My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Taking The Low Road

Traveling along the South-Western edge of the Javik Region was not an experience for the faint of heart. Here, the sides of the mountain at the center of the region extended all the way to the ocean with many of the paths carved directly into the cliffside. More disconcertingly, these paths were known to on occasion crumble into the ocean below due to the area being honeycombed with tunnels carved by various Pokémon.

“Seriously, how the hay do humans stand not being able to fly?” Rainbow Dash complained loudly as the group came to a bridge over yet another section of collapsed pathway.

“You know, earth ponies and unicorns can’t fly either and they get along just fine,” Twilight said pointedly.

“Yeah, but they don’t build their road and stuff on cliffs like this this,” Rainbow Dash countered.

“Um, Canterlot?” Twilight fired back.

“To be fair, you don’t really notice that Canterlot is up on a cliff unless you’re someplace right near the edge,” Spike said.

“There, see?” Rainbow Dash said. “Besides, pieces of Canterlot don’t keep randomly falling down the mountain.”

“Alright, fair point,” Twilight conceded after a moment. “That said, complaining about our situation isn’t going to change anything. Anyway, as long as we stick to the safe paths then we should be fine, and so far they’ve had warning signs about any possible dangers.”

Unbeknownst to Twilight, however, a pair of cloaked figures were lurking out of sight further down the path in front of one such warning sign. “Explain to me again why we’re bothering with this petty foolishness when we should simply destroy them while we have the chance?” one of the figures, a tall, gaunt woman with stringy green hair sneered.

“Yes,” her companion, a large dark-haired man replied. “Let’s attack our highly resourceful enemies with the magic we don’t have while they have fire-breathing monsters at their beck and call. A truly inspired bit of tactical thinking. With a keen mind like that I can’t fathom why the other changelings decided they no longer needed your leadership.”

“You’re one to talk! Remind me, Sombra, how long did it take the crystal ponies to replace you with that simpering foal and her idiot husband?”

“That was entirely different,” Sombra huffed. “I never had subjects; I had slaves. It’s expected that slaves are going to try to wiggle out from underhoof if you don’t press down on them hard enough. And to answer your original question, Chrysalis, the paths here are extremely treacherous and prone to collapse.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Chrysalis sneered sarcastically. “And your point is?”

“My point is that by moving this sign we can lead the three of those miserable certain marching down a path primed to give way and send them falling to their doom. Especially that cursed drake,” Sombra added viciously.

“Hmph, well I supposed that could work…”

“I’m so glad you approve. Now, make yourself useful for a change and help me move these barriers before they get here!”

*********

A few minutes later, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike turned a corner to find themselves faced with a fork in their path. The route on the left cut so deeply into the cliffside that the overhanging rock formed a ceiling overhead, while the route on the right seemed to slope down closer to the sea. Somewhat distressingly, several wooded barricades had been assembled in front of the left path, one of which bore a large red sign.

“Warning: this path has been rendered unsafe due to the burrowing activities of several colonies of Pokémon. For your safety, please use the other path,” Rainbow Dash as she read the sign aloud.

“Well, I guess we’ll take the path on the right then,” Twilight remarked as she started to head down the unblocked route, Spike following closely behind. “I have to wonder what kind of Pokémon could have left a path like that too dangerous to walk on, though. I can’t really imagine any of the Pokémon we’ve seen so far being able to do that.”

“Who knows?” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug as she looked up the blocked path. “Hey, do you think maybe there’s something like a Tatzelwurm Pokémon around here? Because that would be so freaking cool!” When Rainbow Dash’s question was met by silence, she looked up to find that both Twilight and Spike were already a fair distance down the path. “Hey! Wait up!” As Rainbow Dash chased after her friends, she could hear that Twilight and Spike were engaged in their own discussion about what sort of Pokémon could have been responsible for the route closure.

“I don’t know, Spike. Quarry eels actually don’t usually cause serious disruption to the stability of the ground where they make their nests,” Twilight said.

“But maybe Pokémon quarry eels do,” Spike countered. “I mean, Pokémon do all sorts of stuff that creatures back in Equestria don’t, so –” Before Spike could finish his thought an earsplitting crack ripped through the air as the ground shook. “What the hay was that?” Spike yelped as he pressed himself to the mountainside wall of the path.

“I-I’m not sure,” Twilight stammered back. “It felt a little like an earthquake, though. Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah, I think so. The sign said this was the safe path, right?” Rainbow Dash asked sarcastically.

“Let’s just be glad we’re not going to see how bad the unsafe one is,” Twilight answered. Rattled by the feeling of the ground shaking beneath their feet, the trio slowly made their way further along the path until they reached a point where the path turned sharply inland as it curved around a small fjord. “Y’know, this would be a pretty nice view of we didn’t have to worry about the ground collapsing.”

“Oh come on, Rainbow, it’s not that bad,” Twilight admonished. “Sure, that shaking earlier was a little scary, but everything’s been fine since.”

“Sure it has. And the left side of the path has been sagging because they made it that way,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“Wait, what?” Twilight exclaimed as she looked down to more closely examine the path they had been walking on. Sure enough, narrow furrows could be seen in several spots where the pathway met the cliffside. “Okay, that’s…that probably isn’t good,” Twilight admitted nervously.

“Hold on, did you seriously not notice any of that until I pointed it out just now? I thought you were just ignoring it because it wasn’t actually a big deal or something,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well, maybe it really isn’t that big of a deal,” Spike suggested hopefully. “I mean, they’re just little dents in the ground, I wouldn’t even call them holes. It’s not like the whole path is collapsing or anything.” Spike’s words had scarcely had a chance to leave his mouth before a deafening rumbling sound reverberated out from the mountain. “Why do I say things?” Spike whimpered as he fell to his stomach, the shaking ground rendering it impossible to stand upright.

Neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash answered Spike’s complaint, however, as they were too transfixed by the spectacle playing out in front of them. The mountainside seemed to be imploding in on itself, huge sections collapsing in on themselves until the far end of the fjord had been reduced to a massive, gaping hole. There was no time for the three friends to process this, though, as moments later the ground beneath their feet tilted wildly towards the cliffside before giving way altogether. All they could do was cry out in terror as they were sent tumbling down into a fissure that had opened up along the mountainside edge leading into the pitch darkness below.

*********

“Ow, my head…” Rainbow Dash groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. The last thing that she could recall was the feeling of the ground shifting under her before falling down into an abyss. “So I fell into that dark cave and – wait a minute. My eyes are open, so why can’t I see anything? And where Twilight and Spike?” Rainbow Dash felt herself starting to panic as she came to the realization that neither of her friends seemed to be with her. “HELLO? TWILIGHT? SPIKE? CAN ANYPONY HEAR ME?”

Several agonizing moments ticked by in silence before Rainbow Dash heard a muffled voice answering her call. “-bow Dash? Can you hear us?”

“Twilight! Is that you? Are you okay? What about Spike, is he with you?” Questions poured out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth as she ran towards the sound of her friend’s voice, only to run full tilt into what felt like a massive pile of rubble.

“Rainbow Dash! Thank Celestia, are you hurt? It sounds like you’re behind this wall of rubble. What do thing’s look like on your side?”

“How the hay should I know? It’s completely pitch black in here; I can’t even see what’s right in front of me!”

“Rainbow, do you have your Pokédex with you?” Spike’s voice called out. “If you can find it, try pressing and holding the big round button on the inside.”

Now that the initial fear of losing her friends had subsided Rainbow Dash felt well enough to grumble at the inconvenience of needing to fish out her Pokédex in the dark of the cave. “What the hay is my Pokédex supposed to do? Are these rocks some kind of Pokémon or something?” Still muttering to herself, Rainbow Dash groped around her back until she was able to locate her Pokédex and followed Spike’s instructions. Initially nothing happened, but after a second or two the device let out a high-pitched cry as a light at the top of the device flared to life, illuminating Rainbow Dash’s surroundings. The fall had apparently deposited Rainbow Dash in a deep cave system, a towering pile of rubble sealing the way back out and cutting her off from Twilight and Spike. “Well, the good new is I can see where I am now. The bad news is that its just some huge cave.”

“I was afraid of that,” a crestfallen Twilight said. “There are a lot of tunnels leading out of the chamber Spike and I are in, I think they might have been created by the Pokémon who were supposed to live down here. On the bright side, if this really is a burrow of some kind then there must be a way back to the surface.”

“Like that huge cave that opened up when the shaking first started,” Spike said eagerly. “I’ll bet if we head in that direction we’ll be able to find a way back to the surface easy!”

“Great idea Spike, just one problem,” Rainbow Dash said. “How the hay are we supposed to know which way that cave thing is? I can’t even tell which way I’m facing in here!”

“Try using your Pokédex’s map,” Spike suggested. “You should be able to at least use it to figure out if you’re going in the right direction.”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Twilight added. “There’s no way we’ll be able to move this rubble pile, se we’re each going to need to try and find our way out separately. Hopefully we’ll be able to find someplace where the caverns meet up, or at least we’ll meet up at the exit. If not, then as long as one of us gets out then they can send help for the other.”

“And that’s really the best plan you can come up with?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Unfortunately it is. We can’t just sit here and wait for somepony to find us and there’s no way we’d be able to dig our way through this wall,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, but…” Rainbow Dash wracked her brain as she tried to think of an alternative solution, but to her frustration nothing came to mind. “Alright, fine! But you two had better not get lost down here! Also…how do you turn on the Pokédex’s map thingy?”

*********

Several minutes later (or at least what Rainbow Dash presumed were several minutes) Rainbow Dash was walking through one of the tunnels with her eyes glued to her Pokédex. “I think I’m going the right way, at least,” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. “I’m kinda starting to wish I had paid more attention when Applejack had shown Apple Bloom and Scootaloo how to read a compass that one time when we were camping. Also kinda wishing I had somepony to talk to, wandering through these caves is so boring! If this were a Daring Do novel I’d have at least found some weird underground ruins or a monster by now.” Rainbow Dash waited for a moment, half-expecting her comment to conjure some source of unexpected excitement. “Ugh, I think I might be spending a little too much time around Pinkie Pie. Although,” Rainbow Dash mused as she took out Tank Jr’s Poké Ball. “I guess if I need some company I do have one option. Come on out, Tank!”

“Squirtle! Squirtle squirt.” Tank Jr exclaimed happily as it exited its ball, only for its attitude to rapidly shift to confusion as it noticed its surroundings. “Squirtle?”

“Long story short, there was some sort of cave in and Twilight and Spike got separated from us. They’re fine,” Rainbow Dash quickly added. “But now we need to try and get to an opening to the surface that we saw before we fell in here. And, to be honest I could really use some company.”

Tank Jr waddled up to Rainbow Dash in response and patted her leg reassuringly. “Squirtle.”

“Thanks, little guy,” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned down to give her Pokémon an affectionate pat on the head. “So let’s get going then. It’s not like we’ll find our way out of here just by standing around.” Tank Jr nodded in agreement, and the pair set off through the caves. At first Rainbow Dash found her spirits buoyed by having her Pokémon trotting alongside her, but as the minutes wore on a nagging sorry started to gnaw at the back of her mind. “So, we’re gonna be the ones taking on the gym once we finally get to the next town, huh?” Rainbow Dash finally said, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

“Squirtle!” If Tank Jr noticed the unease creeping into Rainbow Dash’s voice it didn’t show it. The blue, turtle-like Pokémon seemed positively exhilarated at the prospect of having another shot at a gym battle.

“Wow, you’re really revved up for going up against a gym again, aren’t you? I mean, after what happened last time you’re not even a little bit nervous that I’ll screw up and let you get hurt again,” Rainbow Dash said, prompting a confused stare from Tank Jr “I know you can do this, it’s just…what if I screw everything up again? This wouldn’t be like fighting Trixie, these gym leader guys really mean business.” Tank Jr immediately responded to this by rushing in front of Rainbow Dash and launching into an impassioned speech while flailing its arms dramatically. Unfortunately, the impact of Tank Jr’s speech was lessened somewhat as all Rainbow Dash could hear were numerous repetitions of the word ‘Squirtle’. “You know, days like these I really wish I could do the whole ‘talk with animals’ thing like Fluttershy. I think I get what you’re trying to tell me, though. You’re saying I should believe in myself since you believe in me and we’re a team, right?”

“Squirtle!” Tank Jr affirmed as it nodded its head.

“Thanks little guy, I think I really needed that,” Rainbow Dash said as she bent down to give her Pokémon a hug. “You know, speaking of Fluttershy, I wonder how she’s doing in this place. She probably gets completely freaked out everything sompeony even mentions battling.” Letting out a laugh, Rainbow Dash stood back up and took a quick look at her Pokédex. “Okay, time to get moving again. If we’re gonna kick the butts of that gym leader then first we’re gonna need to get out of here.” As the pair set off, Rainbow Dash found her mind drifting to other questions now that her main worry had been quieted for the time being. “Y’know, I just thought of something,” Rainbow Dash said, as much to herself as to Tank Jr.

“Squirtle?”

“Well, the warning signs said that the whole reason the paths were falling apart was because some Pokémon were burrowing underneath and Twilight said these caves were probably made by Pokémon. But, since I fell down here you’ve been the only Pokémon that I’ve seen. So, if these caves really were made by Pokémon, then where the hay are they?

“Trapinch.”

“Yeah, I mean you’d think we’d have run into at least one other Pokémon by – wait a minute, what did you just say?” Rainbow Dash spun around to see that an odd,-looking, orange creature had snuck up behind her and Tank Jr. Nearly half of the quadrupedal creature seemed to be made up of its head, and its head appeared to be little more than a pair of black beady eyes on either side of its massive jaws.

“Trapinch,” the creature repeated, not moving an inch.

“So, I’m guessing you’re a Trapinch then,” Rainbow Dash said uneasily as she pointed her Pokedex at the orange Pokémon. “Let’s see what that actually means.”

Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon. Commonly found in arid deserts, this Pokémon’s jaws are powerful enough to crush boulders.

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said as she regarded the Trapinch standing in front of her. It wasn’t behaving aggressively (at least as far as Rainbow Dash could tell). More importantly, if Trapinch was one of the Pokémon responsible for creating the tunnels then it stood to reason it would know the way out. “Say, Trapinch, I don’t suppose you could lead us out of here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

A brief moment ticked by before Trapinch tilted its head in apparent confusion. “Trapinch?”

“Darn it, where the hay is Fluttershy when you need to talk to some critter?” Rainbow Dash said with an aggravated sigh. “Okay, new plan. Tank, I need you to explain to this guy that we need to find a way out. Can you do that?”

“Squirtle!” Tank Jr said, giving Rainbow Dahs a quick salute before scampering over to Trapinch. What transpired was a several minute back and forth between the two, not a single moment of which Rainbow Dash could understand in the slightest. Eventually, however, the two seemed to come to an agreement of some kind and Tank Jr cheerfully waddled back to Rainbow Dash.

“So, is he gonna be able to help us?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Squirtle!” Tank Jr replied as it nodded its head happily. “Squirtle Squirtle squirt Squirtle,” Tank Jr added as it waved its arms in Trapinch’s direction.

“Okay, I’m gonna assume all of that means yes,” Rainbow Dash said. “So, what’re we waiting for then? Let’s get moving!” Trapinch obligingly began moving down a side tunnel that Rainbow Dash had overlooked, while Tank Jr motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow. The drama of Rainbow Dash’s declaration was soon undercut, however, due to the waddling pace Trapinch se. “I wonder if Daring Do ever had days like this,” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she found herself chafing at the slow pace.

Fortunately for Rainbow Dash’s nonexistent patience it didn’t take long to reach their destination, as the tunnel they were trudging down suddenly opened up into a massive cavern. The walls of the cavern were pockmarked with dozens of holes, many of which had Trapinch poking their heads out of them. Other Trapinch congregated on the floor of the cavern in a manner that vaguely reminded Rainbow Dash of the ponies in Ponyville’s town square.

“So, I’m guessing this is your home, right?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Listen, its nice that you wanted to show me where you live and all, but its really important that I get back to the surface.” In response, the Trapinch that had been guiding her nodded its head towards a particularly large tunnel on the other side of the cavern. “Oh, so the way out is through there, right? Okay, well, thanks for the help and everything, but I’ve really got to go. So, see ya!” Rainbow Dash quickly began making her way across the cavern floor with Tank Jr hurrying behind, eager to finally have found a way out from the underground. As she stepped around the various Trapinch scattered throughout the cave, however, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but notice that many of the Trapinch didn’t appear particularly healthy. “Huh. Hey, Tank, do you have any idea what’s wrong with these guys?” Rainbow Dash eventually asked as her curiosity got the better of her.

A brief conversation between Tank Jr and their Trapinch guide promptly followed. While Rainbow Dash was completely unable to understand a word of it, she could tell by the expression on Tank Jr’s face that it wasn’t good news. Once they were done speaking Tank Jr turned to Rainbow Dash and started a frantic mix of yelling and waving arms.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. I can’t understand what you’re trying to tell me!” Rainbow Dash protested.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Tank Jr dropped down to all fours and pantomimed a Trapinch. After a few moments Tank Jr then leapt up and started snarling and kicking at the space it had previously been crawling on, only to drop back down once again and meekly turn away.

“So…are you hungry or something? Seriously, I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me,” Rainbow Dash said, much to Tank Jr’s apparent frustration.

Before Tank Jr could attempt to explain the situation a third time, however, several badly battered Trapinch scurried into the cavern from a side tunnel. Moments later, the Trapinch were followed by a pair of wicked-looking Pokémon that resembled giant ants made of metal.

Durant, the Iron Ant Pokémon. This highly territorial Pokémon encases itself in steel armor to protect itself from its adversaries.

As Rainbow Dash half-listened to her Pokédex read off its entry on them the Durant advanced on the Trapinch in the cave, hissing and snapping at any who got too close. Eventually, the Durant seemed satisfied that the assembled Trapinch were sufficiently cowed and they turned and left the way they had entered, though not before one of them snatched some food away from a nearby Trapinch as it passed.

“Hey, what the hay do those things think they’re doing? I’ll bet the reason all these Trapinch are so out of it is because those things have been pushing them around. What do you think, Tank?” Rainbow Dash turned to see that Tank Jr had smacked itself in the forehead by way of response. “I’m guessing that’s what you were trying to tell me earlier, wasn’t it?” Rainbow Dash asked somewhat sheepishly.

The Trapinch, meanwhile, appeared to have simply resumed whatever they had been doing as if nothing had happened. The sole exception to this was the Trapinch who had guided Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be trying to nudge its fellows towards the tunnel the Durant had come from. None of the other Trapinch looked to be particularly interested in whatever it had planned, however, mostly either ignoring it entirely or grumpily pushing it away.

Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration as she realized that she was going to be faced with a dilemma. “I need to get out of here so I can help Twilight and Spike, but I can’t just ignore whatever’s going on here. Come on, Rainbow Dash, think. What would Twilight say if she were here? Something…something…books? Okay, that’s not really helping.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath as she tried to organize her thoughts. “Alright, I need to get out of here and find Twilight, but how would she react if she found out I didn’t help these little guys after I saw they were in trouble? I can pretty much already hear the lecture Twilight’d give me if she heard about that. And she’d probably tell me I did the right thing by helping them, especially after that one helped show me a way out of here. It’s settled then, I’m gonna figure out a way to help these guys!” Rainbow Dash declared, to the delight of Tank Jr and the utter indifference of the surrounding Trapinch. “I don’t get it, don’t any of you even care that I’m here to help you?”

Most of the Trapinch continued to ignore Rainbow Dash. A handful, however, began to grumpily shove her and Tank Jr towards the tunnel that led back to the surface.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash protested as she realized where the Trapinch were pushing her. “What the hay do you think you’re doing? We’re going to help you stand up to the other Pokémon who were bullying you. Quit it!”

Suddenly, the Trapinch that Rainbow Dash had initially encountered rushed to her aid, butting away the other Trapinch and making sure they kept their distance. Eventually, the other Trapinch gave up and crawled away, but not without giving Rainbow Dash and her rescuer looks of utter contempt.

“I don’t get it, I told them we were going to help them, so why did they react like that?” Rainbow Dash asked as she moved to the edge of the cavern, Tank Jr and the Trapinch who had helped her following behind. “Why the hay would they want to get rid of me like that?”

Tank Jr thought for a moment before saying something to Trapinch. The two Pokémon rushed out in front of Rainbow Dash and gestured for her to watch them.

“Huh, what’re you – oh, I get it! Charades, right?” Tank Jr nodded happily before pointing and sweeping its arms across the cavern. “Okay so, the cave? No, the Trapinch? Something about the Trapinch?” Nodding its head, Tank Jr began wrapping its arms around itself and shivering. “Shaking, shivering, you’re cold? The Trapinch are cold?” Tank Jr shook its head before covering its face and cowering. “Okay, not cold…wait, scared! The Trapinch are scared of something! I think I get it, the Trapinch are too scared of those metal ant things to stand up for themselves!” While Tank Jr and Trapinch both cheered at this breakthrough, Rainbow Dash didn’t share their elation. “So what the hay are we supposed to do about that, though? I want to help, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have time to fix these guys confidence issues. There has to be some other way we could fix things here.” As Rainbow Dash pondered the situation her eyes landed on the tunnel the Durant had come from and an idea popped into her head. “The problem is that those ant-things are bothering all these Trapinch, right?”

Trapinch and Tank Jr nodded their heads, not sure where Rainbow Dash’s train of thought was taking her.

“So, what if we’re able to figure out some way to keep those things from getting through the tunnel? Like, what if we just collapsed it or something? Then they wouldn’t be able to get to the Trapinch to bully them.” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment as the issues with her plan almost immediately began to dawn on her. “Except those things could probably dig through anything we could put in their way. And it probably wouldn’t be a great idea to try and cause a cave in, anyway. Not to mention the fact that I’m not even sure how we could cause a cave in anyway.” Rainbow Dash heaved a dejected sigh as she reconsidered her options. “I guess we could go with the boring option and try talking to them. Who knows, maybe this who thing has just been one big misunderstanding.”

*********

“Yeah, just one big misunderstanding,” Rainbow Dash muttered nervously to herself as she stood at the entrance to the Durant colony. Tank Jr and the Trapinch stood to either side of her, both looking rather apprehensive about the scene in front of them.

As it turned out, the tunnel had led to the entrance of what must have been a massive Durant colony. Dozens upon dozens of Durant crawled across the cave walls, floor and even ceiling, most of whom seemed utterly indifferent to Rainbow Dash’s presence.

“Okay, Rainbow, no big deal. You just need to find the leader of the freaky metal ants and try to convince them to stop bullying the Trapinch.” Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously as she glimpsed one of the Durant chewing its way into the solid rock wall. “This seemed like it was going to be a lot easier back in the other cave. HEY! DO YOU HAVE A LEADER OR SOMETHING I COULD TALK TO?” Rainbow Dash yelled out.

Almost immediately, every Durant present stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Rainbow Dash. The entire cavern was soon filled with the sounds of hissing and chittering as the Durant seemed to discuss Rainbow Dash’s request. Watching the sinister-looking Pokémon, and seeing how increasingly nervous Tank Jr and Trapinch were, Rainbow Dash pondered if perhaps there weren’t some advantages to not being able to speak Pokémon. Eventually the Durant appeared to reach a consensus as several of their numbers started to advance menacingly on Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, hold on a second,” Rainbow Dash protested as she back away. “I’m just here to talk about why you guys should leave the Trapinch alone.”

Unfortunately, it was all too clear that the Durant weren’t in the mood to listen to what Rainbow Dash had to say. The iron ants continued their advance unabated, viciously snapping their mandibles at Trapinch in particular as they approached.

“Okay, that’s it!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily. “I tried doing this the nice way, but if that’s how you wanna be then take this!” Rainbow Dash launched a powerful kick on the nearest Durant, producing a solid thud as her foot collided with its side. What Rainbow Dash had failed to consider, however, was the effect that kicking a Pokémon encased in metal armor would have on her foot. “Ow! I really did not think that through,” Rainbow Dash yelped as she hopped about on one foot, before noticing that the Durant had now turned their attention to her. “Oh crud, I definitely shouldn’t have done that. Alright, new plan; Tank Jr, Water Gun!”

Tank Jr needed no further encouragement, firing a powerful jet of water out of his mouth at the nearest Durant. The attack seemed to leave its target stunned, but also angered the remaining Durant who turned their attention to Tank Jr.

“Okay, Tank, what if we tried – Gyah!” Rainbow Dash didn’t even have time to issue another command before one of the Durant took a swing at her, leaving a large tear in her jacket. “That’s it, we’re getting the hay out of here. Tank Jr, return!” As Rainbow Dash stowed Tank Jr’s Poké Ball she quickly reached down and scooped up Trapinch before taking off at full sprint down the tunnel. “Come on, little guy, you didn’t think I’d leave you to deal with these things, did you? Just gotta make it back to the other cave. Then we can…I dunno, I’ll think of something when we get there.”

Despite Rainbow Dash’s best efforts, however, the combination of carrying Trapinch along with the difficulty of running in the pitch darkness of the cave slowed her down significantly. Several times Rainbow Dash stumbled on the uneven floor and nearly fell, only to just barely catch her balance and keep running. Eventually, however, Rainbow Dash’s luck ran out and tripped and fell, crashing forward, barely manage to twist herself so as to land on her side and avoid landing on Trapinch. As soon as they landed, Trapinch wriggled out of Rainbow Dash’s grip and started trying to pull her to her feet, but it was clear that the Durant would catch up to them before she could stand back up.

“Charmander! Ember!” Rainbow Dash watched in awe as she looked up from the ground to see a sheet of cinders sailing overhead. The oncoming Durant shrieked in a mixture of surprise and pain as the motes of fire rained down on them, forcing them to halt their advance. “Rainbow, are you alright?”

“Twilight, is that you?” Rainbow Dash asked as she pulled herself to her feet. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. How the hay did you find me, though?”

“Maybe we could wait to talk about that until after we’ve escaped from the angry metal ants?” Spike called out from behind Twilight. “Speaking of which, Bulbasaur, use Sleep Powder!” A cloud of shimmering green powder promptly arced past Rainbow Dash, colliding with several more Durant. The Durant who were coated in the powder stumbled for a moment before clattering to the ground unconscious.

With the immediate threat of the Durant stymied for the moment, Rainbow Dash hurried towards her friends, pausing only to make sure that Trapinch was following behind. “Spike’s right, let’s get the hay out of here.”

*********

“- and that’s when we heard you yelling about wanting to talk to somepony, so Spike and I went to investigate.” Twilight explained as the three friends rested back in the large Trapinch cavern. “I guess it’s a good thing we did. Why in Equestria were those things chasing after you, anyway?”

“Well, I had found out that they’d been bullying the Trapinch that live here, so I figured I’d try and get them to work things out. Thinking about it I probably got in a little over my head there,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But, after the way that one Trapinch helped me I couldn’t just leave without doing anything, you know?”

“I understand, and I think you did the right thing, but maybe next time you should try and come up with a plan first,” Twilight said. “Speaking of the Trapinch that helped you, was that the same one you were carrying when Spike and I found you?”

“He kinda wandered off once we got back here, but I think he should be somewhere around – Hey!” Rainbow Dash leapt up from her seat and rushed over to where a group of Trapinch had encircled the one who had helped her. The other Trapinch were snarling and snapping their jaws at the Trapinch Rainbow Dash had befriended, thought it didn’t seem as though any were brave enough to get too close. Rainbow Dash’s sudden intervention put a swift end to this, however, with the bullying Trapinch scattering at her approach. “You bunch of lousy, ungrateful, jerks! What’s your problem, anyway?”

The assorted Trapinch responded to Rainbow Dash’s outburst with a stony silence. Eventually, one of the throng stepped forward and jerked its head towards the tunnel leading up to the surface. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You all think I’m some big troublemaker, don’t you? But sooner or later you’re gonna need to start sticking up for yourselves or those ant-things –“

“Durant,” Twilight supplied helpfully.

“Gesundheit,” Rainbow Dash replied before turning back to the Trapinch. “Or, those metal ant-things are never going to stop pushing you around.” The Trapinch seemed to ponder Rainbow Dash’s words for a moment before their apparent leader once again motioned for her to leave. “Ugh, fine! Seriously, you guys are more stubborn than Applejack!” With a final snort of irritation Rainbow Dash turned around and headed towards the tunnel leading to the surface, Twilight and Spike following closely behind.

“Is it really alright for us to just leave like this?” Spike asked as they group started their ascent.

“Hey, it’s not like I didn’t try to help them or anything, but it’s not like I can force them to stand up for themselves. Besides, if I’m being honest most of those things were just jerks, aside from the one that helped me get here in the first place anyway. It’s too bad that little guy’s going to have to deal with the others on his own.”

“Actually, I’m not so sure that’s going to be the case,” Twilight said as she grabbed Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Take a look behind us.” Rainbow Dash turned to see a familiar Trapinch determinedly waddling after them.

“What are you doing following us?” Rainbow Dash asked as she knelt down to put herself closer to the Trapinch’s level. “Shouldn’t you be back with the rest of those other guys?” As a response the Trapinch let out a derisive snort and jerked its head to one side. “Let me guess, those jerks kicked you out too, huh? So, what’re you going to do now?” The Trapinch said nothing, but rather nuzzled Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash’s leg. “Hold on, are you saying that you want to come with me?” As the Trapinch nodded, Rainbow Dash leapt into the air in elation. “Aw yeah! Welcome to Team Dash little guy,” Rainbow Dash cheered as she pulled out a Poké Ball, only to pause and glance between it and Trapinch in confusion. “Uh, Twilight? How am I supposed to get him inside this thing, anyway?”

*********

Less than an hour later, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike finally emerged from the massive cave they has seen open up earlier. As the three fiends cheered at finally seeing the sun and breathing fresh air again, a pair of figures watched angrily from a distance.

“I can’t believe it, how did they all survive?” Sombra snarled in frustration.

“It would seem your ‘brilliant’ plan wasn’t quite so clever after all. Next time we do things my way –“

“Rush in like idiots and likely get set on fire or worse? I’m not one of your simpering drones who will rush into some pointless battle because ‘your majesty’ commands it. Come to think of it, neither are your drones anymore!” Sombra added with a malicious laugh.

“That’s enough out of both of you!” a deep voice snarled, seemingly coming out of thin air. “Chrysalis! Sombra! I assume the two of you have managed to at least learn something about how this ridiculous world works by now?”

“Yes, Lord Grogar,” Chrysalis replied fearfully.

“Good, at least you can follow instructions when they’re spelled out for you. Now we just need to focus on destroying Princess Twilight and her precious friends while they’re split up and without their magic.”

“And how do you expect us to do that without our magic?” Sombra complained. “They may not have their magical power, but now they have strangely loyal creatures at their command while we –“

“Enough of your whining! I’m well aware of the issue, and I’ve made…arrangements to provide you with the tools you’ll need to complete your mission. Go to Keystone City; Bray will be waiting for you there to explain further.”

Comments

[DGJabberwocky]

Yay! new chapter!

[DDDDDDDDD23]

wait till rainbow finds out that once trapinch is fully evolved she can fly on his back.

[HB_DS2013]

Just wait until RD fangirls over Flygon's awesome goggles.

[Starlight Nova]

Is the Javik region a real region in Pokemon? Also, why didn't you respond to Cookie_Girl's comment?

[Xanderfox]

Somba and Chrissy will be our team rocket for this adventure it seems. Will the other pair be Terik and Cozy? I'd expect terik to have lots of bulky pokemon, while cozy had cute ones with devious personalities.

[Alabenson]

9586754
I'm not really planning to bring Tirek and Cozy Glow into this fic; I had actually planned on having Grogar be the Big Bad of the story and having him use Sombra and Chrysalis as his minions from the start long before Season 9 was even announced, and had hinted about them back in Chapter 3. The fact that this also ended up being the metaplot for Season 9 is pretty much just a coincidence.

[DDDDDDDDD23]

squirtle: rain dance
Trapinch: sandstorm
?????????: Hail
?????????: Sunny day

[TopGun1986]

Wait is this the real Grogar or Discord in disguise again?

[CarolMAssphault]

Okay, Dash just redeemed herself by doing what I would have done, which is kicking the Durant. Only difference is that I probably would have gone for the eyes and wouldn't have retreated, thus dying a what most likely would be gruesome death. Then again, my mentality is that warriors either win or die trying, and that there is no running away. Now while I would die, at least I would be able to say that I went down swinging and attacked with just as much fervor as they did.

[ANW]

10606427
Real one.

[ANW]

Greaaaaat.
Can't that being of shadows stay dead.