My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Avast Me Pinkies

“Who’s the cutest little Pokémon there is? You are! Yes you are, yes you are. Coochie coochie coo.” Fluttershy gleefully nuzzled her Ralts as she continued to coo over it while the infant Pokémon giggled happily.

“Hey Fluttershy, we’re going to go out for a little bit, do you wanna come along?” Pinkie Pie asked, only for her friend to continue fawning over her Pokémon. “Okay then, I’ll see you when we get back.” Leaving Fluttershy to her babytalk, Pinkie Pie stepped out of their shared room and closed the door behind he before letting out a small sigh.

“Everything alright?” Pinkie Pie looked up to see Derek and his Linoone Joy standing in the hall looking concerned. Before Pinkie could respond, Joy darted over to her and somehow produced a bottle of soda, which she nudged into Pinkie’s hand.

“Thanks Joy,” Pinkie said as she reached down to give Joy a quick scratch behind the ears. “I’m fine, though…it’s just ever since Fluttershy Pokémon hatched she spends all her time in our room and it’s gotten…boring.” Pinkie Pie winced a little at the mention of that last word, as though its mere utterance was somehow a taboo.

“Pinkie, I’m pretty sure Fluttershy’s going to understand if you’re going a little stir crazy and need to get out for a bit. Why don’t we head down to the docks today? There’s almost guaranteed to be something there that will get your attention,” Derek said.

The offer of potential fun had an immediate effect on Pinkie Pie as her countenance visibly brightened. “Okie doki Loki.”

*********

True to Derek’s word, Aquarius City’s docks had no shortage of options to occupy Pinkie Pie’s attention. “Serious Pokémon trainers tend to prefer to come in through Mercury City, like you and Fluttershy did, but most tourists come in through here in Aquarius. And, with all those tourists coming off the ships here, the docks are prime real estate for snack shops, souvenir stands, arcades, street performers and – and Pinkie’s already run off, hasn’t she?” Derek looked to his side to see that, indeed, Pinkie Pie had abruptly vanished.

“Wow, hish plais is gret!” Derek turned to see that Pinkie had reappeared next to him, now wearing an assortment of Aquarius City souvenir apparel while carrying an assortment of snacks in one arm and a life-size Lickitung plush in the other. “I mean, this place is great! Sorry, Twilight always tells me I need to stop talking with my mouth full. Anyway, we should see some of those performers next. I saw one that looked really fun, they had a bunch of cute little ball-shaped seals all bouncing around. Come on, let’s go!” Before Derek had a chance to respond, Pinkie Pie was already bounding down the boardwalk towards the latest attraction to catch her interest.

It took a few seconds of stunned silence before Derek’s brain finally caught up with Pinkie Pie’s antics, allowing him to respond. “How? I only took my eyes off her for a minute or two, tops. Well, at least it looks like she’s gotten out of whatever funk she was in. I’d better catch up to her before she gets into any actual trouble.” Hurrying after Pinkie Pie, Derek eventually caught up with his energetic friend standing in rapt attention outside the gates to a section of the docks that led up to a massive barge. There, in front of the gates, stood a grizzled man in a navy-blue raincoat and matching bucket hat who was busy recounting a story to a small crowd of onlookers.

“So, there I was in me rowboat, the ocean waves risin’ up and crashin’ down around me like a school o’ ragin’ Gyrados while I held tight on me rod. Fer hours I fought with the beast I’d hooked as it pulled me further and further out to sea, until finally it had enough and rose out o’ the depths to face me eye to eye. And what monster of the deep had I hooked, ye ask? Why, none other that Kyogre itself, lord of the briny, primordial sea! It was me and me Pokémon against the legendary beast, and fer two days and two nights we raged against each other with all the might we could muster. Until finally, on the dawn of the third day, me fishin’ line snapped and Kyogre took the opportunity to flee back into the inky depths from which it’d come. And then, a little while later a cruise ship came by and picked me up and I spent the next few weeks celebratin’ me victory with those drinks that have the little umbrellas,” the man said, dropping his dramatic tone at the end. “Well, that’s enough tall tales fer today, but if any o’ ye land lubbers think yer salt enough then come back ‘round and I’ll be happy to test yer mettle.” With that, the man turned around and stumped back down the docks the barge at the end of the docks, leaving the crowd to disperse.

“Wow…” Pinkie Pie said in a rare and all too brief moment of temporary speechlessness. “Who was that?”

“That would have been ‘Captain’ Trask,” Derek replied. “Don’t bother asking what he’s supposed to be a captain of; usually he’ll just answer ‘of the sea’ or something and then break into one of his stories. Believe it or not, Trask is actually the Aquarius Gym Leader, and that barge over there is the city’s gym.”

“Ooh, really? Do you think it’d be alright if we went inside? Norma’s gym was really neat, and even the gym in Belladonna Town was kind of pretty inside,” Pinkie Pie said.

“I don’t really see why not,” Derek replied. “League gyms are supposed to be open to the public, so if you want we can check it out.”

Pinkie Pie let out a brief squeal of joy as she skipped off down the dock towards the floating gym as Derek calmly followed behind.

The interior of the barge, or rather the building that rested on top of the barge, was decorated in a fairly basic nautical theme. The whitewashed walls were adorned with old boat’s wheels, compasses, and other similar bits, as well as pictures and paintings of old sailing vessels. While the overall effect bordered somewhere between a sailing museum and a cheesy seafood restaurant. Pinkie Pie, however, seemed entranced by everything she saw, happily bouncing from one decoration to the next as a bemused Derek followed behind.

“Oh, look at this! And over here, look at this thing! Ooh, I wonder what this thing does?” Pinkie Pie finally paused in front of an antique engine room telegraph as a thought seemed to occur to her. “You know, Pokémon gyms don’t really seem to be all that gym-y once you get inside them.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Norma’s gym was more like a big farm full of all sorts of critters, and that gym in the swamp had all those flowers and plants that I wasn’t supposed to touch. And now this place has all this neat ship stuff,” Pinkie Pie said.

“And I’m guessing that none of that is the sort of thing you’d expect to find in a gym?” Derek asked.

“Not really, no. I always thought gyms were supposed to be full of weights and things with weights that you sit in and people grunting and going ‘YEAH!’” Pinkie Pie said with her best Bulk Biceps impression.

“That’s more what you’d find in a human gym, or maybe a Fighting-type Pokémon gym,” Derek said. “Pokémon gyms are more about giving Pokémon a place where they can be comfortable while they work to become stronger. And, what works for a Pokémon usually is going to be a lot different than what works for humans, so Pokémon gyms come in all sorts of designs.”

“I guess that all makes sense,” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Well, I was just thinking about how Toothy and Munchy really seem to have fun battling, and having that battle with Norma was really exciting…” Pinkie Pie said.

“You’re thinking of challenging Trask for your second badge, I take it?”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “I’m just a little worried what Fluttershy would say about it. I think she still might be a little uncomfortable with the whole ‘Pokémon are cute little critters but actually have a lot of fun fighting each other’ thing.”

“Well, how do you feel about it?”

“I don’t really understand why Pokémon like fighting each other so much but lots of people like stuff that doesn’t really seem all that fun to me. Like –” Pinkie Pie suddenly went quiet and began glancing around, as if she were afraid someone might overhear what she was about to say. Once she was satisfied they were alone, Pinkie leaned over and whispered into Derek’s ear. “I don’t actually think rocks are all that interesting. Please don’t ever tell anybody I said that,” Pinkie Pie added.

“Don’t worry, I promise,” Derek assured her.

“Really? Cross your heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Uh, sure, that. I know, why don’t we head back to the Pokémon Center so you can talk to Fluttershy to see if she really would have any issues with you taking on another gym battle?” Derek asked in an effort to change the subject.

*********

By the time Derek and Pinkie Pie exited the gym it was lunch time and the docks were swarming with hungry tourists and locals alike. In the press of the crowd, neither friend noticed a familiar pair lurking at the edge of the docks.

“So, what’d you mean when you said you had a cool idea about this gym? I thought gyms were the most uncool places on this whole island?” Femur complained.

“Normally you’d be right, gyms are like those island challenges we had back home, except even lamer ‘cause gyms are all organized and stuff. But, check this, gyms are also where these league losers keep their Z-crystals, right? So, if we sneak in there, we could swipe all those Z-crystals and hand them over to the boss. That would really show him who the hardest boneheads he has are!” Ribcage said.

“Yeah dude, that plan is hardcore!” Femur exclaimed before pausing for a moment. “Uh, we’d be the boneheads, right?”

“You know it!” Ribcage replied. “So, now all we gotta do is wait for some sucker to come do that lame gym challenge.”

*********

“-so, anyway, that’s why I thought I should try another gym battle,” Pinkie Pie said, concluding a thorough, well-reasoned argument that she suspected Fluttershy had heard none of, the latter having spent the entire time focused on her Ralts. “So…what do you think?”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, if that’s what you’re asking,” Fluttershy said as she fed her Ralts a spoonful of infant Pokémon food.

Pinkie Pie sighed in exasperation. “I know Pokémon battles aren’t really your thing, but – wait, what did you say?”

“I still don’t completely understand why, but Pokémon really do seem to enjoy fighting each other. So, if you and your Pokémon really want to try another gym battle then maybe you should,” Fluttershy said.

“Wow, Fluttershy, and here I was worried you’d be all ‘Pokémon shouldn’t fight each other’ and I’d be ‘but the Pokémon actually like it and have fun’ and we’d keep yelling and arguing until one of us said something the other couldn’t forgive and we’d never speak to each other again! But, luckily that didn’t happen and you’ll be able to come cheer us on instead,” Pinkie Pie said happily.

“Wait, come cheer for you? As in, come to the gym and watch you battle?” Fluttershy asked nervously, to which Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Uh huh. My first gym battle was really exciting, but it was also kind of scary since nobody else was there with me. But this time it won’t be nearly as scary since you and Derek will be there to cheer me and my Pokémon on!”

“Ralts Ralts!” Fluttershy’s Ralts exclaimed cheerfully as it threw its arms up in the air.

“See! Your Ralts has the right idea! I’ll go tell Derek that you’re coming,” Pinkie Pie said before letting out a brief squeal of delight. “This is so exciting! My Pokémon are going to be all BAM! POW! And then that gym leader’s going to be ‘Pinkie, how’d you get so strong?’ And then, best of all, well all have a big party to celebrate! Let’s see, we’d need cake, of course, and balloons and streamers…do you think they have pinatas shaped like gym badges?” As Pinkie Pie wandered out of the room working out the logistics of her planned victory party, Fluttershy was left sitting on his bed with the expression she usually wore when Discord volunteered her cottage for an impromptu tea party.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged her quite that much,” Fluttershy said to herself as she instinctively hugged her Ralts to her chest. “Oh well, maybe it won’t be quite as bad as the battle I had with Mister Mortimer. I‘m sure the leader of a gym in a big city like this will be a perfectly calm and normal individual.”

*********

“YARRR! Welcome, ye pack of land lubbers, to the Aquarius City Gym! Now which of ye thinks they have what it takes to face me and me Pokémon in a proper brawl?”

“I am!” Pinkie Pie replied, matching Captain Trask’s bombast with her own boundless energy.

“Well, it looks like I’ve hooked a lively one today, doesn’t it? I like the cut of yer jib, missy.” Letting out a raucous laugh, Captain Trask motioned for Pinkie Pie and her friends to follow him inside the gym.

“At least he seems nicer than the last gym leader we met,” Fluttershy said, mostly to herself.
“Who, Mortimer?” Derek asked. “Yeah, that guy’s definitely got a reputation for being the biggest jerk in the league by a wide margin. Even Nero’s got a better reputation than Mort does, and being a thug is pretty much Nero’s whole thing. Trask, on the other hand, is a little nuts, but otherwise he’s not really a bad guy.”

“You seem to know a lot about the gym leaders here,” Fluttershy remarked. “Have you done these gym battles before yourself?”

“Well, not exactly, at least not here in the Javik region…hey, look, we’ve made it to the arena.” Indeed, by that point the group had made it to the far side of the barge, where the gym’s ‘arena’ was located. Said arena consisted of a section of open water marked off by a series of ropes and buoys, with several colorful floating platforms within providing a place for trainers and their Pokémon to stand. While Derek and Fluttershy made their way up a set of bleachers that had been built into the side of the barge overlooking the arena, Pinkie Pie and Trask took their places at either end of the arena.

“Arr, since this be a battle fer yer second badge, we’ll be fightin’ with two Pokémon apiece. Are ye ready?” Trask asked.

“Yup, me and my Pokémon are ready to go!” Pinkie Pie replied with her usual cheerfulness.

“Alright then! Prepare yerself, missy, to face the unforgivin’ wrath of the savage seas! Go Quagsire!”

“Okie dokie. Go Lombre!” In a flash of light, Lombre appeared atop one of the floating platforms across from its opponent…a pudgy, light blue, beady eyed creature with a vacant expression on its face.

“Qua?” the Quagsire drawled as its mouth opened in a wide, dopey grin.

“Huh, that’s not exactly what I was expecting, but…” Pinkie Pie shrugged her shouldes before addressing her Lombre. “Okay, Lombre, let’s – Fake Out!” In response to Pinkie’s sudden command, Lombre bounced into the water and rapidly swam over towards the platform Quagsire was sitting on. Once it had reached its goal, Lombre burst out of the water and clapped its hands directly in front of Quagsire’s face, sending out a shockwave of air. The Quagsire, however, barely seemed to notice the attack despite taking it full in the face. “Now we’ve got you right where we want you! Lombre, use your Absorb!” Hearing Pinkie’s latest order, Lombre promptly jumped back as it fired a beam of red light from the mark on its face. Once again, however, despite Lombre scoring a direct hit the dopey grin on Quagsire’s face didn’t falter for a single moment.

“Not that I mind that it doesn’t look like its hurting at all, but Lombre doesn’t really seem to be affecting Quagsire one bit,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, it’s having an effect, all right,” Derek said. “That last attack especially would have had an impact. Quagsire just have a tendency to not react to really anything, and odds are Trask has trained this one to maximize that effect. It’s essentially weaponized cluelessness.”

“Quagsire, use Amnesia!” Trask called out, prompting Quagsire to tilt its head, its vacant expression unchanging.

“See what I mean?” Derek said.

“Um, I’m not sure how forgetting things is supposed to help you in a Pokémon battle, but okay,” Pinkie Pie said. “Ooh, I know. Lombre, why don’t you try using you Bubble Beam. Bubbles are always fun!” Shrugging at Pinkie Pie’s reasoning, Lombre nevertheless took a deep breath before exhaling a massive stream of sparkling blue bubbles at Quagsire.

“Yarr, missy ye’ve fallen into me trap. Quagsire, rouse yerself and hit that bilge rat with yer Slam attack!” Even as Lombre stream of bubbles cascaded over it, Quagsire scrunched itself up before slamming its tail into the platform it stood on, launching itself through the air and straight into Lombre.

“Oh no, Lombre, are you alright?” Pinkie Pie cried out as Lombre found itself knocked off the edge of the platform into the water. A quick thumbs up from Lombre assuaged her fears, allowing Pinkie to refocus her attention on the battle. “So, you’re not going to make this easy, huh? Well alright then. Lombre, give it another Absorb.” Lombre didn’t even bother surfacing as it fired another beam at Quagsire, who once again seemed to fail to notice that it was under attack.

“Fixin’ to keep yer distance, eh? Well, Quagsire and I can play that game too! Quagsire, give that lily livered lily pad a taste of yer Mud Bomb!” At first it didn’t appear that Quagsire even heard its trainer as it stared blankly towards Lombre. Then, without warning Quagsire threw its head back before snapping it forward again and spitting out a sizable ball of mud. The ball of muck arced through the air before landing squarely atop Lombre’s head.

“Maybe it’s a good thing Rarity isn’t here to see this,” Pinkie Pie said to herself as she cringed at the sight of her muck-covered Pokémon. “Okay, let’s mix things up a bit. Lombre, this time I want you to use Astonish!”

“What in the name of Davy Jones do ye thing ye be tryin’ now?” Trask asked as Lombre vanished beneath the water. A few tense seconds ticked by in silence until Lombre burst back out of the water behind Quagsire, its hands raised and eyes glowing in a terrifying display that managed at least to get Quagsire’s attention.

“Good! Now hit it another Absorb before it has a chance to spit more goop at you!” Quagsire’s expression still remained largely unchanged even as it was struck by yet another of Lombre’s Absorb attacks, but its slumping posture revealed it was starting to feel the effects of Lombre’s repeated attacks.

“A bold strategy, but ye seem to be forgettin’ one thing; me Quagsire packs quite a bit of punch up close. Quagsire, give it another Slam!” As Trask roared out his ordger, Quagsire whirled around and swung its tail directly into Lombre’s midsection. The force of the blow was so great Lombre was knocked clean off its feet and sent tumbling through the air.

“Lombre!” Pinkie Pie called out in shock before something seemed to catch her eye. “Lombre, use you Bubble Beam, quick!” Grunting with exhertion, Pinkie Pie’s Lombre twisted itself around midair and blasted a torrent of bubbles at Quagsire. Taking the full brunt of the attack, Quagsire was left teetering on its feet until it finally fell over.

“Hmm, clever,” Derek remarked as he and Fluttershy watched Trask grumpily recall his now unconscious Quagsire.

“I’m happy Pinkie won, but I don’t know how clever that was,” Fluttershy said as she held tight on her excitedly squirming Ralts.

“I was referring to why she choose that last attack in particular. Look,” Derek pointed towards Lombre, who had finally landed in the water near one of the platforms. “Lombre was headed for a hard landing on one of those platforms. Pinkie saw that and had it use Bubble Beam to change its trajectory enough to hit the water instead. That’s a sign of a good trainer; the ability to assess a situation in battle and make quick decisions based on that.

Fluttershy simply nodded politely in response as she focused her attention back on the battle.

*********

“Check it out, man, none of these uncool suckers has any idea who we are,” Femur said as he and Ribcage strolled towards the Aquarius City Gym.

“Yeah, they’d probably freak if they knew they were walkin’ by the toughest boneheads on the island. Good call on these disguises, nobody would be able to guess we’re actually part of Team Skull with this stuff on,” Ribcage added. Said ‘disguises’, taken from a ransacked souvenir shop, consisted of floral print shirts and baseball caps worn over their usual outfits. To their credit, however, the combination of their bizarre fashion choices and the exaggerated swagger of their walk convinced everyone who saw them to actively avoid making eye contact.

“So, now all we’ve got to do is get in the gym while the leader’s busy with whatever chumps decided to challenge him, and then all the Z-crystals are ours,” Femur said as he exchanged a fist bump with Ribcage, only to suddenly look concerned as something crossed his mind for the first time. “Uh, you know, up close, this gym actually looks kind of really, really big. How are we supposed to find the Z-crystals in a place like that?”

“Relax man, I’ve got it figured out. These crystals are like treasure, right? And the gym loser here – get it? Gym ‘loser’,” Ribcage and Femur spent a moment chuckling at the ‘joke’ before continuing. “Anyway, the guy who runs this place has a serious pirate thing going on, so he’ll probably keep the crystals locked up with all his other pirate stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah, that makes sense,” Femur said as he nodded his head. “But, then we need to figure out where he keeps his pirate stuff.”

“In the captain’s room, duh! That’s the place where he’ll have all his maps and treasure and stuff,” Ribcage replied as though he were stating the painfully obvious.

“Oh. How do you know so much about this stuff, anyway?” Femur asked.

“I wanted to be pirate when I grew up when I was a little kid. They were like the boneheads of back then,” Ribcage said.

“Aw yeah, little Ribcage, bonehead for life!”

“You know it, man!” Ribcage said as he and Femur grasped hands before slamming their heads together. A few moments of staggering around from the resulting head injuries later and the pair ran off towards the bow of the ship.

*********

“I’ll give credit where it’s due, yer Lombre gave me Quagsire a solid beatin’. But now it be time fer ye to face the true terror that lurks in the depths. Go Carvanha!” Trask dramatically threw his Poké Ball into the air, but the light that emerged from it, that would normally coalesce into a Pokémon instead disappeared under the surface of the water.

“Okay, well I choose…Munchy!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she tossed her own Poké Ball out as well. Even after Munchy appeared on one of the platforms, however, there was still no sign of Trask’s own Pokémon. “Huh, you’re Pokémon sure seems shy for a terror of the deep. Hey Munchy, can you see anything?” Shrugging, Munchy waddled over to the edge of the platform and leaned over to peer into the water below.

Suddenly, without any warning, a red and blue blur splashed out of the water near Munchy. Pinkie’s Pokémon was left lying back on the platform with a semicircular hole in the edge of the platform where it had been standing mere moments earlier. “Yarr, how much of a terror of the deep do ye think me Carvanha be now?” Trask laughed as a pair of jagged yellow fins disappeared back under the water. “Yer Pokémon best keep clear of the water, lest it risk becomin’ me Carvanha’s next meal. Although, it might not have much say in the matter,” Trask added ominously as he pulled up a sleeve to reveal his Z-ring. “Now yer gonna see what it means to face the true wrath of the seas!” The immediate impact of Trask’s proclamation was somewhat lessened due to the fact that his Z-move’s movements looked more like a hula dance than any sort of actual attack. The moment he completed them, however, the water surrounding Munchy’s platform started to churn until a whirlpool formed directly underneath it. Rather than pull the platform under, however, the swirling water surged upwards, quickly enveloping the platform and Munchy along with it. Pinkie Pie could only watch helplessly as Carvanha, little more than a glowing blur within the waterspout, repeatedly attacked her helpless Pokémon. Finally, the assault ended and the waterspout collapsed back to the surface. Any relief Pinkie might have felt at this was all too short-lived, as the attack had reduced Munchy’s platform to splinters and left Munchy floundering in the water.

“Hang on, Munchy, don’t panic1” Pinkie Pie cried out as she watched the water for any signs of Carvanha’s presence.

“It looks to me like yer Pokémon’s fresh out of things to hold onto. Are ye sure ye want to continue?” Trask asked.

“Of course I’m sure!” Pinkie Pie said defiantly. “Munchy and I have been in tough situations before and won and we’re going to get through this one too!” As Pinkie frantically wracked her brain to think of how they were actually going to accomplish that, Munchy looked over its shoulder with at her with an unreadable expression on its face before silently sinking into the water. “Munchy? Munchy!” Pinkie desperately called out to her Pokémon, but initially was met with only silence. Then, a circle of bright light formed under the water before a massive upswell of water burst out.

“Snorlax!”

“Yarr, that…that not be good,” Trask gulped as all eyes stared at the massive, rotund, ursine-like Pokémon now floating in the water.

“Munchy…is that really you?” Pinkie Pie asked hesitantly.

“Snorlax!” the newly evolved Munchy affirmed as it cheerfully clapped its paws together, prompting Pinkie’s worried expression to immediately change to a grin that was even wider than usual.

“Alright! Now, let’s show that mean old fishy what we can really do!” As Pinkie Pie spoke she began striking the poses for her own Z-move as Munchy awkwardly mimicked them.

“It kind of looks like he’s doing a water aerobics routine,” Fluttershy said with a giggle as she watched trainer and Pokémon move together.

“A little, yeah,” Derek said absentmindedly. “Something about those poses seems off, its almost like…no, Pinkie isn’t really going to that, is she?”

“Do what?” Fluttershy asked.

“Z-Metronome!” Pinkie Pie yelled out. As she did, Snorlax appeared to take a moment to center itself before repeatedly thrusting its arms forward, sending out a barrage of fist-shaped blasts of orange energy into the air.

“When you combine the move Metronome with the power of a Z-move, what you get is an incredibly powerful attack that can take nearly any form,” Derek explained as Munchy’s energy fists twisted through the air to dive into the water. “It’s not exactly a reliable strategy, but its not one that’s easy to guard against, either. Case in point –” Moments after Munchy’s attack had concluded, a Pokémon resembling a vicious red and blue fish floated to the surface, battered and unconscious.

“Well, I know when I’m beaten,” Trask said as he recalled his Carvanha. “And with that bein’ me last Pokémon, it would appear victory be yours.”

“You hear that, Munchy? We won!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Pinkie’s celebration was abruptly cut short, though as a jubilant Munchy bounced out of the water onto her platform, catapulting Pinkie face first into the water.

*********

“So, that’s two badges I have now,” a dripping wet, but no less cheerful Pinkie Pie said a few minutes later as she admired her new Tide Badge, a pin in the shape of a crashing wave.

“Well, you certainly earned it, not just anyone could evolve a Munchlax like that,” Derek said. “So, think you’ll still be up for a victory party once you’re dried off?”

The look of maniacal glee in Pinkie Pie’s eyes at this immediately confirmed the obvious answer. But, just as Pinkie opened her mouth to expound at length regarding the plans she had concocted for her ‘I won my second badge / Munchy evolved’ party, the barge abruptly lurched forward, nearly sending everyone crashing to the floor.

“Yarr, is everyone alright?” Trask asked as he rushed over.

“I think so, what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked as she cradled her Ralts in her arms.

“It kind of feels like the gyms moving, but that’s just silly,” Pinkie Pie added. “I mean, this place is tied up to the docks, right? It’s not like its going to float away on its own.”

A few moments of silence descended on the group as the potential implications of what Pinkie Pie had just said sunk in. These ponderings were soon interrupted when the gym shook once again, this time much more violently. “The ship must be pullin’ on the moorin’ lines! I need to see what I can do to keep the blasted things from tearin’ the dock to pieces. While I’m handlin’ that, I’ll need the lot of ye to head to the engine room and do whatever ye need to do to cut power.”

“Yes sir, captain sir,” Pinkie Pie said before bounding off down a hall picked seemingly at random.

“Wait, Pinkie, do you even –” Derek called out before turning to Trask. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure this is taken care of before things get too out of hand.” With that, Derek tore off down the halls after Pinkie, with Fluttershy hurrying behind. “Pinkie! Do you have any idea where you’re going?” Derek called out as they caught up with their friend.

“Of course I do, silly! I wouldn’t just run off without knowing where I was going, that would just be crazy,” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Okay, but how, then? I’m pretty sure the only other time you’ve been here is when we visited earlier today,” Derek said.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Pinkie Pie said with a grin. “I’m just following my Pinkie sense.”

“Following your – you know what, never mind,” Derek replied, concluding that further questions were unlikely to produce satisfactory or even comprehensible answers. Plus, given Fluttershy’s nonreaction to Pinkie’s claim, ‘Pinkie sense’ was likely something fairly normal by Pinkie standards.

Regardless of how Pinkie Pie was doing so, it was impossible to deny that somehow whe was effortlessly navigating the hallways of the gym. Eventually, Pinkie led the group to the door leading to the barge’s wheelhouse, inside of which a pair of voices could be heard arguing.

“I though you said this’d be where that loser leader kept all of his loot. There’s nothing here but a bunch of stupid maps and controls and stuff.”

“No, dude, that’s just it. The guy isn’t gonna keep all his good stuff out in the open, he’s gonna hide it. We just gotta keep tearin’ this place up ‘til we find it. Besides, trashin’ this place is what cool guys would do anyway, right?”

“Yeah, I guess I can’t argue with –”

It was at this point that Pinkie Pie let out a growl of unadulterated frustration and kicked in the door. “Seriously! You two again? Why do you always have to show up and cause trouble whenever we go anywhere?”

“Hey, from where we’re standing its you lame losers who’re the ones who keep following us around and messing up our plans,” Femur countered. “But if you want to throw down, then you better get ready to –”

“Go Toothy!” Pinkie yelled as she tossed out her Poké Ball.

“Hey! You don’t just go interrupting a guy when he’s threatening you,” Femur protested. “Although, butting in is part of Team Skull life, and if I remember you did have some wicked flow…hey, you still sure you don’t want to join up with Team Skull?”

“Toothy, Water Gun,” Pinkie Pie said in a deadpan tone worthy of her older sister Maude. The sudden blast of water sent Femur flying backwards into the barge’s control panel with enough force to leave a dent in the console.

“Ugh, you could of just said no,” Femur said as he unsteadily stood back up.

“Come on, man, quit flirtin’ so se can get out of here,” Ribcage said as he helped his partner up. “If these punks are here that means that gym leader ain’t gonna be far behind, and that’s one fight I don’t mind bailin’ on. Later, dorks,” Ribcage said as he produced a fist-sized smoke bomb and tossed it to the floor, filling the room with thick, acrid clouds of smoke.

“Hang on, I’ll take care of this,” Derek said as the trio struggled to keep from coughing uncontrollably. “Odette, we could really use some help here.” The sound of a Poké Ball opening was soon followed by the sound of beating wings, and in moments strong gusts of wind completely cleared the smoke from the room.

“Thank goodness,” Fluttershy said as the last wisps of smoke were cleared out by Odette, now revealed to be a rather elegant swan-like Pokémon. “Now we just have to shut off the engines and everything will be alright.”

“Yep, and it’s a good thing we won’t need that control panel thingy I knocked that meanie-pants into, or we’d be in real trouble,” Pinkie Pie added with a laugh. Said laughter slowly and uncomfortably died down as she realized her friends weren’t laughing with her, but rather were staring at the console, now rendered inoperable from a combination of water and blunt force.

*********

“There be nothin’ more fer it, those lines will need to be cut. Sharpedo, bite through those cables before the whole pier’s destroyed!” As Trask gave his order, a monstrous, shark-like Pokémon leapt clear of the water and bit clean through one of the steel cables anchoring the gym to the docks. The Sharpedo quickly repeated this maneuver several more times until the barge was completely disconnected. “Yarr, good work, matey. Now we just need to wait for those land lubbers to cut the engines.” Rather than stop, however, the barge’s engines continued to run, propelling the barge out to sea as Trask watched helplessly. “Arr, this…this has not been one of me better days.”

Comments

[Xanderfox]

Of course Pinkie has the utter luck that Z-Meteronom came out a fighting move the clobbered Carvana into oblivion.

[CyberDemonSlayer]

Pinkie pie has that Ash type of battling style where she does crazy things that wouldn’t make sense until they actually work.

[raven618]

give that lily livered lily pad,

That line made me chuckle.

And a surprise to be continued...

[WanderingPony]

10633622

Z-Metronome will eventually generate Splash for Pinkie, but only when it's going to be funny.

[ANW]

10766187
*Shudders*
Plus 3 attack, on a Snorlax