My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Instituting Some Action

“Welp, that there is one sight fer sore eyes.” Rarity, who had been trailing behind Applejack for the past hour or so, hurried to catch up with her friend to see what the fuss was about. Turning past a bend in the road, Rarity soon saw that the road was finally coming to an end up ahead, at a large, white building with several thick cables leading off it down the mountainside.

“Oh, thank Celestia, that must be the institute that Miss Spectra told us about!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Ah reckon that’s exactly what it is. And more importantly, y’all can see the cables fer the cable car she mentioned. With any luck, we’ll finally be down this durn mountain by dinnertime.” As the two friends happily rushed towards their goal, Rarity took in the sight of their destination. The building that housed the Javik League Institute of Parapsychology was a massive white structure that looked vaguely like a hospital, angular and antiseptic.

“Applejack, I was just wondering. Has anyone we’ve spoken with actually mentioned what precisely this ‘Institute of Parapsychology’ does? Besides being peculiar, everyone has been perfectly clear on that point,” Rarity added.

“Now that y’all mention it, Ah don’t think they have.” Applejack replied. “Can’t say Ah’ve got any idea, either. Ah’ve never heard of this para-whatchamacallit business before, Ah figured it was just sort of somethin’ that has to do with Pokémon, seein’ how most of this place seems fixated on the critters. Either that, or it’s the sort of sciencey whatnow Twilight might know about.”

“Well, I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” Rarity said as they approached the building’s entrance. Beyond the front doors lay a massive lobby which was divided into two parts. To the left was a waiting area for the cable car, which was about what Rarity had expected to see. What Rarity hadn’t quite anticipated, however, was that the right-hand side of the lobby would be a Pokémon Center, right down to a desk staffed by a Nurse Joy.

“Huh, they must have more people passin’ through these parts than Ah though if they’ve got a full Pokémon Center set up here,” Applejack remarked. “Might not be a bad idea fer us to get our own critters looked at while we’re here, dependin’ on how long the wait fer the car is.”

“Normally I’d agree wholeheartedly, but perhaps we should see how long the wait is before we make any decisions. I’m certain there’s a Pokémon Center at the bottom of the mountain as well, and I’d prefer to get off the side of this mountain as soon as possible,” Rarity said.

“Alright, fair point, let’s head over to the ticket counter and get that business settled.” Moving towards the left side of the massive lobby, Applejack and Rarity walked over to a small ticket stall set in the back wall manned by a bored-looking young man. “Hey there, is this the place where we can catch a cable car down the mountain?”

“Yup,” the man laconically replied, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading. “But you’ve missed the last car for the day, so you’ll need to wait until tomorrow if you want to take the ride down to Ferrum Village.”

“Dagnabbit,” Applejack grumped. “Well, Ah guess we may as well get our critters patched up at the Pokémon Center them seein’ as how we’re gonna be here fer a while.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped. The only question now is what are we going to do while we wait for the next car?” Rarity said.

“You could always try challenging Doctor Weiss for his gym badge,” the man in the booth suggested, immediately grabbing Rarity and Applejack’s attention.

“Gym badge? Are y’all sayin’ this here place is a gym?” Applejack asked.

“In order to get the Javik League to provide funding for our research, the institute agreed to take on responsibility as one of the region’s gyms,” the man replied. “Unfortunately, that also comes with managing this stupid cable car, which is why I’m stuck here talking to you instead of working on research for my thesis.” The man’s complaints fell on deaf ears, however, as Rarity and Applejack had found something much more important to focus their attention on.

“Well, I suppose that answers the question as to what to do while we wait for the next cable car to depart,” Rarity said.

“Ah take it y’all are plannin’ on takin’ on this Doc Weiss fella, then,” Applejack said.

“Of course I am. It’s not as though there’s much else we can do but wait until the next cable car is ready anyway, and I can’t very well let you get too far ahead of me, now can I?” Rarity added.

“Ah suppose not,” Applejack said with a knowing smile. “Besides that, it probably wouldn’t be too bad an idea fer us to both get a bit tougher now that we’ve got Chrysalis and Sombra runnin’ around,” Applejack said.

“Indeed. Although, we haven’t really seen any sign of them since our encounter in that cemetery. Perhaps we managed to lose them when we fled into the mountains,” Rarity suggested hopefully.

“Ah’ll admit that’d be nice, but Ah wouldn’t bet on it. Somethin’ tells me we ain’t gonna be able to get rid of those two that easy.”

*********

“There, we’ve finally made it,” Sombra said as the institute building came into view. Despite the relief in Sombra’s voice, however, Chrysalis was somewhat less than impressed.

“Made it where, exactly? I don’t see what’s so special about a building in the middle of nowhere, and besides, we’re supposed to be hunting down Twilight’s friends, not sightseeing,” Chrysalis hissed.

“Maybe you should have bothered paying attention when I was interrogating that fop instead of sulking about not being able to feed on his love in this form. If you had, then you’d know that this place is what the inhabitants of this world call a gym,” Sombra explained.

“And I’m expected to care about any of that because…” Chrysalis snarled.

“You should care because the crystals that enable Pokémon to perform attacks like the one we saw at that accursed mansion are handed out at these places. Which means if we can steal some of those crystals then we’d be able to use that power for ourselves,” Sombra said.

“Normally I’d mock your obsession with crystals, but that actually doesn’t sound like a terrible plan,” Chrysalis grudgingly admitted. “All we need to do is sneak in and—”

“Sneak in? What do you take me for, one of your sniveling drones?” Sombra scoffed. “I’m going to go in there and take the crystals by force!”

This time it was Chrysalis’ turn to scoff. “Take them by force? Have you lost whatever diseased mass you had that passed for a mind? The entire reason we need these crystals is we don’t have the raw power to destroy Twilight’s friends as we are now.”

“I may not have the power to raze that building to the ground, but I’m still more than capable of taking what I want from a few of the insects scuttling around that place,” Sombra said. “Besides, how do you plan to sneak in without your shape changing magic? You’ll be spotted almost immediately.”

“Hah, I was the Queen of the Changelings, fool, my skills when it comes to the art of infiltration are unmatched!” Chrysalis declared proudly.

“More like your skills in the art of self-delusion,” Sombra sneered. “Go ahead and try sneaking in like the coward you are. While you’re wasting your time with that, I’ll take what I want without you to interfere.”

“If you’re planning on going it alone then that’s fine by me,” Chrysalis huffed. “Having you blunder in there should at least provide a good distraction, which would be more useful than you’d be liable to be otherwise.”

“What…are you two – nee Haw! – arguing about…this time?” Bray asked as he came panting up the trail behind the other two.

“The cockroach queen and I were just discussing how she’s going to make a fool of herself trying to sneak into that building while we seize—”

“We, Sombra? Don’t tell me you’re so desperate that you need Bray’s help to attempt this,” Chrysalis laughed.

“Unlike you, Bray actually has the ability to be useful on occasion. At the very least, he can be trusted to follow orders,” Sombra countered.

“Fine, whatever. Bring the incompetent little toady with you. It doesn’t matter, I’ll still be the only one to get my hands on those crystals.”

*********

“Ooh, I can’t wait to get another one of those Z-crystals,” Rarity said as she and Applejack made their way into the institute’s headquarters. “This one I got from Norma is alright, but I’d really prefer something with a more striking color, you know? Maybe a nice red or blue.”

“Ah can’t say Ah’ve really thought of the thing as a fashion accessory,” Applejack said. “Long as the thing works and lets me use those crazy Z-moves when Ah need ‘em, that’s good enough fer me.”

“I can understand your point, but I don’t see any reason that an accessory can’t be both stylish and functional,” Rarity countered.

“So, just what sort of person do y’all figure this Weiss fella is, anyway?” Applejack asked, changing the subject. “The last few of these gym leaders we’ve run into didn’t seem to have all that much in common.”

“An astute observation, young lady. We gym leaders are a rather eclectic bunch.” Applejack and Rarity spun around to see an old man and a young woman standing right behind them, both wearing spotless white lab coats. The man was bald aside from a white fringe of hair around his head, but sported a massive, bushy white mustache. The bespectacled woman standing next to him, meanwhile, had long, straight dark hair and was staring intently at Applejack and Rarity.

“Doctor, these two…their auras. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” the woman said before dashing forward and bringing her face mere inches away from Applejack’s. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Uh, do y’all mind givin’ me just a bit more space, miss?” Applejack asked as she pulled back from the woman.

“Annie, why don’t you let me handle our guests for now while you check on our gym Pokémon? I have a suspicion we’ll be calling upon them fairly soon,” For a few moments it looked as though Annie wanted to put up an argument, but eventually she silently gave up and scurried off down one of the halls. “I do apologize for that. Annie’s an excellent assistant, she really is, but unfortunately, she sometimes forgets social graces when she gets excited. She’s uniquely sensitive to psychic auras, you see, and while it’s an incredibly useful talent for our research…I’m sorry, I’m rambling a bit. My name is Doctor Weiss, I’m the director for the institute and the leader for the associate gym.”

“A pleasure to meet you, I’m Rarity and this is my friend Applejack,” Rarity said as she shook Doctor Weiss’ hand. “If you don’t mind me asking, before we go any further, I’m just dying to know, what exactly does an Institute of Parapsychology do, anyway?”

“An excellent question!” Doctor Weiss laughed as he clapped his hands together in delight. “You see, our institute is focused on the research and development of supernormal human mental abilities, psychic powers to use the common vernacular. The pursuit of sadly not as well respected as it should be, largely due to the number of charlatans running about claiming to have special powers or whatnot. Anyway, we seek to apply a proper, scientific assessment to the phenomena.”

“Huh,” Applejack replied as she tried to digest what she had just heard. “And y’all run the gym here on top of all that.”

“Well, to be honest, there’s more overlap between the subjects than many of my colleagues care to admit. Many Pokémon exhibit psychic abilities similar to what can be found in rare humans, so researching the parallels between the two is a critical part of what we do. And, on the subject of our work operating the local gym, I presume that’s the reason the two of you are visiting with us today?” Doctor Weiss asked.

“Indeed it is,” Rarity replied. “Specifically, I was hoping to challenge your for my second badge.”

“I see. Well, as leader of this gym I hereby accept your challenge. If the two of you could follow me, I’ll show you to our arena and we can get started in earnest.” Doctor Weiss proceeded to lead Rarity and Applejack deeper into the facility, occasionally talking about the research they did there. “Now, if you were to head down that hallway, for example, you’d find our electrospectrograph analysis lab. We’ve been testing the theory that psychic phenomena have an observable effect on electromagnetic fields, and to prove it we’re trying to photograph the distortions. It’s a particularly tricky element to observe since the equipment we use generates its own interference. We’ve had a few researchers compare it to trying to record the sound of a pin dropping with a microphone attached to an airhorn. And over that way we have the testing room investigating potential cases of extrasensory perception. Personally, I think that one’s more of a waste of time, but it’s good for giving our interns experience with running statistical analysis on datasets. Besides, it’s the sort of research many of our potential donors expect to see, so we’re more or less obligated to devote at least some space to it.”

“Uh huh,” Applejack said as she nodded her head politely. In truth, neither she nor Rarity understand much of anything that the doctor was talking about. Instead, they dealt with the situation much the same way they did whenever something got Twilight or Starlight talking about advanced magical theorems. Smile, nod, and wait for the conversation to drift back to something more comprehensible. Thankfully, it wasn’t much longer before the group reached the gym portion of the complex. A set of double doors led into a sizable room resembling a gymnasium whose walls were lined with countless devices, the functions of which Rarity and Applejack could only guess at. Waiting at the far end of the room was Doctor Weiss’ assistant Annie, who was already staring intently at Applejack and Rarity.

“Don’t worry about the sensors in the walls, they’re nothing nefarious,” Doctor Weiss said as he made his way to the far end of the room. “Since we need to have regular battles in here as part of our duties anyway, I had those installed to gather additional data. Now, down to business. You said this was going to be for your second badge, so this will be a two-versus-two match. Are you ready?”

“I most certainly am,” Rarity replied as she pulled out her first Poké Ball. “Go Tauros!”

*********

Chrysalis gave her best harmless smile as she walked into the massive front lobby of the institute building. As much as it pained her to admit it, Sombra had been at least partially correct about the impact the loss of her shape changing had on her infiltration abilities. If Chrysalis were ever truly honest with herself, she’d have been forced to admit that her acting talents were mediocre at best by the standards of her hive. Exhibiting any emotion other than sneering superiority or some type of anger (Chrysalis was particularly proud of the number of varieties of anger she had mastered) required an immense effort for Chrysalis to pull off convincingly. That said, the opportunity to make Sombra look foolish was a great motivation, so Chrysalis played the part of the innocent trainer as she mingled with some of the other trainers waiting in the lobby.

“Hi, do you mind if I join you?” Chrysalis asked the nearest group of trainers she could see, partly hoping they’d refuse.

“Sure thing!” one of the trainers, a young woman with short brown hair replied. “Are you waiting for the next cable car down the mountain, too?”

“Cable car?” Chrysalis asked before quickly hiding her confusion. “I was actually hoping to acquire a special crystal.”

“Do you mean a Z-crystal? Well, if you’re looking to take the gym challenge then the entrance to the gym is right through there,” the girl said as she pointed towards the doors leading into the institute itself. “You might have a bit of a wait, though. I think I saw a couple of girls head in there just a few minutes ago, so the gym leader’s probably going to be busy for a while.”

“Don’t worry, I doubt that will be much or an issue,” Chrysalis said as she quickly got up and headed for the doors, barely able to hide her triumphant smirk. “And I thought ponies were easy to fool and manipulate. With how foolish these humans are, if I can find a way to access my powers here then this world could serve as an excellent base for my eventual conquest of Equestria,” Chrysalis thought to herself as she slipped through the doors as inconspicuously as she could. Once inside, Chrysalis started moving through the halls with confidence, adopting a look of arrogant authority (something that came far more naturally to her than smiling). With any luck, anyone who saw her would simply assume she belonged there and not question her presence, a stance Chrysalis further encouraged by looking as unapproachable as possible.

As much as it was a relief for Chrysalis to not need to pretend to be friendly or personable, the effort wasn’t particularly necessary. The halls of the building were almost completely empty, and the few times Chrysalis did see someone else they typically disappeared into a side door before she even got close to them. What quickly proved to be a much greater source of frustration, however, was the dawning realization on Chrysalis’ part that she had no idea where she was going or even what she was looking for.

“This is hopeless! I refuse to give that obnoxious living shadow the satisfaction of being right about something, but he…” Chrysalis ground her teeth together in rage as she continued in a hoarse whisper, as if afraid Sombra might somehow be able to overhear her. “…might have had a point about my needing to pay attention to how this world works. Ugh, just saying that makes me want to retch!” Chrysalis closed her eyes and tried to focus herself. “Alright, I have to try and calm down. Now, think, where would these miserable grubs hide those crystals?”

“Doctor Weiss keeps the spare supply of Z-crystals in a vault in his office.” A startled Chrysalis spun around to see a man standing directly behind her staring intently at a folded newspaper. “Say, do you know a nine-letter word for disinterested? Third letter should be ‘A’.” The man looked up to see that Chrysalis was already rushing away down the hall. “Huh, I wonder why she was so interested in where Doctor Weiss keeps the Z-crystals? Ah well, probably just gym business, not my problem.”

*********

“Tauros! Horn Attack!” Rarity’s Tauros charged forward at the clownlike creature Applejack’s Pokédex had identified as a Mr. Mime, only to collide with yet another invisible wall. “Gah! Just how is my Tauros supposed to fight your Pokémon if it can’t move three feet without crashing into one of those blasted walls?”

“Uh, Rarity? Ah’m pretty sure the whole point of those walls is so yer Tauros can’t fight his Pokémon,” Applejack pointed out from the sidelines, earning her an irritated glare from Rarity.

“Yes, I do realize that, but that doesn’t make the situation any less frustrating,” Rarity grumbled back.

“Mr. Mime, Light Screen, if you please,” Doctor Weiss said, sounding as though he was thoroughly enjoying Rarity’s predicament. Mr. Mime, meanwhile, immediately busied itself creating glowing walls of yellow light which rose up throughout the arena.

“Fantastic, even more walls,” Rarity groaned. “Well, on the bright side, at least these walls we can actually see. Still, it would appear that drastic measures are going to be needed if we’re going to actually end this fight.” As Rarity spoke, the Z-ring on her wrist was already glowing with a golden aura. “Tauros, on my mark…Breakneck Blitz!” Rarity completed the movements of her Z-move with an elaborate flourish, sending streams of light bursting out towards her Tauros. Empowered by the bond with its Trainer, Tauros charged forward, smashing through several of the barriers Mr. Mime had erected before slamming headfirst into Mr. Mime itself. The unfortunate Pokémon was trampled under Tauros’ hooves, leaving it lying on the ground battered and unconscious.

“Well, I suppose that isn’t a particularly surprising outcome,” Doctor Weiss said as he recalled his Mr. Mime to its Poké Ball. “Still, it wasn’t an entirely negative one. The frustration-induced stress successfully triggered a desperation response which leaves you in a suboptimal position going forward. If I were more of a performative charlatan, I might try and pass this off as the result of some sort of precognition instead of basic psychology.”

“If you’re quite done congratulating yourself on how clever you’ve been, perhaps you’d be willing to continue our battle?” Rarity said.

“Ah, yes, of course. There’ll be plenty of time for analysis later. In the meantime, go Kadabra!”

*********

“And how do you open this vault?” Sombra snarled as he slammed the unfortunate intern against the side of the building while Bray did his best to look intimidating.

“Doctor Weiss u-uses a fingerprint scanner to-” the intern squeaked out before Sombra shook him silent.

“Fingerprints? Hmph, it must be the human equivalent of a horn reader,” Sombra snorted irritably. “I always preferred using fear to guard anything important, but that would probably be effective enough. On the plus side, this means that that cheese-legged bug won’t be able to get at the crystals either.”

“But isn’t – nee Haw! – that a bad thing? I thought you needed those crystals to carry out Lord Grogar’s orders,” Bray whined.

‘True, but I’d rather neither of us be able to recover them than to have that miserable excuse of a parasite show me up somehow.”

“I don’t really understand what you’d want the Z-crystals for, but it doesn’t look like you’d be able to use them anyway,” the intern blurted out, causing Sombra to snap his attention back to his victim.

“Explain. Quickly,” Sombra snarled.

“Well, its just…to use a Z-move you need to have a Z-ring. It’s a sort of bracelet that acts as a focal point for the energy. Without it, the crystal wouldn’t be able to do anything.” As the intern finished his explanation, Sombra narrowed his eyes and glowered at him for several seconds before bursting out into peals of laughter.

“In other words, even if the bug queen somehow manages to get ahold of the crystals, it will be entirely useless! Now then,” Sombra continued as the mirth slowly drained from his features. “How would I acquire one of these Z-rings?”

“Th-the league hands them out! They give one to just about every new trainer that comes to the island who qualifies to take the gym challenge.”

“Anything else you’d care to tell me?” Sombra asked menacingly.

“I wet the bed until I was fourteen,” the intern whimpered, prompting Sombra to toss him aside with a snort.

“Useless. No matter, I’ve gotten what I need for the time being. For now, we should head somewhere and wait,” Sombra said as the intern dashed away in terror.

“Wait for – nee Haw! – for what?”

“Either for the vermin to come scuttling back in failure or for someone to walk by with one of these Z-ring things we can take. In any event, there’s no point wasting time here. It isn’t as though we’re going to see anything important around here, anyway.”

*********

Kadabra, the Psi Pokémon. This Pokémon emits alpha waves from its body which have been known to cause headaches in those nearby. It uses the spoon it holds to amplify these waves and increase the potency of its psychic powers.

“Well, doesn’t that all just sound delightful,” Rarity grumbled as she listened to Applejack’s Pokédex identify the bipedal mixture of fox and insect Doctor Weiss had sent out. “Still, it doesn’t look as though its particularly sturdy, perhaps this won’t be so bad after all. Tauros, why don’t you start things off with Payback?” Tauros snorted and briefly pawed at the ground before charging straight for Kadabra, a dark purple aura building up around it as it went. Just as it looked like Tauros was going to flatten Kadabra, however, it crashed headfirst into yet another invisible barrier. The collision released the energy that had surrounded Tauros in a shockwave that did succeed in knocking Kadabra off its feet. Even then, the Psi Pokémon quickly righted itself before it even hit the ground with what Rarity was forced to admit was deft bit of self-levitation.

“Well, I’d say it’s about time I did something about that Tauros of yours,” Doctor Weiss said. “Mr. Mime’s barriers aren’t going to hold up forever, and as you correctly surmised, Kadabra isn’t especially physically durable. Thankfully for myself, this battle will likely be determined by mental power.” As Doctor Weiss spoke, he thrust out his arms in what was now a familiar pose. “Kadabra! Show this creature the power of your Shattered Psyche!” Curiously, unlike the previous times Applejack and Rarity had seen Z-moves used, Doctor Weiss didn’t perform any elaborate dance moves, instead simply bringing both index fingers to his temples before stretching out one hand towards Kadabra. The overall effect, however, was still the same, as golden energy flowed from Doctor Weiss to his Kadabra, who was maintaining a similar pose as its master. For a brief second, nothing seemed to happen. Then, suddenly, Tauros was thrown into the air, as though gravity had abruptly reversed itself, before colliding with an invisible wall and being tossed in a different direction. Rarity could only watch helplessly as Tauros was bounced through the air in every direction until finally it fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

“Tauros! Darling, are you alright?” For a brief moment it appeared as though Tauros was finished as it lay motionless on the ground. But then, Tauros stirred before opening its eyes and staggering to its hooves. “Oh, thank goodness. Now then, I believe its time we showed the good doctor and his Kadabra just what we think of his predictions. Horn Attack!” Tauros, needing no further encouragement to charge the Pokémon responsible for tossing it around like a ragdoll, promptly surged forward. The arena practically shook with the force of Tauros’ attack, but Doctor Weiss didn’t seem bothered by the situation in the slightest.

“No, I think not. Kadabra, Psybeam.” Kadabra narrowed its eyes at its fast-approaching opponent and raised its spoon out in front of it, which proceeded to emit a stream of glowing circles that struck Tauros straight on. As Tauros’ eyes glazed over, it was immediately apparent to everyone watching that Kadabra’s attack had been more than Tauros could handle. The attack was not, however, sufficient to halt the Wild Bull Pokémon’s momentum, and Kadabra only barely had enough time to leap out of the way as Tauros charged past.

“Oh, phooey,” Rarity said as she recalled her Tauros. “I was really hoping Tauros would be able to wrap this up on its own. Oh well, Golett, it’s your turn.”

“A Ghost-type? It’s a logical choice, I’ll give you that,” Doctor Weiss said. “But, is it actually able to defeat my Kadabra? Speaking of whom, Kadabra, another Psybeam, if you would.” As it had before, Kadabra raised its spoon and fired off another stream of circles, striking Golett dead on. However, while the attack left Golett visibly shaken, it remained standing.

“I’d say its just about time to bring this whole mess to a close, wouldn’t you agree? Golett dear, Shadow Punch.” Nodding its head, Golett drew back its ring arm, which became enveloped in an aura of black and purple energy. Golett then threw its arm forward, causing the aura around its arm to surge forth in the shape of a fist aimed straight at Kadabra. Kadabra made a vain attempt to dodge the attack, but the energy twisted through the air to land a solid blow to the side of Kadabra’s head, sending it crashing to the ground unconscious.

“Well, I can’t say if that was a particularly useful battle from a research standpoint, but it certainly got the blood pumping at times,” Doctor Weiss said as he recalled his Kadabra. “Regardless, as both of my Pokémon have been defeated, I hereby acknowledge you as the winner of this battle. And as such, it is my privilege to present you with the Cortex badge, along with a piece of Psychicium-Z.” Doctor Weiss approached Rarity, briefly pausing to pat several pockets of his coat before pulling out a small box, which he presented to her. Inside was a pin shaped like a cross-section of a brain, along with a pink crystal.

“How…avant-garde,” Rarity said diplomatically as she examined her new badge.

“It is a wonderful rendition, isn’t it?” Doctor Weiss replied proudly. “So, now that that business is settled, what do you girls plan to do next? Heading to your next gym, I’m guessing.”

“Possibly, but mostly we’re trying to somehow reach Aquarius City to find a few of our friends. That’s why we came here originally, we were hoping to take the cable car to the base of the mountain,” Rarity explained. “My challenging you was more of a spur of the moment decision, what with you being here and the cable car not running until tomorrow.”

“Ah, I see. Well, that’s not all that unusual. That said, since it sounds like you’re going to have to stay here until tomorrow anyway, would you and your friend mind coming to our lab and letting us take a few readings? Nothing remotely invasive, I promise, but I’m terribly curious about what prompted Annie’s reaction to meeting you earlier.”

“Ah don’t know if—”

“I could arrange for an upgrade to your accommodations for the evening if you’d agree as a way of showing my gratitude. We have some very nice guest rooms that are empty at the moment.”

“With their own private bathrooms?” Rarity asked hopefully.

“Of course,” Doctor Weiss replied. A single glance at Rarity’s face told Applejack that the decision had just been made for her.

“Welp, this shouldn’t be any worse than that time Twilight wanted to try measurin’ earth pony magic,” Applejack thought to herself. “And besides, it’ll be nice to have a good night’s rest without havin’ to worry about Sombra or Chrysalis sneakin’ up on us.”

*********

“It’s been too – nee Haw! – long, we should go and make sure she’s alright!” Bray whined as he and Sombra sat at their makeshift camp.

“And why would I care about doing that? The bug queen can take care of herself, and if she’s too incompetent to do that much then we’re better off without her anyway,” Sombra sneered as he leaned back, just in time for Chrysalis to emerge from the underbrush.

“What’s this about you being better off without me?” Chrysalis demanded.

“Only if you were so weak that you needed us to rescue you?” Sombra replied with a grin. Chrysalis paused as she considered her response before finally nodding her head.

“Fair enough. So, tell me, was your idiotic plan of ‘rushing in and breaking things’ actually able to yield any results? Or should I assume you waddled back here empty-handed?”

“Actually, I’d say it was a complete success, all things considered,” Sombra said with a grin, causing Chrysalis to look up in complete shock.

“What? Are you saying you were really able to get ahold of the crystals? How did you get into the safe?” Chrysalis demanded.

“I didn’t,” Sombra replied smugly. “It turns out you need some sort of bracelet to get the crystals to activate, so even if you had managed to somehow steal them, they’d be absolutely useless. Once I figured that out I headed back here to wait.”

“Hmph, is that right? So, does your next brilliant plan have some new way to waste my time, or were you just too excited to gloat about your own ignorance to do anything actually useful?” Chrysalis snarled, Sombra’s smug confidence enraging her more by the moment.

“Neither,” Sombra replied simply. “Don’t misunderstand me, irritating you is always entertaining, but at the moment my goal was to wait –” Sombra paused midsentence as the sound of a twig snapping nearby signaled someone’s approach. “—for that.” An evil grin spread across Sombra’s features as he pulled out his Poké Ball and let out his Sableye. Chrysalis stared at the pair in confusion for a few moments before her own expression became one of realization mixed with malice.

“If we need something then we just take it,” Chrysalis said as she let out her Scyther. “Very well, I’ll agree to do things your way, just this once…”

Comments

[KnightMysterio]

Prepare for trouble...

[Sean Retro]

Kadabra didn't bring out the full power of the spoon.

[KnightMysterio]

11103672

OH!

Okay.

...Still wouldn't stop Charizard from trying, though.

[Xanderfox]

Normalium-Z crystals would be hard to accessorize with, not as bad as Rockium-Z or Groundium-Z, as from with limited taste in clothes I have In don't think brown is a good accent color making brown crystals not something a fasonista would covet. Now Psyhicisum-Z being pink would be easier to work with.
Of course Rarity would love working with Megastones as it's normal practice to put them in accessories for the Pokemon and put the Keystone into one for the trainer.