turned right down the desolate road, Sam was quicker to tag along. Both of them climbed down where the road broke off and made their way to the shore of the black-sand beach. From behind the closest stone idol to the edge of the ruins, a Pikachu-shaped silhouette peered from behind and kept their eyes on the two trainers. As Sam and Alice looked about for the Megamart, Alice instinctually glanced back, only to find a few of the ruined monuments along the edge and nothing more.

Continuing their way down, Sam and Alice avoided the mainland side where the broken road remained, almost as if there were a sinister presence radiating off of it. They also made sure to stay within the edge of the wet sands where it was sturdy enough to support their weight, glancing and looking for any sign.

“God damn it,” Sam shuddered. “This is going to be one of those legend things where it appears out of nowhere and drags us down into some hellish underworld when we enter, isn’t it?”

“Hey, at least you’ll have an Aegislash, right?” Though Sam could tell Alice was joking, her expression didn’t seem to have the same distinction.

“Yeah, and at least we won’t have to put up with Team Prism’s bullshit, right?”

Alice finally glanced to him, feeling discomfited by the remark. “You really need to get better taste in jokes, dude.”

“You’re the one that brought ‘happy to die’ into it.”

“Or maybe you need to lighten up and perhaps not expect to suffer for eternity in an underworld, or whatever you like to–”

“Ah, OH!”

Sam frantically pointed out at the corner of a building that had unveiled itself from behind the trees, and as his sister turned to see it, Sam jogged ahead and slowed down in awe to see what was clearly a run-down Megamart, its walls covered in various-colored graffiti and lined with cracks and ruptures in its walls and windows. Even the road, which had been uninviting the entire time, had fallen in such a way to create a ramp right from the beach to it.

“Holy hell,” Alice said breathily. “And there she is.”

“Yep!” Sam ran as fast as the looser, drier sand could allow him. “Come on! We have no time to lose!”

Alice picked up her pace and kicked her legs up, forcing herself out of the sand as her feet sank around an inch from her ankles.

*MRE MRE MRE MRE MRE MRE MREEEE*

Sam was only a few feet from the road before his feet instinctually froze in place, horrified by the screeches he heard from the direction of the building.

Alice stopped beside him. “Sam, come on, there are going to be some Ghost-type Pokémon in there. Nothing to be afraid–”

“No…” Sam was already aware. “I remember that cry. Besides, it came from outside the building!”

Just then, five Alolan Raticates hopped down from different parts of the front of the roof of the mart, their eyes burning with rage and their teeth bared menacingly. Three of them slid down while the other two hopped down from the edge of the rock wall to rejoin its brethren. Both Sam and Alice took two steps back as the Raticates formed a wall that spanned the width of the road, forbidding them access.

“Great,” Sam huffed. “Now what?”

Slowly walking up to the top of the road ramp, now distracting the two trainers from the Raticates was a four-legged Pokémon covered in white fur, the hair on its chest and upper back longer and fluffier. It had a smooth, whiskerless cat-like face with deep red eyes with a tuft of fur draping down beside the outside of the left one. Jutting up from right corner of its eye was a long, black saber-shaped horn that slightly curved around the top of its head.

The creature leapt high from the top of the ramp and landed a few feet ahead of the Raticates, forcing Sam and Alice to take even more steps back. Even with the softness of the sand and the weight of its lean body, the creature's massive claws on each one of its paws could not be concealed.

“Crap,” Alice huffed. “And an Absol?”

“Yeah…” Sam slowly reached for a Poké Ball on his belt as the Absol traced its movements carefully. “Day just keeps getting better and better.” With a quick upward whip of his arm, Sam sent his ball out. “Let’s go, Doublade!”

The Absol hopped back as Sam’s dual sword Pokémon slashed its way out from the Poké Ball’s white energy, ready to attack.

Alice hissed through her teeth, leaving her with little other choice than to take out a ball of her own and toss it. “Go, Noibat!”

Alice’s batty dragon flew out of its ball and flew above the battle at a safe, observable distance.

“Okay, let’s tear down the wall!” Sam pointed past Absol and pointed to the center Raticate. “Doublade, hit that one with Brick Break!”

Doublade quickly flew above and around Absol as it targeted the Raticate there. Sam held his right arm out and hugged his left arm in, Doublade mimicking the move by holding both blades away from its intended target. Once it got close, Sam swung both of his arms down and up to the left, and Doublade followed suit by swinging its blades into the Raticate’s chest and chin, sending it flying back to strike the top of the ramp. The other Raticates cautiously looked back to see as their comrade limply slide back down to the bottom and roll into the sand.

“Oh, yeah!” Sam shouted with raised fists. “These guys aren’t so–”

Both he and Alice were suddenly distracted as the Absol leapt incredibly high from its spot right at an equally dumbfounded Noibat. With its fangs grabbing a hold of its wing, Noibat screamed as it was brought down by the Absol and slammed into the sand.

“Noibat, no!” Alice reached out to her Pokémon.

The Absol didn’t stop there, throwing it up with its horn, headbutting, and kicking at it while it rolled around, and whipping it about in its mouth, picking up a tremendous amount of sand that made it extremely difficult to see what was happening.

“Impossible!” Alice gasped. “There’s no way it could know Play Rough unless a parent knew it themselves!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sam loudly wondered

“This thing has egg moves! This isn’t a run-of-the-mill Absol.”

The Absol whipped the Noibat back toward Alice, and she could tell by its lack of audible or visible struggling that it had no more will to battle. Running up and catching it in both hands, she looked to see that with its ajar mouth and closed eyes, it had indeed fainted.

Doublade was too distracted by the Absol’s uncanny strength that it didn’t see the other four Raticates rush it and force it to the ground.

Sam looked over and saw the commotion himself. “Doublade!”

Each Raticate brought their fangs down onto it, Doublade’s ringing cries shouting out to Sam before they stopped. The remaining Raticates ran back and formed another evenly-spaced wall to continue preventing Sam and Alice’s entry, leaving Doublade’s motionless body where they had left it. The Pikachu silhouette, looking from behind the tire of a rusty, derelict car parked outside the Megamart, shied back behind it.

Sam and Alice pulled out their Poké Balls and called their Pokémon back inside of them. “I’m sorry,” Alice whimpered to her Pokémon as it was converted to red energy. “I had no idea.”

The red beam from Sam’s ball brought Doublade back inside of it, placing it back on his belt and feeling a bit hesitant about grabbing another. “Yeah, this can’t be random. This is a straight-up ambush.”

Alice wiped the cold sweat from her brow. “And it just had to happen here, didn’t it?”

“You think this Team Prism’s doing?”

“Unlikely. As great of an advantage this team has over us, there’s no way they’d send out a bunch of Dark-types to deal with us. They’re clearly guarding something in that Megamart, though…”

“Dark… That’s right! Absol is a pure Dark-type, isn’t it? In that case…” He reached down and grabbed a Poké Ball.

“Sam, wait!”

“Go, Fomantis!”

With a burst of white energy from the ball, Fomantis landed in the sand, facing the Absol and the four remaining Raticates.

“Sam!” Alice whipped her head to look at him. “Someone clearly doesn’t want us here, and if we don’t leave now, we can’t get your Dusk Stone or know if our friends are safe.”

“You already said, they’re probably being taken care of. Besides, I came all this way to find these bastards blocking the door and it’s kind of pissing me off. Come on, Alice. There aren’t that many left, and then we can get the stone and leave.”

Alice breathed out, knowing arguing would only waste more time. Grabbing a Poké Ball, she threw it out to let her Pokémon join Fomantis’s side. “Let’s go, Lycanroc!”

With a loud pop and burst of white energy, Alice’s wolf Pokémon made its place beside Fomantis’s, ready to take on the threat together. Absol hopped aside as one of the remaining Raticates charged at Lycanroc, its mouth open and ready to hit it with a Crunch. Lycanroc lunged down and bowed its head, allowing the oversized rodent to take it by the back of the neck.

Alice could see Lycanroc struggling to withstand the pain it felt as the Raticate refused to let up. “Come on, Lycanroc, you can take him! Finish it with Counter!”

With a glint in its eyes and a guttural rumble of a growl passing its lips, Lycanroc hoisted itself up onto its hind legs, lifting the Raticate with it. With an ear-piercing shout, Lycanroc balled its paws up and clocked them into both sides of the Raticate’s head. With a weak gurgle, the Raticate let go of Lycanroc’s neck and began to fall. Lycanroc then spun to the right and leaned back to kick the Raticate square in its left cheek, sending it flying back to the other three Raticates where it landed in a crater in the sand, completely immobile.

“Yeah!” Sam shouted excitedly. “That’s how its done! Fomantis, hit the Absol now with Fury Cutter!”

With a loup yip, Fomantis charged at the Absol, which didn’t even appear the least bit threatened by its encroachment. Once Fomantis got close, the Absol lowered itself on its front half, its horn charging with yellowish-green energy.

Sam, seeing what was coming, tensed up in fright. “Fomantis, dodge it!”

The Absol already began to rush out at Absol, shocking Fomantis for a moment before it leapt as high and hard as it could, only for Absol’s attack to track Fomantis’s stomach and pierce onto it, sending it flying back to Sam.

“What?!” He ran forward and caught his Pokémon, shuddering over its motionlessness as he felt it in his arms. “This thing knows Megahorn too?”

Alice could only breath out to relive the stress mounting on her. “Looks like. This Absol’s an absolute beast!”

Just then, the three remaining Raticates all rushed Lycanroc, the teeth of the two in the front glowing a bright white. Lycanroc fretted about to try and avoid either one, resulting in both black rats tackling the wolf down and clamping down on its body, the squeeze of the fangs sounding like an amplified squeaking of biting down on ice.

The third and final Raticate hopped high above the pinned-down Lycanroc, who still writhed and whimpered in pain as the others’ fangs refused to let up. Diving down head-first, the Raticate slammed the top of its head down onto Lycanroc’s chest, forcing out a final achey whine before it relaxed itself, refusing to continue fighting. The three Raticates got off of their fallen prey and stood beside the Absol, continuing to spread out to block Sam and Alice’s advances from any angle.

“These Pokémon are all really strong…” Sam breathed as he and Alice returned their fainted Pokémon into their balls. “Not to mention… an Absol that knows Play Rough and Megahorn would be invaluable to any trainer.”

Alice watched as her brother reached behind him and put his hand inside of his bag. “Sam, what are you–”

“If we can’t beat you at this rate…” Sam locked eyes with the Absol as he held his Poké Ball to his side. “…then I can certainly try and catch you!”

Sam threw his ball straight and true, and with a muffled clunk, the ball hit the top of the Absol’s head dead-center. The Absol winced before it was converted to red energy which was sapped inside the open ball. Latching closed, the ball plopped into the sand, the Raticates watching it intently as it shook once. Alice and Sam both leaned forward as the ball shook a second time, Sam especially holding his breath. The Pikachu shadow looked back from behind the car, encouraged by the siblings’ resilience.

With a loud burst, the Poké Ball split in two and released the Absol as it formed from the ball of white energy that spilled out from it. Sam huffed regretfully, which was instantly transformed to terror as the Absol trained its eyes on him, growled, and exposed each one of its fangs.

“Sam…” Alice squeaked. “Why would you try and do that?”

“I… thought…” There was nothing he could say to help himself now.

With a roar, Absol sprinted out at Sam, who could only cower and brace his forearms over his face, awaiting its end. Just as the Absol leapt to slam itself into him, the Pikachu shadow appeared from behind it and came over the Absol, its feet stretching gruesomely out into two long, shadowy, clawed arms, wrapping them around the Absol’s waist and slamming it into the ground, sending a wave of sand all over Sam’s torso. Still frozen from the failed attempt on his life, Sam was knocked over, instinctively pushing a small amount of the sand with his two hands before realizing that the Absol had not landed its attack.

“Sam!” Alice ran to his side and slid to her knees, grabbing hold of him. “Are you okay?”

Coming to his senses, he stayed where he laid to watch as his unknown savior roughly rolled and slammed the Absol about effortlessly, causing the Raticates to take several more steps back. The Absol finally pulled itself free from the shadow’s clutches and hopped a safe distance from the creature that attacked it. When the dust of the sand settled, Sam and Alice stood back to their feet to get a good look at this Pokémon with his sister.

The Pokémon had the bare-minimum resemblance to a Pikachu, in fact looking more like a living armless, Pikachu-shaped doll that was torn off at the waist and had already lost most of its color. The head of the disguise was somehow keeping upright, but its crudely-drawn jagged black smile and furiously scrawled-on eyes made it look more frightening than adorable. On the disguise’s stomach were a pair of two small slits, the true eyes of this creature.

“The… hell is that thing?” Alice took out her Pokédex and scanned it just as it looked behind itself to them, almost assuringly and defensively so.

“Mimikyu,” the device recited, “the Disguise Pokémon. A lonely Pokémon, it conceals its terrifying appearance beneath an old rag so it can get close to people and other Pokémon.”

“D’aww, how sweet.” Alice put a hand over her heart, touched by the entry and what the Mimikyu’s appearance meant to her.

“So,” Sam wondered aloud, “this thing came to our rescue so it can tag along with us or something?”

“Either way…” Alice marched back away from her brother, giving him and Mimikyu room as she detached a Poké Ball from her belt. “Help is help, and we can use it in spades right now! Go, Raichu!”

The orange mouse flew out from its ball and circled around Alice before floating above the ground to face the remaining four Pokémon. The Mimikyu looked up to the Raichu, sizing up its appearance before it bent its head down almost shamefully.

Alice, seeing this, tapped her foot on the ground to get its attention. “Hey you, Mimikyu!” Slowly, the Pokémon turned to face her. “Didn’t you just hear me say we need your help? So come on, let’s partner up already!”

As it slowly realized its worth, the Mimikyu’s head vibrated intensely as it straighted itself further. With several echoed chirps, it hopped up and ran in a couple of circles rapturously before standing before Alice’s left foot, ready to assist. Sam smiled and nodded, appreciating her sister’s natural gift. He then took out his next ball and tossed it out.

“Let’s go, Archen! Hit them all with Bulldoze!”

Archen popped out from the energy from inside the ball with a shrill yelp, dipping down and swooping up to begin picking up sand from beneath its wings. As the wall of sand grew bigger, blocking the view of the opposing Pokémon, Alice smirked.

“Raichu, give Mimikyu a lift to the Raticates and then hit one of them with Brick Break!”

With a push off of its shadowy arms from beneath itself, the Mimikyu hung ten on Raichu’s board-tail before it took off flying close behind Archen as its sand wall crashed into the Absol and the three Raticates. The Mimikyu let out a creepily raspy laugh as it hopped off over the Absol towards the bowled-over rats, allowing Raichu to swing down at one of them and slam the bottom of its tail into its face, sending it further back.

Mimikyu stretched its arms out and held on tight to one of the other Raticates, wrestling around with it like a psychopathic toddler as it screeched, begging to be let go. As Archen flew back, its attack finished, it glanced behind to how its allies did before landing on the ground before Sam. Raichu flew back around to Alice’s side as Mimikyu hopped over the sandy rifts that Archen had left and stood back by Alice.

The Absol and the last Raticate managed to dig themselves out of one of the rifts, fervently and spitefully shaking the sand out of their fur. Glancing behind them, they snarled to see that their remaining allies had fainted.

“Hell, yeah!” Alice knelt down to the Mimikyu, who tilted back with uncertainty. “High five?”

With Alice holding her hand up, the Mimikyu hesitantly slid a single arm out from beneath itself and gently pressed it into her hand before slipping it back in just as slowly. It took her a couple of seconds to register what happened, but she shook her hand lightly as if the Mimikyu slapped it hard enough to try and take it off.

“We’ll work on it!” Alice encouraged, standing up. “We’ll work on it…”

Alice, Sam, their Pokémon, and the Mimikyu faced the Absol and the Raticate, who continued standing steadfast and unwilling to give up.

“Come on, guys!” Sam shouted. “It’s three on one now! We’ll let you go if you let us go? Sound like a–”

Without warning, a swirling, colorful beam blasted into Archen from the front as a heavy stream of water hosed down from above. Sam and Alice gasped as he looked forward and she looked up. In Sam’s sights on the upper end of the road ramp was a white, frosty fox with beady blue eyes and a fluffy, fanned tail. Above was a white pelican with blue wings and an enormous mouth that comprised most of its whole body.

When both Pokémons’ attacks ended, Archen tumbled forward and laid still, knocked out cold by the attacks. Before Alice or Sam could call out to Archen, the Absol quickly ran its green-glowing horn into Raichu’s gut, sending it flying back off of its tail with a final cry of pain.

“Raichu!”

The last Raticate leapt up at the Mimikyu, and as it simply watched, the Raticate flipped over and slammed its tail down on the Mimikyu’s head, forcing its fake face into the sand. Alice was still concentrating on Raichu, who had lifelessly fallen to the ground far behind her, before she could turn back to see to the Mimikyu. As the Raticate and the Absol hopped back to join the pelican and the fox that had joined in the battle, Mimikyu lifted its head up, only for it to droop to the left as if it had broken.

Alice and Sam could see the creature trembling, clearly out of intense, insatiable rage, radiating a chilling feeling of dread.

“Uh… Mimikyu?”

On Alice’s inquiry, Mimikyu stretched its body up, letting out a loud wail that sounded like multiple voices crying out in searing agony and torment.

Sam angrily brought out Archen’s ball, reluctantly calling it back inside. “They’re just going to keep coming now, aren’t they? All the wild Pokémon on this island are going to try and stop us. We can’t win at this rate.”

Alice stared Absol down, and from the confident smirk it had on its face, she knew her brother was absolutely right. There was really nothing worse other than a surprise Prism attack that could happen to them at this moment. Suddenly, a sound of stampeding feet ran to them from the west, and as everyone turned to see, Sam and Alice were suddenly elated to not just see Nanu, Guzma, and Acerola, but Starlight and her friends too.

“Hah…” Sam was so overwhelmed with so many emotions that his voice broke. “Guys.”

“Sam!” Starlight galloped toward them. “Alice!”

Alice stepped up beside her brother as Starlight ran into their arms, allowing them to embrace her and thank the powers that be for her safe return to them. The Mimikyu poked its floppy head over to witness the sight, perplexed by the unicorn as well as her numerous friends behind her.

Nanu made his way over, heading straight to the Absol, frightening Sam and Alice.

“Wait!” Sam cried. “That Absol’s incredibly dangerous!”

“Is she?” Getting closer, Nanu continued its approach as the Absol sat itself down, eagerly awaiting him. “Ah, good. I was hoping she’d be a little more than you two could handle, even with your… added assistance.”

Nanu reached over and scratched the Absol’s chin with each finger, and both trainers could only watch with sheer perplexity as the creature they failed to defeat was practically melting into his hand.

“Hold on.” Starlight was only slightly less confused than her friends were. “What’s going on here?”

“Wait!” Alice stood up, her face alight with realization. “You bred that thing? You’re behind all of this?”

Nanu faced her and nodded. “I heard from Acerola about you needing to get in here real bad, but what’s the fun in that?”

“What’s the fu–” Sam quickly shot up too, pointing a finger at the old man. “What is this all about? Who even are you?”

“You haven’t figured it out by now?” Nanu stopped petting the Absol and turned to face the two of them. “My name is Nanu. I’m the Kahuna of Ula’ula Island. As you can see, I kind of run things here. The reason why I and a whole bunch of your pals are here is because I figured you’d be here and just wanted to get you all out of here.”

“Get us out?” Alice questioned. “But we still need–”

“I know what he’s here to do, but I don’t think he’s earned the right yet. Maybe when he’s beaten the other island trials here and beats me in the Grand Trial, Absol and I can let him get his precious Dusk Stone.” Sam grumbled, unhappy with the answer to this mystery. “But right now, we don’t have much time. We need to get to shelter immediately.”

“What’s going on?” Alice asked. “Is Team Prism following you?”

“Not right now at least. We lost them at the Haina Desert, but they won’t be long until they catch our scent. Come. We’ll escort you to the League for shelter tonight.”

“Hold on…” Alice approached him. “The League? As in the Pokémon League?”

“The very same!” Acerola shouted from her spot. “You heard the geezer, we have to move!”

“Yeah, right. One moment.” Alice turned back and returned her fainted Raichu into its ball.

As she and Sam turned to join Nanu and join the group, both of them suddenly recognized Discord and Shining Armor amongst the ponies.

“Hey!” Alice shouted, storming toward Discord. “You shoved your claw into my chest, you freak!”

“Alice, wait! Calm down!” Applejack quickly hopped herself between them, stopping her advance as Sam rushed to her side. “What you saw at the Paradise place wasn’t real… kind of, and he’s a bit of a prankster at heart. Besides, I don’t think Discord’s got much magic in him after what he’s been through today.”

Alice looked up to Discord, who sheepishly scratched at the part of his neck where his fur was singed. Alice wasn’t fully sure on the details, but it was safe to say he was having a far worse day than she was. “So… Discord’s your name?”

“And… Alice is yours?” Discord slunk his body past the ponies and reached with his lions paw to shake it. “A pleasure, truly.” She reached for the paw, and as Discord grabbed it, he jittered his hand as hard as he could. “BZ-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-ZT!” Alice let go of the paw and hugged it to her chest, unsure what on earth he just did. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist! It was the perfect place to use a joy buzzer, if only I could actually conjure one…” Alice wasn’t incredibly impressed by the joke, but her face softened upon seeing Discord’s forlorn response.

Sam then turned to Shining Armor, who recognized his stare and returned it. “Sam,” Rarity introduced. “This is Shining Armor, Twilight’s older brother.”

“Brother…” The words hit Sam hard, all but spoiling the exhilaration of shaking his massive hoof. “I wish I could say I know how you feel, but…”

“Don’t worry about it,” he calmly replied. “You’ve done your best to keep her and her friends safe, and I thank you for all you’ve done for them.”

It was little consolation, but the two nodded to each other, finding instant camaraderie.

Pinkie Pie glanced up at the dark-purple sky, which began to come faintly alight with the stars, her ears falling limp as she chattered her teeth. “Guys! It’s getting dark out. Maybe we should skedaddle before those hooded meanies arrive?”

“Yeah, sorry! We’re going!” Sam picked up his pace as the entirety of the group turned back to the west to exit the beach.

As Alice followed, she suddenly felt compelled to look back, seeing the Mimikyu standing by itself away from the Absol and its allies who continued seeing Sam and Alice off. Bending forward, its already drooped fake head bent the same way, adding to its miserable appearance. Alice, turning forward again, immediately stopped herself.

Faintly sensing Alice’s absence, Starlight turned back to see her and her group lose her. “Alice?”

The others, hearing her, all stopped and turned back, Acerola looking between Alice and Mimikyu and lightly gasping as she realized what was happening.

“Hey, quit screwing around!” Guzma called. “It’s already going to be a lengthy journey up with the lot–”

“Guzma, wait!” Acerola gently squeezed his arm, cutting him off. “Look.”

Alice turned back to face the Mimikyu and dropped her bag onto the sand, the jangle of its contents getting the Mimikyu’s attention. Bending over, she reached inside and grabbed a Poké Ball, the head of the Mimikyu falling back as its body perked up, its eyes gazing at the device like a valuable jewel.

Alice smirked as she flicked the wrist that held her ball in, beckoning the Pokémon with it. “If you want to come with, I suggest you get a move on!”

With a loud, joyful squeak, the Mimikyu hopped up once before sprinting at her with tiny bounces.

“Okay! Heads up!” Alice tossed the ball at it, and the Mimikyu leapt up to let the center button hit it in its disguise’s head.

The Mimikyu turned red and translucent as the energy it became swirled into the open ball, and upon latching closed, it flew back toward Alice’s hand. With the center button still glowing red, it shook a single time, before a wisp of white light and a small amount of sparks spat out from around the edge.

“Hm.” Alice placed the ball onto her belt. “That’s five.”

Acerola, impressed with her catch, crossed her arms and chuckled.

Despite the somewhat happy scene, Guzma began to look annoyed. “Okay, are we done here? It gets a lot colder on Mount Lanakila this time of night too, and I don’t feel like frostbite for dinner.”

“Sorry. Coming!” Alice ran back as the group went on to resume their final journey for the day. She slowed her pace to stay beside Sam and Starlight, who each looked to her.

“It… really is good to see you two again.” Starlight glanced up to Alice with a pleasant smile. “Nice catch by the way.”

Starlight gave her a small wink, and Lady mewed in agreement. Alice replied with a hum and nod. Sam turned back to the Megamart as Absol and its three Pokémon allies all watched them off. Once the building was out of sight, the four Pokémon all ran in the direction of the broken road ramp to continue keeping watch over it. With his business settled there for the time being, he faced forward again, ready to follow Nanu, Guzma, and Acerola to the Pokémon League.

Comments

[DarklightArk]

Ah pretty Absol...

[HB_DS2013]

That Absol seemed like it was owned by Nanu at one point.

[Adenbadens]

Ah Mimikyu, hated in game-canon but so loved by fans. I hope Alice unlocks its Z-move!