My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Fracas In Faunaville

“Oh my, now this is more like it,” Fluttershy said as she and friends reached the edge of Faunaville. The peaceful town appeared to be a simple farming community, one that wouldn’t even necessarily have been completely out of place in Equestria. Of course, most towns in Equestria didn’t have various Pokémon wandering the streets and the distinctive sight of the red and white-roofed Pokémon Center on the town’s main thoroughfare made it clear that this wasn’t Equestria.

“So, generally speaking the first thing you’re going to want to do when you come to a town is head straight to the local Pokémon Center,” Derek said helpfully. While Fluttershy had been uncertain about having Derek join her and Pinkie Pie on their journey, he had proven to be a seemingly never-ending source of useful tidbits of information. “Mainly you’ll want to make sure that the local Nurse Joy has a chance to give your Pokémon a check-up. Also, you can book a room at a Pokémon Center if you want to sleep in an actual bed instead of a sleeping bag.

“Ooh, that kind of sound a little like a sleepover,” Pinkie Pie said as she munched on a bag of chips that Derek’s Linoone, Joy, had somehow acquired. “So, what do we do after we go to the Pokémon Center?”

“Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about that,” Fluttershy admitted. “All Discord told me was that if we stayed here long enough, we’d probably run into some of our friends. Though I guess I wouldn’t mind taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about Pokémon while we’re here,” Fluttershy added.

“In that case you might want to talk with the Nurse Joy here about volunteering at the center. Most Pokémon Center’s can get pretty busy so they’re almost always happy to get some extra help,” Derek suggested.

“Hmm, that does sound kind of fun, is there anything else to do around here?” Pinkie Pie asked as she finished the last of her snack.

“Well, the local farmer’s market here is pretty well know. Most of the island’s berry ranches are based around here, so what the ranchers do is bring their produce to a market they’ve got set up just outside of town and have their buyers come to them. It’s not quite Confectioner’s Row in Seelieburg, but –“ Derek didn’t even have a chance to finish his sentence before Pinkie Pie bounded off. “Should we follow her or something?” a somewhat puzzled Derek asked after a few awkward moments of silence ticked by.

“Pinkie Pie should be fine,” Fluttershy said as she looked down the street Pinkie Pie had run off down. “I mean, its not as though there are any monsters or anything around here, right? Wait, are there any monsters around here?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to Derek in a sudden panic.

“Um, not that I’m aware of,” Derek replied nervously as he backed away a little.

“Sorry, its just that I really don’t know anything about this place and I guess it’s got me a little more nervous than usual,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s alright. Tell you what, why don’t we get settled in at the Pokémon Center and I’ll see what I can do to answer any of your questions.”

*********

It didn’t take Pinkie Pie very long to locate the Faunaville farmer’s market, which just as Derek said was located in a small field just on the outskirts of the town. After a half-hour or so of excitedly chatting with the various merchants (along with acquiring several armfuls of berries) Pinkie Pie found herself sitting at the edge of the market snacking on her haul along with her Munchlax. “You know what’s funny, Munchy?” Pinkie Pie said as she wiped a dribble of juice off her face with the back of her hand. Munchy gave a half-interested grunt as a reply, currently focused on devouring a pile of berries nearly as tall as itself. “They call these things berries, but honestly they seem more like regular fruits and vegetables to me. Then again, Twilight once told me that tomatoes are a type of berry, so…” Pinkie Pie shrugged as she popped another berry into her mouth and considered her options. Visiting the farmer’s market had been a nice diversion, but it had only been able to hold Pinkie’s interest for so long.

Luckily it didn’t take long for Pinkie Pie to find something new to occupy her attention. Rising up in the distance Pinkie Pie could see a sizable cluster of buildings on the outskirts of town seemingly surrounded by numerous fenced off pastures. “Admiring the Faunaville Breeding Center I see,” a voice from behind Pinkie commented. Spinning around, Pinkie Pie saw that the owner of the voice was a brown-haired farmer loading wooden crates into a truck. “I can’t really blame you, if you as me that center’s one of the best parts of the entire island.”

“What’s a ‘breeding center’ exactly?” Pinkie Pie asked, already preoccupied with figuring out the best way to make her way there.

“Well, that’s where most of the Pokémon on the island are hatched from. Y’ see, our region doesn’t have all that many Pokémon that are native, so part of our gym leaders’ responsibility is to help…well, I guess the best way to put it would be to keep the island stocked with the Pokémon type they’re in charge of. To do that, each of them has the breeding center hatch eggs of the Pokémon they want to have more of on the island and then the center raises them before turning them loose.”

“So that place is basically full of cute baby Pokémon?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly.

“More or less. A lot of folks passing through here like to make a point of visiting it for that reason. And then of course you have the –“ the farmer abruptly found himself talking to empty air as Pinkie Pie dashed off towards her latest prospective source of amusement. “Huh, I didn’t even get a chance to tell her about the gym they have up there. Ah well, probably not a big deal.”

*********

“Oh my, this breeding center sounds just lovely. But, why would you be worried that Pinkie Pie would go there by herself?” Fluttershy asked as she and Derek sat in the Pokémon Center lobby. “I can’t imagine a place like that would be dangerous at all.”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it dangerous and if Pinkie Pie stuck to the breeding center and the Pokémon enclosures then she’d be just fine. The issue would be if Pinkie wanders into the gym and ends up challenging the leader,” Derek said. “Norma’s honestly one of the rougher gym leaders to go up against for someone’s first badge.”

“Oh, so there’s a gym there, too,” Fluttershy replied softly as she shrank back, allowing her hair to fall across part of her face.

“Yeah, Norma, the woman who runs the breeding center, is also the local gym leader so she had the gym set up as part of the compound. She’s a top-notch Pokémon breeder and a pretty good gym leader, but she has some issues with holding back against new trainers. A rookie like Pinkie Pie likely wouldn’t stand a chance against Norma’s badge one team.”

Before Fluttershy could ask what any of that meant a voice addressed her from behind. “Excuse me, miss? I hate to interrupt, but you had mentioned that you were interested in helping with some volunteer work here at the center?” Fluttershy turned to see a rather frazzled Nurse Joy standing behind her. “I know you only just arrived, but I could really use your help. We have a number of large Pokémon that need to be groomed, but a trainer just brought in a very sick Raichu that I need to focus on.”

“Of course I’ll help,” Fluttershy said as she shot up from her seat. Regardless of what she thought about the subject of gyms and battling Fluttershy’s devotion to critters of every type remained as strong as ever.

“Wonderful. If you could follow me, I’ll show you to where you can get changed and then I’ll get you over to the room we use for washing and grooming. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am that you’re doing this. Having to deal with sick electric-type Pokémon –“

A horse, sniffling cry suddenly echoed out form the Pokémon Center’s back rooms interrupting Nurse Joy mid-sentence. “Rai…Ai…Ai…CHOOO!” Simultaneously, massive bolts of electricity arched out into the lobby, only narrowly missing the group.”

“Like I was saying, treating sick electric-type Pokémon can be something of a shocking experience.”

*********

“Huh, tingly left ear, someone must have just made a pun,” Pinkie Pie said to herself as she skipped down the dirt road leading to her destination. Pinkie Pie mentally noted that her Pinkie sense was somehow still working despite her change in both her species and current dimension. Shrugging, Pinkie filed that notion away in her mental list of odd things that she had realized but wasn’t all that interested in actually questioning. Of much more immediate interest to Pinkie Pie were the various Pokémon that she could see grazing in the fields. “Ooh, that giraffe-thingy has two heads! And over there are a whole herd of angry Twilights!” Giggling happily Pinkie Pie bounded from one side of the road to the other as she gawked at the Pokémon on the other side of the fences.

Even this might not have been able to sustain Pinkie Pie’s attention the whole of the distance to the breeding center. However, a new diversion soon presented itself in the form of a pair of children hanging onto the fence and arguing with each other. “No way do people from Kalos do that,” one of the children, a young boy, insisted.

“They do so, Billy,” the boy’s companion, a pig-tailed girl about the same age countered. “My big sister went to go in the Kalos League and she said that trainers there have really big races with them and everything.”

“Hi, what’re you two talking about?” Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully as she neared the pair.

“Well, you see all those Rhyhorn out there in the field?” Billy said as he pointed towards what looked to be a cluster of jagged grey boulders poking out above the tall grass. “Sally here says that people in Kalos actually race on those things. But everyone knows rock-types like Rhyhorn are too slow be any good at racing.”

“What about Aerodactyl? Those are rock-type and they’re really fast,” Sally responded matter-of-factly.

“Aerodactyl are fossil Pokémon, so they don’t really count. Besides, Aerodactyl are more flying-type anyway and those are all super-fast. The point is rock Pokémon are no good for racing.”

“They are too, Koffing-breath,” Sally retorted as she stuck her tongue out at her friend.

“Are not, Wooper-brain.”

“Are too, Stunfisk-face.”

Having heard enough, Pinkie Pie decided to resolve the argument in her own way. Before either child could utter a word of protect Pinkie Pie heaved herself over the fence and began sneaking towards the boulders Billy had pointed out earlier. “If I take one of things for a ride then I’ll bet that’ll solve everything. A brilliant plan where nothing can possibly go wrong.” Creeping through the increasingly tall grass, Pinkie Pie soon found her vision obscured on all sides. Just as Pinkie Pie started to consider standing up to regain her bearings, however, she brushed aside a patch of grass to reveal the face of a grumpy-looking rhinoceros-like creature. The Rhyhorn regarded Pinkie Pie with a look of irritable disdain for a few moments before apparently losing interest and taking a mouthful of grass.

“Hey! Miss!” Billy called out, prompting Pinkie Pie to stand up. “You better be careful! If a Rhyhorn charges it’ll squish you flat!”

“Aw, this big guy isn’t going to do something like that,” Pinkie Pie said confidently as she patted the Rhyhorn’s back. For its part the Rhyhorn seemed utterly indifferent to Pinkie Pie’s actions, instead focusing all its attention on its meal of prairie grass. “Well, it looks big enough to ride at least. I’m not sure how fast they are, though.”

“See, I told you Rhyhorn were too slow to be good racers,” Billy said triumphantly.

Sally replied in the most eloquent and dignified manner she could think of at that moment, namely by blowing a raspberry at her friend before turning back to Pinkie Pie. “Try getting on and riding it around,” Sally suggested hopefully.

Not quite sure how to proceed Pinkie Pie looked over the Rhyhorn once again. The Pokémon seemed fairly sedate (if slightly grumpy looking) and was sufficiently low to the ground that climbing on top of it didn’t seem like it would be especially difficult. Getting the Rhyhorn to actually start moving would likely prove to be a bigger challenge, but that was a problem for future Pinkie to contend with. “Alright, here goes nothing,” Pinkie said as she clambered atop the Rhyhorn’s back and scrambled about until she was straddling it.

To the disappointment of Pinkie’s two onlookers, however, the Rhyhorn hardly seemed to even notice the presence of its new passenger. “This is dumb,” Billy concluded after a minute or so ticked by without anything exciting happening.

“Well, maybe the Rhyhorn need something to make them want to move around? Like, what if the Rhyhorn saw some food they really liked and wanted to chase after it?” Sally suggested half-heatedly before slumping forward. “Only I can’t think of anything they really like.”

*********

While Pinkie Pie and her audience focused on the Rhyhorn’s failure to do much more than calmly graze, a crude cardboard facsimile of a Rhyhorn crept towards them. “I gotta say, Femur, I knew you were clever / but this has to be your best plan ever!”

“We’ll swipe those Rhyhorn with plenty of aplomb / once we get them goin’ with this adrenaline bomb.”

Ribcage looked at his partner quizzically. “Uh, ‘aplomb’?”

“It means self-confidence and stuff,” Femur explained. “I learned it from that word-a-day calendar you got me.”

“So, you are usin’ that. Nice,” Ribcage said as the two continued to sneak towards their prey, slowly moving closer towards the assembled Rhyhorn. It wasn’t until they were a mere stone’s throw away, however, that the pair finally noticed Pinkie Pie perched atop one of their targets. “Uh, dude, isn’t that one of those girls that messed up our plan to grab that Munchlax?”

“Seriously? Hold up, let me check,” Femur said as he tried jostling his way to the front of their cardboard costume. What resulted was a brief shoving match within the confines of the box, which came to an abrupt end when Femur dropped the extra-potent adrenaline ball he had been holding.

“Uh, dude, chill for a sec,” Ribcage said as noticed the ball land on the ground with a dull thud. “Is that thing supposed to be making a hissing –“ Any further conversation was cut off as the orb detonated, filling the box with thick, blue, acrid smoke.

Up until this point Pinkie Pie had simply been ignoring the two grunts antics, mostly out of curiosity as to what there were planning to do. As soon as Pinkie saw the smoke billowing out from their box, however, curiosity rapidly gave way to concern. “Hey, are you two alright over there?” Pinkie Pie called out.

Pinkie had barely finished her question when Femur and Ribcage tossed away their disguise and staggered out of the smoke. “You think you’re smart / seein’ through our disguise. But if you think we’re beat you’re – Ack!” Femur’s rhyming bluster came to an abrupt end as he collapsed into a coughing fit.

“Don’t worry man / I’ve got your back / ‘Cause there’s no holdin’ back / We’re on the attack,” Ribcage quickly rhymed, which earned him a grateful fist bump from his friend.

It was a rare event that could leave Pinkamena Diane Pie speechless, but the former Team Skull grunts had somehow managed it. “You guys…really?” Pinkie Pie managed to sputter before taking a moment to calm herself. “What are you even planning to do here, anyway?”

“Grabbin’ rare Pokémon is what we need / And this time you’re not gonna get a chance to impede / ‘Cause we’re sendin’ those Rhyhorn on a stampede.” Femur replied as Ribcage beatboxed out an accompanying rhythm.

“Good luck with that,” Pinkie Pie scoffed. “These Rhyhorn barely even want to move around, let alone stam – hey!” Pinkie Pie found herself forced to suddenly hang on as something prompted the Rhyhorn she was sitting on to turn towards the grunts. Letting out an enraged snort, the sizable Pokémon began angrily pawing the ground as it eyed the pair, who seemed rather pleased with this development.

“Aw yeah, that adrenaline bomb must’ve done its thing / and now it’s time for us to – dude, what is it? I was in the middle of a sick rhyme,” Femur asked irritably as Ribcage grabbed his shoulder.

“Uh, dude, did we ever think of what we were gonna do once we got the Rhyhorn to start chargin’?” Ribcage asked nervously.

“Of course not! We boneheads never plan stuff like that!” Femur said proudly. “Besides, all we gotta do is…um, lead them…aw crud.” Femur’s dawning realization of his predicament was clearly audible as he stared down the adrenaline-addled Rhyhorn. Sharing a brief look of acknowledgement with Ribcage, the two grunts nodded before turning tail and running as fast as their legs could carry them.

“Huh, that was over pretty quick. I wonder why they were in such a hurr-EEEEEEEEEE!” Any illusions Pinkie Pie had about how the situation had resolved itself were shattered as the Rhyhorn herd took off after the grunts. Pinkie Pie herself was forced to hold on for dear life as the Rhyhorn she was riding thundered along with surprising speed.

“See? I told you Rhyhorn could run fast enough to race,” Sally said as the Rhyhorn carrying Pinkie Pie rushed past.

“Yeah, yeah, you were right,” Billy grudgingly conceded. “Shouldn’t we do something about that pink-haired girl, though?”

“I don’t think so, she actually looked like she was having fun. Maybe she’s actually from Kalos and does this all the time,” Sally said.

Sure enough, once the initial terror at sitting atop several hundred pounds of charging rock-beast had subsided Pinkie Pie found the experience to be exhilarating. Or, at least, Pinkie would have had it not been for her concern over the impending squashing of the two fleeing grunts. “Slow down! If you keep going like this, you’re going to really hurt those two and I think they’ve already learned their lesson,” Pinkie Pie pleaded, with little success. “Darn it, Pinkie Pie, think! If you don’t do something those two are going to be squished. Wait, I know what to do!” Struck be a sudden bolt of inspiration, Pinkie Pie leaned forward and covered the Rhyhorn’s eyes with her hands.

Blinded by its rider, the Rhyhorn slowed down and started swerving from side to side in an effort to dislodge Pinkie and uncover its eyes. While this by itself wasn’t enough to throw Pinkie from its back, the Rhyhorn’s abrupt zigzagging resulted in it crashing into several of its peers, the impact in turn sending Pinkie Pie flying off into the air. Luckily for Pinkie, her landing was softened somewhat by Femur and Ribcage as she came crashing down on top of them. As Pinkie Pie sat atop the pair trying to clear her head, she noticed a huge, dark figure interpose itself between her and the Rhyhorn, who had been left in a tangled pile by the crash. “What in the heck have I told the bunch of you about charging around after people like that?” the dark figure bellowed at the Rhyhorn in a gruff, female voice. “You’re just lucky you managed to avoid hurting anyone this time! Now, all of you get up and head back to your pens and I want all of you to think about what you’ve done.” Amazingly, the assembled Rhyhorn actually appeared completely cowed by this dressing down and sheepishly began detangling themselves from each other before heading back towards the breeding center.

After giving her head another good shake, Pinkie Pie took stock of this looming newcomer. As her vision cleared, Pinkie Pie found herself looking up at a massive bear of middle-aged woman whose long dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. “Hi!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she wobbled back to her feet. “I’m –“

“Don’t think for a second that I’ve forgotten about you troublemakers,” the woman said as she spun around. “What the heck were you thinking provoking those Rhyhorn like that?”

“I’m sorry,” Pinkie squeaked as she felt her hair deflate slightly. “I was just trying to help settle an argument those kids were having about if you could ride them and – “

“You mean Billy and Sally? I had a feeling that those two had a hand in this somehow. Anyway, I’m a lot less upset with you than I am at those two over there,” the woman said as she glowered at Femur and Ribcage, who had been trying to quietly slink off. “I don’t know what you two did to get those Rhyhorn charging like that, but I do know it would have taken a lot more than having some silly trainer climb up on their backs.”

Both grunts froze in terror for a moment before Ribcage spun around. “We’ve got too much gall / to take a fall / so eat this! Go Smoke Ball!” With that, Ribcage threw something onto the ground at his feet which created a huge cloud of smoke. Moments later, Ribcage and Femur staggered out the other side, coughing and wheezing as they made their escape.

“What do they even…oh to heck with it. Go Staraptor!” As Pinkie Pie looked on the woman tossed out a Poké Ball to reveal a massive dark grey and white bird with a crest of red feathers on top of its head. “I want you to keep an eye on the those two over there. If they leave the ranch then you can leave them be, but if they try sneaking back in, I want you to let me know.” Staraptor let out a shrill cry of acknowledgement before taking off into the sky and disappearing from sight.

“Um, what about me?” Pinkie asked meekly.

“Well, you actually bothered to apologize for what you did, and at least what you were doing wasn’t going to get anyone else hurt…I guess I can let you off the hook this time. Besides,” she added as she looked meaningfully over to where Billy and Sally were climbing down off the fence. “It sounds like you probably wouldn’t have gotten into this mess if someone hadn’t roped you into it.” As the woman watched the two children abruptly take off as fast as they could towards the buildings her expression softened. “They’re not bad kids, to be honest. They just don’t ever think things through. So, are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine…um,” Pinkie Pie replied before realizing that she had no idea who she was talking to.

“You must be new around here,” the woman chuckled as she stuck out her hand. “I’m Norma, I’m the one who runs this whole place. So, what exactly brought you out here, anyway? Are you another trainer out collecting badges?”

“Collecting badge? Ooh, that sounds like fun! How do I get started? Is it anything like collecting stamps, because I have a friend named Cranky who collects stamps and it seems like a lot of fun!” This new promise of fun had completely returned Pinkie Pie to her usual bubble self, much to Norma’s apparent amusement.

“So, this is going to be a first for you then. Alright then, follow me and we’ll get this started.”

*********

“There you go Mister Tropius, don’t you feel better now that you’re all nice and clean?” The dinosaur-like Pokémon Fluttershy had just finished scrubbing answered her by licking the side of her face. As Nurse Joy had said, there were quite a few large Pokémon at the center who needed grooming and Fluttershy had truly felt in her element helping them all.

“Hey, Fluttershy, how’re things going in here?” Turning towards the door, Fluttershy saw Derek sheepishly poking his head into the room. “I was just wondering if there’s room in here for one more Pokémon. Nurse Joy made it sound like it was pretty crowded earlier, so I wanted to wait a bit before bringing in my own.”

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of room now,” Fluttershy assured Derek as she recalled Tropius to its Poké Ball and placed it on a shelf with the balls of the other Pokémon she had already helped. “Though I would have though Joy was small enough that wouldn’t need to bring her in here.”

“Joy might be, but she isn’t the Pokémon I was thinking of,” Derek replied as he pulled out a blue Poké Ball covered in crisscrossing black stripes. “Alright, Isla, bath time.” As Derek flipped the Poké Ball into the air and the light from it coalesced, Fluttershy found herself looking at a large light-blue Pokémon resembling an aquatic dinosaur of some kind. Once released, ‘Isla’ promptly let out a melodious cry of joy and began affectionately nuzzling Derek.

“My, that’s certainly a Pokémon I haven’t seen before,” Fluttershy said as she grabbed a pair of brushes along with a bucket of water.

“I’m not surprised, seeing as how you said you came from someplace that doesn’t even have Pokémon,” Derek replied. “Even around here Lapras are fairly rare, which is a pity since they’re really handy to have around.” Fluttershy nodded as she and Derek got to work scrubbing Islas’ shell as the Lapras trilled happily. “I was just thinking,” Derek said after a minute or two passed. “Pinkie Pie has been gone for a while now. Should we be worried at all?”

“I don’t think so, its not as though Pinkie Pie can’t take care of herself and you did say it was safe around here,” Fluttershy replied.

“Fair point. And its not as though Pinkie’s liable to go off and get herself in some sort of crazy trouble that she’d need to be rescued from, right?” Derek asked with a laugh, only to be met with an awkward silence. “Um, Fluttershy, are you – “

“We should go out and find Pinkie once we’re don here,” Fluttershy replied firmly.

“That’s more or less what I was afraid of. Still, there’s only so much that Pinkie Pie could possible get herself into.”

*********

“Oh, I’m in so much trouble,” Pinkie Pie said as she stood atop the platform overlooking the Faunaville Gym’s battlefield. In all fairness, there had been so much to see at the center that Pinkie Pie had scarcely been paying attention as Norma had led her to the cluster of buildings that comprised the heart of the breeding center. Pinkie could hardly be blamed for being so overawed by the massive barn-like structure Norma had taken her to that she hadn’t questioned why it had an arena strewn with large rocks inside. And when somepony tells you to climb up a platform overlooking a sports field it’s just plain rude to refuse.

“Alright then, since this will be your first gym battle, we’ll each be using two Pokémon.” The sound of Norma’s voice bellowing out from the other end of the field forcibly refocused Pinkie Pie back to the situation at hand. “The first trainer to render both of their opponent’s Pokémon unable to keep battling will be the winner. Any questions?”

“Um, could you wait one minute please?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously before ducking out of sight below the wall of the platform before Norma had a chance to respond. “Okay, Pinkie, think! Let’s see, what would Maud say in a situation like this?” Pinkie Pie’s hair momentarily straightened itself as she mimicked her older sister’s stone-faced countenance. “The boulders in that field appear to be granite. The phaneritic appearance is a dead giveaway.” Pinkie shook her head as she hair sprang back into shape. “Well, that wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped. Also, I’m not entirely sure what that actually meant.”

“Hey! Are you alright over there?” Norma called out impatiently.

“Not really…” Pinkie groaned to herself before another idea struck her. “Wait a minute, why don’t I just tell her that there’s been some kind of mistake and that I’m not really here to battle anypony?”

As Pinkie Pie rose up to explain the misunderstanding, however, a pair of voices coming from the stands caught her attention. “Yeah! Aw right, this is gonna be epic!” Billy cheered as he practically leapt out his seat as soon as he saw Pinkie stand up.

“Anyone who could ride a Rhyhorn like that has got to be an awesome trainer!” Sally added.

Listening to the two children cheer her on, Pinkie Pie felt a twinge of doubt at her plan to back out. “Could you wait just one more second?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously before ducking back down. Taking a deep breath, Pinkie Pie pulled out her Poké Balls and let out Toothy and Munchy before addressing them in a tone she normally reserved for letting Mr. and Mrs. Cake know that she had consumed an overly sizable portion of Sugar Cube Corner’s inventory. “Hey you two. So, I may have wandered into the local gym here…and I might have accidently kind of challenged the leader to a gym battle. Now, I’m pretty sure I can get us out of this if that’s what you want, but…” It was immediately apparent to Pinkie Pie that there would be no need to finish her sentence. Both Pokémon had started excitedly chattering the moment Pinkie Pie had mentioned the word ‘challenge’ and Pinkie Pie didn’t need Fluttershy’s ability to speak with critters to understand that neither had any interest in backing down. “Okie-dokie-loki, if this is really what the two of you want then let’s do this!” Recalling the two back to their Poké Balls for the moment, Pinkie Pie stood back up to face her opponent with newfound determination. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s get this started!”

“Glad to hear it. Okay then, go Starly!” Norma yelled as she tossed her Poke Ball into the field.

“Alright, goooo Munchy!” As Munchy sprang back out of its Poké Ball and appeared on the field it found itself facing a rather nondescript bird. Its plumage was a mix of white and various shades of grey with a grey-tipped orange beak. “Huh, I was kind of expecting something a little more…fighty-looking,” Pinkie Pie said as she took stock of her opponent.

“Heh, as the saying goes, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. Anyway, Starly, start things off with Double Team!” With a squawking chirp Starly took off into the air and began rapidly flying in circles until Pinkie started to feel dizzy trying to follow its movements.

“Oh wow, that birdy’s spinning around so fast it’s starting to look like there’s a whole bunch of them flying up – wha?” Pinkie Pie gasped as she realized that there now appeared to be fully a dozen Starly circling over the field. “Hold on, no fair! You can’t just have a whole bunch of Pokémon gang up on Munchy like that!”

Norma responded to Pinkie’s outburst with a moment of stunned silence before bursting into peals of laughter. “So, I take it this is the first time you’ve seen a Double Team attack then? Don’t worry, most of what you’re seeing are just optical illusions, so they can’t really hurt your Munchlax. Oh course, that’s not going to make hitting Starly any easier.”

“Munchy! Quick, Tackle that one right there!” With a level of athleticism one would hardly expect from a Pokémon of its girth Munchy bounced into the air and body-checked one of the Starly. The alarmed Flying Pokémon was left awkwardly flapping in the air as it tried to recover from the impact. “Hmm, wiggly…little forehoof grabber-thingy,” Pinkie Pie said to herself as she examined her right hand. “I’m going to have to remember that one.”

“I’m not quite sure how you managed to see through my Starly’s Double Team, but I have to admit I’m impressed,” Norma said as she carefully watched her Pokémon regain its poise. “But its going to take a lot more than that to win this fight. Starly, hit it with your Wing Attack!” Starly let out a cry as it wings began to white before diving through the air towards Munchy. The portly Pokémon scarcely had time to register what was happening before Starly swooped by it and clipped it across the head with a wing.

“Munchy, are you alright?” Pinkie Pie cried out as she watched Munchy clutch its head in pain after the attack. “Okay, maybe we should try somethings else. Um…Oh! I know! Munchy, use Defense Curl!” While Munchy still seemed to be somewhat woozy from the blow to the head it had just taken it obediently tucked its head into its stomach and curled itself into a ball.

“Alright Starly, if they want to give us an opportunity to shore up our defenses, I say we take it. Use Double Team again!” Norma grinned like a proud parent as once again Starly began to dart through the air forming copies of itself in its wake until the air above the arena was seemingly filled with a veritable flock of the bird-like Pokémon.

“Oh wow, that’s a whole lot of birdies. I’m not even sure my Pinkie Sense will be able to pick out the real one now.” Pinkie Pie frowned as she wracked her brains to think of a solution to her predicament until a though suddenly struck her. “Munchy, let’s try using Metronome!”

“Metronome?” Norma said as Munchy uncurled itself and stood back up before raising its arms into the air and waving its fingers back and forth. “Well, this should be interesting at the very least.” A nervous hush seemed to fall over the arena as Munchy’s fingers began to glow white. Suddenly Munchy froze in determination. Even stranger (not to mention far more concerning) Munchy began to rise up into the air and began to emanate a red aura of visible heat.

“Ooh, I wonder what sort of move this is?” Pinkie Pie mused as she watched Munchy observe the multitudes of Starly circling it. Suddenly, Munchy let out a cry as it seemed to spot its desired target, a glowing ‘V’ of brilliant energy forming across its head as it did so. Munchy then somehow launched itself at one of the Starly headfirst streaking towards its opponent like a burning comet. Starly, however, was just barely able to dodge the attack, leaving Munchy to collide with one of the rocks strewn about the field in a fiery explosion.

“Holy…that was a V-Create,” Norma said as she looked down at the smoldering rubble that comprised the remains of the bolder Munchy had struck. “I doubt you’ll get that lucky with Metronome again, but even so…Starly hit it with another Wing Attack.” Several of the Starly promptly dove down at Munchy, who was still picking itself up off the ground. Most of the images passed by harmlessly, but one delivered an all too solid blow to Munchy’s back, knocking it back to its knees.

“Darn it,” Pinkie Pie huffed. “I was really hoping Metronome would have worked better than that. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to go with Plan B then. You hear that, Munchy? Its time to use our Last Resort!” Munchy glanced over to the shoulder to give Pinkie a look of acknowledgement before pulling itself back to its feet. Closing its eyes, Munchy seemed to tense up as though it were trying to concentrate. Slowly, a golden light began to suffuse Munchy’s body starting from its feet and working its way up until its entire body shone as brightly as a torch. Suddenly, Munchy cried out at the top of its lungs as a multitude of golden stars launched themselves out from his body in every direction. The star-shaped projects blasted away the illusory duplicate Starly and knocked the unfortunate Pokémon out of the air, leaving it to plummet to the growl in an unconscious heap.

“Well, Starly, that was a good effort. Return.” Norma smiled as she recalled her Starly to its Poké Ball. “I have to admit, I might have underestimated you a little. At first I thought you were just some nut, but it looks as though there’s some real potential behind that smile of yours.”

“Aw shucks!” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Don’t thank me just yet,” Norma said as a wicked grin spread across her features. “That just means I’m going to have to start taking this serious. Go Kangaskhan!” Norma’s second Pokémon proved to be a massive, brown, bipedal creature which looked vaguely like an animal Pinkie Pie had once seen in one of Fluttershy’s books. Of more immediate concern to Pinkie Pie, however, was what she noticed upon looking down at the Pokémon’s abdomen.

“Is…is that a baby in it’s stomach?” a scandalized Pinkie Pie asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it is. Kangaskhan keep their children with them in their stomach pouches at all times. Not exactly how I’d want to go about keeping my kids out of trouble, but whatever works, I guess.”

“It’s just…are you sure its safe for your Pokémon to fight with its baby like that? I wouldn’t want it to get hurt or anything, maybe it should watch on the sidelines or something,” Pinkie Pie suggested. As exciting as battling seemed to be risking hurting a baby anything was a bit much.

“You leave that for me and Kangaskhan to worry about, you’re about to have much bigger problems. Kangaskhan, use Comet Punch!” Kangaskhan immediately surged forward in response, turning to present its profile as it launched a series of jabs at Munchy with one of its forelimbs.

“Oh no, Munchy!” Pinkie Pie lamented as she watched Kangaskhan relentlessly pummel her Pokémon. “Okay, fine! If that’s the way you’re going to be…Munchy! Use Last Resort again! Just, try and keep from hitting the baby.” Even as Munchy help up its arms to deflect Kangaskhan’s rain of blows his body once again started to glow with golden light. Before Kangaskhan could even register what was happening Munchy shoved both of its arms forward, launching out a large golden start that struck Kangaskhan in the side with enough force to knock it several feet away.

Norma leaned forward against her platform’s railing as she watched her Kangaskhan pull itself back to its feet. While her face seemed calm, Norma was gripping the railing so tightly her knuckles turned a bloodless white. “Alright then. Trump card it is. Kangaskhan, it’s time to show this girl just what it really means to compete in the Javik League!” Kangaskhan seemed to know exactly what Norma meant as it pulled itself to its feet and crossed its arms in front of itself. Norma, who had stuck a similar pose, proceeded to push both arms out in front of her before methodically moving each arm until she had formed them into the shape of a ‘Z’. Throughout this process Kangaskhan, who had been mimicking its trainer’s movements, had been increasingly surrounded by an ever brighter golden glow. A similar light had been emitting from an odd-looking bracelet Norma was wearing which suddenly erupted in intensity as Norma finished her posing. As this happened, the aura surrounding Kangaskhan exploded as well. “Kangaskhan…Breakneck Blitz!” Still glowing brightly, Kangaskhan charged forward like a living battering ram straight into Munchy. The sheer force of the impact knocked Munchy tumbling through the air until he came crashing down with a loud thud.

“Munchy! Are you alright?” Pinkie Pie yelled before looking back up at Norma. “What even was that?”

“That, miss, was a Z-move,” Norma said. “It’s what happens when a trainer and their Pokémon are able to combine their – are you even listening to me?”

Pinkie Pie had indeed stopped paying attention to whatever it was Norma was saying and instead had shifted her focus to Munchy, who was struggling to stand back up. “That’s the spirit, Munchy, we’re not going to let anything keep us down. In fact, let’s give Metronome another try.” Munchy nodded weakly in agreement before raising up its arms once again and proceeded swinging them back and forth. Once Munchy’s fingers started to glow white, however, a look of distressed surprise appeared on its face and Munchy dropped to all fours. Before anyone could react, Munchy belched forth a massive blast of searing hot air at Kangaskhan, engulfing it in a fiery haze. “Oh no!” Pinkie Pie gasped in horror at the scene. “I didn’t mean for something like that to happen. Is Kangaskhan’s baby alright?”

Norma stated at Pinkie Pie for several seconds in disbelief before suddenly breaking into a laugh. “You’re in the middle of gym battle, your Pokémon took a direct hit from a Z-move just a few moments ago and you’re worried about whether your opponent’s Pokémon is alright? I’ll give you this, kid you’re definitely something else. As for Kangaskhan, I can tell from here that she and her baby are just fine. That said, I think its about time to put an end to this. Kangaskhan, use your Bite attack!” With a loud roar Kangaskhan lunged headfirst at Munchy, wisps of smoke still rising from its back as consequence of Munchy’s last attack. Munchy instinctively threw up its arms in an effort to ward off the attack, only for Kangaskhan’s jaws to clamp down on one of its forearms and toss it into the air. “Good work. Now, before it has a chance to recover hit it with another Comet Punch!”

Pinkie Pie could only watch helplessly as Munchy’s descent was met mid-air by a barrage of punches, leaving it to land on the ground unconscious. “No! Munchy!” Pinkie Pie cried out in alarm before raising Munchy’s Poké Ball in defeat and recalling him from the field. “Don’t worry, Munchy, you did really great. Now just leave everything to me and Toothy. Speaking of which, go Toothy! Let’s show that meanie-pants who’s boss!”

Norma, however, did not appear particularly impressed as she watched Toothy appear on the battlefield and proceeded to start capering about. “You’ve put up a good effort so far, but I’m pretty sure this battle’s just about over. Kangaskhan, use another Comet Punch.”

“Alright Toothy, show that Pokémon that we’re not going to take any of that! Use Leer!” As Kangaskhan once again charged forward Toothy stared it down, Toothy’s eyes glowing an unnatural crimson. Unfortunately, this display failed to ward off Kangaskhan’s assault, leaving Toothy to be repeatedly battered by jabs to its face and torso.

“Good work, Kangaskhan. Now, follow it up with a Bite attack before it can recover!”

“Oh no you don’t, not this time! Toothy you Bite that Kangaskhan right back!” Pinkie Pie yelled even as Kangaskhan chomped down on Toothy just as it had down with Munchy. This time, however, when Kangaskhan attempted to toss its opponent into the air Toothy was able to scramble out of its grip and across Kangaskhan’s face before clamping its jaws down on one of Kangaskhan’s ears. Kangaskhan let out a shrill cry of pain in response as it desperately thrashed in an attempt to dislodge its attacker, eventually managing to send Toothy flying. “All according to plan,” Pinkie Pie said as she watched Toothy sail through the air. “Quick, Toothy, hit it with your Water Gun!” Twisting around, Toothy fired a jet of water out of its mouth straight into Kangaskhan’s face causing it to sputter with rage.

“For crying out loud, Kangaskhan, focus! Just get in there and finish this with another Comet Punch!” Norma said, exasperation creeping into her voice.

“We’ve almost done it, Toothy! Give it the old Scratch attack!” Pinkie Pie cheered. The two Pokémon furiously charged at each other at their master’s commands. As Kangaskhan turned to deliver its attack, however, it started to appear that Pinkie Pie had made a critical error in judgement.

“I hate to break it to you, miss, but it looks like you’ve forgotten one little detail,” Norma said as though she were explaining why planting a candy tree wouldn’t work to a small child. “Kangaskhan has a much longer reach than your Totodile, so it’ll be able to knock your Totodile out before it even has a chance to hit back.”

“Maybe, but that’s only if Toothy gets hit,” Pinkie Pie replied slyly. As Norma tried to make sense of what Pinkie Pie had just said Toothy dodge to one side, narrowly avoiding Kangaskhan’s initial flurry of blows. Before Kangaskhan could reorient itself, Toothy leapt forward and delivered a powerful uppercut swipe across Kangaskhan’s face. The blow seemed to leave Kangaskhan poleaxed as it teetered on its feet for a moment before finally toppling over onto its back.

“Huh,” Norma said as she recalled her Kangaskhan. “I can honestly say I did not see that coming. Well, Pinkie, you’re certainly on interesting trainer, and since you’ve beaten both of my Pokémon that means you’ve won.”

“You hear that, Toothy? We’ve won!” Pinkie Pie laughed happily as she leapt down from her platform and raced over to scoop Toothy up in her arms.

Just then the doors to the gym burst open to reveal a red-faced and very out of breath Fluttershy. “Pardon me…but has anyone…seen my friend…Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy panted as she parted for breath.

“Oh, hi Fluttershy. You’ll never guess what happened! I had come here to see all the cute baby Pokémon but then I tried reciting these big rocky Pokémon to see if you could race then but then those two weird guys from the picnic showed up and they were all ‘Grr we’re here to rhyme and cause trouble’ but then the rocky Pokémon started charging them and then Norma showed up – that’s here over there – and she was all ‘You’ve been naughty Pokémon chasing people’ and then she offered to show me around but then it turns out she thought I wanted to battle her and I was really nervous at first but Munchy and Toothy wanted to go through with it and we just won!” Pinkie Pie paused to finally take a breath. “so, what have you been up to? And where’s Derek?”

The answer to Pinkie Pie’s second question came first as Derek staggered into view, panting heavily and gasping for air. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both watched with concern as Derek leaned heavily on the door leading into the arena until he managed to gesture that he was alright. “Did you really challenge the gym leader here to a battle?” Fluttershy asked as she turned back to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie didn’t just challenge me, she managed to defeat me.” Pinkie and Fluttershy both looked to see Norma walking towards them carrying a small box. “Here, this is your reward for defeating me; the Farm Badge along with a piece of Normalium-Z.”

“Normali – what?” Pinkie Pie asked as she opened the box to reveal a small pin in the shape of a barn along with a white crystal.

“It’s what’s called a Z-crystal. It fits in the bracelet they gave you when you first answered here. When you perform that little ritual dance you saw me use during our battle it creates a link between you and your Pokémon that allows it to a perform a Z-move.”

“Oh, is that what that big glowy tackle was called?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yes. The ‘big glowy tackle’ was a Z-move,” Norma said flatly. “Anyway, we have an onsite doctor here that can patch up your Pokémon, and after that if you’d like I can give you and your friend here a tour of the nursery.”

“That…actually sounds like it would be nice,” Fluttershy admitted after a moment.

“Sounds like a plan then. Billy! Sally! Why don’t the two of you show these girls to the infirmary. I’ll be there in a bit, I just want to talk with their friend here,” Norma said as she gestured towards Derek, who appeared to still be quite out of breath. The two children proceeded to lead Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie into the center as they both gushed about Pinkie’s battle. Once they were safely out of sight, Norma leaned over Derek. “You really need to get in better shape.”

“So…much…running,” Derek groaned. “From the Pokémon Center to the market to and then to here. So,” Derek continued as he seemed to finally catch his breath. “Pinkie Pie actually managed to beat you for her first badge? I had a feeling she had talent, but I didn’t think she was already at the point where she could handle one of those Kangaskhan’s of yours.”

“Honestly, I’m not convinced it wasn’t a fluke. Anyway, why exactly are you following those girls around?”

Derek shrugged. “I think they might have a decent amount of potential as trainers. Mainly, though, I’m doing it to help out a friend.”

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