My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Encountering Some Turbulence

“So, is Skarmory gonna be alright?” Rainbow Dash asked as she watched the now unconscious Pokémon from the observation room.

“Oh yes, your Skarmory should make a full recovery in now time at all,” Nurse Joy replied cheerfully. “To be honest, the fast that it was that rambunctious is an excellent sign. Although, it is a lucky thing that Mister Siegfried was there to help calm it down.”

“Always happy to help,” Siegfried said as he stood next to the Pokémon he had used to subdue Skarmory, an eerie-looking pink and purple, mushroom-like Pokémon with pale, spindly arms. “Though I keep telling you, you should really consider training a Shiinotic yourself. They really do come in handy when dealing with uncooperative Dragon-type Pokémon. And other types as well, apparently. Speaking of which, what exactly happened to that Skarmory to leave it in that sort of condition?”

“It got caught in an updraft and got slammed into the side of the mountain a couple of times,” Rainbow Dash said. “You said it’s going to be alright, right? So, that means it’s going to be able to fly again? ‘Cause it looks like it lost a lot of feathers.” As Rainbow Dash spoke, she looked meaningfully at a metal bowl that had been taken out of the operating room loaded with chipped and bent metallic feathers.

“Oh yes, Skarmory actually completely shed their feathers each year naturally due to wear,” Nurse Joy explained. “With a little help from us, its wings should be as good as new in no time at all.”

“Man, that’s a relief,” Rainbow Dash said. “So, now that that’s off my mind, have either of you guys seen my friend Twilight? She ran off to the library right when we got here and I haven’t seen her since.”

“She did drop off her Pokémon to be treated a short while ago,” Siegfried replied. “At the moment, I believe you’ll be able to find her in the monastery’s guest quarters.”

“Wait, Twilight’s Pokémon were hurt? What happened?”

*********

“You mean you got your second gym badge? That’s awesome!”

“Is it?” Twilight asked. “I nearly lost because I’ve been completely ignoring how my Pokémon feel and just treating them like – like numbers in a ledger or something! The only reason I won at all was because of dumb luck.”

“Yeah, but you still won,” Rainbow Dash said. “And okay, maybe you have been acting kind of like a jerk to your Pokémon, but – I’m just making things worse, aren’t’ I?”

Twilight responded by letting out an agonized groan before falling back onto her bed and covering her face with a pillow. “I’m the Princess of Friendship for Celestia’s sake! I’m not supposed to make mistakes like this!”

“Come on, Twilight. You make mistakes all the time,” Rainbow Dash said, prompting Twilight to uncover her face and glare irritably at her friend. “Uh, I mean…well, you remember that time Discord spent a weekend actually being nice to the rest of us so he could mess with you? Didn’t he say he did all that to prove some point about how you could be jealous or something? I mean, I didn’t really believe that’s why he did all that because, you know, Discord. But, you have to admit he did kind of have a point about the whole ‘you can still make mistakes even though you’re a princess’ thing.”

“I understand what you’re trying to say, and I appreciate it, but this is much worse than my getting a little jealous,” Twilight said.

“By ‘a little jealous’ you mean trying to get all your friends to drink some potion because you think they’re under some sort of spell?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Hey, that potion was completely safe. Pinkie Pie drank nearly all of it and she didn’t even get a stomachache,” Twilight said defensively.

“Have you seen what it takes to give Pinkie Pie a stomachache? Besides that, what about the time you were foalsitting Flurry Heart and she nearly trashed all of Ponyville General?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“One, that wasn’t really a friendship problem, more of a ‘taking care of foals’ problem. Two, how do you even know about that?”

“Spike told me,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Also, I ran into Pinkie Pie when was delivering your apology cake to the hospital. And if that doesn’t count, then how about the time you put a spell on your doll that drove the whole town nuts?”

“I, um…I wasn’t a princess back then, so it doesn’t really count either,” Twilight replied after a moment’s hesitation, to which Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Alright, fine. But my point is, you have messed up before. You’ve just always figured out some way to fix everything eventually,” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight spent a few moments mulling over what Rainbow Dash was saying before finally responding. “You know, I think you might be right. If I think about this like a friendship problem, then I should definitely be able to figure out the answer!”

“Glad I could help! Actually, since you’re gonna be making up with your Pokémon, do you wanna come with me back to the Pokémon Center? I kinda want to be there when the Skarmory I caught wakes up,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sure, I – wait, you caught a Skarmory?”

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you about that? Me and Spike were checking out some of the trails around here and we ran into this Skarmory that hurt itself when it crashed into the side of the mountain. We tried to help it, but it was too angry to get close to, so I caught it so I could bring it to the Pokémon Center here,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Okay, that makes sense. So, the Skarmory was so badly hurt it’s unconscious now? That sounds pretty serious,” Twilight said.

“Um, not exactly…”

*********

“I thought you said it was unconscious!” Twilight yelped as she ducked behind Rainbow Dash, narrowly dodging an IV pole as it was crashing to the floor.

“It was, Siegfried knocked it out with some weird mushroom so the nurse could treat it. Skarmory’s just woken up is all,” Rainbow Dash said.

Skarmory had indeed woken up, and was still in a clearly foul mood, screeching and swiping its wings at anyone who came too close. Thankfully, the recent loss of most of its razor-sharp feathers prevented Skarmory from threatening any serious harm, but it still presented a formidable appearance as it stood on the bed.

“Hey, easy there,” Rainbow Dash said as she tried to calm the enraged Pokémon down. “Nobody here’s going to hurt you, we brought you here so we could help you.” The Skarmory gave Rainbow Dash a particularly venomous glare in response as it appeared to recognize her. “You crashed into the side of the mountain, remember? I tried helping you get loose from the bushes, but you wouldn’t let me, so I had to catch you –” The Skarmory suddenly erupted into an enraged outburst, frantically screeching and beating its wings. “Okay, I’m starting to get the idea that you’re not too happy about the whole getting caught thing. Maybe I’ll give you some time to calm down.” As Rainbow Dash spoke, she and Twilight quickly backed out of the room and closed the door on the furiously shrieking Pokémon.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Twilight asked once they were safely in another room.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I don’t really like the ideal of forcing Skarmory to stay with me if it doesn’t want to, but I can’t just let it go either. I mean, you saw its wings, right? It wouldn’t even be able to get off the ground the way it is now, let alone handle the winds around here.”

“So why not just leave it here until it gets better?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure Nurse Joy would be happy –” An especially loud shriek erupted from Skarmory’s room, interrupting Twilight. “I’m sure Nurse Joy would be willing to look after it until it’s able to safely fly again.”

“I guess I could do that, but then it feels like I’m just abandoning it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m the one who caught it and brought it here, so it feels like it’s my responsibility to make sure it actually gets better. You’re probably right about talking to Nurse Joy, though. I at least wanna know how long it’s gonna take before Skarmory’s feathers grow back.”

*********

“Wait, seriously?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Mmhm, your Skarmory should have its wings back to normal by tomorrow morning,” Nurse Joy replied. “Now, it may still have a little difficulty flying initially, so try not to let it exert itself too much, but other than that it should be fine.”

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash replied. “When I messed up my wings like that I ended up grounded for a week,” Rainbow Dash added, muttering to herself.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” Nurse Joy asked in a puzzled tone.

“I was just wondering if Skarmory’s wings are gonna be strong enough to handle flying out in the mountains,” Rainbow Dash quickly said. “Getting off the ground is one thing, but the winds out there can be really hard to manage.”

“That is a good point. You’ll probably want to find a space outside where the air currents aren’t as strong for Skarmory to practice flying safely,” Nurse Joy said.

As Nurse Joy left to tend to the center’s other patients, Rainbow Dash sat down to ponder her next steps. “Helping Skarmory get used to flying again sounds like a good idea, but if I try letting it fly out in the open it’ll probably just fly off and get itself hurt again. Darn it, I wish there was some way I could talk some sense into it.”

“Hey Rainbow, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash looking up to see Spike walking down the hall towards her. “Is there something wrong? You kind of look like you’re worried about something.”

“Not really. I mean, kinda, but – I’m just trying to figure out how I can get that Skarmory to let me help it get its wings back to normal. If it tries flying off as soon as it gets outside it’ll just end up getting hurt again, but its not like I can just keep it inside or in its Poké Ball all the time.”

“Actually, I think I might have an idea,” Spike said as he pulled out one of his own Poké Balls. “The problem is Skarmory won’t listen to you, right? Well, maybe it would listen to another Pokémon. I could have Peewee talk to it and explain that we want to help it get better.”

“Huh, that’s actually not a bad idea. Do you think Skarmory will listen, though? It seemed really wound up the last time Twilight and I saw it,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That might be because you’re both humans. Or, at least you are right now anyway – you know what I mean,” Spike replied. “Anyway, I read in my Pokédex that some Pokémon can have issues with trusting humans, so maybe that’s the reason Skarmory’s been acting the way it has.”

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. “I guess that would explain a lot. I really wish Fluttershy were here, she’d probably be able to just ask it what its deal was. Anyway, since she’s not here, let’s give your Pokémon translator idea a try.”

Rainbow Dash and Spike quickly made their way to the room Skarmory was being kept in, which now sported a sign warning against entry. Cracking the door open to peak inside revealed that the room was in an even greater state of disarray than when Rainbow Dash had left earlier. Skarmory itself appeared to be asleep, having gathered a mas of materials together on the bed to for a nest. Aftera moment of two of hesitating by the door, Rainbow Dash nudged Spike forward and motioned for him to bring out his Pokémon. As Spike stumbled forward into the room, Skarmory awoke and raised its head to fix him with an icy stare.

“Uh, hi,” Spike said nervously as Skarmory continued to glare at him. “You probably don’t really want to talk with me or anything, but I have someone with me that I’d like you to meet. Come on out, Peewee!” Skarmory reared back a bit upon seeing Spike pull out his Poké Ball, relaxing only slightly when it became apparent that Spike was letting his own Pokémon out. As Peewee appeared, Spike motioned for it to hop up onto his arm and leaned in to whisper to it. “Hey, Peewee. This Skarmory hurt itself crashing into the side of the mountain, and Rainbow Dash wants to help it get used to flying again. But, were worried that if we take Skarmory outside it’ll fly off and get itself hurt again. Do you think you could try talking to it to let it know we’re trying to help?”

Peewee regarded the Skarmory for a moment, which seemed to be staring at Spike with at least slightly less malice now, before letting out a chirp and flying over to a table near the bed. What followed was an apparently animated conversation between the two Flying Pokémon that neither Spike nor Rainbow Dash could understand in the slightest. Finally, after several minutes of chirping, squawking and the occasional screech, Peewee flapped back over to Spike with a look of satisfaction on its beak.

“So, is Skarmory going to let us help it?” Spike asked, to which Peewee bobbed its head happily. “You hear that, Rainbow? It worked, Skarmory\s agreed to let us help it get better!”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash said as she stepped into the room holding Skarmory’s Poké Ball. “And I think I know the perfect place where we can get you all set to get back in the – Hey!” As Rainbow Dash approached Skarmory, it suddenly stood up and swiped its wing at her, knocking the Poké Ballfrom her hand. “What was that for? I thought you weren’t gonna fight with us anymore?”

“Maybe it just doesn’t want to go in a Poké Ball at all?” Spike suggested, to which Skarmory snorted in apparent agreement.

“Huh, really? You know, I never really thought about it before since none of my other Pokémon have had any problems, but I guess it must be pretty cramped int there. Alright, well, if you really don’t want to go into the Poké Ball then I won’t try and make you. Just don’t go flying off on your own or anything, okay? Otherwise you could wind up getting yourself hurt again.” Skarmory appeared to take a moment to consider what Rainbow Dash was saying before finally giving her a curt nod in response. “Nice! In that case, we’ll head out first thing tomorrow morning and get you ready to start flying again. Man, I wonder if Twilight’s doing this well with her Pokémon.”

*********

“Char. Charmeleon Char!”

Twilight listened to her Charmeleon hiss and growl as she struggled to keep from looking either bored or frustrated. “I’m sorry, I’ll try this again later, alright?” Twilight finally said before recalling her Charmeleon to its Poké Ball. It had seemed so easy at first; what Twilight had on her hands was essentially a friendship problem, and she had plenty of experience solving those. The first step to solving any friendship problem was for the two sides to listen to each other and try to understand their points of view, so Twilight had taken her Pokémon to her room to speak with them one-on-one. Unfortunately, Twilight had neglected to factor in the important fact that she had no way of understanding what her Pokémon were saying.

“Well, maybe giving Charmeleon an opportunity to vent will help at least a little bit. Until then, I just need to try to do a better job of understanding how my Pokémon are feeling.” Twilight paused for a moment before letting out a groan of frustration as she fell back onto the bed. “But how the hay am I supposed to know how they’re feeling if I can’t understand what they’re saying? Okay, I can figure this out. What would I do if this was a friendship mission that the map sent me on? Well, my Pokémon can understand what I’m saying, so it isn’t that we don’t have any communication, I just need to find a way for them to talk back. Ooh, I really wish Fluttershy were here.” Twilight fell silent for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh. “I just hope Rainbow Dash will have better luck with her Skarmory.”

*********

“Okay, that looks good. Now, try showing me a nice, smooth turn to the right.” Rainbow Dash called out as Skarmory lazily through the sky over the mountain meadow. “Alright, good. Now, swing back and this time try turning to the left.”

“So, what’s the deal with all this turning and stuff?” Spike asked as he and Peewee watched Rainbow Dash put Skarmory through its paces.

“Basically, I’m making sure Skarmory’s feathers came in right,” Rainbow Dash said, while keeping her eyes on Skarmory. “If any of Skarmory’s feathers grew in wrong that could cause major problems, so we gotta check to make sure there’s nothing wrong before we can get to the fun stuff. That’s what all these turns are for; the air will push against the feathers at different angles each time.”

“Are you seriously putting a Pokémon through basic flight drills? I figured you’d have turned out to be some complete goody-four shoes when I heard you’d gotten into the Wonderbolts, but this is a whole new level of boring.” Rainbow Dash and Spike turned their heads in unison to see a blonde woman in a bomber jacket make her way into the clearing.

“No way, it can’t be…Lightning Dust?” Rainbow Dash asked in shock. “How…what the hay are you doing here?”

“I figured you’d be the one who’d know that. Aren’t you supposed to be one of Princess Twilight’s ‘saving Equestria buddies’ or something?” Lightning Dust said. “All I know is that I went to sleep like normal and then I woke up like this.”

“Huh, I guess more ponies must have been caught up in this than I thought,” Rainbow Dash said, more to herself than anyone else, “Anyway, I’m not totally sure what did this; Twilight seems pretty sure it wasn’t Discord, but I’m still not so sure. Right now we’ve been going through this place’s whole Gym Challenge thing since Twilight says that’s part of how e can get everything back to Equestria. Let me guess, you’re here because you’re doing the challenge too and you want to take on the Gym Leader here, right?”

Lightning Dust looked at Rainbow Dash incredulously for a moment before bursting out laughing. “You’re kidding, right? You seriously think I’d want to get involved with all this gym stuff? I mean, don’t get me wrong, getting these Pokémon things to fight each other is awesome, but I don’t have time to waste on a bunch of pointless rules.”

“It’s not all just pointless rules,” Rainbow Dash countered. “The idea is to test you to see how strong you and your Pokémon are. And battling is about more than having Pokémon fight each other.”

“It figures you’d say something like that,” Lightning Dust said as she rolled her eyes. “Even back at the Wonderbolts Academy you were always the kind of wuss who followed all the dumb rules.”

“Yeah, and because of that I wasn’t the one who got kicked out for being reckless!” Rainbow Dash shot back angrily.

“Okay, so maybe I went a little far when I lost control of that tornado,” Lightning Dust grudgingly admitted. “But, that’s the sort of thing that happens when you try pushing yourself to the extreme and don’t let yourself get held back by anything. And it’s the same with Pokémon as it is with flying.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow Dash asked warily.

“What I mean is you can’t worry about all this stupid, namby-pamby friendship stuff if you want your Pokémon to kick butt. If you waste your time coddling them then they’ll never be as tough as they should. I mean, look at that metal-bird thing you’ve got there,” Lightning Dust continued. “That thing would probably be pretty strong if you worked it hard enough, but its never going to get anywhere just having it do a bunch of warmups.”

Rainbow Dash was about to argue further, but before she could respond Skarmory landed in front of Lightning Dust and let out a shrill, angry shriek. “It looks like Skarmory doesn’t agree with you anymore than I do,” Rainbow Dash laughed as Lightning Dust stumbled backwards. “Pokémon are supposed to be you’re friends, and training them is about a lot more than just fighting.”

“Yeah! Besides, the reason Rainbow was having Skarmory fly like that was because it hurt its wings and she wanted to help it get better,” Spike added.

“Seriously? What’s the point of going through all that? Just dump the ting off at a Pokémon Center and let them deal with it. That’s what they’re for, isn’t it?” Lighting Dust asked.

“‘Just dump it off…’? Wow, you just don’t care at all about you’re Pokémon, do you?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I care that they’re strong enough to kick butt when I want them to,” Lightning Dust said. “So, how about it Dash? You wanna prove your Pokémon can hold its own, or is battling just a little too rough for you?”

“Look, if you want to battle, then I’ll battle you. Just, let me get Skarmory back to the Pokémon Center first. Then we’ll –” Before Rainbow Dash could finish, Skarmory let out another shriek before hopping into the air and landing by her side.

“It looks like your Pokémon has got more guts than you do,” Lightning Dush sneered. “Then again, you always did like to play it safe.”

“Hey, Rainbow’s got plenty of guts! Just because she doesn’t want to risk getting Skarmory hurt again after it just recovered doesn’t mean she couldn’t kick your butt!” Spike countered.

“That so, tough guy? How about this, then; I’ll take you both on at the same time!” Lightning Dust said.

“What? How would that even work?” Rainbow Dash protested.

“A two-on-two battle; two of my Pokémon versus one of each of yours,” Lighting Dust said. “Or are you two afraid that both of you put together wouldn’t be able to handle me?”

“Oh, it is on!” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Is that alright with you, Skarmory? And what about you, Spike?”

“Count me in,” Spike said. “We’ll show her what happens when you mess with us!” Skarmory, meanwhile, spread out it’s wings and beat them a few times in Lighting Dust’s direction in an apparent display of anger.

“Alright, it sounds like we’re all together on this. Okay, Lightning Dust, we’re in, so let’s see what you’ve got!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Heh, well, that’s a little more like it. I was starting to get worried you’d totally lost your spine,” Lightning Dust said. “If I keep calling you my rival and you’re a complete wuss that’s just gonna make me look bad.”

“Yeah, yeah. If I were you, I’d be more worried about how its going to look when me and Spike take you down. So why don’t you just stalling and bring out your Pokémon already?” Rainbow Dash said.

“My pleasure. Alright, if you’re in that much of a hurry to lose then I’m happy to help. Get out here, knuckleheads!” Lightning Dust reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of Poké Balls before tossing then into the air. In a flash, a light-blue, frog-like Pokémon appeared sitting next to a fearsome red and blue draconic Pokémon that Spike found a bit too familiar.

“Uh oh, I think I recognize that Druddigon,” Spike said nervously. “It looks just like the one I told you about that was bullying my Bagon.”

“Are you sure? I mean, Pokémon do all kinda look the same,” Rainbow Dash said, earning her a dirty look from Skarmory. “What? You do! I mean, maybe not exactly the same, but I sometimes have trouble telling you guys apart. Anyway, my point is, that could just be some other Druddigon.” As Rainbow Dash spoke, however, both she and Spike could see the Druddigon glaring menacingly at Spike. “Okay, yeah, never mind, that thing definitely knows who you are.”

“Wait, are you telling me you’re the one who beath the tar out of that ting?” Lightning Dust asked sounding genuinely impressed. “I guess I’ll have to thank you. Because of how thrashed Druddigon was when I found it catching it was a piece of cake. If you’re the one who pulled that off then maybe this won’t be as boring as I thought.”

“Whatever you say,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Are you ready?”

Lightning Dust nodded in response. “Let’s start this thing! Froakie, hit the Skarmory with Water Pulse! Druddigon, get in there and use Slash!” Lightning Dust’s Froakie promptly put its hands together and formed a glowing ball of water between them which it launched towards Skarmory. The armored bird attempted to dodge out of the way of the attack, only to be cut off as Peewee darted in front of it.

“Hey, tell that birdbrain to watch where it’s going!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she watched Froakie’s attack hit home, drenching Skarmory and leaving it flapping in the air trying to stay aloft.

“Sorry, Rainbow,” Spike said before quickly turning his attention back to the battle. “Peewee, use Agility, and keep clear of the ground! I’m pretty sure Druddigon at least doesn’t know any long-distance attacks.”

“It might not, but I think we do,” Rainbow Dash said. “Skarmory, show these guys your Air Cutter attack.” Letting out a screech, Skarmory began rapidly flapping its wings, unleashing a powerful gust of wind at Lightning Dust’s Pokémon carrying discs of glowing blue energy. While Skarmory’s assault left both Froakie and Druddigon battered, the gusts of wind caught Peewee as well, sending it fluttering helplessly through the air towards Druddigon. The only thing that prevented the vicious dragon from taking the opportunity to swat Peewee from the aim was an angry rebuke from its master.

“What the hay do you think you’re doing?” Lightning Dusk yelled angrily. “Forget about the parakeet and go after the other one!” Druddigon responded to this by turning back towards its trainer and snarling angrily, giving Peewee an opportunity to fly safely out of claw range.

“Phew, that was too close,” Spike said as he watched Peewee retreat. “We have got to stop getting in each other’s way and work together if we want to win this thing.”

“You’re probably right. So, do you have a plan?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well…can you use your Z-move to take out Druddigon?” Spike asked.

“I wish, that need a Ground move to work, and the only Ground move Skarmory knows is – actually I think I might be able to do something about it. Do you think you can keep the other one busy in the meantime?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Heh, no problem. Peewee, use Quick Attack!” Spike’s order had scarcely even left his mouth as Peewee rapidly darted through the air towards Froakie, slamming into its midsection with enough force to send it sprawling to the ground.

Lightning Dust was, to put it mildly, less than please by this turn of events. “Hey, stop loafing around and go after that bird with your own Quick Attack! And you! Crunch that flying tin can!” Wincing as it pulled itself back up, Froakie nevertheless blasted up from the ground with enough force to leave a streak of white energy behind as it shot towards Peewee.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was focused on gathering the energy required to power her Z-move. Skarmory, sensing what its trainer was doing, likewise seemed to be refocusing itself as both it and Rainbow Dash became surrounded in golden light.

“What the hay are you doing now?” Lightning Dust demanded as she watched Rainbow Dash strike the first pose of her Z-move. “This is supposed to be a fight, not some sort of dance recital, so hurry up and-”

“Z-Sand Attack!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she slammed her hand to the ground. The moment she did so, Skarmory beat its wings as ribbons of golden energy arced between itself and Rainbow Dash, kicking up a massive cloud of sand that enveloped Druddigon.

Undeterred by this, Druddigon charged forward into the sand with its mount wide open. Blinded by the said, however, Druddigon’s attack didn’t even come close to striking Skarmory, who easily flew out of the way.

“If you think a little sand is going to save you, then think again,” Lightning Dust said as she growled in frustration. “Froakie, take Dash’s bird out with another –”

“Peewee, use Peck now!” Lightning Dust did even have time to finish her order before Peewee drove its beak directly between Froakie’s eyes, causing the unfortunate Pokémon to collapse to the ground unconscious.

“Are you serious? Ugh, fine, whatever,” Lightning Dust growled as she recalled her Pokémon. “Druddigon’s still more than tough enough to handle this. Speaking of which, Druddigon, hurry up and Crunch that bird already!”

“In your dreams,” Rainbow Dash said. “Skarmory, show this thing you’re not afraid of it and give it your Metal Claw attack!” Skarmory wasted no time in diving forward at Druddigon’s head, its talons glowing with a bright white light. Druddigon made an effort to snap at Skarmory as it went by, but all it caught was a mouthful of the grit that had continued to swirl around Skarmory since it had used its Z-move.

“Alright, we’ve got it right where we want it now!” Spike cheered. “Let’s help take it down with your Quick Attack.” Peewee immediately shot through the air and struck Druddigon in the back of its head. The moment Druddigon turned to try and defend itself, however, Skarmory struck with its own attack. The two Flying Pokémon continued to assault Druddigon like this several more times as Druddigon struggled to land a single blow. Not helping matters was the fact that Lightning Dust’s frustration quickly reduced her to shouting incoherent orders that only served to confuse Druddigon further until finally it collapsed unconscious.

“Argh! Stupid, weak little…no wonder Spork over there didn’t bother catching you when he had the chance!” Lightning Dust fumed as she recalled her Druddigon.

“Actually, my name’s ‘Spike’ not ‘Spork’. Also, you really shouldn’t –”

“This isn’t over,” Lightning Dust snapped, not paying any attention to Spike’s protestations. “I’m going to beat these two into shape until they’re strong enough to take you down, and then you’re going down!”

“Hey, Lightning Dust, hold on. I get that you want to be my rival or something, and that’s cool and all, but you should really be nicer to your Pokémon,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh please, spare me the whole ‘friendship’ speech. These guys are my team, and I intend to push them every bit as hard as I’d push myself, and if they can’t handle it I’ll kick them to the curb and find others who can.” With that, Lightning Dust stormed off before Rainbow Dash had a chance to raise any further objections.

“You know, as much as a jerk as Druddigon was when I ran into it last time, I feel kind of bad for it now,” Spike said once Lightning Dust had vanished from view.

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow Dash half mumbled in response, her mind otherwise occupied. Of course, even without her recent epiphany, Twilight would never have sunken to the level that Lightning Dust had, such thoughts were utter ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that Rainbow Dash forced herself to find something else to focus her attention on. Luckily, this task was made much simpler by the fact that Peewee had started giving off a bright white glow. “Woah, Spike, I think Peewee’s evolving!” Sure enough, as Spike and Rainbow Dash watched, Peewee became completely enveloped by the white light and its silhouette began to change and expand. In moments, Peewee had more than doubled in size as well as taken on a much fiercer appearance overall.

Fletchinder, the Ember Pokémon. This Pokémon is able to expel hot embers from its beak thanks to the flame sac on its stomach, which it uses to flush out prey. Fletchinder’s flame sac also enables it to fly at incredible speeds.

“Wow, it sounds like Peewee’s becoming a pretty tough little guy,” Rainbow Dash said as Peewee stretched out its wings to show off its new form.

“Yeah he is,” Spike said as he turned to his newly evolved Pokémon. “You were really amazing out there.”

As Peewee basked in the praise of its trainer, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to her own Pokémon. “Hey, you did real good out there too. And, I get you’re not really looking to join up with a trainer or anything, but if you ever change your mind…” Skarmory responded to Rainbow Dash’s unspoken offer by waddling up to her and gently pecking at her hand. “Hey! Wait, does that mean you want to stay with me? Awesome! Here, let me just get your Poké Ball out real quick and –” As Rainbow Dash tried to fish out Skarmory’s Poké Ball from her pocket, however, Skarmory suddenly turned its head away from her in annoyance. “What’s the matter now? I thought you wanted to join up with me?”

“Maybe Skarmory still doesn’t want to get inside a Poké Ball?” Spike suggested, having already recalled Peewee to its own ball.

“Huh, is that it?” Rainbow Dash asked, to which Skarmory nodded in affirmation. “Well, I guess I can understand that, I sure as hay wouldn’t want to spend all my time stuck in a little ball. Just promise me you’ll behave from now on, alright? No more swiping at people or tossing stuff at things.” Skarmory appeared to take a moment to think about it before nodding its head in agreement. “All right! Welcome to the team! I can’t wait to tell Twilight about this.”

*********

“So, anyway, Skarmory’s gonna be staying with us from now on,” Rainbow Dash said as she finished relaying what had happened to Twilight.

“Okay, but shouldn’t it be in its Poké Ball then?” Twilight asked as she eyed Skarmory nervously.

“Nah, it turns out Skarmory really doesn’t like being cooped up in Poké Balls, so its just gonna follow us around. Don’t worry, though, Skarmory’s already agreed to behave itself from now on,” Rainbow Dash quickly assured her friend.

“Really? That’s…great,” Twilight replied with a forced smile as she eyed Skarmory warily.

“I know, right? Anyway, I figure that now that you’ve got your badge and Skarmory’s wings are better, we should probably get going pretty soon. I mean, its not like there’s that much else for us to do here, right?” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight thought about the dead end she had encountered at the library and her failure to communicate with her Pokémon. “You’re probably right. Well, now the question is where should we go from here?”

“According to my Pokédex, the nearest town to where we are is a place called Florasburg to the north,” Spike said.

“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash declared. “Let’s get going!”

Comments

[raven618]

And here we see the two sides of the heartless Pokémon battling. The hammer and the knife.

Lightning is the classic example of the hammer style of battling. Seeing her Pokémon as instruments of power, using strong attacks alone to win a battle. Not caring for the emotions or lives of her Pokémon at all. And perfectly willing to abandon them if they can't meet her standards. This type of trainer shows up a lot in the anime, but think of Charmander's original trainer or The Iron Masked Marauder from Pokémon 4ever.

And while she is trying to correct this mindset, Twilight serves as an example for the knife strategy. While still not seeing Pokémon as more than instruments, the trainer has a good grasp of strategy and knows when and how to use their 'tools'. Think Paul from the Anime or Silver from the Manga.

All in all, I love the sheer variety of different training styles on display in this story and the growth of each of the characters/trainers.

[Fanwriter]

....I think the only way for Rainbow Dash to get through to Lightning Dash is to apologize for the Wonderbolt academy. ..for not speaking up when Spitfire tore the pin off Lightning's uniform and promptly pinned it on Rainbow's and instead of speaking up in defense of Lightning just gushed over the pin letting her former partner fly away in disgrace instead of speaking up. That's not loyalty. And from Lightning's pov she was betrayed and is now lashing out especially since Rainbow's friends flew into a restricted training zone and she was solely punished while Rainbow rewarded. And with Twilight now a princess undoubtedly thinks Rainbow used connections to make it where she is now while I'm sure Lightning is continuing to be punished hence her attitude getting worse. Plus her strength obsession hints to a past reason....

What both Rainbow and Lightning need is to be forced to air all their grievances at each other at a neutral party...one able to get both of these hard headed ego ponies to actually sit down and listen.

Knowing the original ending canon vetoed.....

Lightning is redeemable.