Pokemon: Sunset's Insurgence

by UnknownOrigin

Chapter 5: Delta Filled First Battles

"Wait, you mean like, right now? In the middle of the lab?" Sunset asked as she was caught off guard by Damian's proposition.

"Yep!" Damian exclaimed.

"I assure you Sunset, this tends to almost be tradition at this point when two or more trainers get their starter Pokemon. A lot of battles have actually happened in this very room. I don't mind you all battling in here, everything was reinforced a long time ago so that it will take more than just a few stray moves to break things." Professor Sylvan said.

"If that's the case, I'm definitely up for a battle as I kind of want to see what a Delta Pokemon is capable of. What about you Sunset?" Wyatt asked.

Sunset thought for a bit. She was interested to see how Pokemon battles played out, but she had no experience of either being in or much less witnessing one, so she didn't know how Pokemon battles worked. It seemed like both Wyatt and Damian knew how they worked, so maybe she could learn by watching them? Sunset looked down at Petunia who looked back up at her with a curious expression before she reached her decision.

"You two can go ahead. I don't really know how Pokemon battles work, so maybe I can learn a thing or two by watching the both of you." Sunset said.

"That's perfectly fine, Sunset. You can be on the sidelines with me and I can point things out and explain them to you so you can better understand them." Professor Sylvan said as she walked over to the computers at the other side of the room and stood there.

"We'll do our best so you can learn from us!" Damian said encouragingly as he moved to the left side of the room.

"Thanks." Sunset said as she went over and stood by Professor Sylvan, ready to witness the battle that is about to unfold.

"Oh man! You have no idea how long I've wanted to say this! Hero, let's go!" Damian shouted.

Hero jumped off of Damian's shoulders, did a front flip in midair, and perfectly stuck the landing as he now stood in front of Damian. He bent his knees a bit and leaned forward as his tail swished back and forth, showing that he was ready to fight.

"Ok, then it's our turn. You ready Shade?" Wyatt asked the Delta on his shoulder as he went over to the right side of the room. In return, Shade gave a lazy nod while still smiling. "Alright, then let's do this!"

Wyatt picked up Shade from his shoulders and set him on his feet onto the ground where Shade then took a few small steps forward. When he was about an equal distance from Wyatt as Hero was to Damian, Shade watched as Hero began to flex in an attempt to show he was confident in winning before giving a small taunt by gesturing to Shade to bring it on.

However, no one was expecting what would happen next.

As if some sort of switch had been flipped upon seeing his opponent, Shade's calm and lazy demeanor quickly disappeared as his expression changed. His eyes narrowed forward as though glaring at Hero, and his smile was replaced with a menacing growl as he began to slightly snarl. Shade bent his knees and tilt forward as though he was ready to charge straight at his opponent, and he kept opening and closing his hands as he flashed his claws at Hero. Needless to say, Hero's bravado disappeared as he was now thoroughly intimidated. It seemed like everyone else was as well.

"Shade swapped from appearing calm and carefree to looking like he wants to tear Hero apart! Was that lazy attitude just a show to hide how he really is?" Sunset thought to herself.

"Woah! Shade, calm down! You don't have to be this aggressive!" Wyatt said to Shade, though Shade didn't appear to register what Wyatt as said as nothing seemed to change.

"I think this is just Shade's way of intimidating his opponent." Sylvan said. "Many Pokemon have their own ways of trying to intimidate their opponent in battle from bird Pokemon flaring out their feathers to make themselves look bigger or even Pokemon with sharp body parts showing them off to show how dangerous they are. It's possible that in this case, Shade is doing the latter."

"Regardless, don't get intimidated Hero! We've got this!" Damian said encouragingly to his starter. Hero heard this and seemed to get back his bravado as he got back into his battle stance as Damian pulled out his Pokedex so he could see what moves Hero had.

Wyatt looked at his starter with a mix of worry and curiosity. He didn't know why Shade's attitude had changed completely, but he didn't feel like it was only Shade's way to intimidate his opponent. The growling sounded a little too feral for intimidation. It was if Shade was thinking of this battle as a life or death situation. Wyatt felt that if he and Shade didn't work together properly, something bad would happen.

"Shade, are you ready?" Wyatt asked and this time, Shade responded by looking back at Wyatt and gave him a small nod. Seeing this and giving a small smile, Wyatt pulled out his Pokedex so he could see Shade's moves. "Ok, then let's do this!"

V.S. Damian

"Ok! Let's start this off strong! Use Tackle!" Damian said. Hero braced himself before he launched himself forward towards Shade in order to ram him, only to phase completely through him.

"What?! Why did it... Oh. Right. Shade's not a Fire type, he's a Ghost type. Whoops!" Damian said sheepishly.

"Why did Hero pass through Shade? Wyatt was able to touch and hold him just fine earlier." Sunset asked.

"Here is where a Pokemon's typing comes into play. Tackle is a relatively simple Normal type move where the user tries to ram into their target. However, Shade's part Ghost type, and Ghost type Pokemon are immune to both Normal and Fighting type moves. And since Tackle is a Normal type move, Shade was immune to it. Resulting in Hero phasing right through him." Professor Sylvan explained.

"So Pokemon not only can be resistant and weak against certain move types, they can also be immune to them? That's interesting." Sunset said.

"Well, Petunia here is part Fairy type, meaning that she's immune to Dragon type moves. Actually, all three of the Deltas you all chose are immune to one or more types as Hero is part Dark type, meaning he's immune to Psychic type moves." Professor Sylvan said.

"Really? You're immune to dragons?" Sunset said amusingly while looking down at Petunia. She knew how tough and dangerous dragons were back in Equestria, with the exception of one she knew of course. So she found it kind of funny that something a small and cute as Petunia could win against a dragon.

"Alright, our turn! Shade, use Growl!" Wyatt said. Shade closed his mouth before he let out a loud growl that generated three small white shockwaves of sound that flew towards Hero. Hero was struck by them, and a blue aura appeared around him as blue particles fell around him and then disappeared as Hero felt physically weaker.

"Growl? What kind of move is Growl?" Sunset asked.

"Growl is a Normal type move that falls under the category of a Status move. Speaking of, there are three kinds of moves, Physical, Special, and Status. Physical moves are where the user uses a body part to attack the opponent, often making contact. Special moves involve the user firing a beam or a ball of energy at the opponent. Status moves don't deal damage most of the time, but they are able to strengthen or weaken a Pokemon in a variety of ways. Growl decreased Hero's Attack, meaning his Physical moves won't be as strong as before." Professor Sylvan explained.

"That's not good! Hero, even the playing field using Tail Whip!" Damian called out. Hero got close to Shade before using its tail to bat Shade a couple of times before t jumped away. It hit, and while it didn't do any damage, a blue aura appeared around Shade with blue particles falling around him and then disappeared as Shade felt weaker.

"Now what did Tail Whip do?" Sunset asked.

"Tail Whip is a Normal type move that lowers the target's Defense, meaning that Shade will take more damage from physical moves, also meaning that, in a sense, the effects of Growl have been evened out." Professor Sylvan said.

"But didn't you say that Ghost types are immune to Normal type moves?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, however moves such as Growl and Tail Whip, despite being Normal type, can still be used on Ghost types. A lot of status moves are like this, as a lot of the time their type doesn't matter and they can still be used on Pokemon that would be immune to the move's type." Professor Sylvan said.

"Shade, use Scratch!" Wyatt said, prompting Shade's claws to glow white before he delivered a powerful scratch that raked across Hero's front.

"Hero, shake it off! If we can't use Normal type moves, then we'll just use something that Shade's weak against! Use Pursuit!" Damian said. Hero's body was covered in a faint black aura before he rushed at Shade and readied a punch.

"Shade, try and dodge it!" Wyatt called out, only it was too late as the punch connected with Shade's torso and he was sent flying back a couple of feet before he landed back on the ground and got up. It seemed that the hit also did a lot of damage as Shade struggled for a second to get back up.

"That looked like it did a lot. What kind of move even was that?" Sunset said.

"Pursuit is a Dark type move that allows the user to hit a Pokemon even as its being swapped out. If that does happen, then the damage dealt by Pursuit is doubled. And since Ghost type Pokemon are weak to Dark type moves, that hit ended up dealing a lot of damage to Shade." Professor Sylvan said.

"You can swap out Pokemon in the middle of a fight?" Sunset asked.

"Yes. I suppose I should also explain that trainers are only allowed to carry six Pokemon at time. If a trainer has six caught Pokemon with them and catches a seventh, then the seventh one is converted into data and then is sent to their Pokemon Storage System, also simply called the PC, where it is stored inside and is placed in a digital environment where other Pokemon a trainer has caught can also be stored." Professor Sylvan explained.

"Yep, it's official. This world's technology is more advanced then the human version of Equestria. If either Twilights found out about this world, they would freak out and study everything they could about this world's technology." Sunset thought to herself as she was dumbfounded that Pokemon could be converted into data and stored inside computers.

"Shade, are you ok?!" Wyatt asked, which Shade responded with a simple growl. "Ok, then use Twister!"

To Sunset's surprise, blue and purple wind began to gather around Shade as it closed it eyes and began to concentrate. The wind then traveled down to Shade's tail where it began swirling around it. Shade's eyes shot open as it jumped into the air and swung its tail, the action causing the wind to peel off of his tail and create a small purple and blue tornado that rushed towards Hero and struck him, sending him flying into the air and crashing back down to the ground.

"Did Shade just create a tornado?!" Sunset exclaimed.

"Yep, Twister involves the user using what we call dragon energy to manipulate and empower the air around it, allowing the Pokemon to send forth a tornado of dragon energy towards their opponent." Professor Sylvan said.

"Hero! Are you good?" Damian asked. Slowly, Hero began to stand up as it appeared to be on its last legs. A black aura the briefly appeared around it as Hero gave off a small roar. "Yeah! That's the spirit!"

"What's going on with Hero?" Sunset asked.

"If I was to guess, that would be Hero's ability activating." Professor Sylvan said.

"Ability? What do you mean by ability?" Sunset asked.

"Having a type and learning moves of different types isn't the only thing a Pokemon has. Pokemon have what are known as abilities which are all different and trigger under certain circumstances. For instance, abilities such as Keen Eye and Big Pecks prevent a certain stat from being lowered while abilities such as Aftermath deal damage to the opponent that knocked out the Pokemon with the ability. Would you mind using your Pokedex to scan Hero for me real quick?" Professor Sylvan asked which Sunset obliged to and scanned hero, showing that his ability was called "Shadow Call". "Just what I thought. From appearance alone and the way it triggered, I can assume Shadow Call is a variation of the ability Torrent. Torrent increases the strength of all Water type moves used by the user as long as the Pokemon's HP is low. I assume Shadow Call is a Dark type variation of Torrent, meaning that Pursuit will deal even more damage to Shade." Professor Sylvan explained.

"Now Hero, use Pursuit!" Damian called out, prompting a somewhat fiercer black aura to appear around Hero as he rushed towards Shade.

"Not this time! Shade, use Scratch to try and parry it!" Wyatt called out. Shade's claws began to glow white as Hero got closer and prepared to punch him. Though right as he was about to Shade manage to redirect the punch using Scratch and kept parrying as Shade continued to try and punch Shade. However, in the end, Shade was unable to parry a punch and ended up being struck in the chest as he was sent flying back towards Wyatt.

"Shade! Come on, get up!" Wyatt shouted to Shade as he lay face down on the ground. After a couple of moments, Shade slowly began to get back up as it looked like it was about to fall over. Shade then let out a feral yell as a purple aura appeared around it as its glare seemed to become even more piercing. "Yes! You can do this!"

"Now what's Shade ability?" Sunset asked as she scanned Shade with her Pokedex, revealing its ability to be "Spirit Call".

"I suppose it's similar to that of the ability Blaze. It works exactly the same as Torrent, except it powers up Fire type moves instead. From the name alone, I can guess Spirit Call boosts the strength of Ghost type moves. But it doesn't appear that Shade knows any, so nothing has really changed." Professor Sylvan said.

"Alright Shade, let's give it all we've got! Use Twister!" Wyatt called out, prompting Shade to have more purple and blue wind surround him before he launched it forward again as a small tornado.

"Break through it using Pursuit!" Damian called out, prompting Hero to use Pursuit and due to the effects of Shadow Call, managed to punch straight through it and keep going. However, it seemed that it didn't negate the move entirely as some of the wind still hit him.

"Shade, finish it off with Twister, and make it the biggest one you can make!" Wyatt called out. Shade began to concentrate as even more wind began to gather around him and his tail before he swung it and created a tornado that was slightly bigger than the previous ones. It rocketed towards Hero and before Damian could call out a move, Hero was caught up in the small tornado and was thrown around in it while being buffeted by its wind before he was launched out of it and crashed into the ceiling before falling back down.

The aura around Hero began to fade away and he passed out as he was defeated, signaling the end of the battle. After a couple of seconds and making sure that Hero was actually down for the count, Shade's demeanor changed as his aggressive attitude and look went back to being happy and carefree as he let out a yawn and sat down as a happy smile appeared on his face.

"Hero has fainted, meaning that Shade and Wyatt have won the battle!" Professor Sylvan said.

"Wow, you're a great trainer! You totally beat me Wyatt!" Damian exclaimed as he went over to Hero and picked him up. "You were amazing as well, Hero."

"You were pretty amazing as well Damian. Using Pursuit against Twister was an amazing call, even if Hero still got slightly hurt from it." Wyatt stated.

"So, Sunset. I suppose you now have a better grasp on how Pokemon battles work?" Professor Sylvan asked Sunset.

"I suppose so. There was a lot to pay attention to and keep track of, but I feel like I now understand the gist of it." Sunset said as she felt as though she was starting to understand Pokemon battles more.

"Enough to want to try a battle yourself?" Professor Sylvan asked.

"Definitely not yet. But, maybe soon." Sunset said.

"Alright, now that Wyatt and I have had our battle, here's the deal." Damian began to say. "I'm going to go ahead and head north into Shade Forest. At the northern end of the forest is a really large cave known as Telnor Cave, and somewhere in the middle of that cave is the Rare Stone we need to look for. I'll meet you guys there, I want to get a head start on looking for the stone, so I'll see you guys there!"

Damian got out Hero's Pokeball and pointed the button towards him. Then, a small beam of red energy shot out of the button and hit Hero, where he was then transformed into red energy before he was sucked into the Pokeball. With Hero being stored back inside his Pokeball, Damian rushed out of the lab without another word.

"I suppose Damian headed to the Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon before he goes into Shade Forest. If you're heading into there right away as well, I can heal Shade for you, Wyatt." Professor Sylvan said.

"Thank you Professor Sylvan." Wyatt said as Professor Sylvan went over to one of the bookshelves were multiple Potions could be found. Opening it, Professor Sylvan grabbed a Potion and walked over to Shade and crouched down so she could be closer to Shade.

"What's in that spray bottle, some sort of medicinal liquid?" Sunset asked.

"Remember how I said multiple ways have been made to heal Pokemon almost instantly after a battle? This is one of them. Potions are a type of medicinal spray that helps heal any injuries a Pokemon takes." Wyatt explained as Professor Sylvan began to spray Shade's chest and stomach where he was hit by Pursuit. Shade squirmed a bit due to how cold the spray was, but once Professor Sylvan finished spraying, Shade stood up as it now looked like he hadn't taken any damage at all.

"He looks good as new!" Sunset exclaimed.

"Yep. And there are types of Potions that are even more potent than a normal one." Wyatt said as Shade walked back towards him and gestured for him to be picked back up, which Wyatt obliged to and put Shade back on his shoulder.

"Now then, I assume you two are going after Damian as well? Also, why does he want a Rare Stone?" Professor Sylvan asked.

"Damian doesn't have his present for the Augur, so we're trying to help him get one before the Augur gets here." Wyatt said.

"Oh. Right. I forgot that was today." Professor Sylvan said, though she sounded very annoyed.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" Sunset asked.

"The thing is... Ok I'm just going to say it. I don't like the second Augur at all." Professor Sylvan said.

"You, don't like the second Augur? Did he do something to you?" Sunset asked.

"Nothing personally. I get that he's doing various things to help protect the Torren region from the cults... But tell me. How does ordering almost every town and city in Torren to create a statue of himself help the region. Also, this whole thing where he's visiting Telnor Town and he specifically asked if they could prepare him gifts sounds like something to boost his own ego. The first Augur never did any of this. For Arceus' sake, he would have been the one getting gifts for everyone in town." Professor Sylvan ranted.

"I, guess I can agree with you." Sunset said. Personally, neither her or Wyatt knew the second Augur personally and have been only hearing about him from other people. From Damian, he sounded like a hero and someone everyone in Torren loved. Though from both Damian's father and now Professor Sylvan, it sounded like some of the things he did weren't really liked by a lot of people, and that they missed the previous Augur a lot. However, they both mentally decided to see what he was like before they decided on how they thought of him.

"Anyways, sorry about my ranting. Let's register eachother's DexNavs so that I will be able to contact you both and vise versa. I need to see your Trainer Cards as your IDs are what is used to register a DexNav." Professor Sylvan said as she brought out a completely white DexNav from a pocket on her lab coat. Both Sunset and Wyatt gave her their Trainer Cards, and after a few seconds, she handed them back as they checked their DexNavs and found that Professor Sylvan's contact info had been registered.

"I suppose we should also register eachother's just in case?" Wyatt asked.

"Sounds like a good idea." Sunset said.

The two of them then registered eachother's DexNavs as they were now able to contact eachother easily if they were ever separated.

"Now then, you two probably shouldn't keep Damian waiting. In the meantime, I'll try and get into contact with my colleagues in Alola and see if there's anything they could know. If I do find out anything, I'll be sure that you two will be the first ones to know." Professor Sylvan said. "Now go out and enjoy your adventure!"

"Thank you Professor Sylvan!" Wyatt said.

"Same here, and thank you for helping me! It means a lot to me!" Sunset said.

The two of them then headed back outside the lab and took in a breath of fresh air with their new partners as their journey was now beginning. Both Sunset and Wyatt decided to leave their Pokemon outside of their Pokeballs so that they could take in the sights of Telnor Town as they walked towards the entrance to Shade Forest, though this did cause some of the townsfolk of Telnor Town to stop and look at the Delta starters. While Shade didn't seem to notice or care as he looked around, Petunia noticed some of the people looking at them and tried to shy away while still being held by Sunset as she was getting nervous. Eventually, the two of them made it to the entrance to Shade Forest, though Wyatt was starting to look nervous and Sunset almost immediately noticed his worried expression.

"Hey Wyatt, is something wrong?" Sunset asked.

"Kinda. Remember how I said I got both of us away from the Cult of Darkrai?" Wyatt asked.

"Yeah?" Sunset said.

"Well, the thing is, their base is in Shade Forest." Wyatt said.

"Wait, so you mean..." Sunset said.

"Yeah. I'm nervous that we may run into them while going to Telnor Cave. It's been a couple of hours since we got out, so they may have realized we escaped and might be looking for us." Wyatt said.

"Well, let me ask you this. Do you know where their base is specifically?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah. Its in this clearing within a rocky hill that's maybe a mile or two away from here." Wyatt said.

"Well, maybe if we stay away from that area we may not run into any of them." Sunset said hopefully.

"Maybe. I remember a sign that said Telnor Cave was down the path that was opposite of their base." Wyatt said before he let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we should go in and hope we don't run into any of their members." Wyatt said.

After that, the two of them entered Shade Forest and slowly made their way down the path through the woods. Now that there weren't any people around, Petunia was able to become a little more calm as there wasn't anyone staring at them. While walking down the path, Sunset was able to see some of the various Pokemon running through the trees and bushes that could be found in Shade Forest. Curious, she decided to scan some of them with her Pokedex and discovered what some of the Pokemon were called. There were Caterpies, Weedles which were large caterpillars but were brown and had small spikes on top of their head and on their tail, and small mammals that were either purple or light blue with large ears, whiskers, and horns on their heads that were called Nidoran. The different colors showed if a Nidoran was male or female with purple Nidoran being male and light blue Nidoran being female.

Shade Forest

Eventually, they made it to the split in the road where the trail post was.

"So where did you say the Cult of Darkrai's base was?" Sunset asked.

"Just down that way." Wyatt said as he pointed down the right path. "Following that path leads to the rocky hill where their base is located."

"Alright. Then I suppose all we need to do is head left and down this trail." Sunset said as she read the trail post and pointed down the left path.

"Sounds about right. Cross our fingers that we don't run into any cultists." Wyatt said.

The two of them headed down the left trail and after a couple of minutes of walking, Sunset began to feel her backpack buzzing as a purple light began to shine through the zipper of the large compartment of her backpack. Neither Wyatt or Shade noticed this as they were walking in front of Sunset, but when Sunset felt the buzzing it took her a few moments to realize what it was as she stopped in her tracks and her eyes went wide. She realized that since she still had her backpack and none of the cultists probably took anything out of it when she was taken to their base, then that meant...

"Hey Sunset, are you ok? You kind of just stopped walking." Wyatt asked which caused Sunset to snap out of her train of thought.

"Oh, um, yeah! I, uh, I just need to go to the bathroom real quick!" Sunset said as she thought up of a lie on the spot. "Do you mind if I just leave you all here while I go?"

"Oh, sure. Go ahead. Just make sure to be quick." Wyatt said.

"Great, I'll be right back. Petunia, stay here with Wyatt and Shade for a second." Sunset said as she put Petunia back onto the ground before going into the foliage and trees while her starter sat down beside Wyatt as they waited for her. Eventually after going a little bit into the woods and making sure that no one would be able to see her, Sunset sat down with her back against a tree as she took off her backpack and sat it down beside her. She then opened the main compartment and pulled out her journal where its pages were glowing with a purple light. Opening it, Sunset found that Twilight had been sending her messages that gradually increased in worry as Sunset hadn't arrived through the portal.

Dear Sunset,
You didn't arrive through the portal earlier, so I was wondering if you accidentally slept past the time you said you would come through the portal. Please write back as soon as you are awake or see this.

Your Friend,
Twilight Sparkle

Dear Sunset,
Did something come up? It's been a couple of hours since you said you would arrive, so I was wondering if something came up. If it involves the strange shadow and you aren't able to come here to Equestria, I would be happy to come through the portal and help out.

Your Friend,
Twilight Sparkle

Dear Sunset,
Are you there? Did Something bad happen? Do you need help?

Your Friend,
Twilight Sparkle

Dear Sunset,
Answer me. Please.

Seeing how worried Twilight was about her to the point of not signing the last message, Sunset rummaged around in her bag before she pulled out an orange pen and began writing a message as fast as she could.

Dear Twilight,
I'm ok, but something happened on my way to Equestria and... well... I don't know if I'll be able to get to you for a while. Or Canterlot High for that matter.

Your Friend,
Sunset Shimmer

After writing down her message, literal seconds later Twilight wrote back with her own message.

Oh thank Celestia you are ok! I've been worrying for the past few hours since you haven't been answering and I was just about to go to Canterlot High myself to see if something bad happened. Wait... What do you mean you won't be able to get to Equestria or Canterlot High for a while?

Sunset chuckled a bit as this was one of the rare few times that Twilight didn't address one of her messages as though it was a letter. It just went to show how worried the Princess of Friendship was and how relieved she was to hear she was ok. She decided to also not write the next few messages to help Twilight stay calm.

The thing is, when I was about to go through the portal, something happened to it. Its surface got dark to the point where it was pitch black and then something, I don't know what, pulled me through. Traveling through the portal to wherever the thing took me felt, I don't know, wrong. Like everything didn't feel natural. I unfortunately passed out before I could see where I was taken to, but I woke up not too long ago and I learned that I'm another world, one that is similar to the human version of Equestria, but is different in a lot of ways.

YOU'RE IN ANOTHER WORLD?! I mean, I guess it make sense that there are other worlds if an alternate version of Equestria exists, but back to the matter at hand. Do you have any idea how you got there, and also, what do you mean it's similar yet different to the alternate Equestria?

Well, for one, humans exist here and that I wasn't transformed into a unicorn when I was apparently taken here so I'm still a human. The other thing is that some of the architecture I've seen so far is similar, so there's that. But that's kind of where the similarities end for the most part.

So what's different then?

Sunset then wrote down everything she had learned so far ever since she woke up: how the continents and places of this world were different and how she was in what was known as the Torren region, how this world's technology was a lot more advanced compared to that of the alternate version of Equestria, and how Pokemon coexisted with the people of this world. She also included things such as some of the various technology she has witnessed, how Pokemon battles work, and also made sure to include that there were various cults in the Torren region and that she was helped to escape one even though she was passed out.

That's amazing! Well, amazing except for the fact that there are evil cults that torment the region, but other than that everything sounds incredible!

Yeah, but I had to tell some people that I'm not from this world. I didn't tell them about Equestria though! Currently the Pokemon Professor of this region is trying to contact some of her colleagues in the Alola region to see if they can help me get back to the alternate Equestria as they apparently research interdimensional rifts. While she is, I decided to become a trainer and take on the Gym Challenge with two others. Currently we're heading to a place called Telnor Cave where we can find a Rare Stone for this Augur guy.

That sounds perfect! Don't worry, I'll try and see if I can try and help find anything that can help get you back. I'll also try and see if Celestia or Luna might know anything that could help as well. Also, if you don't mind me asking, who are these other two people you're taking this "Gym Challenge" with? And who's this "Augur" you mentioned?

Their names are Wyatt and Damian. Wyatt is the boy who got me out of the Cult of Darkrai's base while I was unconscious. Though, they apparently did something to him as he can't remember anything personal. He doesn't even remember if he has any family or if anyone knows him personally, so he decided to take on the Gym Challenge to travel the region and see if he can find anyone who knows him. Damian is a boy who wanted to become a trainer for a long time and also thinks of the Augur as his hero. He reminds me of Pinkie Pie with how much enthusiasm he has, and he's also really kind as well. As for the current Augur, he's apparently the strongest trainer in Torren and helps protect it from the cults. The things is, while a lot of people admire him, some people don't like him as much compared to the previous one. Apparently the first one was able to disband many of the cults while the current one apparently hasn't disbanded a single one. Also he's apparently done a lot of things people don't like, but I don't want to judge until I meet him for myself.

"Hey, Sunset! Are you almost done?!"

Sunset jumped a little as she realize she may have been gone longer than she wanted to be as she heard Wyatt call out for her.

Sorry, I need to go. I need to get back to the others so we can continue heading to Telnor Cave. I'll write back later, ok?

Ok. And, Sunset? Thanks for letting me know you are ok. I'll do everything I can to help get you back to either version of Equestria. You can count on it.

Thanks Twilight.

Sunset closed her journal before putting it back into her backpack. While she was at it, she also decided to put her Badge Case inside the larger compartment as well to help slightly free up room in her pockets. Once she zipped up her backpack and put it back on, she walked back through the tress and grass until she was back with Wyatt, Shade, and Petunia.

"I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go. Right?" Wyatt joked.

"Yeah. Sorry I took so long. Anyways, let's get back on track, shall we?" Sunset said as she picked Petunia back up.

Wyatt gave a simple nod as the two of them continued heading through Shade Forest until they began walking through some grass and noticed a Potion lying on the ground which Wyatt went over to and picked up before they continued walking.

"Why did you pick up a Potion lying on the ground? It could have been someone's trash that they just decided to toss." Sunset asked.

"Well, that's usually not the case most of the time. Sometimes trainers will accidentally lose or drop items that fall out of their pockets or bags and they usually don't find them, causing them to be abandoned. It's considered common curtesy to pick up these dropped items and either throw them away if they do happen to be trash or keep and use them for later." Wyatt said as held the Potion in his hand.

"Well, I guess that's one way to make sure litter is taken care of." Sunset said before after a couple of minutes she noticed a red and yellow spray bottle similar to a Potion lying on the ground right by the trees. "So I guess I should pick that up?"

"Yep. And it looks like that's a Super Potion. Essentially they function almost exactly the same as a Potion, but as the name suggests, its healing capabilities are more effective compared to a Potion." Wyatt said as he put the Potion in his backpack while Sunset was looking at the Super Potion.

"Well then, don't mind if I do." Sunset said as she set down Petunia and went over to pick it up, only for Petunia to begin calling out as she tried to warn Sunset that something wasn't right.

"What's wrong Petunia?" Sunset said as she picked up the Super Potion and turned to look at Petunia who began to back away as she saw something behind Sunset. Turning around, Sunset was met with a Ghastly sticking its tongue out at her as it tried to scare her. It worked, causing Sunset to backpedal away from it in fright as the Ghastly laughed.

"Ahh! What is that thing!" Sunset cried out.

"That's would be a Ghastly. It's a Ghost and Poison type that likes to scare people and Pokemon. I guess it was using that Super Potion as a trap so it could scare anyone who would try and take it." Wyatt said.

"Seriously?! Why you little-" Sunset said as she tried to grab the Ghastly, only for it to easily float out of her reach where it then proceeded to stick its tongue out more at her. This continued on for a bit before it was covered in a faint pink aura as pink circles slammed into it from all around it and caused it to slam onto the ground. Surprised, Sunset looked around and saw Petunia's irises slowly stop glowing bright pink as she tried her best to look menacing, though was failing as she still looked very nervous.

"Petunia, did you just?" Sunset asked, however her attention was turned back to the Ghastly as it slowly began to float back up and stared at the group with a glare.

"Looks like we might have made it made. And it also looks like its glaring at both you and Petunia." Wyatt said.

Sunset looked back and forth between the Ghastly and Petunia. The Ghastly looked like it was about to attack at any moment, meaning that she needed to decide what she was going to do fast. That's when it hit her.

"Wyatt, it isn't illegal to battle wild Pokemon, is it?" Sunset asked.

"No, why do you... Oh! You mean you want to?" Wyatt asked excitedly as he realized what Sunset was saying.

Sunset nodded before she turned walked behind Petunia who looked back at her while trying to keep an eye on the Ghastly.

"Petunia, do you mind helping me to battle this Ghastly?" Sunset asked. Petunia responded by giving a shaky nod which prompted Sunset to pull out her Pokedex to see what moves Petunia knew. "Alright, then let's do this Petunia!"

Petunia let out her best war cry, which was still a little quite, as the battle began. "Petunia, use Baby-Doll Eyes!" Sunset called out, prompting Petunia to look at the Ghastly as her eyes began to sparkle. The Ghastly was unable to look away as a blue aura and particles appeared as one of its stats were lowered.

"What did Baby-Doll Eyes lower?" Sunset asked.

"Baby-Doll Eyes is a high priority move that reduces an opponents Attack. Oh, yeah, high priority moves are moves that are able to hit first regardless of how fast a Pokemon using it is. To put it simply, if a slow Pokemon was to use a high priority move while a fast Pokemon used a normal move, the high priority move would be used first and either hit the target first or be used first." Wyatt explained.

The Ghastly floated towards Petunia and got right in her face. Before she or Sunset could react, the Ghastly used its tongue and gave Petunia a giant lick that knocked her back a little bit, though it also seemed to do quite a bit.

"Did it just lick her?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah, that move is literally called Lick. It's a not too powerful Ghost type move, meaning that it's super effective against Petunia as she's a Psychic type." Wyatt said.

"Now that I think about it, how many types are there in total?" Sunset asked.

"Currently, 18 different types have been discovered. There could be more, but that's all the types that have currently been discovered." Wyatt said.

"Wow, that's a lot. Anyways, Petunia can't use Tackle as Ghastly's a Ghost type. So instead, use Confusion!" Sunset called out.

Petunia's irises began to glow pink again as a familiar pink aura surrounded Ghastly before more pink circles slammed into it and it was slammed back onto the ground. Floating back up, it's eyes began to glow light blue as waves of blue energy began to float towards Petunia.

"Petunia, dodge whatever that Ghastly's using!" Sunset called out. Thankfully, Petunia was able to move out of the way before the wave hit her. "What move even was that?"

"That was Hypnosis. It's a Psychic type move that inflicts the Sleep status condition." Wyatt explained.

"Ok, what are status conditions?" Sunset asked.

"Status conditions are negative effects that can be applied to Pokemon, often through the use of Status moves but Physical and Special moves can also inflict them. Sleep is just one of them, and as the name applies, the target is put into a deep sleep that they can only wake up from on their own or if they are attacked." Wyatt explained.

"Then I guess it's a good thing you avoided that. Now, use Confusion again!" Sunset called out. Petunia used Confusion once more which slammed the Ghastly back down. As it got up though, its eyes began to swirl around as small yellow birds began to circle around the top of it.

"What did we just do?" Sunset asked.

"Confusion is a Psychic type move that super effective against Poison types, and it has a chance to inflict the Status condition of the same name. Pokemon who are confused can't focus all that well and may end up putting too much force into an attack, miss completely, and hurt themselves in the process." Wyatt explained. As he did, the Ghastly tried to use Lick again, only for it to miss and crash into the ground next to Petunia and hurt itself.

"Fine by me! Petunia, finish it with one last Confusion!" Sunset called out. Petunia did, causing the Ghastly to be launched back towards the trees and into one, where it promptly passed out and fell to the ground as it was defeated.

"Petunia, we did it!" Sunset said as she knelt down and held her arms open where Petunia ran over to her and leapt into her arms as the two hugged over their first victory as trainer and partner.

"You both were amazing for your first battle." Wyatt said as Shade gave an agreeing thumbs up.

"Yeah. I guess we were." Sunset said as she looked back down at Petunia before she looked over at the Ghastly. "What the, now where do you think you're going?" Sunset asked as she saw the Ghastly slowly float back up. Noticing it was being watched, it flew back into the trees where it disappeared out of sight.

"It'll be fine. Wild Pokemon tend to get back up pretty soon after a battle, though it looks like that one go up pretty quickly. Anyways, you still got a Super Potion out of this ordeal!" Wyatt said as he pointed out the Super Potion that Sunset still held in her hand.

"Yep. I'll just put this away for now." Sunset said as she took off and opened the middle compartment of her backpack to put the Super Potion in, only to drop it as it shrunk, "What the?!"

"Yeah, Pokeballs aren't the only things that can shrink to save on storage space. Potions and other stuff can do that as well so that they can fit into bags easier." Wyatt said.

"Now I feel like this world's technology is actively trying to break my brain." Sunset said as she picked back up the Super Potion and put it into one of the many pouches in the compartment before zipping it back up.

"Speaking of..." Wyatt said as he pulled out one of the Potions he took from the Cult of Darkrai's base. "We can use this to heal Petunia. She may have only taken a little bit of damage, but it's best to be fully healed in case something happens." Wyatt then knelt down to and sprayed the Potion on Petunia, mostly on her face as she closed her eyes, as that's where she was hit by Lick. After he was done, Petunia was back to feeling 100%.

"Thanks for that." Sunset said as the two of them stood back up.

"No problem. Now then, let's keep going. Telnor Cave shouldn't be too far ahead." Wyatt said.

The two of them continued down the path before they eventually reached an opening in the trees. Going through it, they found themselves in a small clearing with flowers here and there and patches of tall grass as well. Further into it was a more open space as there was a small river that had a small wooden bridge over it that led to the other side, where the entrance to Telnor Cave was. Making their way further into the clearing and across the bridge, they made it to the entrance and went through it into Telnor Cave as they hoped to catch up with Damian and find the Rare Stone they were looking for. And maybe battle against any wild Pokemon that challenged them to a fight to help Shade and Petunia get stronger.

Author's Note:

And so the next chapter is done, and with it, Sunset and Wyatt's first battles! I'm kinda happy with how both battle scenes turned out, even if a lot of it were either Professor Sylvan or Wyatt explaining some things. Trust me, future battles won't have this much explaining in them as Sunset is still learning how some parts of battles work. She'll get the hang of it eventually.

Anyways, here is the part where I reveal the previous chapter's references and easter eggs. And all of them were hidden in the Trainer Cards, with them being both the birthdays and ID #s of each card. Wyatt's birthday, August 13th, is a reference to when Insurgence was updated to its final version of 1.2, meaning that everything relating to story stuff and other things in the game was all released. I couldn't find the exact date for the original 1.0 release date, so I decided to go with this instead. His ID # on the other hand is the release date (June 9th, 2020) for Pokemon Insurgence most recent update, version 1.2.7, which is mostly just bug fixes. At least I think it is as that's the date of a post on the Pokemon Insurgence forums that was put out by one of the devs of the game that announced it. For those wondering, this is the post I'm talking about. Anyways, Sunset's birthday, June 15th, is the release date of the first MLP: EG movie, while her ID # is the release date of the Rainbow Rocks sequel movie (September 27th, 2014). Finally is Damian who's birthday, October 12th, is when Pokemon X and Y were released worldwide, marking the day of when the Pokemon series transitioned to the 3DS. His ID # is the release date of Pokemon Emerald in North America (May 1st, 2005). I decided since his color scheme involves a lot of green, then it would be nice if I could involve one of the green color titles for him. Now that that's out of the way, there aren't any new references in this chapter so you don't have to look out for them.

One other thing is that I decided to use Hop's theme from Pokemon Sword and Shield as Damian's battle theme for a couple of reasons. The first being that I don't think the generic trainer battle music suits him all that well. The other being that I think the way Hop's theme sounds is perfect for him as it helps express how upbeat and excited he his to finally have his first battle as a Pokemon trainer.

Anyways with that out of the way, the next chapter will see the introduction of a few more important people as our group of newfound trainers head into Telnor Cave to try and find a Rare Stone before the Augur arrives. And hopefully with Twilight now helping with getting Sunset back home, things might just be looking up for our young heroine. See you all in the next chapter!

Shade Forest

Theme Used: Shade Forest (Pokemon Insurgence)

A forest known to stay dark and shady even in the middle of the afternoon. Connecting Telnor Town to Telnor Cave, it is the perfect place for new trainers to catch a Pokemon to add to their team. Recently, rumors have been popping up with some people saying that they believe a cult might be gathering somewhere in the forest.

Comments

[ArcticAce01]

Great chapter!

Nice to see Sunset learning more about Pokémon, their moves and abilities plus items

And the battles were amazing as well!

[UnknownOrigin]

11654011
Thank you! I wanted to come up with a reason as to why you always find items laying around in Pokemon games, so I figured just having them as lost or dropped items would be a good idea. Also, I'm hoping future battles will be able to become more intense and last longer as Sunset and Wyatt get more Pokemon.

[ArcticAce01]

11654027

Yeah! I can definitely see it being more intense

[PPEF1]

"Special moves don't deal damage most of the time, but they are able to strengthen or weaken a Pokemon in a variety of ways." Professor Sylvan explained.

Not even close to finishing but I did notice this small error. I think you meant to say status, not special. There are also other errors in the previous chapters just didn't mention them because I was working on the fanfic readings

[UnknownOrigin]

11654316
Thank you, I went back and fixed it.