Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescuers of Harmony

by Codex92

Moo-ments of the Past

Once everyone was up and motivated, Scott and Johann led the Mane Six and Spike down the road to Pokemon Square. "So, what are we gonna do today!?" Pinkie excitedly asked, bouncing alongside the Riolu and Charmander. "More training? Berry farming? Odd jobs? Cooking? Go in our first Mystery Dungeon?"

"Oh, there's definitely going to be some training," Scott said. "But we thought it would be a better idea to show you guys everything in Pokemon Square."

"Yeah. There's a lot to see there," Johann added. "Different sorts of shops, all kinds of Pokemon running them or passing by while their own teams get prepared for their own missions. It's also a big tourist spot with the famous Team Go-Getters' leader, Squirtle, and his team saving everyone from that meteor."

"That sounds like an exciting story," Spike said.

"I wonder if Charmander and Chikorita from that team are still doing missions without Squirtle," Twilight uttered.

"I think they're still working. It'd be pretty cool to meet a rescue team that went from rookies to awesome pros faster than Team ACT did," Scott said.

He and Johann gave the rest of their friends a short summary of Team Go-Getters' heroic efforts in the past, from their humble beginnings, everyone in the Square learning about Squirtle as a human, someone from another world just like the Mane Six and Spike, proving his innocence, and saving countless Pokemon from the meteor that would have decimated this world before he was forced to leave and return to his real home. The others were a bit disappointed in all the Pokemon for judging Squirtle over a rumor, but with the legend becoming true with the natural disasters that frequently occurred, they could see why they were that worried back then when a Pokemon as small as a Squirtle was able to take on tough legendary Pokemon throughout the continent. At least he proved he wasn't as dangerous as they all believed and saved this world just in the nick of time.

The group arrived at the entrance to Pokemon Square, where the girls and Spike stared in awe at the number of Pokemon they could see just from the entrance arch. "Here we are! Pokemon Square!" Johann introduced.

"There's so many of them," Rainbow uttered in shock. "Just how many of you guys are there!?"

"Uhh...Quite a lot?" Scott answered, scratching his head to try to come up with a best estimate. "There's...hundreds of different kinds? Including evolutions?"

"Roughly one thousand different species, actually," Twilight stated, startling the rest of her friends as they gaped at her in shock. "I know. I'm just as shocked as the rest of you when I read through one of Alakazam's books that featured all the Pokemon documented inside it. Including the rare 'legendary' ones."

"One thousand!? That's more than the different animals or sentient beings back home!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Fluttershy let out an excited squeal, nearly knocking over Twilight as she bounded up to her. "Where's that book!? I want to see all the cute baby ones! How many of them are there!? I bet they look so cute!"

"Uhh, it's back at the base," Twilight said, leaning back as Fluttershy leaned closer while spouting her cuteness-gushing tangent. "And there are a lot of adorable ones...and some...not so adorable."

"Like what?" Rarity asked nervously. "Anything like those disgusting frog twins?"

"Those were Croagunks. And as an example...two of them are...blobs of sludge," Twilight said with a grimace.

Rarity grimaced, along with the others as Scott and Johann let out disturbed groans. "Ugh. Grimer and Muk," Scott whined as he held his nose. "When we had one of them show up at the guild asking for a team to help them, their scent reeked so bad that I thought my nose was gonna get melted off from the smell."

"I remember that day," Johann grimaced. "You had to dunk your head in Elder Whiscash's pond for hours for you to breathe again. At least they know their smell is horrible and don't get offended when your sense of smell is pretty sensitive."

Thankfully, a distraction tore them away from the painful memory as they heard a pair of voices nearby. Facing the sound, they were close to one of the many shops in Pokemon Square, where a small line of Pokemon were buying some of their wares. On the other side of the counter were two Pokemon that looked similar to a chameleon from the Equestrians' perspective: one was green with yellow lines connecting its frills, lips, and the rings around its eyes, the other was purple with green lines instead of yellow, and they both had a red zigzag stripe along their abdomen. Scott and Johann led their friends to the two reptilian Pokemon running the store, whose attention was brought to them after the last Pokemon finished purchasing their wares.

"Hello, there!" the green one greeted first.

"Welcome to the Kecleon Bros. Shop!" the purple one greeted as well.

"How can we help you?" the two Kecleon said simultaneously.

"We're just browsing," Johann said. "And showing our new friends around."

"Ah, you must be the new rescue team Pokemon," the green Kecleon said. "Heard you got into a little scrap with some wanted Croagunk."

"The Poison Twins as they called them," the purple Kecleon added.

"Heheh. Yeah. I...thought we could handle them," Scott laughed sheepishly.

"A rookie move there, kiddo," Green Kecleon chided. "But, if you're looking for some good items we've got in stock, you might have a much easier time running into wanted Pokemon."

"What exactly do you sell?" Applejack asked curiously.

"Loads of different stuff!" both Kecleon said.

Green Kecleon started first, showing his side of the store, which had a plethora of different berries, seeds, apples of varying sizes, and a couple different kinds of accessories. "I have some helpful consumables and special gear for sale when you're in a pinch in Mystery Dungeons. It really helps to have some berries and a few apples for those longer treks in lengthy dungeons."

Purple Keckleon then showed his side, which had several different blue orbs and strange circular discs, some of the backs on them a different color than the others. "And I sell TMs and Wonder Orbs. Also quite useful, though not exactly for Mystery Dungeons. You can learn a new move right away before you train enough to learn one, or get rid of one weaker move for a stronger one! Just as long as you're compatible with it, otherwise it won't work."

"And what do the Wonder Orbs do?" Spike asked. "They just look like round gems."

"They have different helpful effects in a Mystery Dungeon to help your team: clearing strange weather conditions, teleporting away from a dangerous confrontation, help you 'see' the layout of a dungeon floor, and so many more!" Purple explained. "Rescue teams rely on these babies, especially in longer dungeons just like my brother's wares."

"But our stock changes every day, so take what you can get now before we sell different items or someone else buys our inventory dry," Green added.

"So, see anything you like?" both Kecleon asked simultaneously with their incredible twin telepathy.

Rarity noticed the couple different scarves the green Kecleon had to sell, humming curiously at their designs and color schemes: one was a bright pink, another a light shade of blue, and the last one a pure white. "Which of those would best suit my fur color?"

"I think all of them suit you best, Rarity," Spike said dreamily, envisioning the unicorn-turned-Skitty wearing the different scarves, making her both fashionable and adorably beautiful as a feline Pokemon in the Gible's eyes.

"Oh, yes, obviously, Spikey-Wikey, but which one would be best for adventuring in these Mystery Dungeons?" Rarity asked, waving off the little Dragon-type's swooning.

"Uhh, we're just browsing right now," Scott said to the Kecleon Bros., gently pulling the curious Skitty away from the counter. "We'll come by tomorrow to see what else you guys have."

"Ok, then," Green said.

"See you around!" Purple added, both Kecleon waving to the rookie rescue team as they continued on deeper into the town.

"Wait! I can't go do any missions without something fashionable and functional to wear!" Rarity whined, letting out a distressed mewl as she was dragged away by the Riolu.

Scott let out a frustrated groan, dreading having one of their new teammates care more about their fashion choices rather than what the accessory can do to aid them. "Our budget isn't that high to buy you every single accessory the Kecleon Bros. might have," he said. "And they're not a fashion statement; those scarves have special abilities for the wearer, like avoiding status ailments, increase strength or defense, and several other things."

Rarity scowled, smacking Scott's paw away from her as she turned to leer at him. "Well, you and Johann are wearing bandannas," she argued.

"Ooh! Let's all wear colorful bandannas!" Pinkie cheered as she bounced in place. "I call a pink bandanna!"

"I got mine from the guild," Johann said. "Maybe we can ask Guildmaster Alakazam if he can have some custom made for the rest of you."

"Sweet!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Rarity sighed, accepting a simple bandanna for now until they had enough money to buy something much more extravagant, or create something for herself if her tiny paws could sew. When she glanced at Johann and Scott's bandannas, her keen eye for fashion noticed how worn Scott's was compared to Johann's.

"Wait. If you two got your bandannas from the guild, how come Scott's is a bit faded and slightly torn?" Rarity questioned.

Scott looked down at his neck, lifting a paw to touch his bandanna. "...Uhh, this was...a gift from someone a couple years ago," Scott said. "The Pokemon who gave me this inspired me to be part of a rescue team. So this is a very important memento of mine."

Spike and Pinkie were in awed fascination at the brief, yet meaningful story behind the Riolu's bandanna. "What kind of Pokemon was it?" Spike asked curiously.

"He was a Lucario; what I will evolve into," he said. "He was so cool, brave, powerful, and he led his own team. When he gave his own bandanna to me as a keepsake, I've wanted to be a rescuer just like him." Scott struck a triumphant pose as he had a burning fire of confidence in his eyes. "Now I am part of a rescue team, and I'll be just as courageous and strong as he is!"

"Did he jump headfirst into danger without thinking about who or what he'll face?" Johann questioned with a sly smirk.

Scott kept his pose, though his eyes squinted in irritation at the Charmander with a grumble. Rarity could see how much that bandanna meant to the Riolu, but it wouldn't do his hero's justice if he didn't keep it in good condition.

"Well, if I can learn how to sew with paws instead of hooves or my magic, I can touch that up for you so it doesn't look like a discarded, overused rag," Rarity offered.

"What!? No way!" Scott exclaimed, clutching his prized possession in his paws. "This is really special for me! If I see Lucario again, I want to show him that I'm still wearing his bandanna, tears, dirt, and all!"

Rarity grimaced, but sighed and shook her head. "Fine. Suit yourself. Boys..."

Scott and Johann continued their tour, their next stop taking them to what was called the Felicity Bank. Behind the counter was a feline Pokemon, standing a couple feet taller than the beginner rescue team with pale tan fur, black-rimmed ears, three whiskers on each side of its muzzle, a red jewel embedded in its forehead, and red slitted eyes. The Pokemon's eyes were closed as it licked the back of its paw to groom its head fur, but it paused with a twitch of its ear when it heard the team approach his bank. With a slightly annoyed huff, the feline Pokemon opened its eyes and stared at the young Pokemon.

"Welcome to the Felicity Bank," it said with disdain, his voice dripping with sarcasm in a posh tone as if it had no interest in wanting to deal with the rookie rescue team. "How can I help you?"

"My, that's a big kitty cat," Pinkie said.

"I am a Persian," the feline corrected while introducing himself. "If you have no business here, then leave me to my grooming."

"Uhh, Mr. Persian, sir, sorry to interrupt your...grooming," Johann apologized while bowing his head to the disinterested Pokemon. "We're just showing our new friends around since they're new around here, and your bank was next on our tour."

"...How amusing," Persian mumbled sarcastically. "Would you like me to show you the gift shop after your tour is done?"

"I...get the feeling he doesn't like company, does he?" Twilight asked.

"What was your first clue?" Scott uttered to the Ralts, earning a growl from Persian as his sensitive hearing heard his remark.

"If you waste my time, then you are wasting Poké," Persian stated grumpily. "Do I really need to explain how a bank works? You withdraw or deposit your Poké from your account, and if you're in a rescue team, you all share that same account as long as the team leader, or leaders, allow transactions."

"Umm...Mr. Persian, what's Poké?" Fluttershy asked.

The Buneary's question made Persian's eyes quickly shift toward the rabbit Pokemon, raising a brow with a glare that wondered if she was kidding. "How do you not know what Poké is?" he questioned. "You cannot purchase anything around here without it, or anywhere else in the world."

"T-They're not from around here!" Johann quickly answered. "They...don't believe in...currency where they're from?"

The Charmander let out a small, sheepish laugh, hoping the temperamental feline Pokemon would believe him. Letting out an irritated sigh, Persian glanced down at Scott.

"You look like a rescue team. What's your team name?" he asked.

"Team Rescue Rangers," Scott said.

"Hmmm...I see." Persian headed deeper inside his bank, coming back out a few seconds later with a slip of paper and some Poké, which were just gold coins with the letter "P" in a darker shade on both sides. He held up the coin to the Pokemon with the strange tattoos to see what it looked like. "This is Poké. You earn these, or find them in Mystery Dungeons, and pay for goods at the other shops."

"Ah think we get the picture," Applejack said, getting annoyed by the haughty Pokemon's snarky tone. "We ain't dumb; we just don't know what it looked like."

"Then your local 'friends' should have educated you on something so simple themselves rather than let me explain," Persian said, then leered at Scott and Johann. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Uhh, no thanks. I think we're good for now," Scott said, leering back at the annoyed Persian.

"Then come again. With some business," Persian said, putting the Poké and Team Rescue Ranger's account away. "Have a nice day."

"Don't you mean, 'Have a purrrrrrrrfect day?'" Pinkie asked, then giggled at her own joke. "Get it? Because you're a cat?"

Persian wasn't amused, giving the Swirlix a blank stare. "...No," he said, his tone wanting nothing more than the younger Pokemon to leave him be and make way for other sophisticated customers.

They took their leave, all of them dreading to come back to the Felicity Bank to withdraw their funds. "Well, that Pokemon was pretty rude," Spike stated.

"He acts just like the snooty nobles in Canterlot; lookin' down on other ponies who don't have a bit to their name," Applejack grumbled, only to realize what she said and glanced at Twilight with an apologetic grin. "Er, no offense, sugarcube."

"None taken. I don't really associate with nobility all that much growing up, and after seeing their looks at you girls during my birthday party...Yeah. They can be horrible," Twilight said with a sheepish giggle.

"Maybe he'll warm up to us if we get him something nice," Fluttershy suggested.

"Unless you have a ton of Poké to give to that greedy, prissy Persian, that's gonna take forever," Scott mumbled.

They continued on with the tour, passing by other shops and pointing out some of the directions to other locations in Pokemon Square. They headed to the east side of town, passing by some other shops, including one ran by a small blob of green with squinted eyes, a black diamond mark on its back, a yellow feather-like adornment on its head, and a puckered face. Johann gave a brief summary of that Pokemon, known as a Gulpin, specialized in teaching other Pokemon about linking together two of their moves into a combo to get the upper hand on opponents, especially against dangerous wanted Pokemon. Despite it sounding useful, they heard from other Pokemon that using linked moves exhausts them more if used too often, and could wind up tiring them out at the worst time in a lengthy Mystery Dungeon if they weren't careful. It was pretty busy at the moment with many different Pokemon looking into which of their moves they wanted to learn to link up, so they'll have to come by some other day when it's not too crowded.

They soon left the town and headed toward what looked like a cliff side overlooking the ocean, and near the edge was a building in the shape of a large white and blue pelican-looking Pokemon in the Equestrians' eyes. "Wow. What's this place?" Spike asked.

"This is the Pelipper Post Office," Scott said. He led the girls and Dragon-type up to a bulletin board next to the building, where there were notices scattered along it, each one detailing requests from troubled Pokemon in need of help from a rescue team and how difficult their request might be. "Here's where we can get some missions to help other Pokemon in need. There's even different rankings to show if they're simple tasks, like chores-" Scott glanced at Johann, who merely grinned cheekily after getting their first request as a rescue team. Scott grumbled, then quickly looked back at the board and pointed at one of the actual requests with an eager smile. "-or helping a Pokemon with a real emergency: saving someone lost in a Mystery Dungeon, bring back an item they lost or are searching for, escort them to help them find their lost friend, and so many more exciting requests than fixing up lawns!"

"Cool! Let's take on some tough requests!" Rainbow cheered.

Before Rainbow could pick one of the requests on the bulletin board, Johann quickly grabbed the Starly and pulled her away. "Whoa, hold on a second! We're not accepting harder ranked requests!" he said. After setting the confused and slightly annoyed Flying-type down with her friends, the Charmander marched over to his friend with a scowl. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't try to pick tougher missions until we're properly ready."

"Well, as one of the tour guides, I wanted to tell them that there are harder missions out there that we can take so they don't get too overwhelmed with what we'll be doing some day in the future," Scott explained nonchalantly. "I wasn't suggesting we do something difficult after last time. Am I not trustworthy enough to find us some good jobs?" Johann gave Scott a deadpanned leer, crossing his arms and tapped one of his feet like a disappointed mother. Scott wilted and groaned. "Seriously? I learned my lesson yesterday."

"I'm gonna keep my eyes on you, buddy," Johann warned.

Scott grumbled under his breath, quickly clearing his throat and continued giving their other friends the other aspects the Pelipper Post Office had. "Anyways, we can get missions here and at the guild's bulletin boards, but there are wanted Pokemon posters up there with big rewards compared to simple requests. Requests from the guild pay more, but we only get a percentage of the Poké reward while the rest goes to the guild."

"So, when we stopped those two Croagunk, we got the reward for their capture?" Twilight asked.

"Unofficially," Johann stated. "The posters have certain locations pointing out where they might be hiding, like a Mystery Dungeon, but Magnezone will inform the guilds who a team belongs to if they were the ones to stop the criminals. We just got lucky." He then gave Scott a blank stare. "Or should I say unlucky?"

"I'm ignoring you now," Scott said, turning away from Johann haughtily, not seeing the Charmander stick his tongue out at him while the girls and Spike stifled their laughter at their banter. They looked up when they heard wings flapping, watching some of the Pelipper from the building shaped like the pelican Pokemon flying off in different directions, all of them carrying satchels. "There go some of the Pelipper now."

"Where are they going?" Pinkie asked curiously.

"It is a post office, darling. They must be the couriers of this world," Rarity said.

"Yup. They deliver mail to Pokemon, even gathering new requests from other Pokemon," Johann said.

"They can even deliver requests to our base's mailbox from Pokemon who ask specifically for our team to do them," Scott added. "So if there's nothing on the bulletin boards here or at the guild, we can get some jobs from Pelipper in the morning with any news going on in the world."

"And the higher our team's rank is, we'll get higher ranked jobs as well," Johann said. "But the Poké or items the requester will offer as payment won't matter to us as long as we help other Pokemon in need."

"Right," Scott agreed. "...Even though we kinda sorta need Poké to buy supplies for future jobs, or renovate our base so we have enough room to live in with nine of us under one roof." He heard Johann growl and give him another distasteful leer, making the Riolu giggle nervously. "B-But we vowed to help any Pokemon in need. Even doing their chores if they're unable to."

"I'm going to be choosing the jobs for us if you just take those with Poké rewards," Johann sighed.

"Y'all wanna just kiss and make up and continue showin' us around instead of arguin' like a married couple?" Applejack asked.

The two leaders flinched, their reactions making the Equestrians laugh. Scott and Johann were finished their bickering and led their friends back into Pokemon Square in silence. They pointed out a location further south in town called the Makuhita Dojo, where the Mane Six and Spike can get a little more training in and grow much stronger than they would practicing outside their base or in the field. Their last stop before returning back to the base was just across from Gulpin's Link Shop, which looked more like a house compared to the stands the other shopkeepers had.

"Ooh. What's this building?" Pinkie asked in awe. "Is it a cake factory?"

"I don't smell any cake," Spike said, then grimaced when his stomach grumbled. "But I sure am hungry for some."

They didn't see a Pokemon at the counter, Scott and Johann assuming the one who ran this place was somewhere in the back. "Hello!? Anyone here!?"

"Oh dear. Bad timing," they heard a voice somewhere down the corridor deep inside the building. "Could you greet them, sweetie?"

"Ok, mamma!" another voice said, though sounding much younger like a small child. They heard the child pant as it ran up to the counter, seeing a pair of tiny paws reach the top, and with a grunt, the Pokemon lifted itself onto the counter to reveal itself. It was pretty small, only a few inches smaller than the group's height, light purple skin with a cream yellow underbelly, and pointy ears. "Welcome to Kangaskhan Storage! Can I help you?"

Upon seeing the little Pokemon, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow squealed at the sight of the cute baby Pokemon greeting them. "Oh my gosh!" Fluttershy gushed.

"It's so adorable!" Rarity squealed.

"I wanna keep her!" Pinkie added.

The Pokemon tilted its head in confusion, then was suddenly snatched by Fluttershy and brought into a cuddly embrace. "Ooh, you're the cutest thing ever!" the Buneary cooed. Scott and Johann chuckled nervously as the baby was given Fluttershy's "greeting", and the other girls joined in, petting or surrounding her in a group hug while making baby talk. Fluttershy then held the confused, but unperturbed by the attention. "What kind of Pokemon are you, little one?"

"Uhh...Kangaskhan?" the young Pokemon answered.

"I think we should call you 'Cutie-mon' instead!" Pinkie squealed, nuzzling the baby Kangaskhan, making her giggle while her body got sticky from Pinkie's cotton-candy body.

"What's all the noise out here?" Coming out from inside the building was a bigger Pokemon that towered over the group, similar to the Nido couples' height. It looked just like the baby, but it had brown skin instead of light purple, with some raised patches around the shoulders and legs, rounded ears, an extra layer on its belly that looked like a pouch, narrow, red eyes, a pair of fangs, a thick, black plate on its forehead, and a row of spikes down its back. The mother Kangaskhan looked down at the girls cuddling its baby, but instead of showing aggression as the Pokemon may seem, she actually chuckled in amusement as her child was getting a lot of attention from her new customers. "I see we have a way to bring in new faces."

The girls looked up, freezing in terror at what the baby Kangaskhan they were coddling over would grow up to be. The baby squirmed out of the group of female Pokemon and ran to her mother, leaping toward her belly and climbed in the pouch.

"Umm, I think I did it right, mamma," the baby said with uncertainty.

"Close enough, but try not to have too much fun with our guests," the mother said with a chuckle, gently rubbing her child's head before looking back to the startled females, shocked Gible, and the amused Charmander and Riolu. She recognized the two new rescue team leaders. "Oh! If it isn't Scott and Johann."

"Hi, Auntie Kangaskhan," Johann greeted.

"Auntie!?" the Equestrians exclaimed in surprise.

"That's your aunt!?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

Scott burst out laughing at their shock, even Kangaskhan laughed along with him. "Oh dear, no! That's just a nickname a lot of young rescue team Pokemon call me," Kangaskhan explained. "My 'store' is basically a huge storage space for the rescue teams in this area. Those toolboxes won't be able to carry everything you find through Mystery Dungeons, so to keep any important gear or items you don't want to risk getting lost or stolen, you can store them here for safekeeping."

"Uhh, why do they call you 'Auntie Kangaskhan'?" Twilight asked.

"Because she's like a second mom to many young Pokemon," Johann answered for Kangaskhan. "Auntie Kangaskhan's really nice and quite helpful, especially toward us pre-evolved Pokemon."

"Oh, please. You're flattering me," Kangaskhan said with a bashful grin, her baby giggling as Johann's response about her mother was one hundred percent true. "But you two came at the right time. I just finished setting up your team's storage space, so if you have any items you want me to keep for you, I've got you covered."

"I think we're good for now, Auntie Kangaskhan," Scott said. "We only had one mission, and we didn't get the chance to explore a Mystery Dungeon yet."

"Only one? I heard you two and your friends took on a pair of nasty Croagunk the other day," Kangaskhan said.

"Yeah! And you beat them all together like a team!" the baby Kangaskhan cheered, throwing punches with fighting sounds for emphasize while still riding in her mother's pouch.

"Well, not at first," Johann said, giving Scott a cold stare. "Someone took on the job a bit too hastily."

Scott flinched and giggled sheepishly, his eyes shifting everywhere to avoid his friend's gaze. "Y-Yeah...Got a bit too excited is all," he said, but Johann let out a heavy sigh.

Kangaskhan hummed curiously while rubbing her chin, her baby mimicking her motions. "How about I give you your second official job as a rescue team?" she asked, peaking the group's interest as they looked at her. "I sometimes buy some Miltank Milk for my daughter, and I placed an order from the farm for a fresh batch to be delivered. I'm always busy with rescue teams and organizing their storage units to shop often for us. But when I expected my order this morning, it didn't show up."

"Yeah. No yummy milk," the baby whined with a pout.

"Huh. That is odd," Johann mumbled.

"The hay's a 'Miltank'?" Rainbow asked her friends, most of them shrugging before they turned to Twilight to see if she saw anything in her borrowed books on the Pokemon.

"Uhh, I think I glanced at something named that while skimming through the hundreds of Pokemon species," Twilight said. "I believe it's like a cow. Just a bit different."

"Ah'm a might curious to see what a Miltank looks like," Applejack said.

Johann and Scott looked at each other, curious to know what happened at the Miltank farm that's causing their shipments and personal orders to be delayed. "You think there's a roadblock keeping them from making their deliveries?" Scott asked.

"Or maybe they're unable to meet up with demand," Johann said. "Miltank Milk is really good. Especially a nice, cold glass. With some yummy berry cookies." The Charmander drooled as his stomach growled, wanting another sample of berry cookies baked by the elderly Nidoqueen they helped before. Scott rolled his eyes, clapping his paws in front of his friend to snap him out of his hunger daze. Johann snapped back to reality with a shake of his head, ignoring the amused smirk on he Riolu's face as he faced Kangaskhan. "Auntie Kangaskhan, we'll gladly accept your request! In fact, we'll deliver your order to you if the Miltank aren't able to!"

"Oh, that would be wonderful," Kangaskhan said gratefully, her daughter cheering with joy hearing they were gonna get her favorite milk.

"You guys up for a trip?" Scott asked the Equestrians.

"As long as we don't run into anymore trouble," Rarity said. "I want to keep my fur clean today, and I think I still smell from that icky gunk those Croagunk spat out."

"Shouldn't be that hard making a simple delivery," Spike assured the Skitty.

With the whole team in agreement, Kangaskhan gave the two leaders her order slip, along with a note to the Miltank to let them deliver her order for them. The motherly Pokemon and her daughter wished them luck as Team Rescue Rangers began making their way back to the entrance to Pokemon Square to make their leave to the Miltank farm.

"Ok. Our second official job," Scott said. "At least it's not cutting down yard in need of a long-overdue trim."

"Baby steps, Scott," Johann reminded his friend. "Remember: build our reputation with smaller jobs, then work our way up when we're ready for the tougher stuff."

"Yeah, yeah. I'd just like some more excitement on a job every so of-" Just as they were about to reach the entrance gate to the town, Scott and Johann suddenly got tripped up by two sprouts of grass shooting up conveniently in front of them, wrapping around their feet tightly. "-TEN!!!!"

Both Pokemon tripped and fell flat on their stomachs with a grunt, dropping Kangaskhan's letter and the order slip in front of them. The girls and Spike saw the mysterious grass around the Charmander's and Riolu's legs quickly disappear, wondering what happened until they heard a trio of mocking laughter coming around the corner.

"Have a nice trip!?" Loitering by the entrance were a trio of Pokemon, deliberately waiting for Scott and Johann to come around to trip them up.

In the middle with its arms crossed across their chest was a black and white furred, bipedal, badger-like Pokemon. The black stripe along both sides of its long neck had a jagged pattern with white diamonds spaced inside it, reaching up to its eyes and muzzle. White, four-pointed marks were on its shoulders, and the fur around its forearms, lower legs, and chest were very thick where the fur on its chest looked like a vest. On the Pokemon's right was a ghostly-looking Pokemon in the shape of a pumpkin. The lower half of it was brown with a carved face, the "carved" sections glowing an eerie yellow, but its face was actually on the long stem connected to it, a pair of yellow eyes with a mouth, and long pink hair, the sides of its hair shaped as arm-like tendrils, and one of the bangs hid one of its eyes. The last one on the bipedal one's left looked like a long-haired imp with the oddest color scheme for one. Its lower body was green while the upper was pink, prominently large ears, a long nose pointing upward at an odd angle, muscular arms with three sharp nails, three toes, black hair with the bangs covering its right eye while its length at the end looked like the end bladed end of a pole arm.

The trio continued laughing as Scott and Johann got back up, letting out a disgruntled sigh at the three Pokemon they had the misfortune of knowing. "Oh great. Those three," Scott growled.

"You know them?" Rainbow asked.

"Unfortunately," Johann mumbled. He went over to pick up their dropped papers, only for the tall black and white Pokemon to snatch the order slip and Kangaskhan's note out of his reach. "H-Hey! Give those back!"

"Hah! Hey, get a load of this!" the bipedal Pokemon said to his two companions. "The babies are off getting milk for their first real mission!" The other two Pokemon laughed uproariously at the mocking insult, even more so when Johann tried to jump up and take back the two pieces of paper while the bully kept yanking them out of the Charmander's reach. "Come on, you big baby! You gotta jump for it to get your milky-wilky!"

"Back off!" Scott was about to leap up and grab them from the Pokemon, only for the ghostly gourd Pokemon to quickly dig its roots in the ground, making a sprout of grass pop up underneath the Riolu and grasp around one of his feet.

Scott yelped and fell back on his stomach, his face turning red in anger and humiliation as he got tripped up again. "Aww, the poor baby fell down again!" the living ghost pumpkin teased in a babyish tone, which made the colorful imp snicker.

Seeing enough of their new friends getting picked on by the bigger Pokemon, the girls and Spike stepped in to help them against the not-so-friendly Pokemon. Rainbow flapped her wings and zipped toward the punk rock-looking Pokemon teasing Johann, swiftly snatching order slip and Kangaskhan's note in her talons.

"Hey, pick on another Pokemon your own size!" Rainbow called out.

As the Starly flew back around, Spike and Fluttershy helped Scott back on his feet after the grass around his foot sank back into the ground. The trio glanced at the other seven Pokemon helping their victims, the taller Pokemon sneering at them after a few seconds of losing the pieces of paper to the surprisingly fast Starly.

"Oh, don't tell me you've already started gathering team members for your baby squad," the bipedal badger Pokemon grunted.

"Yeah. You just became an official rescue team for like...what, two days?" the imp questioned. "Three?"

"Who cares how long?" the leader questioned.

"These meanies definitely don't seem to be the friendly type," Pinkie said.

"Who are they?" Twilight asked. "They seem to know you two."

"They're a rescue team like us, except they chose to pick on beginners like us so they feel better," Scott grumbled. The shock on the Equestrians' faces wasn't a surprise to him, only nodding his head to confirm that he wasn't joking. "I know. I can't believe it either. The leader's the furry menace, Obstagoon, and his friends and partners, the overgrown squash and rainbow nutcase, are Gourgeist and Morgrem."

Obstagoon smirked, taking the nickname Scott gave him with pride, but Gourgeist and Morgrem didn't appreciate theirs and glared at the Riolu. "Excuse me!? What did you just call me, you little brat!?"

"Oh, this twerp's dead!" Morgrem added.

Obstagoon held his arms in front of his companions, halting them from marching up to pummel Scott. "Easy, guys, easy," he assured his team. "Let the big babies talk. They can't do anything to us. Except cry, that is."

Scott growled in frustration, but he was stopped by Johann as his friend held him back before trying to pick a fight with the stronger Pokemon. "Scott, don't. It's not worth it," Johann said.

"Yeah, listen to the Fire-type failure, runt!" Obstagoon taunted. Johann froze up, his grip loosening on Scott, freeing him as the Riolu ran up to the bipedal Pokemon. Scott used Pound to give Obstagoon a good hit, but the Pokemon smirked, quickly crossing his arms in front of him. "Obstruct!" A dark aura-like barrier appeared in front of Obstagoon, and as Scott's paw made contact, Obstagoon flicked his arms out, smacking Scott back along with the aura. Scott yelped and was sent tumbling across the ground, bowling over Johann while their friends quickly leapt out of the way. "Ha! Nice try, twerp!"

Morgrem and Gourgeist laughed while Obstagoon taunted them by holding up both his paws, stuck out two digits on each paw, and shook his head wildly while letting his long tongue loll out of his mouth, making it flop with each hard shake. The girls and Spike helped the two Pokemon up, Twilight keeping the dazed Riolu on his feet.

"That was not very nice!" Fluttershy scolded.

"Yeah! And not nice Pokemon don't deserve any cupcakes!" Pinkie added, hopping madly in anger.

"L-Let me at 'em," Scott slurred. "I can...take him."

"Ah think you're definitely out of your league with them, sugarcube," Applejack said.

After he was done taunting the two leaders, Obstagoon chuckled as he looked down at his bullying victims' new teammates. "I suggest you bunch get out of their team while you have a chance. They're just gonna let you down."

"So what!?" Rainbow questioned. "They literally started up this team a few days ago! And we're not gonna leave them to some punks who pick on little guys!"

"Ya mess with our leaders, then y'all mess with us!" Applejack added, to which the others all agreed and stared defiantly at the Pokemon trio.

Obstagoon scoffed and shook his head. "Fine. Stick with the wimpy losers. Just know that you're being led by a little runt who thinks he can take on anything that moves." He then glanced at Johann, his lips curling to a smirk as he saw the Charmander shivering with his head held down. "And that Charmander's only lucky to even be in the guild, let alone a rescue team. With his pops being one of Team A.C.T., he thinks he can do anything he wants, but he can't because he's pathetic! I even heard Charizard grumble about how worthless his own son is one day while we were hanging around the guild; how he'll never live up to his family's legacy and send it crashing down with his weak, happy-go-lucky behavior."

The girls and Spike glowered at Obstagoon for the horrible insult, including Scott when he managed to snap out of his daze, though none of them noticed Johann's shivering suddenly stopping. "Hey, they're not weak!" Spike exclaimed. "In fact, they took on wanted Pokemon who were much stronger, and won!"

"Ah, right. They got the Poison Twins arrested," Morgrem remembered, his tone snide and sarcastic.

"Oh yeah. I remember now," Gourgeist agreed. "I also heard that they got their tails handed to them, and their new teammates had to step in and finish the job for them."

"Ha! That proves just how weak you two are!" Obstagoon laughed. "You babies needed your team to do your dirty work!" The bullies laughed even harder, frustrating Scott even further as his and Johann's first wanted Pokemon capture had spread across the whole guild. It was embarrassing enough that Obstagoon and his team knew he and Johann got whupped by the Croagunk twins, and it was a miracle they weren't reprimanded by Alakazam. Not yet, at least. Having enough fun tormenting the two rookie guild members, the disrespectful rescue team exited the village. "See you babies later! Us real rescue Pokemon have some actual jobs to do!"

Once Obstagoon and his pals disappeared down the road, Scott clenched his paws, gritting his teeth in anger. "I hate those guys," he growled.

"I can't believe those three Pokemon are a rescue team as well," Rarity said. "Shouldn't all the rescue teams work together to help others and not pick on each other?"

"Not every Pokemon has the same mindset," Scott said. "Johann and I are willing to help anyone, but other teams might just be in it for the Poké. Like Obstagoon and his team."

"So what's their team name? Team Meanies?" Pinkie asked.

"That's a completely different team, but I heard the Pokemon from that team disbanded some time ago," Scott said. "But you're not far off; they're Team Neo Meanies."

"'Neo Meanies'?" Twilight questioned. "You mean they're a newer version of a former rescue team?"

"Yeah, but they can actually do well unlike the former team," the Riolu said. "Which I hate, because they pick on me and Johann ever since we started training at the guild. As soon as I get stronger, I'm gonna whup those three jerks into next week and show them a thing or two!"

"I don't like them either, but violence isn't going to solve everything," Fluttershy chided.

"I'd like to pummel those jerks," Rainbow muttered.

"Let's just ignore them," Applejack said, patting the agitated Riolu's side with her paw. "How about we focus on gettin' Auntie Kangaskhan's milk delivery and relax back at the base?"

Scott sighed heavily and silently nodded. Rainbow Dash gave him back the note and order slip to hold onto before everyone headed off to the Miltank farm. However, as everyone walked at a normal pace, Fluttershy noticed that Johann was lagging behind, or rather, he barely moved from where he stood after being helped back up.

"Johann? Are you ok?" she asked. The Charmander didn't respond, but his body forced him to trudge forward, his head down with a distant gaze. He didn't acknowledge the Buneary as he passed her, which made her worry if Obstagoon's bullying hit Johann harder than they thought. "...Johann?"

---

Scott led the team down the road toward the Miltank farm, letting the Mane Six and Spike see the landscape, along with some Pokemon passing by or being content living out in the woods rather than a settlement. Johann lagged behind, lost in his daze as he subconsciously walked with the group, which made the trip take longer as they waited for him to catch up. Scott barely noticed his friend's chipper attitude changing to a solemn, eerie silence, still fuming over Team Neo Meanies' bullying.

"So, what's the farm gonna look like when we get there?" Applejack asked, both out of curiosity and to distract Scott and Johann. "Who runs the place?"

"Other Pokemon, obviously," Pinkie stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't think other Pokemon would run a farm if it has Miltank," Fluttershy pondered. "They might be a big family and run the farm themselves, just like Applejack and her family."

"Have you been to this farm, Scott?" Twilight asked.

Scott grumbled bitterly, barely focused on the conversation diverting him from his ire. "Stupid Obstagoon. Stupid jerk," he mumbled, making Twilight sigh in annoyance. "He wouldn't be bragging if he were a Normal-type Zigzagoon, then he'd only have one evolution and leave him only a little bit taller than us."

"You're still upset about Obstagoon?" Twilight grumbled, only to blink and do a double take at what the Riolu said. "Wait, what do you mean? How many evolutions does Obstagoon have?"

"I thought you read through that huge book on all the different Pokemon throughout our world," Scott muttered. Twilight's eye twitched, resisting the urge to yank his tail and scold him for not learning everything from the huge encyclopedia on all the Pokemon that were cataloged from the guild's library. Sensing Twilight's irritation, he turned around and walked backwards with his arms behind his head, giving the Ralts a deadpanned stare. "Obstagoon and his goons are from someplace called Galar, some other land far from this one. Obstagoon's the final evolution of a Zigzagoon from there, and they're Dark-types instead of Normal-types."

"I saw what a Zigzagoon looked like in that book," Twilight said. "It had white and brown zigzag stripes in the illustration."

"But Obstagoon had white, black, and gray fur," Spike pointed out.

"Some Pokemon have different evolutions, and that happens due to the environment they live in or something like that," Scott explained. "I don't really know about how that works, or even care about Obstagoon's fully evolved form. Johann might explain it better than me." He was about to ask the Charmander about how Pokemon have different evolutions compared to normal ones commonly known in another habitat, but he grumbled as he saw his friend still sulking, and so far away from the group as he slowly shambled along. Sighing in frustration, Scott stopped and raised up his paws. "Hang on! Gotta wait for Johann to catch up...again..."

The others turned around to watch the depressed Charmander to catch up. The others noticed how solemn and spaced out Johann was, barely walking straight as his body seemed to drag him along to the sound of the group.

"Is he feeling alright?" Rarity asked, greatly concerned for the psychologically lost Charmander.

"Doesn't look like it," Rainbow noted.

"Come on, Johann! We've got a mission to accomplish!" Scott yelled out.

"Scott, don't rush him! He's clearly not feeling well!" Twilight scolded. "What kind of friend are you!?"

"He started acting like this after Obstagoon talked badly about you two as awful fighters," Fluttershy said. "I don't think he's said anything after that. Or reacted to anything."

"We get picked on by Obstagoon all the time whenever they're around," Scott grumbled. "He won't be messing with us anytime soon when we rise up the ranks and get stronger."

Using Confusion, Twilight yanked the grumpy Riolu's left ear hard, making him yelp and wince as he was dragged toward the Ralts. "Sounds like YOU'RE the only one who can't get over it!" Twilight scolded. "Words can hurt just as badly as getting hit can!"

"OW OW OW OW OW! Let go of my ear!" Scott whined, only to yelp in a much higher pitch when Twilight tugged his ear harder. "AHH! Stop! Please! My ear is very sensitive!"

"Just like feelings?" Twilight questioned.

Getting the hint, Scott glanced at Johann, who was now starting to walk past everyone in his semi-conscious daze. He just now noticed how forlorn and blank his expression was. Even his pupils seemed to shrink as he stared off into space, barely acknowledging him or Twilight as he bumped into the Ralts, making her lose her concentration and let go of Scott's ear. Rubbing his sore ear, Scott quickly got in his friend's path, grabbing his shoulders to get him to stop walking.

"Hey, Johann? You ok, buddy?" he asked, beginning to worry when he was given nothing but dead silence. This was the first time he saw his friend seem so...dejected. Johann always had a big grin on his face, only to scowl when Scott did or said something stupid, rude, or reckless. Even after getting picked on by Team Neo Meanies, he would be just as annoyed as Scott or slightly hurt, but it didn't last this long. "Yo. Johann? Earth to the fire lizard? You in there?"

Johann kept his head down, barely lifting it up to look at his friend. Scott looked back at the girls and Spike, wondering what made his happy-go-lucky companion suddenly turn into a moody moper. Before he could suggest going back to Pokemon Square to help his friend, his ears perked up when he and the others heard cries coming up down the road.

"No! Not again!"

"Quick, stop him!"

"He's eating everything!"

"What was that?" Fluttershy asked, both her ears springing up as her far more sensitive hearing heard the voices farther ahead.

"Sounds like some Pokemon are in trouble," Scott said. He glanced back at his friend, then the girls, taking responsibility in leading the team with his partner lost in his depressed haze. "You guys ready to face whatever's attacking?"

"We are a rescue team, so of course we're ready!" Rainbow said, the rest of her friends voicing their agreements, ready to face their next Pokemon foe.

Hoping he doesn't make the same mistake with the Poison Twins, Scott nodded, grabbing Johann's hand and dragged him along while the others followed behind him. They soon came up to a vast grove of various berries protected behind a white picket fence, spanning several acres down the side of the road. The rescue team reached the Miltank farm as they saw a huge red barn farther behind the berry trees, only to skid to a halt in shock when they saw the commotion that they heard.

Out in the middle of the grove, they found several bovine Pokemon attacking another that was much taller and heavier, which was eating every single berry in their branches while practically ripping the branches down to get at the fruit. The bovines were the Miltank: pink fur with a yellow belly, four pink teats on their udders which were as yellow as their bellies, black angular markings on their backs, a black hood-like marking around their head and upper shoulders with a pink triangular mark on their foreheads, floppy ears, black cloven hooves, and tails with a black sphere at the tip. The Pokemon the Miltank were trying to fend off made Scott grimace, his faith in asking for less of a challenge unanswered today: it stood taller than the Miltank by around two and a half times their height, had blue-green skin with a cream-colored face, huge, overweight belly, and feet, where its limbs pale in comparison to its massive body, small pointed ears, and two pointed teeth protruding from its lower jaw.

"Oh no," Scott groaned, letting go of Johann's hand as he fell on his knees in exasperation. "Today is not a good day for us."

They watched the Miltank fighting the large Pokemon, many of them curling up into a ball and rolling swiftly toward it. Despite their conjoined Rollout attacks, the intruder's large, blubbery body was barely fazed and made the Miltank bounce off like it was made of rubber. Frustrated as its mealtime was constantly being interrupted, the Pokemon yelled angrily and smacked away the returning bovine balls coming back for another pass. Its small, but powerful arms punched the Miltank away, sending them crashing to the ground with pained grunts before continuing aggressively munching down the berries, branches and all.

"Whoa, nelly," Applejack uttered.

"What in Equestria is that Pokemon?" Spike asked nervously.

"No, Spike, you need to ask, 'Who's that Pokemon!?'" Pinkie Pie corrected. "And then a fun jingle rings and we cut to commercial!"

"It's a Snorlax," Scott answered, ignoring Pinkie's exasperated groan, then mumbled something about ruining the fun of guessing. "And if you couldn't tell from how the Miltank are failing, they're...kinda tough."

Some of the Miltank continued using Rollout to try to at least shove back the resilient Snorlax, but it barely budged and got more angry. "Let! Me! EAT!!!!" the Snorlax roared, then threw a hard punch at the incoming Miltank.

One got hit pretty hard, sent flying back far from the battle in the middle of the grove and headed straight toward the rescue team. The smaller Pokemon yelled and panicked as they ran out of the Miltank's trajectory, Scott needing to go back to grab Johann since he was still out of it, pulling him out of the way as the Miltank let out a yell and grunted as it smacked against a tree outside the farm's property. Leaning upside down from the crash landing, the Miltank groaned as it rolled back on its feet, the others racing over to check on the dazed Pokemon while it rubbed its head.

"Miss Miltank!" Scott called out. "You ok!?"

"Ugh. That consarned Snorlax is gonna ruin us," the Miltank grumbled. She noticed the worried Pokemon surrounding her. "Y'all shouldn't linger round these parts for long. We've got a little problem goin' on."

"Yeah, we kinda noticed," Rainbow stated.

"Why's that Snorlax chomping on your berry trees?" Twilight asked.

"Eatin' away our profits is what," the Miltank sighed. "We don't exactly sell berries, but us Miltank need them in order to produce the sweetest, tastiest milk in the area to sell. And that Snorlax has been attackin' us, bargin' into our farm, and eatin' darn near everythin' that's edible for the last few days! He even found where we stored our milk to disperse throughout the land, and drank several huge supplies of it in one sittin'!"

"I guess that explains why Auntie Kangaskhan's milk delivery was falling behind this week," Scott pondered.

"Well, we're a rescue team!" Pinkie said. "Let's do some rescuing!"

"Rescue team?" Miltank questioned. Glancing at Scott, she noticed the rescue team badge pinned to his scarf. "Oh dear, no. You're just rookies. If mah friends and sisters can't fight that Snorlax off, how can y'all stand a chance?"

"No problem!" Rainbow assured. "We took on two Croagunk! What's that Snorlax gonna do? Sit on us?" The Miltank gave Rainbow Dash a deadpanned stare, doubting this group of young Pokemon and the Starly's lack of knowledge on how powerful a Snorlax is. "We'll beat him faster than you can say, 'Milk and cookies!'"

"Ooh! Milk and cookies!? Where!?" Pinkie asked, looking around excitedly for the treats Rainbow mentioned.

Miltank sighed, then glanced down at Scott. "Aren't ya the leader, hon? Can't ya reign in that hotheaded Starly friend of yours?"

"Uhh, I'm one of the leaders. The other's Johann." He looked to his friend, who was still locked in his moody haze. "...And he's...out of commission..." Scott let out a nervous grumble, stuck between two options: run back to the guild to ask a stronger rescue team for assistance, or blindly follow his gut instincts and do what he and Johann had promised as a rescue team by helping Pokemon in need, no matter the mission. The latter was a completely stupid idea, but with how small they were, they were able to move much faster than the Snorlax could walk. If Johann was awake, he'd have a better solution, which probably would be to recruit a stronger team from their guild. Unfortunately, one team that came to mind was Neo Meanies, and if they were the closest team to find, he was not going to be subjugated to their heckling and give them proof that they can't handle this job. His pride clouding his judgement, Scott looked at the Snorlax, who wiped out the other Miltank and continued aggressively munching on the berry trees. Pounding his paws together, he growled and made his decision. "Alright. We're running this Snorlax out!"

Rainbow and Pinkie were the only ones who cheered while the others sans Johann gaped in shock. "Now, hold on there, sugarcube!" Applejack quickly got in front of the determined Fighting-type before he rushed off to handle the Snorlax for the Miltank. "Remember what happened last time ya got too cocky when ya decided to fight them Croagunk? Ya underestimated them and almost got yourself and Johann badly hurt. That large critter's definitely somethin' ya don't wanna mess with."

"I agree with Applejack, Scott," Twilight said. "If that Snorlax is able to bounce off attacks like nothing, there's no way we can land a scratch on it."

"Then we'll just exhaust it and knock his lights out!" Scott exclaimed. He jumped over Applejack and charged into the grove. "Let's get him!"

Rainbow cheered while Pinkie giggled in excitement, the two following after him to take on the Snorlax. The others stared at the Riolu, flabbergasted and disappointed that he didn't learn his lesson the first time.

"I think this was a bad idea joining if we're going to face certain doom in the future," Rarity grumbled.

"Let's go help him before he gets crushed by that Pokemon," Applejack grumbled, straightening her hat before charging into the grove after Scott, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash.

Miltank shook her head with a sigh, questioning the Riolu's bravado despite his heart being in the right place. Twilight, Spike, and Rarity hurried on ahead while Fluttershy stayed behind, mostly to make sure nothing happened to Johann while he was out of sorts. While figuring out what to do to snap the Charmander out of his funk, she noticed it was getting a bit sweltering around him, and his trembling seemed to be more visible.

The Snorlax had his back turned to the first wave of smaller Pokemon, finally left alone as he ate the Miltanks' crops to his heart's content. Scott picked up a nearby rock and gave it a hard toss at the Snorlax, hitting the back of his head.

"Hey, Snorlax!" Scott called out. Snorlax grunted angrily, turning around with some branches sticking out of his mouth. "You better get off this property before we have to drag you out by force!" Growling, Snorlax munched the last of its mouthful with a loud gulp, turning around to stare down the smaller trio interrupting its mealtime. "Alright. The hard way it's gonna be! Metal Claw!" Bringing his paws up, Scott's metal stubs elongated into claws before he charged forward with a yell, thrusting both paws at Snorlax's belly. Sadly, like the Miltanks' failed attempt to physically attack Snorlax, the Riolu's paws dug into the heavy Pokemon's flab, then bounce his attack back, nearly knocking him over. Scott blinked, staring at his paws, then up at Snorlax, who sneered and growled grumpily. "...Heheheheh. Uhh...You need a belly scratcher? I'm your Pokemon."

Scott giggled sheepishly as he used his Metal Claw to try convincing the Snorlax by using the sharp claws to scratch a small portion of the Pokemon's rotund belly. Snorlax let out an aggressive yell, making the Riolu pause in his scratching.

"Body Slam!" the Snorlax shouted, then began falling forward.

"...AHHHHHH!" Scott scrambled to get away, but reacted too late as Snorlax's heavy body flopped on top of him with a loud thud. Pinkie and Rainbow grimaced as they watched Scott get flattened. Snorlax finally got back up, then continued on to eat more of the Miltanks' berry grove, leaving behind a dazed and crushed Riolu left in an imprint of himself in the earth. "Ok...Maybe later?"

Pinkie and Rainbow approached him and looked down, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and Applejack joining them as they witnessed the aftermath of Scott's "retaliation". "Yo, Scott...Ya alright?" Spike asked.

"I doubt that after he got squished by something that weighs more than a ton," Rarity muttered.

Sighing, Twilight helped Scott sit up, though he was still in a daze with his eyes spiraling while letting out a disoriented groan. "You're so stubborn," the Ralts grumbled. "You know you deserve that, right?"

Scott quickly shook his head, shakily climbing out of the small crater of his body. "Yeah, yeah. And Johann would tell me the same thing," he grumbled. "If we can exhaust that Snorlax, we can beat it."

"Then why not just make our way back to Pokemon Square and find a tougher Pokemon to help us instead of having us handle it!?" Twilight exclaimed.

Scott grimaced, letting out a frustrated grunt. "...I...I was considering that before," he admitted, making Twilight facepalm while the others questioned his last minute decision. "Ok, I'm not great at making choices! I get it! I just...didn't want us to run into Obstagoon and his team again if we're asking for help."

"You were afraid of getting bullied more? THAT'S why you decided to take that brute on like a lunatic instead of seeking help like a sane pony!?" Rarity asked, pointing at the Snorlax. It was then the others noticed that their questioning Scott led Snorlax to eat up several more trees, making the others wince. "Oh dear."

"Well, we ain't got much of a choice right now," Applejack said. "We just gotta try to lure the huge varmint away from the farm before it destroys anymore of them berry trees."

"Maybe if we attack it together, we have a chance of hurting it," Spike suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Rainbow said.

Twilight stayed back, being the least physically adept as a Ralts, Scott, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike lining up in a row. "This isn't going to end well," Twilight uttered.

"Ready, guys!?" Scott exclaimed, getting vocal agreements from the rest of his charging troupe. "Let's get him!"

The group charged together with a battle cry, ramming themselves as hard as they could into Snorlax's back. They managed to nudge Snorlax forward, but not by much as they bounced off his fat and crashed to the ground. That got his attention, and Snorlax was really mad that he's constantly interrupted while he was in the middle eating.

"Just let me eat in PEACE!!!!" Snorlax shouted, turning around and made a small jump, falling belly first onto the stunned group.

The smaller Pokemon looked up and winced, waiting to get smashed into the earth, but Twilight quickly used Confusion, stopping Snorlax from squishing them as she kept him over the ground by a few inches. "Urgh! G-Guys, get...out of the way!" Twilight called out with a grunt. "So...heavy...!"

The others scrambled out from underneath the telekinetically held Snorlax just as Twilight lost her grip, letting it slam to the ground and shake the ground around them. Twilight panted heavily, already working up a sweat from using Confusion and hefting a Pokemon that weighed so much more than she does. She took note that her psychic powers seemed to have a limit to how much weight her mind can carry, which gave her more incentive to practice these new powers to grow stronger and possibly use it to find a way to bring her and her friends back home.

Snorlax got back up, glaring intensely at the rescue team with its squinted eyes. "Ok, we've got its full attention now," Scott said. "Just try not to get crushed."

"Like you?" Spike asked, making the Riolu glower at the Gible.

"Focus, guys," Applejack warned. Snorlax began stomping toward the group, prompting everyone to prepare to run away if it used Body Slam again. "Ok. Let's try givin' this big boy a shock! Nuzzle!" Applejack ran toward Snorlax, electricity surging through her cheeks to perform her attack. She leapt up and rammed her cheek into Snorlax's stomach and unleashed the built up electricity. Even though the shock connected, Snorlax didn't even flinch, making Applejack panic while avoiding the Pokemon's fist slamming down on her. "Whoa! What's Snorlax made of, rubber!?"

"Electric attacks don't work on it?" Rainbow asked.

"It's a Normal-type, so only Fighting-type moves will deal some serious damage to it," Scott said.

"So use a Fighting-type move, then!" Twilight exclaimed.

"It won't matter if any physical contact with Snorlax bounces off of him!" Scott yelled back. Snorlax roared and charged at them, causing the team to scramble away from the rampaging Pokemon. Scott leapt away, landing beside Twilight while the others handled distracting Snorlax and lead it away from the farm. "Try using Confusion on it again. Snorlax has incredibly high defense with its huge body. Or did you not read that thoroughly in that book you borrowed?"

"You think I can lift that thing with my mind!?" Twilight shrieked. "It took so much of my mental focus to keep it hovering in the air to keep it from crushing you all!" She pouted and glowered at the Riolu. "Though I'd rather have it just crush you again so it can flatten out your insecure ego."

"What did you just say?" Scott growled and glared at the Ralts.

"Well, this is the second time you decided for all of us to be in a dangerous situation!" Twilight argued. "And since Johann's not going to knock some sense into you, I'm gonna! Your actions are going to get us all hurt! And you get in way over your head without properly planning how you'll handle facing Pokemon tougher than you!"

"Hey, I knew it was dangerous, and I even said I was considering finding help elsewhere! But after being constantly teased by Obstagoon..." Scott grunted, looking away with a morose grimace. "...I think what they said finally caught up with me. And I wanted to show them that Johann and I weren't a bunch of babies...Not much of a great leader if being called a bunch of names gets to me."

Twilight's frustration ebbed as she heard Scott's admittance. She didn't know what it was like to get picked on by someone else, but from what she saw with Obstagoon picking on him and Johann, it's not a good feeling being insulted or knocked down by someone who thinks they're better than their victim. Johann had taken it the worst with his silence, but she didn't think Scott would be that bothered aside from getting angry at Obstagoon and vowing to get back at him and his team. It was no wonder he started feeling adamant about his other choice; he didn't want Obstagoon to add more fuel and torment him and Johann even further.

The sounds of fighting snapped Twilight and Scott out of their thoughts, both of them looking out to see their friends dealing with the Snorlax. Rainbow Dash was flying around Snorlax's head, who was blindly trying to swat her while Pinkie bounced on his head while smacking his face with her tail. Rarity, Applejack, and Spike were trying to ram into Snorlax, trying to force it out of the grove and the farm's property. Pinkie made the mistake of smearing her fluffy, strawberry-scented fur around Snorlax's nostrils, making her next landing right in his open mouth. She shrieked and flailed about, making Snorlax's cheeks stretch out before popping out of his mouth, drenched in saliva as she sped away from the hungry Pokemon.

"I may be delicious, but I'm not food!!!!!!!" Pinkie screamed.

"Don't run away, dessert!" Snorlax called out, chasing after Pinkie, where she thankfully ran out of the berry grove and out onto the street.

"I SAID I WASN'T FOOD!!!" Pinkie shrieked, yelling in terror as she hopped over the fence, but Snorlax ran through it, smashing the section to splinters, which made the Miltank standing beside Fluttershy and Johann grimace.

"Oh landsakes. Now we need to rebuild THAT section of fence, too?" Miltank asked in disdain. "Can this week get any worse!?"

Pinkie ran toward them, quickly hiding behind Miltank. "Quick, pretend you never saw me!" she begged.

Scott, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Spike, and Rarity quickly made their way to the road, hurrying after the Snorlax as he stomped menacingly toward Miltank, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Johann. "Stay back, ya berry munchin' menace!" Miltank warned.

"Oh no. None of us can stop it," Fluttershy uttered nervously. She backed away, accidentally bumping her shoulder against Johann's. She was about to warn him and try to get him to safety, but the intense heat from him began to grow hotter, and Johann's trembling got a bit more violent, and he let out a low growl. She never heard him make a sound that menacing, startling her as she backed away. "J-Johann?"

She yelped and glanced down when she heard something flaring up, the flaming tip of Johann's tail roared to life and seemed to flicker wildly. The more he growled, the wilder the flame seemed to flare, including the overbearing heat. Slowly, Johann lifted his head up, and any sense of adorableness Fluttershy saw in the Charmander was out the window when she saw his eyes: his huge eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks as they glowed a fiery red, turning him from a cute fire lizard into a terrifying, demonic fire dragon lacking wings. His eyes locked onto Snorlax, who was trying to grab Pinkie Pie from behind Miltank.

Something in him snapped, and raising his arms high along with his head, Johann let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream, the fire on his tail suddenly erupting and flaring several times bigger than his body as it shot up over the treeline. His scream distracted Snorlax and caught everyone else's attention, including the other Miltank in the grove who got knocked out by the hungry Snorlax. No one knew what was going on with Johann, not even Scott, and he knew the Charmander for a good while.

"Ok, what's happening to him?" Twilight asked nervously.

"I don't know, but...I think he's awake?" Scott said. Johann finally stopped screaming, then glared at Snorlax as he took in a deep breath. Fire began to spew from his maw, and with another roar-like scream, he unleashed a powerful Flamethrower, fueled by this sudden anger as his tail erupted once again. Miltank quickly grabbed Pinkie and rolled them out of the way of the stream of fire as it struck Snorlax, making him cry out in pain as he was finally taking an attack that hurt him. Everyone gaped in shock as the flames engulfed Snorlax, Scott's jaw hitting the ground from witnessing the stronger Fire-type attack. "H-How...!? That's Flamethrower! When did he learn that!?"

Once the flames dispersed, Snorlax was still standing, though slightly stunned and covered in scorch marks from the attack. Johann wasn't done as he ran toward Snorlax, moving faster than Scott knew he could move before, then ran around the Pokemon while Scratching his wide body. Snapping out of his daze, Snorlax roared himself and used Stomp to crush Johann, but his feet missed as Johann slipped out of his reach while his claws bounced off his body. Running to a nearby tree, Johann leapt up and bounded off the trunk in a wall kick, gaining more height as he reached Snorlax's head, Scratching at his face while making the Pokemon cry out as his arms tried to swat the enraged Charmander off of him.

"Whoa, look at him go!" Rainbow said. "Go, Johann! Scratch that Snorlax up!"

"Rainbow, I don't think we should be cheering him on," Twilight said. She then looked to Scott, though the shock and nervousness on his face told her he was just as clueless as she was. "Have you...ever seen him like this?"

"No...Not even when we first met," Scott said. Gulping, he closed his eyes and activated his aura to sense what his friend was feeling. When he got a good look, Scott gasped and opened his eyes, shocked in disbelief. "O-Oh sweet Arceus..."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"...I've never felt...so much rage from him," the terrified Riolu uttered. Through his eyes, Scott watched the aura of his friend, ignoring the others from Snorlax or his friends and the aura of the trees near the road. Like the roaring flame on the tip of Johann's tail, so too was the Charmander's aura, writhing and flaring out of control within him. But in the center of that wildfire of blue energy, Scott grew shocked and greatly concerned by a small flicker of a darker, yet paler aura, that small piece of Johann looking as if it would be engulfed by his fury and snuffed out. "...No way...Is that...?"

Snorlax finally managed to grab Johann, pulling him off his face, then flung the Charmander toward Scott and Twilight. Scott quickly snapped out of his aura sense, both Pokemon diving away as Johann tumbled toward them. The furious Charmander rolled back onto his feet, barely fazed as he let out a growling hiss. That sound unnerved the Riolu, like his friend had turned feral, or he was possessed by an evil Ghost Pokemon with those enraged and furious eyes of his.

Before he could reach out to him, Johann let out another screech, then charged after Snorlax again, flames spewing from his mouth as he was preparing another Flamethrower attack. Snorlax roared and tried to slam his fist down on the Charmander again with a powerful Mega Punch, but Johann leapt to its side, bounced back into another tree, and jumped off it to headbutt Snorlax, surprisingly making the larger Pokemon stumble back. With one more draconic roar, Johann unleashed a Flamethrower more powerful than the last, burning Snorlax point blank as he scorched the ground behind the Pokemon as well. The powerful flames sent Johann flying back, landing back toward Scott and Twilight, panting heavily while glaring menacingly at the stunned Snorlax.

Seconds turned to hours until the Snorlax finally moved, letting out a weak groan before falling over on its back, heavily crashing and knocked out with spirals in his eyes. "...Mah stars. The little Charmander beat him," Miltank uttered in awe.

"Hooray! Go, Johann!" Pinkie cheered, then bounced over to the wheezing Fire-type, letting out an enamored sigh as light shimmered around her as she slowly approached Johann, ready to show her appreciation for her rescue with a kiss. "My hero."

Unfortunately, the moment for Pinkie was ruined when Johann let out another shrill roar, looking into the heavens and unleashing another Flamethrower in some sort of angered triumph. Pinkie yelped and quickly hid behind Scott as everyone watched Johann let out one final cry before the stream of flames finally ended, followed by the Charmander slowly collapsing on his stomach, completely passed out. Luckily, as his rage died out, so did his inferno of a flame tip, now back to burning like a gentle fire.

Once the shock of seeing the gentle, cheery Charmander turn into a rampaging Tauros passed, Scott quickly ran up to his friend. "Johann!" he called out, gently rolling Johann on his back. The rest of their new friends cautiously approached the Charmander while Scott tried waking him up. After gently shaking his shoulder, Johann stirred and opened his eyes, which were back to their normal state as he blinked in confusion. "Hey. You, uh...You alright, buddy?"

"Uhh...Yeah," Johann said. Scott helped him sit up, still worried about his little episode. Thankfully, Johann was completely back to normal. Johann looked around him, looking past his friends and failing to recognize where he was. "...Where are we? This isn't Pokemon Square."

Everyone looked at each other, then back at Johann. "You don't know where we are?" Twilight asked.

"We're at the Miltank farm to pick up Kangaskhan's order," Applejack reminded the Charmander.

"Huh?" Johann sat up, gently pulling Scott's paw off of him while he made sure his friend didn't keel over. He looked down the road, tilting his head curiously as he spotted the farm, along with the Miltank, some eyeing the rescue team while talking about them. "Wow. That was fast." He then spotted the Snorlax he defeated, just laying on the road. "...Was there a Snorlax blocking the road or something?"

"More like it was eating the Miltanks' berries and ruining their trees," Scott corrected, startling Johann until he saw the damage to the berry grove, along with the broken fences and some of the injuries on the Miltank.

"Yikes." Johann glanced at the Snorlax, noticing it had some injuries, too, which meant it didn't decide to take a nap after munching on a huge percentage of the grove. "Who could have managed to stop a-?" He paused, then turned and gave Scott a blank stare. "Scott, please don't tell me you didn't try to force us to fight a Snorlax and help the Miltank?"

Scott grimaced, but hung his head. "...Yeah. I did," he admitted, but quickly lifted his head up. "But you're the one who managed to beat it by yourself!" Johann's eyes widened, startled by the news, which only concerned the others. "Don't you even remember what happened? What you did?"

"N-No. All I remember is leaving to get here before we got stopped by..." Johann went silent, looking upset and staring at the ground. "...By Obstagoon..."

"Do you have amnesia?" Rarity asked.

"I...I don't know," Johann uttered. "I don't have any memory problems..."

There were so many questions to ask, both from Johann and from the others, but they were interrupted when everyone heard a groan. Looking in the direction of the sound, Snorlax's foot twitched, then the huge Pokemon began to move again.

"Oh no! It's awake!" Pinkie shrieked, then quickly cowered behind Johann. "Quick! Blast fire at it! Burn it!"

"Ah guess it wants a second round," Applejack growled.

Everyone, including the Miltank, prepared to fight the awakened Snorlax, The Pokemon rolled over onto his stomach and climbed to his feet. As he turned around, he looked around in confusion at his surroundings, not the Pokemon ready to defend themselves and the farm.

"...How'd I get here?" Snorlax asked, no longer aggressive and genuinely lost. "This isn't my home."

"Huh? So...Snorlax has amnesia, too?" Spike questioned. "What's going on here?"

"I just hope he doesn't catch a whiff of my sweet, delicious strawberry body," Pinkie hoped.

Snorlax looked down at the angry Miltank. "Does anyone know where I am?"

"You're near our farm, ya big lunk!" the Miltank the rescue team spoke to said. "And ya caused us quite a bit of grief the last few days: ya broke through our fences, tore down our storage fridge where we stored our milk to drink the several thousand bottles to sell in the towns, and ya ate and darn near ripped apart our whole berry grove with that bottomless stomach your kind has!"

Instead of being insulted by the assumptions, Snorlax gaped in shock, looking quite guilty as he observed the damage he couldn't recall, but knew this kind of wild hunger carnage would be something he would do. "Oh. Oh dear, I'm so sorry. W-Was I sleep eating again?" he asked nervously.

"He was sleeping that whole time?" Rainbow questioned skeptically. "Hard to tell with his squinty eyes."

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight chided.

"What? He's got the same eyes Rarity has," Rainbow pointed out. "How do we even know which way they're looking?"

"Well, you'll know that, right now, I'm giving the most disappointed glare at YOU, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said as she leered at the Starly.

"...Yeah, I don't see it." Rarity just growled, then looked away with an annoyed huff.

"Ya cost us quite a lot of Poké with all the damage you've done!" the Miltank continued scolding as the rest of her friends voiced their agreements.

"I-I'll pay you back! I'll work to repay for what I did wrong!" Snorlax begged. "I love drinking a big, tall glass of Miltank milk with my meals! Please don't ban me from buying any!"

"Then Ah suggest ya start gettin' to work on the broken fences ya barged through on your munchin' frenzy." Snorlax quickly nodded, led by some of the Miltank as they showed him the building tools and the spots he's busted through. The leader of the Miltank watched Snorlax before turning to the rescue team with a grateful smile. "You young'uns are a lot more than Ah thought y'all were. Especially your Charmander friend."

"Umm...I actually don't know...what I did," Johann said.

"Oh, don't be so modest! You're quite strong for a little Pokemon," Miltank said. "Ah should reward y'all for takin' quite a tough job."

"Oh, w-we don't need-" Johann tried to object, but the Charmander was cut off as one of the other Miltank came up to him and gave him a bag filled with Poké.

"Ah think one thousand Poké should be enough for a rookie team takin' down somethin' as tough as a Snorlax," Miltank offered, stunning the rescue team.

While Johann looked inside the bag, slowly counting the Poké he didn't feel he deserved, Scott grinned nervously and addressed the Miltank. "Uhh...Thanks. Just...came at the right place at the wrong time," he chuckled sheepishly. "We actually traveled this way to pick up an order that was running later than scheduled."

Scott showed Miltank Kangaskhan's order slip and her written note allowing them to pick up her order for her if there were complications. "Ah. Auntie Kangaskhan. Quite a regular with her kid lovin' every drop of our milk," Miltank said. "Even brought the young'un over to sample a fresh batch straight from the source." Miltank rubbed a hoof over her udder with a grin. "A healthy, delicious source, and can help ya feelin' fresh in the middle of a battle."

"Umm...Are we even allowed to?" Twilight asked. They soon heard a slurping sound, everyone turning to see Pinkie in front of one of the other Miltank with her face buried in her udder, taking a sample of Miltank milk for herself. "Ahh! Pinkie!"

Pinkie popped her lips off of one of the teats, licking her lips with a delighted hum. "It really IS delicious! Better than the milk we have back home!"

"Pinkie Pie, don't be so rude!" Rarity chided.

"Oh, we don't mind," the Miltank Pinkie sampled from assured. "We sometimes get baby Pokemon to nurse on us if their mothers aren't able to produce their own milk, or if they want to feed on our milk regardless."

"You guys gotta taste this fresh milk!" Pinkie said. "I bet they'd make some good ingredients for some delicious cupcakes!"

"I think we'll take your word for it," Spike giggled nervously. "We've...kinda got a job to finish."

"Eh. You guys are missing out~!" Pinkie sang.

---

The group left the farm with Kangaskhan's milk order after they got a little tour of the Miltanks' farm. With two cases of six bottles of ice cold Miltank milk, Scott carried both cases with ease while Pinkie bounced along with the bag of Poké they earned, Johann handing them to her as he felt he wasn't the one who deserved to be rewarded the money. The way back was filled with silence with unanswered questions from earlier. Seeing how they didn't want the milk to get to warm and get spoiled, they saved all the questions for later when they got back to the base and tell Johann what he missed while he was blanked out.

"Yay! Miltank milk! Miltank milk!" the baby Kangaskhan cheered in her mother's pouch as the cases were set down on the counter.

"I hope the walk there and back didn't get too exciting," Kangaskhan said.

"We kinda ran into a little problem, but...we took care of it," Scott said, clearing his throat nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'd say you completed my request with flying colors. Now for your reward." Kangaskhan took the cases of Miltank milk, bringing them deeper into her workplace to store them before coming back with her arms full. "Here you go."

Kangaskhan placed their reward down, making the rescue team's eyes widen in awe at the items. In front of them were what looked like five big jelly beans, only they had rainbow stripes. "Oooh! Jelly beans! Best reward so far!"

"Those aren't jelly beans, whatever those are," Johann said.

"Are those...Gummies!?" Scott asked in shock.

"They are," Kangaskhan said with a nod. "Gummies usually come in a variety of colors, matching a Pokemon's type and become the sweetest if eaten by the right Pokemon, but these are a lot different than the ones I used to run across, or store away for other teams. I call them Rainbow Gummies because of all the colorful stripes."

"And they're really yummy!" the baby chimed in.

"Wow. Too bad there's only five of them," Scott noted. He looked back at the Equestrians, then back at Kangaskhan. "Auntie Kangaskhan, you think you can hold onto these for us? I think all of us want to try them when we have enough for us to have at least one."

"Not a problem!" Kangaskhan said, taking back the Gummies, then placed down something else. "I also want to give you this. Not sure what it is, but it's just as mysterious as the TMs in the dungeons or in the Kecleon Bros. shop."

Everyone gathered around the counter to see this strange device. It was definitely something that seemed much more advance than the two rescue team leaders or the Equestrians ever saw before. It was a very thin metallic-looking book in a red color with a blue light on the upper left corner. Curious, Scott took the strange book in his paws, flipping it around to see if there was anything on the back or sides.

"What is this thing?" he asked.

His paw nudged a small bump on the side, making it open up to reveal some buttons and a small screen. Upon opening it, the screen lit up, and as he had it aimed at Johann, an image of a Charmander appeared, along with a dinging sound that startled everyone and the blue light blinking on and off.

"Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. A Fire-type," a voice coming from the device said, making Scott drop it in surprise. It continued talking even after it hit the ground. "Charmander's health can be gauged by the fire on the tip of its tail, which burns intensely when it's in good health."

"Wah! It's alive!" Scott exclaimed.

"Oh my. I didn't think it had something inside it," Kangaskhan said.

As Scott backed away from the talking device, Twilight approached it and picked it up. "That's strange. I recall one of the books of different Pokemon say something similar about Charmander and their tail's fire," she said as she glanced at Johann.

"Well, it's not wrong," Johann said, then waggled his tail a little to show his fire tip to everyone. "The stronger the flame, the healthier I am. And...umm...if it ever gets doused out...I could die," he explained with a nervous laugh.

The news startled the Equestrians, even making Fluttershy teary-eyed. "Y-You could die if your fire goes out!?" she exclaimed, then looked up at the partly cloudy afternoon sky. "Oh, I hope it doesn't rain! O-Or we get pushed in a pond or lake! That's awful for Charmanders!"

"That explains why water is a Fire-type's weakness, though," Twilight said. Looking down at the device, she hummed curiously, wanting to test something.

She aimed it at Kangaskhan, making it beep again with the same small flashing light blinking, only this time, it showed an image of a Kangaskhan instead of a Charmander. "Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokemon. A Normal-type. Kangaskhan carries a little one in the pouch on its belly and will protect it at all costs."

Kangaskhan looked down at her child after hearing the device describing her species' nature, her child looking back up at her with a big smile. "It's true!" the baby Kangaskhan said.

"Wow. So this must be some sort of device that has information on Pokemon like in those books," Twilight pondered with intrigue. "Smaller, much more portable, and it can scan Pokemon when it's pointed toward them." She closed the device, letting out a disappointed sigh. "That means I can't really keep the books I borrow from the guild, but this will be very helpful if we run into new Pokemon we meet."

"Yeah. You handle the weird talking metal thing," Scott uttered. "Auntie Kangaskhan, where did you find that?"

"I found it one day when I went for a stroll," Kangaskhan said. "I thought it was a rare trinket, but I really didn't have much use for it since I didn't know what it did. Until now, that is."

"I wonder what we should call it," Twilight uttered.

"Ooh! Ooh ooh ooh! How about we call it a 'Pokedex'!?" Pinkie suggested. Everyone stared at her, unable to follow her logic in naming the device that. "It's a huge index in a tiny thingie about any Pokemon we point it at! 'Poke'-mon and in-'dex'! Eh?"

"...I...guess that does make sense," Spike said. "I can't come up with anything."

"Pokedex it is, then," Twilight said. She tried searching for any other Pokemon, but it only had the Pokemon that it had just recently scanned: Charmander and Kangaskhan. "Huh. That's weird. There's only two. It must have been empty."

"Which means, if we want to gather more info on other Pokemon, we have to scan them with that thing to store it?" Johann asked.

"Ugh. That'll take forever," Rainbow whined.

"It might not with Pokemon Square getting many different species traveling around," Johann said. "Most of them would be rescue teams from across the world."

"Let's just hope the other Pokemon won't mind us waving around that device at them," Rarity pointed out. "Scott doesn't want anything to do with it after it talked."

Scott puffed out his cheeks as everyone sans Johann laughed at him. "I-I'm not scared of that thing if that's what you're all thinking!" he exclaimed.

Twilight smirked, opening the Pokedex back up and pointing it at the Riolu. "Riolu, the Emanation Pokemon. A Fighting-type. Riolu has the power to see and understand emotions like happiness and anger in aura waves."

Scott flinched when it spoke and explained what he was as a Pokemon, sneering at the Ralts as she gave him a cheeky grin. "What's the matter? Is the big, strong puppy afraid of a little, talking metal book?"

"...Shut up," Scott grumbled with a pout, getting another laugh from his friends.

His irritation quickly faded when he looked at Johann. The Charmander had a distant look, his mind still wondering what happened to him between Obstagoon's bullying and waking up at the Miltank farm. Scott could only hope his friend would take it well, and maybe understand how badly Team Neo Meanies' insults toward them affected him so badly.

---

Later that evening, Johann sat out by the lake. He needed some time alone after his friends relayed the events that happened at the farm, along with how he behaved. Johann couldn't believe how badly he ended up repressing himself that strongly to avoid feeling the emotional pain from only a few hurtful words. He knew Scott would have tried to fight the Snorlax despite their odds, but he believed his friend and co-leader when he really did consider getting help from a stronger Pokemon or rescue team, only to make the poor decision of fighting Snorlax because of how he felt toward Obstagoon's tormenting as well.

What really bugged him the most was the blind rage he fell into after being silent and lost with himself for a long while. Johann grimaced, able to see the events unfold within his imagination from the descriptions of his fury: screaming and lashing out like a mad Pokemon, his tail tip roaring like an inferno, turning into an angry dragon ready to tear his opponent to pieces. Tears began to well up in his eyes, feeling terrible and guilty as he could have wound up hurting his friends or the Miltank instead of that Snorlax.

"Hey, Johann!" Quickly wiping away his tears, Johann tried to compose himself as he stared straight out at the lake. He heard Scott approach him, trying his best to ignore the Riolu, even as he walked over and sat beside him. The two sat in silence for a while before Scott spoke up again. "...You doing ok?"

Johann sighed and shook his head. "No," he mumbled.

Scott gently rested a paw on his shoulder, getting the Charmander to glance at him. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, none of us are scared of you," Scott assured his friend. "We were actually pretty worried when you just went quiet and shambled after us like you were possessed by a Ghost Pokemon." Johann lowered his head, shutting his eyes to prevent more tears from leaking out. Scott didn't know what to say, never seeing his best friend this upset. He gently rubbed the Charmander's shoulder, looking around while finding something to distract his friend. "...So, uhh...When did you learn Flamethrower?"

Scott silently chastised himself for bringing up Johann's much stronger Fire-type attack. "...A long while ago," Johann said, shocking Scott as he looked at his friend. Johann opened his eyes and looked at the Riolu. "...My dad taught me."

"R-Really?" Scott questioned. "But...you still know Ember? Why?" Johann looked away, feeling ashamed. "...How strong are you?"

"I-I...Dad forced me to train a lot. Before joining the guild," Johann admitted. "My family comes from a long line of tough Charizards, and I want to try to keep that tradition going. But after fighting those Croagunk and earlier today...even all the times he's pushed me to the brink of exhaustion..." Johann curled his tail around himself, staring into the fire tip. "...I've always looked up to him. I wanted to be a rescue Pokemon like him...but he's been so mad the last few years. I don't know why, but...maybe it's because I've failed to live up to his expectations. And...I think when Obstagoon said my dad thought I was a...a f-failure...I-I just..."

Johann was about to break down and cry, but Scott gave him a light tap on the head with his paw. "Don't listen to Obstagoon or his cronies," the Riolu said. Johann looked at his friend, who gave him a reassuring grin. "All they're trying to do is get under our skin. They got me, too, but they're not going to bother us anymore. Whatever's got your dad acting like such a jerk, if you've been holding back on me, then he must have been teaching you something right." Scott chuckled, giving Johann a light punch in the shoulder before standing up. "Obstagoon's got another thing coming if he thinks he can pick on us forever. We'll prove how wrong Team Neo Meanies are when we work hard and keep getting stronger, then we'll be the ones who has the last laugh."

"...But...what if I lose myself like that again?" Johann questioned. "I-I don't have thick skin like you do. If I black out and go on a rampage again, I might hurt you or the others."

"Then we'll take precautions and keep you from going into mini-Charizard rage mode," Scott suggested.

"'Mini-Charizard rage mode'?" Johann questioned, giving his friend a blank stare. "I'm pretty sure what happened to me is equivalent to my ability: Blaze." His eyes widened, then glanced at his fire tip again. "But...I thought that only happens if I'm on my last legs."

"I kinda like my description more than boring Blaze," Scott teased.

Johann leered at Scott while he brought his arms behind his head with a cheeky grin, but the Charmander didn't stay mad for long as he gave a small smile. "Heh. You're so stupid."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't be friends if I didn't do stupid things, right?" Scott asked. Johann let out a small laugh, but he nodded. Scott held his paw out to Johann, helping his friend stand up. "We're a team. Together, nothing's going to bring us down."

"Yeah. You're right," Johann agreed.

"Good." Scott patted Johann's shoulder again. He then gave another small punch with a determined smirk. "Next time we train, you better dare not hold back on me. Give me more of a challenge so we can both get stronger, got it?"

"Heh. Alright, but you might regret it," Johann teased.

"We'll see, lizard," Scott teased back.

The two friends laughed, then began making their way back to the base to get a good night's rest. As they walked, Scott tapped into his aura, checking Johann's to see how he was feeling right now. The Charmander's aura was back to being its usual calming flow, barely a hint of sadness within. He thought he'd sense some of that sadness like back at the Miltank farm, but if Johann was able to hide his inner emotions that well, then that'd be a good opportunity to further perfect his aura sensing so he can see how his friend is really feeling. Hopefully he and the Equestrians can help keep Johann's sensitive feelings from tipping to a boiling point, otherwise they might end up getting caught in an emotional wildfire that'll surely burn them if it spreads too far.

Author's Note:

Kecleon Bros.:

Persian:

Gulpin:

Pelipper:

Kangaskhan:

Obstagoon:

Morgrem:

Gorgeist:

Snorlax:

Miltank:

Comments

[Heavy759]

Great chapter and a pokedex coming out of nowhere interesting

[Viatorem]

YAY! New chapter

[SonicStreak5344]

I know where that came from John's Blaze ability somehow kicked in and it's just like Ash's Infernape's Blaze ability. John will have to learn how to control that power.

[Zolgard]

It's back! Also, I'm hoping that they're able to meet more equine Pokemon esp. Keldeo, Ponyta (Galarian) and Mudsdale.

[MLPFanForever]

Awesome chapter! Glad to see this going again.

[Efadd]

A Kanto Pokédex in the middle of the woods? With full (SWSH) reading? Curious. Very curious.

[omegasnowfall]

I love how snorlax is imediatly on his knees begging for him not to be banned.

[invinible]

I take it that Johann's ideal Pokemon rescue team would consist of a Shuckle with the ability Sturdy, a Lugia with the abilility Multiscale, a Giratina in Altered Forme with the ability Telepathy, a Toxapex with the ability Limber, a Steelix with the ability Rock Head, a Zarude, a Meloetta in Pirouette Forme, a Heat Rotom, and an Alolan Ninetales with the ability Snow Cloak.

[AstralFlare42]

Please update soon.

[AllenVth]

Johann has certainly been pressured a lot by his Dad. I feel for the guy.

And this Neo Meanies are just big bullies for harassing a recently formed team.

And Scott still has the bad habit of overestimating himself. He's lucky it worked twice.

[SonicStreak5344]

10414964
Yeah! Straight from the anime.