Sometimes, to break out of your shell, you just need to go on a little adventure.
After Twilight's second trip to an alternate reality, Fluttershy becomes interested in the idea of other worlds filled, not with ponies, but with humans. Would she be able to interact with these hairless apes like her animal friends, or would she view them like she does other ponies and hide? Not only that, but all of her friends have gone on solo adventures that she doubts that she could ever go on without them. But with some encouraging words from Twilight, and a little help from discord, Fluttershy resolves herself to have an adventure in a human world. Lucky for her, discord has chosen a world filled with over a hundred and fifty species of new animals that she would love to find and meet.
This story takes place in the first generation of Pokemon, just slightly ahead of Ash's adventures.
“And that’s how we basically saved Canterlot High, again.” Twilight laughed, finishing her story.
When she was called upon to go to the world of Canterlot High a second time, her friends knew that there would be a good story to tell when she got back. So after her latest adventure in that other world, they all eagerly awaited to hear what had happened. Back at their new castle in Ponyville, Twilight told the story while all of the girls enjoyed coco and cookies, provided of course by Pinkie Pie.
“That sounds amazing!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Hey, maybe we should start a band like the other world us. What do you guy’s think?”
“You sure that’s a good idea Dash?” Applejack said, rolling her eyes slightly.
“Why not? It sounds like fun, and I know Rarity would love to make us all band outfits.” Rainbow gestured to Rarity, who was eloquently sipping some coco from her mug.
“We could throw the most rock-tacular party ever, and play for all of Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie jumped in.
“Ah yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” Rainbow replied, giving Pinkie a hoof bump.
Rarity gently placed her mug on the custom made coaster that was obviously her own extravagant design. “What I believe Applejack was getting at was that you two are overlooking one very important thing.”
Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “What’s that?”
“Well obviously, to be a rock band, we would need to know how to play instruments. And aside from Pinkie Pie, who somehow seems to be able to play any instrument that she can get her hooves on, even ten at once which still baffles me, none of us know how to play instruments. Yourself included.”
Rainbow scoffed. “A minor detail. The other world us could do it, so I’m sure we can learn how easily enough.”
“Well if that isn’t the biggest slap in the face to serious musicians I ever did hear.” Applejack stamped her hoof. “Let me tell you something Rainbow. My cousin Fiddly works long and hard, practicing every day, to be as good as she is with her instrument. It’s all good fun just picking up an instrument and playing around, but don’t go underestimating the effort you have to put into being a good musician.”
Rainbow realized that she was being insensitive with her overconfidence and folded her forelegs in a pout. “Ok, so maybe we’ll need to practice a little.”
“I’m right there with you Twilight.” Pinkie said in excitement. “Planning a rock concert is a big deal. I’m not sure where to get all of the instruments that we’d need, but I know the guy that gets Vinyl Scratch all of her glow sticks, so I can get as many as we need and mhfmh…” Twilight placed her hoof over Pinkie’s mouth.
“It’s nothing like that.” Twilight laughed. “It does sound like fun you guys. Playing with my Canterlot High friends was a lot of fun as well after all, though I could have done without the whole siren crisis. But though you all are similar, you’re not exactly the same. Never mind the instruments, do you really think our Fluttershy could play and sing in front of all of Ponyville?”
Everypony looked at Fluttershy, who squeaked and shrank back at the thought. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I’m still taking baby steps with the Ponytones.”
Rarity placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “And you’re making wonderful progress on that, my dear. You don’t even seem to notice the few ponies that come to see us practice anymore.”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide with horror and she hid her face under her hooves. “There were ponies watching us?”
“Oh dear.” Rarity said to herself, realizing that she really hadn’t noticed them. Quickly recovering, Rarity turned to Rainbow. “Anyways, as it stands, I’d have to agree with Twilight where as Fluttershy is concerned. And besides, though I would enjoy creating designs for on stage attire, I don’t personally have much interest in performing that particular genre. I more enjoy performing acapella. My voice is my instrument.”
“I guess you’re right.” Rainbow said, with a quick glance at Fluttershy. “Oh well. It was just an idea. Life is an adventure, am I right? Even if I don’t get to play in a rock band, I’m sure I can find a new adventure just around the corner.”
Pinkie pulled dash close with her arm around her neck. “If you want adventure, then you should come with me to Hallow Shades tonight. My good friend the Boogeymare is having her birthday bash there.”
Rainbow looked at Pinkie in disbelief. “The Boogeymare? As in the monster that hides under kids beds and eats them in the middle of the night?”
Twilight laughed. “That’s just a story Dash.”
Laughing as well, Pinkie let go of Rainbow. “Eyup. She started that story herself as a Nightmare Night prank.”
“Really?” Rainbow replied.
Applejack chimed in. “She’s a normal pony like everypony else. Well, aside from that she has the best night club in all of Equestria.”
“And how do you know that?” Rainbow replied, feeling as though everypony was pulling her leg.
“You know how during Cider season, there’s a good wagon full of barrels that we don’t touch?”
“Yeah, I always wondered about that. You say that you always run out, but what about those barrels.” Rainbow said, suspiciously.
“It’s because those barrels have been specially ordered by the Boogeymare for her night club. Big Mac and I deliver it after the cider season here is over. Boogey gets her cider and we celebrate the end of a good cider season at her club.”
“It has been a few years since I’ve been to Bogie’s club, but alas, I have a deadline looming for a few special order gowns that I must attend to tonight. Do be a dear and wish her a happy birthday for me, won’t you Pinkie.”
“Okeydokeylokey.” Pinkie said, puffing out her chest and saluting Rarity, just to be silly.
“Am I the only pony who didn’t know about this?” Dash exclaimed.
Fluttershy looked over at Rainbow, “Well, um, I've never heard of it ether. The night club anyway. But Pinkie did mention to me that she goes and visits her friend Bogy, every now and then. I didn’t know it was the Boogeymare, but it makes sense.”
Yawning, Twilight added, “I've never been there, but Shining and Cadence used to go there all the time, so I’ve heard a few stories. I’d love to go, but since I just came back from my last adventure, I just want to lay in my bed with a good book tonight.”
“Even the egghead has heard of this place? Pinkie, we’ve got to get there right now.” Rainbow said, flying out the door with Pinkie skipping behind her.
Twilight wasn’t amused and shouted out the door to Rainbow, “I told you, I’m not an egghead, I’m just well read!”
Rarity got up and walked to the door as well. “I’d love to stay and chat longer, but I simply must get back to my designs.”
“And I best be getting home to help with supper, before Big Mac gnaws his own leg off.” Applejack joked, following up behind Rarity.
“You two have a good night.” Twilight said, waving to them as they left.
“You too sugar cube.” Applejack called back.
“And how about you Fluttershy? Are you going to head off now?” Twilight said back to Fluttershy, who was still sitting quietly where she was the whole time.
Fluttershy rubbed her forearm nervously. “Well, I don’t mean to impose or anything.”
“Don’t be silly,” Twilight smiled as she walked over to Fluttershy. “This isn’t just my castle after all, it’s all of ours. You’re free to stay as long as you like. You’re not imposing on anyone.”
Fluttershy smiled nervously and quickly put her mug to her lips to finish off her coco. “That’s right,” she thought to herself. “I may not be a princess like Twilight, but this is my castle too. I am the element of kindness after all.” Thinking about her status, Fluttershy’s face started to turn red and she started fidgeting with her mug between her hoofs.
Twilight noticed Fluttershy’s discomfort. “Is everything ok Fluttershy?” She said, placing her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder in a comforting manor.
“How did it happen, Twilight?” Fluttershy said, with a great feeling of weight bearing down upon her. “How did a pony like me come to have such an important role for the kingdom? I’m not like the rest of you, full of strength and confidence, ready to tackle any new challenge that comes at you. The five of you are so amazing, and I’m just scared little me.”
Taken back by Fluttershy’s words, Twilight couldn’t help but pull her into a hug and gently stroke her main, like Celestia did to her when she was young and scared. “I don’t know how you got it into your head that you’re not amazing Fluttershy. The element of kindness could be no pony but you. And you’re also by far, the bravest pony I’ve ever met.”
Tears started to form at the base of Fluttershy’s eyes. “How can I be the bravest pony you’ve ever met? At times, I’m even scared of my own shadow.”
“Being afraid doesn’t mean that you’re not brave,” Twilight said, wiping away Fluttershy’s tears. “You have the courage to face your fears and do what you need to when it matters most. That’s real bravery. And for a pony with so many fears, you always come through when we need you to.” Fluttershy sniffed and gave Twilight a small smile. Her words really made her feel a lot better. Twilight smiled back and continued. “Being fearless isn’t the same as being brave. In fact, fearless is foolish, like Rainbow sometimes.”
Fluttershy laughed. It looked like Twilight inadvertently just got back at Rainbow for that bookworm remark. “Thanks Twilight. I just hear stories from each of you about great adventures that you go on. Whenever I’m on an adventure, it’s always with the rest of you. I don’t think I could handle going on one alone. But when I hear your stories, I feel inspired, as though maybe, just maybe, I could do it too. Then I start playing out the story in my head, and I just get too scared.”
“But Fluttershy, we never go on adventures alone.”
Fluttershy gave Twilight a confused look. “We don’t?”
“Not really.” Twilight said, placing her hoof over her heart. “Even when they’re not with you physically, you’re friends are always with you in spirit. Whenever I need the strength to do something, and I’m on my own, I think of all of you and it’s as though you’re right there with me. Even alone, we stand together and give each other strength. Though sometimes we forget that and need a little reminder.”
Twilight gave Fluttershy another hug, but this time, though they had already left the castle, she could feel the others hugging her as well. Just like Twilight said, even apart, her friends are always with her. This thought made Fluttershy feel warm inside, and she didn’t feel afraid anymore.
“You’re right Twilight. Sometimes I do forget how much strength everypony gives me. Thanks for reminding me.”
Twilight yawned and smiled at Fluttershy. “Any time.”
“I think I’m ready to go home now. I hope you have a good night Twilight.” Fluttershy said, walking over towards the door. “You too Fluttershy.”
As Fluttershy made her way out into the corridor and towards the castle’s entrance, Twilight picked up the journal that was linked with the one that Sunset has in the other world and walked over to the balcony. Looking out over Ponyville, she sighed. The events beyond the portal had warn her out. But it was still really nice to see her friends from that world again. And to see how far Sunset Shimmer had come since they last saw each other was a happy surprise. They even got along pretty well this time around. She looked at the journal and thought that she and Sunset could be good friends someday, and she hoped that Sunset felt the same. Suddenly, the book shook and started to glow. Twilight quickly opened it to see what was written for her, then closed it with a smile.
“I think there’s a good chance of that.” She thought, just as Fluttershy got out of the castle, humming the tune to ‘Shake Your Tail’ as she trotted off towards her cottage. Twilight leaned up against the railing of the balcony and looked on to Fluttershy. “I hope you do get your own adventure sometime Fluttershy. The things you get to do and the friends that you get to make along the way makes the whole thing worth while. And I think it would be good for you to experience that.”
And with that, Twilight went to go write a reply to Sunset. Meanwhile, Fluttershy kept a happy trot down the pathway, humming the song louder and louder as she thought of her friends and grew more and more empowered the more she thought of them, until she couldn’t contain herself and started out right singing the song to herself.
“~Shake your tail cause we’re here to have a party tonight, Shake your tail, Shake your tail~” She sang as she added a little swing to her trot, so as to dance while walking.
“I do love to see you in high spirits Fluttershy.” Discord said, magically popping up from under one of the loose cobblestones. “And it’s such a catchy tune.” He started singing it himself.
“Oh, it’s you Discord.” Fluttershy sighed in relief as she calmed herself down from her near heart attack when he popped up. “It’s one of the songs that Twilight sang while in the other world.”
“Ah yes, that ‘human’ world.” Discord said, turning into a gorilla and pretending to pull insects from his hair. “What a unique breed of simian they are.” He turned himself back to normal but was wearing some sort of black and red uniform with a strange arrow crest to one side of the chest. “You know, I was once in a world of humans. ‘Boldly going where no man has gone before’, or so they said.”
“You’ve been to other worlds?” Fluttershy gasped in amazement.
“Sure, it’s easy,” Discord waved his hand and the uniform disappeared. “I had to find some way to entertain myself while Celestia had me sealed away in stone for all of those years.”
“How did you travel to other worlds while you were sealed in stone?” Fluttershy asked, beginning to walk down the path again towards her cottage with Discord floating beside her as though he was ready to nap.
“It’s as simple as going to sleep. Mostly because that’s what you need to do in order to jump to other worlds without your body. Let your mind wonder through dimensions. That way, you don’t need a portal to bring your body along. Which in my case, I couldn’t have brought it even if I had wanted to.”
They reached Fluttershy’s cottage and she opened the door to let Discord in. “But what do you do for a body when you get to other worlds?”
“Well, for some strange reason, my mind can’t wonder outside my body in this world. So my powers were sealed away as well. But while in other worlds, my mind had power again, and I just created a new body in that world for me to use while there.” Discord shrugged and walked in.
Fluttershy stood at the door for a moment, thinking about her talk with Twilight and what Discord had just told her. “Discord?” She said as she finally walked in and closed the door behind her. “Do you think that you can do that same thing for someone other than yourself?”
Discord raised an eyebrow. “I suppose I could, but whatever for?”
Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but the words didn’t come. She closed her mouth and began to fidget with her hooves while Discord watched intently. Just before he was about to ask, she thought of her friends again and found her strength. “I want to visit another world like Twilight and have an adventure of my own.” Having said what she wanted to, she shrunk back into herself, bit her lip and repeated in her head, “be brave.”
Discord’s jaw dropped to the floor, literally. Picking it up and shoving it back into place, he jumped over to Fluttershy. “What brought this on?” he said, picking her up and laying her on the sofa, then hopping into a therapists chair that he poofed in, complete with glasses, a suit and tie, and a quill and clipboard.
Fluttershy had proceeded to tell him about her talk with Twilight and the feelings of inadequacy that she’s been harboring. She told him about her thirst for adventure, and about her fear that holds her back. Discord was listening intently, though all the while was also doodling a picture of Twilight in her regalia that he put on her back during the plunder seed fiasco. Once Fluttershy had finished talking, he giggled at his masterpiece and poofed in a fridge to hang it on.
“So, basically you feel as though going on a solo adventure would be good for you, and you want to do it in a human world because you think that you can look at humans the same way as you do your animal friends. As long as they’re not ponies, you think that you’ll have an easier time talking to them because they shouldn’t physically remind you of your childhood tormenters. Do I have that about right?”
“That’s right.” Fluttershy replied, nervously looking down. “But you don’t have to do this for me if you don’t…”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Discord interrupted. “You’ve already made your request, you can’t take it back now. Frankly, I am proud of you Fluttershy.” Discord held out his paw, in which he held a silver chain necklace. “As a reward for your bravery in requesting this adventure, I’ll give you this. Sleep with it on and you’ll get to adventure in a world that I think you’ll like, filled with at least a hundred and fifty new special animals that you will not find anywhere here in Equestria.”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide with excitement. “Really?” She said as she gazed at the chain in wonderment.
Discord put the chain around Fluttershy’s neck. “Though you’ll have to get used to having a human body, as well as how that world functions differently from Equestria. You’ll find your adventure anywhere you chose to go. I’ll go ahead and pop in to that world before you go to it so that I can set up a few things that you’ll need to begin, though I’ll respect your wish to tackle this adventure on your own.”
Suddenly jumping off of the sofa, Fluttershy gave Discord the biggest hug that she could, which caught him off guard at first, but he quickly recovered and hugged her back. “How do I get back to this world?” She asked, pulling away and looking up at him.
“Sleep in this world with that chain and you’ll go to that world. Sleep in that world and you’ll wake up in this one.”
Fluttershy waited about an hour before sleeping, just as Discord had instructed before he left, presumably to set some things up in the other world for her. After she did a quick check on all of her animals, Fluttershy hooked the silver chain around her neck and slipped into bed. Her mind tried to imagine all of the new animals that she would be able to meet, but then she thought of what sort of adventure that she would have and it scared her. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as her mind raced. There was no way that she could sleep…. If not for the fact that Discord had anticipated this. The necklace started to feel warm around her neck, as the magic calmed her mind and slowed her heart to a relaxed pace. Only moments later, Fluttershy was out like a light.
It was a strange sort of sleep, like when you nod off without realizing, sleep for a few hours, and wake up without feeling as though a single moment has passed. But in this case, no time did pass. Fluttershy went to sleep in her bed, as a pony, but awoke only a second later, in a completely foreign place, on a sofa, looking at herself and noticing that she was a pony no more.
“Gaaaahhhh!!!” Fluttershy screamed as she flailed about in this new and strange body.
After a moment of freaking out, Fluttershy calmed down and examined herself. The body was hairless, or at least furless. Her mane was still the same, although she had a hat on for some reason. The majority of her body was bear skin, though upon a closer look, she found that she was actually covered in extremely tiny hairs that were practically transparent and with too much space between each to consider it fur. She appeared to be wearing cloths of some sort and then finally went on to look at the things that interested her the most. She brought her hands close to her face and wiggled the fingers. It felt really strange, and a similar feeling could be felt on her feet, though she couldn’t see the toes because of the boots she had on.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and sighed. “Everything seems to be just like Twilight said. Although, my skin color doesn’t match my pony fur. Most of these cloths I’m wearing do though.”
“Ah good, you’ve arrived.” Came an unfamiliar voice, which startled Fluttershy into jumping up and hiding behind the sofa.
Fluttershy peeked out from behind the sofa to see that the voice came from a somewhat elderly looking creature of the variety that she was currently a part of. Contrasting the physical appearance to her own and taking into account the sound of the voice, this was a male human. He had a short, grey mane and had skin that was considerably tanner than her own. He had a red shirt with a white lab coat over top, brown pants, a couple of wrinkles on his face at the corners of his eyes and mouth. Wrinkles like those show that this male human liked to smile a lot in his lifetime. Then she came to the eyes and focused on them. Apart from having much more fur just above each eye than her own, what was most interesting about his eyes were that there were multiple colors expanding out in rings from the center of each. Noticing this, Fluttershy felt really relieved and came out from behind the sofa.
“Is that you Discord?” she said, trying to walk on two feet as Twilight said humans do, stumbling a bit on her way over to the elder male human.
The human smiled and said, “Afraid not my dear. Though I have been given instruction from Discord to tell you about this world and get you started on your Pokémon adventure.”
“Pokémon?” Fluttershy asked, having never heard the word before.
“Yes, Pokémon.” The human said. “I suppose I should start from the basics, but we don’t have much time. In only about two hours, my grandson will be coming by, as well as two other kids from the town, to receive their starting Pokémon and begin their journeys.” He gestured to a chair and pulled down a projector screen. Fluttershy sat down and the human began his presentation. “Hello there and welcome to the world of Pokémon. My name is Professor Samuel Oak, or just Professor Oak as most call me. This world is inhabited by creatures called Pokémon.” He clicked a button and the screen came to life, showing a large display of unusual creatures. “For some people, Pokémon are pets. They live their day to day lives with their Pokémon by their side in peaceful companionship. Others use Pokémon for competitive battling, gathering strong and well balanced teams and taking the Pokémon league challenge. I myself study Pokémon as a profession. As I understand it, you’ll be taking the rout of the trainer, in which case, you will need this.”
He walked over to the counter and grabbed the bag from on top. Bringing it over to Fluttershy, she noticed that it was similar to a saddlebag, but was clearly designed for human use. At the bottom of it she saw a sleeping bag strapped to it which had her cutie mark. When the professor handed it to her, she noticed that there was some parchment sticking out from one of the pockets and she pulled it out to have a look. It was a letter to her from Discord.
“Dear Fluttershy,” She began to read. “I did tell you that adventure can be found anywhere you decide to go however, I would suggest taking the Pokémon league challenge. Do as you like, but if you decide to do this, this backpack has all that you need to begin, aside from a starting Pokémon which the good professor should provide for you. Also, in my experience with human worlds, most of the names that ponies have aren’t really names amongst humans. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken the liberty of giving you a name to use while in this world, one that suits your special talent. Your bestest pal,” and the letter ended with a little doodle of Discord’s face, which was cute and made Fluttershy laugh.
There was also a plastic card taped to the bottom that had a picture of Fluttershy in human form on it. It read,
Trainer’s Card ID No. 98604
Name: Fauna
AGE: 14 Home Town: Pallet
Eyes: Mt. Meadow Hair: Rose
Height: 5ft 3in Weight: 130lbs
This card is your official Pokémon league identification and must be in your possession
at all times while competing. This card is non transferrable and shall be forfeited if used
by another person. Report lost, stolen, or damaged cards immediately to your nearest
Pokémon center. Owner is responsible for the cost of replacement.
Fluttershy liked the name Fauna, and for the most part, she understood the card except for a few things. “Excuse me professor,” She said, holding up the card. “I’m not fourteen, and my home town is Cloudsdale. I’ve never heard of this Pallet place.”
Professor Oak returned to his presentation standing point, “Usually Trainers start their Pokémon journey at the age of ten. In this world, you have been made younger to fit more with this standard, but not too young so that you don’t have to adjust to being treated completely as a child. As for Cloudsdale, I have not heard of this place, but I assume that it is in the world you are from. To be legally registered in this world, you need a home town on record that actually exists in this world. Discord and I have taken the liberty of registering you here in Pallet. Furthermore, you have been woven into the memories of the townsfolk, as well as myself. Not as a very prominent memory, but they will all recall that you do in fact live here. A small place has been prepared for you to return to, just in case evidence beyond your Trainer Card is required for any reason. And just to make it clear, I am currently under a spell so that I will teach you everything you need to know without questioning your lack of common knowledge of this world. In approximately one hour and forty five minutes, you will need to head outside the front door and join the other beginning trainers to reenter the lab and get your Pokémon, as the spell will end and I will have no memory of your unusual circumstances. Only the knowledge that you are from Pallet and are here to start your Pokémon journey like the others.”
“Ok” Fluttershy said, a little unsure. Realizing that the only reason that she is comfortable talking with the professor was because he was under Discord’s spell. She started getting nervous about how she would do when the spell ends, or when she is amongst the other trainers.
“Let’s continue.” Professor Oak said, interrupting her thoughts.
For the next hour, the hypnotized Professor taught Fluttershy about the structure of a Pokémon battle, the various gyms and their purpose, the different types of Pokémon and how to catch one in a Pokéball. He also taught her about the currency of the world, and coached her a little on how to use a human body. Before long, she was able to walk properly, run a little, and was even able to learn how to use fingers, at least to the degree that she could write with a pen at least somewhat legibly. It’s a good thing that both worlds used the same characters in their writing, as well as speech. Adding a new language to all that she had to learn in that hour would have been impossible. Suddenly, her stomach growled and she realized that she had been hungry since the moment she woke up.
“Ah yes,” The professor said. “You’re new body has never eaten anything before, so I’m guessing you’re pretty hungry.” Fluttershy blushed and nodded. Professor Oak gestured to the fridge. “How about I heat up some leftover pizza for us. Not exactly breakfast food, but I usually am working so much in the lab and with the Pokémon that I never really have a proper breakfast.”
“I don’t usually have pizza,” Fluttershy smiled. “But it sounds good. What sort of pizza is it? Tomato, green peppers and oats sounds really good right now.”
The professor opened the fridge and pulled out a pizza box. “I’ve never tried oats on a pizza before, but this one is my personal favorite. Anchovy, spinach and pineapple pizza.”
He opened the box and placed two slices onto a paper plate in the microwave. Fluttershy looked into the box to see one slice left, with what appeared to be small fishes on it. She gasped as she realized that these were the anchovies. Then she realized something else that she would have to get used to as a human. Recalling from what Twilight had said about being in Canterlot high, and some of the things that were served there. Humans are omnivores. From what Twilight said, humans don’t just eat meat, they NEED to eat meat, as well as fruits, vegetables, dairy, and grains in order to stay healthy. When the pizza was heated and the professor handed her a slice, she resolved to eat it for the health of her human body, nearly crying as she did so. But she rationalized it in her head. She loves animals, and takes care of all sorts. Some of them are carnivorous. She feeds her birds worms. Her bear friend needs to eat meat, though he’s always been very kind and only eats berries around her. Even so, all of the little critters that could possibly be his pray out in the Everfree forest gather around her with no resentment towards him. They understand the necessity, the way that nature is. They can do that, and so can she. Though when she finished the pizza, she felt even worse because it tasted so good and she felt guilty for enjoying it.
She wiped a tear from her eye and looked at the professor, who had just finished his slice. “Thank you for the food, Professor Oak.”
“Not a problem, Fauna.” Oak smiled. “We have about ten minutes left. Is there anything else that you would like to know?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment. The first thing that came to mind was the fact that she would be capturing animals called Pokémon and having them battle other Pokémon. “Why do we make Pokémon battle each other? Isn’t it wrong?”
Oak wiped his face with a napkin. “Something that you need to understand as a trainer is that there are people who force Pokémon to fight and that is definitely wrong, but you are not one of them. Pokémon are in general, very peaceful in the wild, however very competitive with one another. They enjoy testing their skills against each other in combat, however in most cases, it is a friendly battle and they enjoy it. As a trainer, you will need to understand your Pokémon’s fighting and competitive spirit and match it. You don’t force your Pokémon to fight, you battle alongside your Pokémon in sport. A proper battle is never to be taken too far, and though some trainers may almost go there because they get more than rationally competitive, as a whole, Pokémon trainers take good care of their Pokémon and form powerful bonds with each other. You may be giving the commands in the battle, but your Pokémon follows them because they trust you to strategize and lead them to victory. Pokémon training and battling are things that both the trainer and the Pokémon enjoy and have enjoyed for as long as recorded history. There is a big difference between forcing a Pokémon to battle and being a competitive Pokémon trainer.” Fluttershy thought about a competitive fighting spirit and the first thing that came to mind was Rainbow Dash. “I think I get it. But what about capturing Pokémon? Taking away their freedom.”
Oak smiled. “Let me show you something.” He said, leading Fluttershy to the back door.
Opening the door and stepping outside into the early morning air, Fluttershy looked around and saw a wide open field surrounded by forest. Playing in the fields and moving out in the trees were many different species of Pokémon. Fluttershy just stared out at them in wonder.
“These are all captured Pokémon.” Oak said, putting his hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Trainers are only allowed to carry six Pokémon on them at a time. The rest that they capture come here to my lab. I take care of them, but mostly I study them and interact with them. This place isn’t enclosed. There is nothing to stop them from leaving if they chose. But the Pokémon who have been defeated in battle and captured, do not feel as though they are not free. They chose to remain because they respect the trainer that caught them. Sure, they are happy and playful here, but what they want is for their trainer to call upon them for a battle. In most cases of Pokémon that have recently been captured and have yet to form a true bond of friendship with their trainer, they know that they have lost to the trainer who captured them, and they believe that a trainer who can capture them can also lead them to victory if they work together. Pokémon are intelligent creatures, and will often attack trainers out in the wild because they want to test their skill, or they are jealous of the Pokémon in your possession for having a trainer and they attack in the hope that they can impress you and make you want to capture them as well. There are some cases of Pokémon attacks in the wild for other reasons, such as mothers protecting their young, bad tempered Pokémon that are in a rage, but for the most part, an attack is their way of issuing you a battle request.”
Fluttershy looked confused. “So, they want to be captured?”
Oak looked at his wrist watch. “Correct. But only by trainers that have earned the Pokémon’s respect in battle. Though there are some Pokémon that just want to be left alone and it is the trainer’s responsibility to respect that. So when you find a Pokémon, you need to trust your judgment on if you should or shouldn’t capture it. And also keep in mind that some Pokémon will happily join you if you make friends with them instead of battling, though this isn’t a method that you should try when the pokemon has already requested a battle by attacking you. In any case, it is about time for the other trainers to get here. Go ahead and head out front for now.”
Fluttershy did as she was instructed, though no one had shown up just yet at the front gate. She decided to try and fight away the nervousness that she was feeling by getting better acquainted with the contents of her backpack. The first pocket she opened contained six Pokéballs. There was room for much more than that in the pocket, but she figured that six was all that she needed for now anyway. Though the concept that these small balls, no bigger than a robin’s egg, could get three times as big at the push of a button, and could even contain a whole Pokémon inside of it. Not even the professor could explain how it works, only that it does work and specifically on Pokémon. She continued to go through the bag and found a good amount of camping supplies, some nonperishable packaged food, a couple of changes of the same outfit she had on, as well as articles of clothing that she couldn’t visually see on herself, but she could feel them under what she could see. One of the things that the professor and Twilight made perfectly clear was that humans should never be seen without being completely clothed. There was also a set of pajamas in there as well, so not even when she sleeps should she be without clothing. She had a few other basic items, a Pokémon potion, a map of the known region, and a bag of Pokémon food. She was so caught up in getting to know the contents of her bag, she didn’t even notice that two other trainers had already arrived.
“Hey Fauna.” One of them said, with no response from Fluttershy. “Fauna?” He said again, this time pulling off Fluttershy’s hat.
Fluttershy jumped in bewilderment. “Gaaaahhhh!”
The kid put her hat back on her head and smiled. “You shouldn’t space out so much Fauna. You’ll end up like Ash if you do.” He said, looking down the road. “Where is that knucklehead anyways? He’s probably going to sleep through all of the fun, knowing him.”
“Should someone go and check on him?” Fluttershy replied nervously.
The boy stuck up his head and laughed. “Naw, you snooze, you lose. He’s not ready to be a Pokémon trainer if he can’t even get up on time. Gramps will have to give him something other than one of the starter three. I’m planning on getting Squirtle myself. What about you?”
Quickly pulling out the map and guide book, Fluttershy found that Viridian gym doesn’t usually take on trainers that don’t already have a couple of badges, so the most likely gym that she would face first would be Pewter, the rock gym, and after that is the water gym in Cerulean city. “The first two gyms are rock and water specialty gyms, so as a starting Pokémon, I think Bulbasaur would be the best choice.” She said, shaking from nervousness, but doing her best to fight it.
“That makes sense.” The boy said, brimming with confidence. “I guess that means you’ll have Charmander, right Damian?”
The other boy smirked. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. You can strategize types as much as you want, but fire is the true element of power. If I can get it to evolve into a Charizard, it’ll be the most powerful Pokémon around.”
“Still weak to water,” the first boy laughed.
Damian looked at the boy furiously. “Watch it, Gary. Besides, your little turtle will be weak to that shy little girl’s grass type.”
Gary laughed again. “So I lose to her in the rock, paper, scissors of Pokémon starters. I can live with that because I still trump you. And anyways, it’s how you train your Pokémon that counts the most. That’s what gramps always says.”
Fluttershy couldn’t help but laugh a little. The way that these two were bickering, Gary reminded Fluttershy of Applejack and Damian reminded her of Rainbow Dash. Seeing her laugh, the boys shrugged off their quarrel and looked up at the lab. Professor Oak, now without Discord’s spell on him, was making his way down the steps to the front gate. People from the town started to gather around the gate as well.
“I see we have three out of four.” Oak said as he opened the gate. “Has anyone seen Ash around?” No one from the crowd responded. “Well, that boy needs to learn to be on time. We’ll just have to start without him.” He said, leading the three new trainers in through the gate.
As they climbed the stairs to the lab, Fluttershy looked back at the crowd, which was gathering more and more people, mostly in support of Gary Oak, as shown by their banners. This was it. This is the start to the adventure that she had wanted. Even though she was scared and nervous, Fluttershy almost felt as though she could fly, even without her pegasus wings. In this world, she was Fauna, a Pokémon trainer and adventurer. And she was proud.
Fluttershy nearly tripped twice going up the stairs, still not completely coordinated with this human body. Luckily, no one seemed to notice her missteps. She really didn’t want them teasing her. To her surprise, quite the contrary. When they had reached Professor Oak’s front door, Gary even held it open for her. Though, one glance back down at the crowd below told her that he would be nice to about any girl, as a large group of them in cheerleading uniforms started chanting his name.
Risking a few words, Fluttershy looked at Gary and said, “You must be pretty popular with the ladies.”
Gary puffed out his chest and declared, “It’s the Oak family genes.” Then he laughed a little. Fluttershy tried to imagine the Professor being a ladies man and joined in Gary’s laughter.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and then stepped through the door. Gary came in after, closing it behind her. As they entered the lab, she could still smell the pizza in the air, which made her stomach turn in a knot a little bit. But despite that, she felt fairly calm. Excited, but not nervous anymore. They came to a stand with a glass dome on top. Inside were three Pokéballs that were marked with some characters that Fluttershy couldn’t read, though she didn’t have to in the end. When the glass dome opened up, Damian and Gary took two of the balls, leaving one that Fluttershy assumed was hers. The characters on the balls must say what Pokémon is in it, which meant that this ball in her hand contained her Bulbasaur. Damian and Gary pressed the button on their balls and tossed them into the air, and sure enough, in a burst of energy came Charmander and Squirtle. They each then placed the ball back on to the stand, in their respective places.
Fluttershy gazed in amazement as the two creatures appeared. They were so adorable that Fluttershy nearly squeed when they jumped into their respective trainer’s arms and started talking in their own language, which sounded mostly like their names. She just stood there with her ball in her hand, eyes sparkling as she watched Squirtle and Charmander being coddled by Gary and Damian. Unable to contain herself, Fluttershy enthusiastically pressed the button on her ball and tossed it up into the air, catching it, and the Pokémon that came out into her arms. She immediately started to cuddle the little Bulbasaur, who tried to pull away from her because it felt embarrassed.
Leaping out of Fluttershy’s arms, it voiced its protest against being so suddenly grabbed and cuddled. “Bulba! Bulba Bulbasaur!”
Everyone looked in surprise at Fluttershy and Bulbasaur, as Fluttershy looked as though she was just heartbroken and about to cry. Bulbasaur suddenly looked at all the disapproving faces and up at poor Flutter’s nearly tearful eyes, then sighed as it swallowed its pride and hopped back up into Fluttershy’s arms and gave her a big hug. Fluttershy hugged back and tried to hide her sinister smile of victory over the situation, but Damian and Gary noticed and almost busted out laughing. Bulbasaur pulled back a little and looked over at the two other trainers in confusion, not aware of what just happened.
Trying to quickly change the subject, Damian turned to Gary and said, “So, you want to see just who’s got the better Pokémon? You sounded so sure of yourself outside.”
“You’re on!” Gary said with great enthusiasm.
Fluttershy followed the two boys out into the back fields with Bulbasaur still in her arms, where they took their places and set their Pokémon down. All four, the trainers and the Pokémon, had a fierce but happy look about them, and Bulbasaur turned around in Fluttershy’s embrace and enthusiastically pointed to the battle about to take place.
Damian began. “Charmander, Flamethrower!”
Gary just raised his eyebrow at this. “Squirtle, Tackle.”
Suddenly the two Pokémon went into action. Charmander took a few steps forward and breathed in deep, as Squirtle ran forward, gaining speed and closing in on Charmander. Try as it might, all Charmander could blow was smoke, to his trainer’s surprise. Squirtle however, slammed forward into Charmander and sent it flying back a few feet. Shaking his head in disapproval, Gary called the match off and Damian rounded on Professor Oak.
“Hey, what gives?! You gave me a defective Charmander!” He roared.
Professor Oak was about to reply, but Gary beat him to it. “Are you sure you’re cut out to be a trainer, Damian? Only a moron would try to order their Pokémon to pull off a move that they haven’t learned yet.”
“Watch it Gary!” Damian said, ready to punch Gary in the face.
Gary just shrugged. “These Pokémon were bred to be healthy, but have not been trained yet for battling. That’s our job as the trainers, not the breeder’s. I bet all three of them are only around level five or so, meaning that they don’t know how to do most of the moves that they can learn. That’s the way that it’s supposed to be. Your Charmander probably only knows scratch and growl at this point.”
Damian looked furiously over at Charmander, who cowered back at the look that its trainer was giving it.
“Well, whatever.” Damian said, tossing a Pokéball at Charmander. “I’ll train it up nice and strong, then we’ll have a real battle.” Gary rolled his eyes as Damian picked up the Pokéball with Charmander inside. Without another word he grabbed his Pokédex from Professor Oak and left.
Once Damian was gone, Fluttershy stamped her foot on the ground, feeling bad for the Charmander and a little upset with herself for thinking Damian reminded her of Rainbow. Instead, he reminded her more of Lightning Dust, from what Dash had told her about being at the Wonderbolt academy.
“I hope Charmander will be ok. I’m not sure I like Damian.” Fluttershy said, mostly to herself.
Gary laughed. “Don’t worry Fauna. Damian’s a jerk at times, but I think he just needs to learn what being a Pokémon trainer is all about. I don’t think he’s the sort of monster that would mistreat his Pokémon, but I agree that he does need a good kick in the rear.” Gary grabbed his Pokédex from the Professor and also grabbed Fluttershy’s to give to her. As he handed it over he continued, “But you know, maybe you and I should have a battle. You seem like you could use a quick tutorial on it. What do you say Fauna?”
Bulbasaur looked up at Fluttershy and nodded its head repeatedly in approval. Fluttershy looked down at the excited little Pokémon in her arms and nodded back. “Well…. Ok. But I don’t think that I’ll be all that good at it.”
Springing out of her arms, Bulbasaur rain around in several circles in the area that Damian and Gary just fought. Then, it suddenly stopped, took a stance, and gave a challenging look to Squirtle. Seeing this, Squirtle also ran out to the same spot and pressed it’s forehead against Bulbasaur’s and the two playfully pushed on each other, psyching themselves up while waiting for their Trainers to begin the match. Gary took his place, same as before, and Fluttershy took Damian’s place.
“Are you ready?” Gary asked.
“Yes.” Fluttershy said back, timidly, though with an admirable attempt at sounding confident.
At once, the two Pokémon jumped back in one giant leap from each other, and prepared to battle. The fighting spirit of the two Pokémon clashed in the air and even Fluttershy could feel the urge to battle. It overwhelmed her and, before she knew what she was doing, she gave the first command.
“Bulbasaur, tackle!” She called out, and Bulbasaur complied with two lightning fast steps and a sudden leap at Squirtle.
“Dodge and then tackle back!” Gary quickly called, just in time for Squirtle to react.
Almost immediately after, Fluttershy quickly said, “Roll out of the way and then tackle!”
Bulbasaur was in mid first tackle and Squirtle had just jumped out of the way and began its tackle. Hearing Fluttershy’s command, Bulbasaur dug its right feet into the ground as it landed, then quickly pushed with all of its might, sending it rolling to the left and away from Squirtle’s attack. Digging its front claws down, Bulbasaur then swung its hind legs around and kicked off with them into another tackle attack, just as Fluttershy had said to. This time it hit its mark and sent Squirtle flying back a few feet. Both Gary and Fluttershy took a second to be astonished at Fluttershy’s quick commands and Bulbasaur’s ability to follow through. However, Fluttershy was astonished for just a little longer than Gary, which gave him his opening.
“Squirtle, tail whip!” He said, as quickly as he could.
Squirtle began to shake its tail from side to side in a hypnotic way that Bulbasaur couldn’t help but relax its muscles to, effectively removing some of the adrenalin effect in Bulbasaur and making it a little weaker.
Fluttershy didn’t know what just happened, but called out, “Tackle!” to which Bulbasaur complied, but mysteriously found that Squirtle took the attack head on and didn’t budge. In fact, despite Bulbasaur’s best efforts, Squirtle was pushing back, and then flipped Bulbasaur backwards like a tatami table.
“Follow up with a tackle!” Gary said, confidently, to which Squirtle sent Bulbasaur flying backwards with a full on tackle attack.
Realizing what Gary had done, Fluttershy called out, “Bulbasaur, run around in circles and shout your name as loud as you can!”
Bulbasaur didn’t question it, though Gary and Squirtle almost fell backwards at the ridiculousness of the command. To Gary’s surprise however, his grandfather, who had been watching the match intently, had folded his arms and nodded approvingly at Fluttershy’s tactic. Not knowing why the Professor was doing so, Gary decided that he should go on the offensive.
“Squirtle, tackle Bulbasaur immediately!” He shouted. Squirtle tried and missed, as Bulbasaur hopped over the attack and continued running and shouting. “Again!” Gary called. Repeatedly, Squirtle tried to tackle Bulbasaur, and repeatedly, Bulbasaur evaded it.
“Now, tackle!” Fluttershy commanded.
Having worked back the adrenaline that Squirtle’s tail whip had taken from it, Bulbasaur slammed into Squirtle at full force, with all of its strength unhindered. This sent Squirtle flying back even further than before.
“Tail whip!” Gary said, and Squirtle complied, though struggling to get to its feet.
“Growl!” Fluttershy commanded in response.
Both Pokémon began their hypnotic status attacks, one to lower attack strength, and the other to lower defense strength. When both trainers called out for a tackle attack, the Pokémon clashed. Having lowered the respective stats of one another, their tackle’s met with a stalemate between the two.
Gary gritted his teeth. “Push it to the side and tackle!”
Suddenly, Squirtle’s strength shifted from pushing against Bulbasaur’s attack, to pushing it to the side, which knocked Bulbasaur off balance. As Bulbasaur fell to the side, Squirtle took a quick hop backwards and then leaped forward in a tackle which made full contact. Bulbasaur was sent backwards and landed with a thud. Try as it might, it couldn’t get back up, and after a valiant couple of attempts, Bulbasaur lay in defeat.
Squirtle walked over to Gary, who patted it on the head and congratulated it as he put it into a Pokéball. Fluttershy took a second to breathe. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and though she had lost the match, she had never felt more proud of herself. She ran over to Bulbasaur and picked him up, patting him on the head.
“You were amazing Bulbasaur,” She smiled as she took a Pokéball from her backpack. “Thanks for doing your best.” Bulbasaur smiled and pressed its nose against the button on the Pokéball presented to it, opening the ball and going inside as a sort of red energy.
“That was about the last thing I expected from you, Fauna.” Gary said, rubbing his forehead for sweat.
“Indeed.” The Professor agreed, walking up to the two of them. “You’ve both shown great potential as Pokémon trainers. You reacted well with your Pokémon and played some great strategies. Especially you, Fauna. Not many trainers would think to have their Pokémon try to get pumped up in the middle of a battle, but it was an effective method to countering the effects of tail whip.”
Fluttershy blushed and hid part of her face behind her hair. “Honestly, I didn’t really know what I was doing most of the time. I just acted on instinct when I saw how Bulbasaur was feeling weak.”
“Well, those are some great instincts.” Gary said, giving Fluttershy a thumbs up, though she had no idea what the gesture meant. “How about we battle again, later on down the road? I bet you’ll be an even greater opponent the next time we meet up.”
Initially, Fluttershy’s reaction was to cower back a little, but the thought of a heated battle like that again got her heart pumping fast, and it felt good. A passion flared in Fluttershy that she was very unfamiliar with, and she decided to let it take over.
“Anytime.” She said, mimicking Gary’s thumbs up, and a confident smile that she had never known, spread across her face.
Gary started walking back into the lab. “Do you want a ride to Viridian? A couple of my adoring fans will be driving there in a few hours. Save you a day or two of walking through the woods.”
Fluttershy considered it. “No thanks Gary. I might find another Pokémon or two to add to my team along the way if I take my time and walk.”
“Suit yourself.” Gary shrugged. “About the only Pokémon that you’ll see on the way to Viridian are Pidgey and Rattata.”
“That’s ok.” Fluttershy smiled. “I want to make friends with all Pokémon.”
Professor Oak clapped his hands. “That’s the right attitude Fauna. And do be sure to use the video phones at the Pokémon center’s to check in here at the lab from time to time. My number is programed into your Pokédex, just press the top right button to look at and program contact information, if you meet people you’d like to stay in touch with.”
“Sure thing Professor.” Fluttershy said, making her way to the front door.
“Hey gramps.” Gary said. “Do you even have a Pokémon for that lazy bone head, Ash? If he even shows up that is.”
Professor Oak scratched his head. “Well, I do have one, but it has some personality issues and it’s up to Ash weather or not he’ll take it. If not, next time around he’ll just have to show up on time like everyone else.”
Gary continued talking with the Professor as Fluttershy went out the front door and made her way down the steps. Trying not to get scared by the ever growing crowd of Gary Oak supporters, Fluttershy left the front gate and started her way down the road to Rout #1. To her pleasant surprise, many of the supporters for Gary also cheered her on as she began walking. Feeling very nervous, she waved and smiled back at them, then continued down the road. She may have lost her first competitive match, but thinking back at how badly Damian flopped when he faced off against Gary, she felt very happy with how well she did. Now, it was time to go out and make new friends. And unlike at the Grand Galloping Gala, she’s supposed to capture them. Fluttershy laughed a little to herself when she thought of how out of control she got that night. But this was going to be different.
This was one of the proudest days of Fluttershy’s life. She had only been in this world for a few hours and yet she has already done so much, with even more to come, as the day had only just begun. Nearing the top of the hill that she was climbing, she looked back at the small town of Pallet. It looked like a nice place, even smaller than Ponyville and very peaceful from this distance. You wouldn’t guess that there would be a big crowd of cheering people down there. In fact, looking at the size of Pallet, there couldn’t be that many more people in the whole town than where at the lab at this very moment. A small yet supportive community.
Once she was at the crest of the hill, Fluttershy found herself in a large grassy meadow with three large trees randomly growing in isolated locations across the meadow’s expanse. The trail seemed to stretch on for about another mile through the meadow before entering one of the many small woods that occur regularly on the way to Viridian, according to the map. She adjusted the straps on her backpack and started up the trail, keeping a close eye on the tall grass to either side of her. According to the Professor, Pokémon like to hide in tall grass and will often jump out at unsuspecting trainers. Sure enough, after walking for a minute, a small Pokémon came walking out of the grass and onto the trail ahead. It looked to be about half the size of Bulbasaur and appeared to be a purple mouse with a long and curled tail. Fluttershy stopped and immediately pulled out her Pokédex.
“Rattata, the forest mouse.” The Pokédex began to say in its metallic voice. “Like most rodents, its teeth grow continuously throughout its life and must be worn down by gnawing. Thanks to its sharp fangs, it is able to eat nearly anything, though it mostly likes cheese, nuts, fruits, and berries. It also comes out into open fields to steal food from stupid travelers. When it is threatened, Rattata can deliver a powerful bite.”
Hearing the sound of the Pokédex voice, Rattata stopped dead in its tracks and watched Fluttershy intently. Fluttershy nervously took a step back and withdrew her face behind her hair and sheepishly peered out at the Rattata, who grew quite curious at this strange human before it. Keeping its head low to the ground, Rattata made its way closer to Fluttershy until it was only about two yards away. Then it looked up at her face and sniffed the air a few times. Fluttershy slowly crouched down and held her hand out.
“Hello there, little friend.” Fluttershy gently said, as Rattata sniffed her fingers. “Do you want to come with me on my Pokémon adventure?” She used her free hand to grab some Pokémon food from her bag, which she was sure to make easily accessible for these situations back when she was sorting through her stuff. “Here you go.” She said, presenting the food.
Rattata greedily munched away at the Pokémon food that Fluttershy had given it and she gently used her fingers to scratch behind its ears. Looking around for any more Rattata, she concluded that this one must be on its own. The Pokédex didn’t say whether or not Rattata was a solo type or if it stayed in groups, but it appeared to be a loner at this time. She put a few more pieces of food on the ground to occupy Rattata while she took her backpack off and presented two Pokéballs.
“This one here,” she held out the ball in her left hand and placed it neatly on the ground before her, “is my Bulbasaur. I just got him but I think we already make a great team. And this one,” She placed the ball in her right hand next to it, “Could be your ball, if you want to come with me. What do you say?”
Finishing the food on the ground, Rattata looked up at Fluttershy and then sniffed the empty Pokéball. Fluttershy watched as Rattata seemed to consider the proposition, but after a few seconds Rattata quickly swiped Bulbasaur’s ball in its tail and ran off into the grass.
“Hey!!!” Fluttershy yelled as she grabbed the empty ball and started chasing Rattata. Some Spearow that were perched in a nearby tree, made sounds as though laughing at Fluttershy. Her legs nearly seized up hearing the Spearows laughter, as she remembered her torment as a little filly in Cloudsdale, but the thought that Bulbasaur had just been stolen kept her running after Rattata. “Give back my Bulbasaur!” She cried out, as Rattata had her chase it all over the meadow before it ran up a tree and taunted her from one of the branches. “I didn’t want to do this,” Fluttershy said between heavy breaths, “but you leave me no choice!”
Fluttershy stamped her foot and glared at Rattata intensely, to which Rattata felt a shiver go up its spine. Fluttershy’s eyes suddenly got wide, but didn’t lose their intensity. Rattata couldn’t stop looking into them, it was locked in the gaze. What’s more, it felt a growing sense of the sort of fear and emotional sickness that normally was only induced as a child, by one’s mother, with the intense disapproval at what it was doing. Rattata’s throat started to go dry and its stomach was in knots as it started to break out in a cold sweat. This continued for several seconds before it gave in, nearly breaking out in tears as it tossed Bulbasaur’s ball back to Fluttershy and ran off with its tail between its legs. Fluttershy caught the ball and the Spearows laughter intensified as they watched her beat Rattata with nothing more than a stare, to which she shot a glare at them and they quickly shot out of their perch and flew away, scared of what that gaze might do to them.
Holding Bulbasaur’s ball close to her heart, Fluttershy sighed deeply in relief. “That wasn’t very smart of me I guess. Maybe I should have just had you battle that Rattata, instead of trying to befriend it right off the bat. The professor did say that some Pokémon will take advantage of kindness if I wasn’t careful, especially the small ones.
Finding her way back to the path, Fluttershy continued on through the meadow with Bulbasaur’s ball in hand. She was ready to jump at a battle with the first Pokémon that she saw, and wasn’t going to let one trick her again. Nearing the first patch of woods, Fluttershy noticed a little dirt clearing in the grass, where three Pidgeys pecked at the ground for bugs and worms. As soon as she saw them, she tossed Bulbasaur’s ball near them and they scattered. Having forgotten to press the button before throwing it, Fluttershy felt really embarrassed when Bulbasaur didn’t come out. But she wasn’t given any time to dwell on it, as one of the Pidgey’s didn’t just fly away, and was now dive bombing her. She ducked and the Pidgey just missed her head. Scrambling towards the dirt clearing, she picked up Bulbasaur’s ball and pressed the button, making it grow three times in size.
“This time for sure,” Fluttershy said, kissing the ball for good luck. The Pidgey was beginning another dive at her as she threw the ball up in the air. “Bulbasaur, Tackle!” She called out.
Bulbasaur came bursting out of the Pokéball and immediately began its midair tackle. Pidgey tried to adjust its course, but it was too close and was coming in too fast. Bulbasaur hit straight on and the two Pokémon went cascading to the ground. Pidgey landed on its back with a ‘thud’ whereas Bulbasaur landed strongly on its four feet. Pidgey got up as quickly as it could and took to the air again, now aiming for Bulbasaur. Swooping low, Pidgey hovered above the pathway for a second and then beat its wings strongly, sending a burst of sand into the air, then it flew up and circled as Bulbasaur angrily tried to wipe the sand from its eyes.
Tackle wouldn’t work unless Bulbasaur could somehow reach Pidgey, taking that into consideration, there was only one move that Bulbasaur could use. “Growl.” Though Fluttershy didn’t have to tell Bulbasaur that. It was already mad and growling at Pidgey.
The hypnotic effect of ‘growl’ lowered Pidgey’s physical strength, by inducing a quick jolt of fright through its body. Despite that, Pidgey saw it as a challenge, that it foolishly agreed to and began its descent into a tackle attack.
“Bulbasaur,” Fluttershy called. “Stand your ground and pin Pidgey after it hits.”
“Saur!” Bulbasaur replied, digging its claws into the ground and bracing its joints, preparing to take the hit.
Diving in as fast as it could, just before impact, Pidgey flapped its wings one last time for good measure, then slammed into Bulbasaur with all the force it could muster. Bulbasaur was ready however, and was only knocked back a little bit, its claws digging into the ground as it slid back about a foot. With Pidgey in a slight daze from hitting something so solid, Bulbasaur recovered quickly and jumped at it. Shaking off the daze, Pidgey tried to escape to the air, but was not quite fast enough as Bulbasaur came down upon it. Bulbasaur then quickly glanced over at Fluttershy, who had pulled out a Pokéball. Seeing this, Bulbasaur jumped back off of Pidgey to give Fluttershy a clear shot. Making sure she pressed the button, Fluttershy brought the ball up and threw it as accurately as she could at Pidgey.
Unfortunately, she had thrown it a little high. Noticing that, Bulbasaur quickly ran to Pidgey, who had just gotten to its feet, and launched it into the air with a scooping and throwing motion of its head. The disgruntled Pidgey was sent spinning and flipping upwards, and tried with no avail to stabilize itself with some frantic flapping of its wings. When at last Pidgey kept itself upright, it was too late. Bulbasaur’s quick thinking sent it colliding with the Pokéball, which opened upon impact, sucking Pidgey inside as a red energy and falling to the ground. Fluttershy ran up to the ball and Bulbasaur jumped into her arms. They watched as the ball wiggled from side to side and the button flashed red. With every shake of the ball, Fluttershy expected the Pidgey to burst out and escape, until the shaking and the flashing suddenly stopped and she heard a metallic ‘ding’ from it.
It took a second before what just happened sunk in, and then, “WE DID IT!!!” Fluttershy cheered, jumping up and down, hugging Bulbasaur tightly and swinging from left to right.
“B…bulba..." Bulbasaur choked out, as Fluttershy was hugging too hard.
“Oh.” Fluttershy said, noticing Bulbasaur’s discomfort and setting him down. “I’m sorry. I’m just so excited. We did it. I’m so happy right now I could just…” Fluttershy could hardly contain herself, almost exploding with enthusiasm like Pinkie Pie. But she took a deep breath and calmed herself, then quietly said to herself, “Yay.”
Bulbasaur waited until Fluttershy was finished and then ran over and paraded triumphantly around the Pokéball. Fluttershy giggled at Bulbasaur’s display and picked up the Pokéball. Her second battle and her first success. Though she knew that it was all thanks to Bulbasaur’s quick thinking. Next time she’ll get it right.
“Well Bulbasaur,” She smiled. “Want to meet our new friend?”
“Bulbasaur!” Bulbasaur said, jumping in the air.
Fluttershy nodded, agreeing with Bulbasaur’s excitement, and pressed the button on the Pokéball. The ball opened and a burst of white energy shot out of the ball and landed on the ground, taking the form of, and then solidifying as Pidgey. Pidgey didn’t seem too happy about having lost, but it didn’t show any sign of wanting to escape its new trainer. It just quietly pouted while looking anywhere but at Fluttershy or Bulbasaur. Which was funny to watch, as Bulbasaur insisted on moving to be in Pidgey’s sight every time it moved its head away.
“Oh, I’m sorry we were so rough.” Fluttershy said, gently petting Pidgey’s furry stomach with the back of her fingers.
Pidgey just stuck up its head in protest.
“How about this?” Fluttershy asked, holding out her other hand, which she had some food pellets cupped in her palm.
Instantaneously forgetting its contempt, Pidgey excitingly hopped over to the cupped hand and began eating the pellets. Now cooing in satisfaction as Fluttershy used her free hand to brush her fingers against its head and stomach.
Fluttershy smiled and watched as Pidgey finished the last pellet. “So, can I count on you as a member of my team?”
Pidgey gave a salute with its wing and puffed out its chest, to which Fluttershy giggled because it was so cute. Bulbasaur jumped in, startling Pidgey, and rubbed its face up against Pidgey’s body, ruffling its feathers and greatly disturbing it. Fluttershy pulled Bulbasaur away from Pidgey and let it preen its feathers back into a tidy and smooth arraignment.
Lost in thought, Fluttershy accidently said out loud, “I know how that’s like. Preening yourself is never very fun.” Both Bulbasaur and Pidgey gave Fluttershy a really confused look. “Oh, um… never mind. Anyways,” trying to change the subject “My name is Flutter…. I mean, Fauna. And this here is Bulbasaur. I hope we can all get along and be good friends” She said, patting Bulbasaur on the head.
Bulbasaur got the hint and decided to ignore Fluttershy’s strange comment, though Pidgey kept turning it over in its head while slowly returning to preening itself. After it finished, Pidgey flapped itself on top of Fluttershy’s head and sat itself comfortably on her hat. It was strange, but she didn’t dislike letting Pidgey stay there for now as they continued on down the path and into the woods. She also decided to keep Bulbasaur out for now because he was extremely energetic and needed to burn off some energy, of which he was doing in excess, running around her in circles as she went along the path. It didn’t take long before Bulbasaur wore itself out and began getting thirsty. Fluttershy pulled out the water bottle in her pack, and realized that it was empty. There was also a sticky note attached to the bottom of it that Fluttershy took off and read.
“Humans have a bit more sensitive stomach than ponies, Pokémon, and animals. You’re going to need to learn to find relatively clean water sources and use the water purifier that is in your pack. So consider this is part of your survival tutorial.” The note ended with Discord’s little doodle of his face again.
Fluttershy sighed and pulled out the water purifier. It was a small little pump with an input tube and an output tube on the side and bottom of the shaft. It also had another sticky note attached to the side.
“Step one, find a lake, pond, river, or stream.” Fluttershy read, then looked up at Pidgey. “You’re from around here. Know where I can find a lake, pond, river, or stream?”
Pidgey took off into the trees. Fluttershy and Bulbasaur followed as quickly as they could. Every time Pidgey got too far ahead, it perched itself on a tree branch and waited for them to catch up. They were going pretty far off of the beaten path, but after about ten minutes, Fluttershy could hear the river. Moreover, there was a waterfall nearby. Pidgey led them out of the trees onto another pathway along the edge of a river. Bulbasaur jumped in to a shallow area and feverishly gulped down mouthfuls of water. Pidgey was content to just sit on a rock and bathe in the afternoon sunlight. Fluttershy hopped onto a bolder at the water’s edge and pulled out the water bottle and purifier again. As she sat down on the warm surface of the rock, Bulbasaur came running up from the water and shook itself dry before plopping down and soaking up the sun. Fluttershy smiled at her two new friends and was about to try and figure out the purifier, when she heard the sound of an approaching bicycle.
“Hello.” Said the girl on the bike as she came to a stop near Fluttershy. She looked to be another trainer. She had orange hair which was kept in a ponytail to one side, and she wore a yellow shirt and blue shorts with suspenders. “What are you up to?”
Fluttershy tried her best to not sound nervous. “I’m just trying to figure out this water purifier.” She said quietly, holding it up and doing her best to smile, though tempted to hide her face.
The girl propped the bike on its kickstand and looked over at Fluttershy. “You must not be use to traveling like this if you haven’t used it before. Are you a new trainer or something?”
Bulbasaur gave Fluttershy an encouraging smile which calmed her down a little. “Yes, I just started on my journey this morning.”
“Well here, let me show you how to use that.” The girl said, walking over to Fluttershy. She sat down near the water’s edge next to Fluttershy and patted Bulbasaur on the head. “I’m guessing this little guy is you’re starting Pokémon, and you must have just caught that Pidgey, am I right?”
“Yes.” Fluttershy said, stroking Pidgey’s underbelly with the back of her index finger. “Pidgey is the first new friend that Bulbasaur and I made.”
“Well, how about I be the second new friend that you’ve made today.” The girl smiled and held out her hand for the pump. “My name is Misty.”
Fluttershy handed Misty the pump and the water bottle. “I’m Fauna. It’s nice to meet you Misty.”
Misty quickly put one of the tubes into the water, and the other tube into the bottle. “Basically, this tube sucks up water and that water gets filtered in the cylinder here. You pull the pump handle up to suck in water, then push it back down to make it come out this other tube here. Make sure that you keep the output tube clean, and that’s basically all there is to it.” Misty said, giving it a few pumps, then handing it back to Fluttershy to finish filling the bottle. “So, where are you coming from?”
“Oh, um…” Fluttershy thought for a second as she capped the bottle and put it, and the purifier, back into her pack. “I’m from Pallet.”
“Then you must be heading to Viridian City, right?” Misty said, pulling out a collapsible fishing rod from her own backpack.
Fluttershy nodded. “That’s right. Although, I’m not sure which way to go from here.”
“That’s an easy one.” Misty smiled. “Just follow this path in that direction.” She pointed to the right. “That’ll take you right to Viridian. It’s about an hour away on foot.”
“Thank you Misty.”
“No problem. So,” Misty said as she pulled out an odd fishing lure that looked like a little toy of herself. “Are you taking the Pokémon league challenge?”
Bulbasaur excitedly jumped up into Fluttershy’s lap and nodded at Misty. “Bulba! Bulba!”
Fluttershy placed her hand on Bulbasaur’s head and smiled. “That’s the plan I guess.”
“Well, your Bulbasaur seems pretty excited about it at least.” Misty laughed. “Believe it or not, I happen to be a gym leader myself.”
Fluttershy looked astonished for a moment. “Really?”
“Well, maybe not exactly.” Misty admitted. “My older sisters and I run the water Pokémon gym in Cerulean city. They’re the real gym leaders, for now. But I’m unquestionably the better water Pokémon trainer amongst the four of us. And right now, I’m on a journey to become an even better water Pokémon trainer. They can keep their swimming shows, but someday, I’ll be the true gym leader in Cerulean city.”
“Wow. That’s a great goal Misty.” Fluttershy said, admiring the determination in Misty’s voice.
“How about you?” Misty asked. “What’s your goal as a Pokémon trainer?”
Fluttershy thought for a second. “Well, I’m taking the Pokémon league challenge, so I guess getting eight badges would be the natural goal.”
“Not at all.” Misty interrupted. “The Pokémon league challenge is the big tournament that is held at the Indigo Plateau. Getting the badges is just to qualify. If you want to set yourself a lofty goal, why not aim for the top?”
“I guess I could try my best.” Fluttershy said, twiddling her thumbs. “But I don’t think I would stand that much of a chance.”
Misty placed her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder to reassure her. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I bet you’d have a lot of fun trying. Goals aren’t always about reaching a destination, but rather the journey that trying for it takes you on. My goal is to be the world’s number one water Pokémon master. In all likeliness, that might never happen. But if I keep aiming for that goal, I’m sure to see a lot of different water Pokémon, learn new things and grow as a trainer. I might never get to actually be the best, but I will always try my best to be, and that’s good enough.”
“That makes sense.” Fluttershy perked up, her eyes sparkling with encouragement. “So, I guess that my goal would be to do my best in the Pokémon league. I can try to win, and even if I don’t, I’ll still give it my all.”
“Exactly,” Misty said, with a smile. “And don’t forget that your Pokémon will be doing their best too. You’re never alone on a Pokémon journey.” Misty smiled to herself as she thought of her Pokémon, then cast her line out into the water.
“Well,” Fluttershy said, standing up with Bulbasaur in her arms. “I’d better be on my way then. I want to get to Viridian as soon as possible, while I’m still feeling really motivated. Thank you so much Misty.”
“You’re very welcome Fauna.” Misty said, waving goodbye with a smile. “Oh, and when you challenge the Cerulean gym, tell them Misty sent you.” She laughed.
“I will.” Fluttershy waved back, walking down the path that Misty had pointed her on. Not just Gary and the Professor, but now Misty. Fluttershy was feeling really good about herself today, as she had made new Pokémon friends, a couple of human friends, and she was growing progressively more confident. In fact, she felt so good that she couldn’t just walk. Returning Pidgey and Bulbasaur to their balls, Fluttershy adjusted the straps on her backpack and began to slowly jog.
Walking had become easy enough, but moving her legs faster made things more of a challenge, and Fluttershy was determined to get the hang of it. She found herself going faster and faster until she was at a brisk jog going down the path, this way and that, nearly tripping on a few of the bumps and occasional stone sticking out of the dirt. The trees began to pass by quickly and her lungs kept demanding more air, but despite almost stumbling a bunch of times and the fast short breaths, she wanted to feel the wind on her face and kept running. She felt herself longing for her wings, to ignore the fear of falling and just soar into the open air for a while. However, exhaustion finally stayed her feet and made her rest against a tree. To her surprise however, she had found that she had made greater distance than she would have expected.
Wresting against one of the last trees of this patch of forest, at the top of a hill no less, Fluttershy looked both ways. Looking out over where she came from, she could see the tops of trees over a wide expanse, and ghosted hills bordering the horizon. Looking down the path she had yet to travel, she could see another open field leading to another patch of trees. Beyond that, she could see out in the distance what she assumed to be Viridian City. From what she could tell, it was very large, with numerous white high-rise buildings. A city unlike anything she had seen before. Manehattan had more skyscrapers than high-rises, and there were more unique individual buildings, whereas Viridian looked more uniformed. And that the high-rises were all white made the city very bright in the distance, with the sun aimed right at them from this angle.
Admiring the view, Fluttershy took out the water bottle and drank about half of it. Placing it back into her pack, she stood up and brushed herself off, then made her way down the path once again, singing to herself a song she didn’t know, but the words just kept coming to her.
“~Till the end I will be with you, we will go where our dreams come true, all the times that we have been through, you will always be my best friend.~”
She kept singing through the field and into the next forest, thinking of her Pokémon, and everypony else back in Equestria. She couldn’t wait to tell them about her day in this world. Lost in her thoughts and song, she didn’t notice until now that there hadn’t been any Pokémon or animals in the field or the forest.
“Wait a minute.” Fluttershy said to herself, stopping and listening for the slightest sound. “This doesn’t feel normal.” Pulling out Pidgey’s ball, she called him out and asked. “Is this normal for the area? It doesn’t seem like there’s any animals or Pokémon here at all.”
Pidgey listened, and heard something that Fluttershy could not. Suddenly in a panic, Pidgey grabbed one of the straps on Fluttershy’s backpack and beat its wings to pull her down the path. Taking the hint, she started running as fast as she could, following Pidgey as it led her through the forest as fast as it could get her to follow. The sky gradually got darker over the course of the next few minutes and it began to rain hard. But the weather didn’t seem to be what had Pidgey spooked. After several minutes of running through the rain, Fluttershy emerged from the forest into the suburbs of Viridian, but Pidgey didn’t stop leading her farther and farther away from the forest.
“Hey, you! What’s the hurry?” Came a concerned, yet commanding female voice.
Fluttershy stopped and Pidgey flew onto her shoulder and hid itself from the rain under her hair.
“My Pidgey was leading me through the forest and seemed to want us to get away from something really fast.” She said, turning to face the person who called out to her. It was an adult woman who was wearing a sort of blue and red uniform with white gloves, green hair and red lipstick.
“A Pokémon’s senses are always right. How about you dry off in the station while this storm blows over.”
Fluttershy followed the woman to a small station building. Wondering if she should even go in, she practically jumped through the doorway when the first bolt of lightning flashed in the sky with a loud thunder clap to follow.
“Here you go.” The woman said, handing Fluttershy a little towel.
Now that she got a good look at her, Fluttershy remembered a little of what the Professor had told her and realized that this was an officer Jenny. There are two very well-known and distinct families in this world, the Jenny and the Joy families. Joys are all red haired women who more often than not, end up working as Pokémon center nurses. Their family traits are so strong, that you can hardly tell the difference between them, and it doesn’t help that they all have the same name. The Jenny family is likewise the same in that respect. Looking the same, though different from the Joy family, and using the same name throughout the generations. Instead of nurses however, the Jenny family tend to be police officers, usually the aces of the force. There is no family resemblance like that of an Officer Jenny or a Nurse Joy.
“This is quite the freak thunder storm.” Jenny said, leaning against her desk and grabbing her coffee cup. “Where are you coming from anyway?”
“I’m from Pallet.” Fluttershy responded meekly. “I just started my Pokémon journey today.”
“That’s funny.” Jenny said, sipping her coffee. “You’re the third trainer from Pallet to come by here today.”
“So then Damian and Gary have already been here.” Fluttershy said to herself. “I must have missed seeing Gary when Bulbasaur led me off of the main road.”
“The first one looked like he was a bit of a punk, and the second was riding in the back of a car with a bunch of young women. I only met him because I had to give the driver a speeding ticket.” Jenny said, laughing a little at that. Lightning flashed again, making Fluttershy jump. “Is the weather always like this?” she asked.
“We do get occasional freak thunder storms every now and then, but they don’t last very long. But wouldn’t you already know that if you’re from Pallet?” Jenny inquired suspiciously.
“I am from Pallet,” Fluttershy quickly said, panicking and pulling out her trainer card and showing it to Jenny. “I’ve just never been to Viridian before. And I’m not very good with lightning.”
Jenny examined the card. “So, your name’s Fauna?” Fluttershy nervously nodded. Jenny casually scanned the barcode on the back of the card with a little scanner on her desk. The computer screen showed that it checked out. “Not that I ever suspected you of anything, but sorry for the third degree. Watch out though Fauna. There’ve been reports of Pokémon thieves in the area.” She said, handing the card back to Fluttershy.
“I will.” Fluttershy said, taking the card back and putting it away.
She looked out the window, just as a blinding flash of lightning, much larger than any one before it, erupted in the distance beyond the trees. Likely in the clearing between the two forest patches. And not more than a second later came a powerful thunder clap that literally shook the ground.
“Oh boy!” Jenny said, nearly spilling her coffee on herself. She quickly opened the door and looked out in the direction of that last bolt of lightning. “That was a doozy of a lightning strike. Hope none of the trees caught fire.”
Looking around curiously, Jenny noticed that the rain seemed to stop just as that lightning bolt had hit. The clouds even started to dissipate, as though the storm was only there to unleash that one bolt. A little sunlight peaked out from between the clouds and a rainbow started to form in the sky.
“It looks like the storm is over now. So, where are you heading to Fauna?”
Fluttershy walked out from the station. “I should probably check in at the Pokémon center and then make my way to Pewter. I couldn’t challenge the gym here in Viridian even if I wanted to as I am now. Maybe down the road though, when I get a few other badges.”
“Sounds like a good plan. Oh, and look here.” Jenny said, pointing to a poster on the sign board next to the station. “These are the two Pokémon thieves that we’ve been warned about. Their faces are a little dark in the pictures, but that’s them. Keep an eye out and keep your Pokémon safe.”
“Understood.” Fluttershy said, looking at the poster.
“And by the way,” Jenny said with a smile. Fluttershy looked curiously at her. “Welcome to Viridian City.” Jenny winked and gave Fluttershy a salute.
Fluttershy gave Jenny as big and warm of a smile as she could and said, “Thank you.” Then she turned down the road and started on her way to the Pokémon Center, practically skipping as she went. She felt so happy that she kept meeting such nice people.
As Fluttershy made her way through Viridian and towards the Pokémon center, she felt as though in a dream. Which, considering that she had to go to sleep to come to this world, could very well have been the case. All day she had met wonderful humans and seen extraordinary new animals. Progressively, she had even began to stop feeling shy or socially awkward at all. This dream mentality had made her uncharacteristically unafraid. The humans that she walked by on the streets didn’t feel to her as though the ponies of Equestria did. She didn’t feel as though their gaze was upon her or that they were judging her. She practically was skipping down the road with a smile on her face.
As she came nearer to the Center, she marveled at how massive it was. That, as well as the fact that it was the most unique building in Viridian. All around the city were uniform white high-rises, but the Pokémon center was a large half dome with a smaller red glass dome that served as the entrance hall. The architecture was unlike anything Fluttershy had seen before, as though the only point of its design was to be different. Or maybe all Pokémon centers are meant to be that way. She kept admiring the unique structure all the way through the front entrance and to the front counter.
“Hello and welcome to the Pokémon center.” Said the Nurse Joy from behind the counter. “How can we help you today?”
Fluttershy smiled. She had just met another really nice human today. Nurse Joy had a really warm smile and a genuinely welcoming voice. “I’m just passing through Viridian and I thought that I should get my Pokémon looked at while I was here.” She said, placing Bulbasaur and Pidgey’s Pokéballs on the counter.
“It’s good to see that you are making sure to visit the Pokémon center, even if it’s nothing serious. Be sure to keep that up on your journey.” Nurse Joy said, taking the Pokéballs and setting them on a tray. “This should only take a few minutes. Why don’t you have a seat while we take care of your Pokémon?” She finished, gesturing to the waiting area.
Looking over to the waiting area, Fluttershy noticed the call phones that the professor talked about. “Actually, would it be all right if I made a call first?”
Nurse Joy giggled to herself. “That’s what they’re there for. Go right ahead.”
With that, Nurse Joy took the tray back to the checkup room and left Fluttershy to her own devices. Fluttershy took out her Pokédex and sat down at one of the call phones. She picked up the phone off of the receiver and pressed the contact button on her Pokédex, then typed in the numbers listed under Professor Oak’s name.
The phone began to ring and Fluttershy waited. Then suddenly the screen came to life and showed Professor Oak as he said, “Hello.”
Fluttershy nearly jumped, since she didn’t expect to see the Professor, just hear him through the speaker in the phone like he had explained. “Hello Professor.” Fluttershy nervously said.
“Ah, Fauna. Looks as though you’ve made it to Viridian already, and with little trouble it seems. Good job.” Oak smiled.
“Thank you Professor. It looks like Gary and Damian have already been here as well.” Fluttershy blushed for being praised.
“Really? Well, you’re the first to have called me. Oh well, it doesn’t matter much. If they’ve already been there, then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Ash unfortunately had to leave just before that big electrical storm. I hope the boy is ok.” Oak said, scratching his chin.
“Oh yes, that was scary.” Fluttershy said. “I had only just gotten into Viridian when the lightning started. Oh, and I caught a Pidgey on my way here.”
Oak clapped his hands together. “That’s wonderful news. After seeing you in action in that match against my grandson, I knew that you were going to be great with your Pokémon. And Pidgey are an excellent fist catch for beginning trainers.”
“And it was Pidgey who pushed me to Viridian before the lightning started.” Fluttershy added.
“Ah yes.” Oak nodded. “Pokémon are far more attuned to nature than we humans are. Trust in your Pokémon’s senses.” Fluttershy nodded back. “Well then, I should be returning to work. But do call again when you reach the next town. Be sure to stay safe and have fun out there Fauna.”
“I will, Professor. Thank you.” Fluttershy said, waving to the screen as it clicked off. She hung up the phone and giggled for a moment, thinking in her head, “Twilight would have a field day figuring out all of these devices that the humans have made.” Then she thought, “She probably would have in Canterlot high if there weren’t more important things for her to do.”
She went over to the waiting area and sat down, passing the next couple of minutes thinking about the day that she’s had so far and how great this world was. She felt as though humans were much different from ponies and maybe that’s why she didn’t feel afraid in this world. Truly, in such a wondrous place with such happy and warm people, a place with such unique in interesting creatures as Pokémon, there couldn’t be any bullies, any terrifying evils threatening the world. Everyone is so kind.
“Thank you for waiting. You’re Pokémon are fighting fit.” Nurse Joy said, waking Fluttershy from her thoughts.
“Thank you so much.” Fluttershy said, walking up to the counter and taking her Pokéballs.
“My pleasure.” Nurse Joy smiled. “Be sure to come back anytime.”
And with that, Fluttershy left the Center and continued walking north, through Viridian. She continued thinking about how wonderful this place was, skipping along to the thought that she was in a place with no faults. But then something made her stop dead in her tracks. There was so much to take in throughout the day that it had nearly brushed passed her completely. She remembered what officer Jenny had said that hadn’t even registered until now.
Jenny’s words came back to her and ran through her head like a ton of bricks, “Not that I ever suspected you of anything, but sorry for the third degree. Watch out though Fauna. There’ve been reports of Pokémon thieves in the area.”
“Pokémon thieves?” Fluttershy thought. “That just couldn’t be. How could this perfect world have something like that?”
Suddenly, Fluttershy could hear the laughing of children. She looked up the street to see a little playground, where in there was a group of kids picking on a little girl and her brother standing between them. She saw herself, Rainbow and the bullies of her foalhood in that playground chanting their taunt. ‘~Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly.~’ She stepped backwards, breaking out in a cold sweat as though she was seeing the most horrifying thing imaginable unfold before her. Parents came and broke up the bullies, but then they started bickering amongst themselves. Add to it the siren that Fluttershy could faintly hear in the distance, letting everyone know that someone was breaking the law and that the police force was on it. Suddenly this glowing utopia that she had made this world out to be was crumbling before her. The veil was lifting and it became more apparent with every passing second that humans were no different from ponies. They looked different, but they were the same. There are good ones and there are bad ones, and as Fluttershy looked around at all of the faces in Viridian, the fog of her dream mind set clearing, she couldn’t tell anymore which one the people around her were. She started cowering into herself and hyperventilating until she just couldn’t take it anymore and broke off running as fast as she could to get away from the city. Every human face she saw, now looked to her as though another pair of judgmental eyes and she needed to get away from it all.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
The sun had begun to set and the sky was filled with the colors of twilight reflecting off of the clouds. Fluttershy had set up camp in the Viridian forest, far off of the beaten path, so as to avoid people passing through. She was sitting up against a tree with her knees hugged tight against her chest.
“I haven’t had a panic attack that bad since the Ponytones fiasco,” she said, nearly crying to herself.
“Bulba?” Bulbasaur said, nudging her hand with his nose.
Fluttershy patted Bulbasaur’s head and started thinking out loud. “Usually, I can’t handle being in front of others, but today felt different for the longest time. I mean, I don’t doubt that the Professor and Gary, Misty, officer Jenny and Nurse Joy were nice people, but I was such a feather brain and got swept up in everything that’s happened today, I didn’t even notice how similar everyone is to the people that I’m used to being around. It’s great that I wasn’t shy and afraid all that time, but that just made it worse when I realized that this isn’t all just some perfect dream.”
“It’s not quite a dream at all,” came a familiar voice.
“Who’s there?” Fluttershy squeaked and stood up, to Bulbasaur’s confusion.
From behind her, Fluttershy could hear hoofsteps, yet for some reason Bulbasaur didn’t seem to notice.
“Well, it tis and it isn’t. And, you know me dear Fluttershy.” The voice said.
Fluttershy turned around and was awestruck to see none other than Princess Luna standing before her in all her mystifying glory.
Fluttershy rubbed her eyes to make sure they were not deceiving her. “How are you here, Princess?” she said, unsure if she should believe this vision.
Bulbasaur looked to where Fluttershy was gazing and saw nothing. Then looked up at Fluttershy and wondered if she was ok.
“This may be a world outside of our own, but it is, at the same time, your dream.” Luna said, looking over Fluttershy. “However, I must confess that I have never seen a human before. I haven’t been needed in Twilight or Spike’s dreams as of yet, and theirs are the only Equestrian eyes that have seen such things. This form you now take is rather, intriguing.” Luna looked down at Bulbasaur with equal intrigue but held it back to point out, “Though I may only appear before your eyes in this world, as you are the only one here who is dreaming from our own.”
Fluttershy looked down at Bulbasaur and nervously said, “How about we get some sleep?” While placing Bulbasaur’s ball down for him to go in. Bulbasaur was reluctant to leave Fluttershy alone, but decided that she may just need to sleep and went into his ball. Fluttershy then turned back to Luna. “So, what brings you here?” she asked meekly.
“I could tell that your dream, or rather your experience in this reality had turned into a nightmare for a time. Is everything alright? Furthermore, what are you doing in another world such as this?” Luna said with a curious look.
“I wanted to go on an adventure, like Twilight had, and Discord helped me get here. When I go to sleep here, I’ll wake up back in Equestria.” Fluttershy said, sitting back down.
“That would explain this dream that tis not a dream. And is everything alright here?” Luna said, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder as everypony seems to feel the need to lately.
“I just realized how similar humans are to us.” Fluttershy said, curling up her legs against her chest again. “This morning, I was really shy, as usual. But as the day went on, I kept meeting such wonderful and kind people. I started to think that it was just the way this world is, and I felt great being in that sort of world, where I didn’t have to worry about my childhood trauma of being bullied and picked on. I didn’t think I would have to worry about villains and monsters, but it turns out that I probably do, I just haven’t met them yet.”
“I must apologize to you, dear Fluttershy.” Luna said, to Fluttershy’s surprise. “Had I not turned into Nightmare Moon, I would have been there in yours and many other pony’s nightmares throughout the years, helping them to overcome them and not let things such as trauma at foalhood fester for so long. My sister could raise the moon, but could not protect the dreams of our subjects. Thus, neither she nor I could have been there for you when these things were happening. As it stands now, your fears and torments are rooted too deep, and I cannot help with a simple intervention.”
Fluttershy chimed in, “You don’t have to apologize for that. And, I’m getting better, thanks to my friends. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have even had the courage to start this journey.”
Luna looked at Fluttershy with remorse in her eyes. “It is not just you, but many ponies who needed me in my absence. However, if you are determined to make this journey, as I suspect you are, feel free to call on me if you feel the need to talk. I do not believe that today will be the only time that you will encounter such an instance. And, as while you are here, you are also dreaming, I can be there for you when you need of me.”
“Thank you, Princess.” Fluttershy said to Luna, who had already disappeared.
Curling up in her sleeping bag, Fluttershy thought about what her next time in this world would bring. Aside from her little episode, today was a great day. But the next time would definitely be a different experience. She wouldn’t be able to look at humans the same way as today. They would be no different from the ponies of Equestria. At least she knew that she could handle being in public, however interacting with them will be different. She racked her brain over this until she finally went to sleep, waking up back in Equestria.
Fluttershy rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned as the sunrise started to pour light through the crack in her curtains. At first, she tried to recall what had happened in the other world, but found it difficult to do so. Just like any dream, the memories were faint and felt as though they were fading as she became more and more awake. She got out of bed and fell over onto the floor, having tried to walk upright on her hind legs.
“Oof!” Fluttershy exhaled as she landed on the ground. “I guess I must have gotten used to having hands and feet.” She said, rubbing her muzzle, which was the first part of her to hit the floor.
She stretched out her limbs as her mind got re-accustomed to her pony body. The weirdest feeling was that of having wings again, as well as not having fingers. Going over to the curtains, she opened them and let the morning light flood in. She looked down at the silver chain around her neck and watched as it sparkled in the sunlight. Then she trotted over to her nightstand and placed the chain into the drawer. The memories of that other world started to become gradually clearer as the minutes passed and she made her bed. Suddenly, there was a crash downstairs. Quickly, Fluttershy opened her door and looked downstairs to see if her animal friends were in trouble. It was in fact Angel bunny who had knocked over a stool while hopping away from a very Discord looking fox.
“Discord!” Fluttershy said in a scolding mother sort of tone. Angel bunny frantically hopped up the stairs and hid behind Fluttershy’s leg. “Just what do you think you are doing, mister?”
Poofing back to his original form, Discord nervously laughed and put the stool back up. “We were just having a rousing game of tag,” he said, then quickly changing the topic, “How was the first day of your other world adventure by the way. Just as you wanted, you were there all on your own. I didn’t even so much as peak into how it was going, but I do want to hear all about it. Did you choose to become a trainer?” He said, poofing a Pokéball into his paw, “Because I was so hoping that you would.” As he said this, a red beam sucked Angel into the ball, which Discord then dropped to the floor and it opened up, letting Angel out and scampering into the kitchen.
More focused on the question rather than Discord’s antics, Fluttershy fidgeted, “Oh… well, umm, I think I did. I’m actually having trouble remembering much of what happened.”
Suddenly, now beside Fluttershy, Discord lay on the stair railing and shrugged. “That’s to be expected. It was your first time after all. It’ll all come back to you soon. I assume that you also feel a bit strange to be back in a pony form as well.”
Fluttershy unfurled one of her wings, stretched it out and looked back at it. “Well, a little bit.”
“Perfectly natural.” Discord said, waving his talon hand, as though to brush away concern. “First time shape shifters who transform into something completely different from themselves,” he said, turning into a cat and hopping on top of Fluttershy’s head, “have to deal with the same sort of sensation during their first transmorphic experience,” he then turned into a hat which retained his eyes and mouth, “when they take on a new shape or return to their original form,” and finally transforming back into himself, downstairs on the sofa, “after spending enough time in that form to have gotten used to it. The awkwardness of swapping forms goes away with experience. A few more nights of becoming a human in another world, then returning to this one to be a pony, and the transition will become as natural to you as anything else.”
Walking down the steps, still getting used to having hooves and walking on all fours again, Fluttershy asked, “And what about the memories of that world? Will it always be this disorienting?”
“The same thing applies to that as well,” Discord said, leaning back and resting his head on his paw and talon. “Your mind is still not sure how to take the memories of that world. Since your dreams are being used as your way into it, it’s a bit tricky for you to register it as anything else but a dream. It shouldn’t take more than an hour for your subconscious to sort it out, and just like with the body change, it will get easier and quicker with experience.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy sighed. “That’s a relief.” Fluttershy looked over at the mirror and noticed how incredibly messy her main was. “Goodness. I should probably wash up before anything else. Maybe I’ll remember enough to tell you about it when I’m done.”
Looking at his wrist, as though he had a watch on, discord said, “And I’d stick around to hear all about it, but I’ve got some chaos to attend to. I’ll be there when you tell the rest of your friends.”
Fluttershy gave him a stern look. “What are you up to?”
“Oh nothing much.” Discord said, scratching the back of his head. “I just made Celestia’s morning coco powder taste like chili powder, and she’s about to have a cup.”
Her stern look subsided to make way for a look of surprise. “Isn’t that just a little bit childish for you. I mean, that’s still not very nice, but I was expecting something a little more… well, chaotic,” she shrugged.
Discord slumped a little bit. “I’m reformed, but I’m still the spirit of Chaos. I spread it wherever I can without causing any real harm, but with certain individuals, I have to use kid gloves. Most of all when playing with Celestia,” he said, crossing his arms grumpily. “Still, the look on her face as she takes that first sip should be enough for a good chuckle,” perking up at the thought, he disappeared with the snap of his fingers.
Fluttershy shook her head. “I hope the Princess won’t be too upset,” she said to herself.
Drawing herself a hot bubble bath, Fluttershy lay back in the water, closed her eyes and let the tension in her shoulders melt away. The feel of the bath and the steam filled air seemed to be very mentally calming for her, and memories started to come back to her one at a time. The nice old professor and everything he taught her about that world, Gary, Damian, Misty, Bulbasaur and Pidgey. All of the wonder and excitement of that world came racing through her mind and brought a smile to her face. After soaking for about five minutes though, she suddenly remembered her panic attack and bolted upright in the tub. Holding her hooves close to her chest, she breathed heavily and did her best to calm down, remembering her talk with Princess Luna.
“That’s right,” she said to herself, pulling the plug and turning on the shower head for a few moments to rinse off the suds. “Princess Luna came to see me.”
She held her head under the shower head and let the water run over her mane and face, all the while, thinking about what Luna had said. How would her life had turned out if Luna had been there in her childhood nightmares, when the bullies were plaguing both her daily life as well as the dreams she had almost every night? Would she be more outgoing? Would she be brave?
As she thought this, Twilight’s words came back to mind. “The element of kindness could be no pony but you. And you’re also by far, the bravest pony I’ve ever met.”
Walking over to the mirror, she wiped off some of the steam and smiled. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. I am who I am, and maybe that’s not always a bad thing.”
Fluttershy emerged from the bathroom with her mane wrapped in a towel and her bathrobe on. There wasn’t much point to wearing a bathrobe other than the fact that she loved how comfy it felt in the morning. She spend the next few hours like any other day. Getting some breakfast, taking care of the various animals around her cottage, fluffing Angel’s tail.
“There you go Angel.” She said as the little bunny admired the well groomed fluff ball at the end of his rump.
There was a knock at the door and Fluttershy got up to see who it was.
“Well, good morning, Zecora.” Fluttershy pleasantly said to the zebra at the door, who greeted her with a smile.
“Morning greetings to you as well; you’ve had a good one, I can tell.” Zecora said, in her rhyming way, observing the happy glow that Fluttershy seemed to be emitting.
“Well, it’s been an interesting night and morning, to say the least.” Fluttershy said, once again reflecting on the events of her adventure.
“Sounds like you had a visit from the spirit of chaos; how you put up with it leaves me at a loss.” Zecora replied, looking around to see if Discord was anywhere.
Fluttershy giggled. “He’s not so bad,” to which Angel thumped his foot in protest. “In fact, he did me a really nice favor last night. He just likes to play with ponies in his own sort of way. I just hope Celestia isn’t too mad about him pranking her.”
Zecora laughed. “Like the animals, around you he is tame; speaking of which, I need more of the same,” she said, producing a glass jar from her saddlebag.
“You need more snake venom? I’ll go ask if they feel up to it today.” Fluttershy said, leading Zecora to the snake burrows.
Over the course of the past few weeks, Zecora has been trying to help a large creature from the Everfree with a toothache that it’s been having. But it was apparently so big that it needed very high strength pain killers made from snake venom. This was the third time in the passing weeks that Zecora had to come by and ask Fluttershy for help with milking the snakes. Since she can communicate with animals, she only needs to ask them for it, as long as they are in a helpful mood. Which they usually are for her.
After they got the venom, Fluttershy helped the snakes tidy up their burrow as thanks. Then she had tea with Zecora, who had brought some very exotic tea leaves to brew. After a while, Zecora left and Fluttershy was for the most part finished with everything she wanted to do that morning. It was about midday when she decided it was time to head over to the castle, and she didn’t know whether to be scared, nervous, or happy about what she had to tell her friends. It’s not that it was bad or anything, but she didn’t know how they would react. Would they be concerned for her, happy for her, or would they be upset because she is doing a fun adventure without them. Could she even bring them if they wanted to come with her? How would that even work? She could always ask Discord for more of those chains, but this was supposed to be her adventure alone. Not that she wanted to be possessive or anything, but the point was to push herself into having an adventure without her friends holding her hoof through the whole thing.
Fluttershy kept going back and forth about this in her head as she walked the path to the castle. It was really tearing her up inside. She kept jumping from one extreme thought to another. On the one hand she could see her friends being upset with her for not inviting them, then on the other hand, she thinks that they would never be upset over such a silly thing and they would be supportive. But as she always does, she kept psyching herself out by overthinking and jumping to the worst conclusions, even when a part of her is telling her that it’s ridiculous. By the time she got to the castle, she was a nervous wreck.
Standing at the base of the golden steps, Fluttershy took a moment to calm herself and looked up at the castle. In all honesty, the structure was rather tacky, but she would never say that out loud. And what’s worse was that it completely clashed with the esthetics of Ponyville, making it somewhat of an eyesore. In all honesty, if the tree that was holding up the crystal castle, was actually a tree, like Twilight’s old library, rather than crystal in the shape of a tree, it probably wouldn’t look that bad. Fluttershy shook her head at these thoughts. Normally she wouldn’t be so critical about such things, even in her own mind, but after seeing the Viridian Pokémon center, how massive and unique it was yet it didn’t clash with its surroundings, she could see by comparison that the castle had some shortcomings in design. As she finished her thoughts, Fluttershy was suddenly pulled back into reality when someone said her name.
“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, walking up to the castle with Pinkie. “Are you just going to look or are you going in with us?” she joked.
“Oh, good afternoon, girls. Did you have fun at the Bogeymare’s nightclub?” Fluttershy said, gingerly waving to the two of them.
Suddenly, Pinkie came bolting up and pulled Fluttershy’s face close to her own. “It was amazing! Though things got a little hectic when Richard showed up.”
Fluttershy looked over Pinkie’s shoulder at Rainbow. “Who’s Richard?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Apparently that’s what Pinkie calls the massive hydra that crashed the party. Luckily, Spitfire was there and the two of us teamed up and kept it busy while everypony got away. Then Princess Luna showed up and scarred it off. It was a pretty crazy night. Oh, and the Princess said that you had something to talk to us about. So, what’s up?”
“She did?” Fluttershy said, getting nervous and hiding behind her mane. “Well, actually, I need to tell all of you. I started something…. fun last night that I wanted to tell you all about.”
“Cool.” Rainbow said, opening one of the double doors to the castle. “Was it as fun as our night?” She joked, doubting it as she walked into the entrance hall.
“Oh, I certainly think so.” Fluttershy replied quietly to herself.
“… And then Spitfire looped around the two heads that I was distracting, with the third head right on her tail. I saw just what she was up to and bucked the fourth head so it would chase me. Then with one quick swoop through the last opening, we tied the hydra’s necks into one big knot. It stomped all around, trying to get its heads unstuck. By the time it was free, Soarin and Fleetfoot had already gotten everypony else a safe distance away, and it looked as though it would be a fight between the four of us and the hydra’s four heads. That’s when Princess Luna showed up, and with a few quick blasts from her horn, the hydra went running off with its tail between its legs.”
Pinkie chimed in after Rainbow had finished her story, “Boogie said that it was the most exciting birthday bash she’s ever had.”
“She would say that about the situation,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes. “I know that the Moondrop Glade is very special to her, and Celestia knows it’s a rather gorgeous location, but hosting her club in the forest near Hollow Shades is just asking for things like this to happen.”
“Maybe,” Applejack replied. “But in all the years that she’s done it, she ain’t never had any issues with the hydra. Something must've spooked it.”
“Apparently three kids were lost out in the forest and that’s what set it off. The Princess had the Wonderbolts search in formation above the trees while she and some batpony flew off to check around Foal Mountain,” Rainbow said, finally sitting down.
“Goodness,” Fluttershy said, raising a hoof to her mouth. “Were they able find the kids?”
“Of course they did,” Rainbow said, waving off Flutter’s concerns. “The Princess and the Wonderbolts were on it, so there’s no way that they didn’t find them. Naturally, I offered to help, but the Princess said it wasn’t necessary, so she clearly knew that they could handle it.”
“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy said, embarrassed, as though her concerns were completely unfounded.
“I’m about to make some Nachos, anypony want some?” Spike said, hopping out of his chair.
“OH! Meeeee!” Pinkie said, waving her hooves frantically. Everypony looked at her with raised eyebrows. “What? I haven’t eaten anything since we left Hallow Shades,” she shrugged.
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said.
“Please and thank ya, Spike,” Applejack added.
“None for me thank you,” Rarity said, then rubbed her chin. “Though, would you be a dear and get me a cup of tea while you’re up?”
“Anything for you, Rarity,” Spike cooed. He then looked to Fluttershy who politely declined, and then to Twilight who hadn’t looked up from her book the entire time and probably didn’t even hear Rainbow’s story. Spike shrugged and walked off to the kitchen.
“Sooooooo?” Pinkie Pie said, slinking over to Fluttershy’s seat and placing her arm around the back of Fluttershy’s neck. “What super, spectacular, mind blowing thing did you do last night, Fluttershy?”
At this, even Twilight looked up from her book. “What are you talking about Pinkie?” she inquired.
“Well,” Rainbow said, looking at Fluttershy and seeing how nervous Pinkie just made her. “Fluttershy apparently had some fun last night as well, and she wanted to tell us about it.”
Everypony looked at Fluttershy, who’s heart started pounding a mile a minute, until at last Rarity said, “Come now, don’t keep us in suspense.”
Fluttershy felt a lump in her throat, but fought through her nervousness. “Um, well, last night, Twilight and I were talking after the four of you left.”
Everypony’s gaze fell to Twilight now. “Fluttershy was upset because she didn’t feel like she deserved to be here, like the rest of us. I assured her otherwise, but that’s about all I know of what happened to her last night.”
Taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down, Fluttershy continued. “Well, what Twilight said really inspired me. I wanted to be strong and brave, like all of you, and go on an adventure of my own. So I asked Discord to send me to another world, another human world like where Twilight had gone to, so that I could go on an adventure on my own without anypony holding my hoof through it.
They all stopped and looked at Fluttershy with their mouths gaping open. This went on for a few minutes and every second of silence made Fluttershy that much more uneasy about it. Finally, after they had all processed what she had just said, they all said in unison, “What?!” except for Pinkie, who shouted, “I knew it!”
“You did?” Fluttershy looked at Pinkie, astounded.
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I had a hunch.” She said, cartwheeling back to her own seat.
“What all happened? What did you do? What was it like?” Rainbow said in rapid fire as she jumped out of her chair.
“Simmer down, sally,” Applejack said. “Just how is the poor filly supposed to answer ya if you don’t give her the time to do it?”
“Right.” Rainbow said, settling back down in her seat.
“Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity said. “You don’t need to throw yourself into danger and adventure to prove anything to anypony. Celestia knows we already do that enough as it is.”
“Oh, but I do Rarity,” Fluttershy said, a little more resonantly than she sounded before. “I need to prove to myself that I can be brave and that I can handle going on an adventure on my own. I’m still very shy and frightened all the time, but since I became friends with all of you, I think I’ve gotten better. And now I feel like I need to do this, for me.”
“Do this? You mean that you haven’t gone to that other world yet?” Twilight asked.
“I have.” Fluttershy replied, rubbing her foreleg nervously. “But I’m not done, and I won’t be for quite a while. Every night that I go to sleep, I’ll wake up in that world and continue my adventure. That’s how Discord set it up for me. I’ve got about eight months before the Pokémon League opening ceremonies, and I plan on competing.”
Ignoring that they don’t know what ‘Pokémon’ are, the thought of Fluttershy competing in anything of her own volition made them all drop their jaws a second time. After all, the only competition she’s ever been in was the Equestria Games, and Rainbow had to practically beg her to help out, since all other Ponyville Pegasi were already in different events. Everypony was taken back. The first to recover was Pinkie Pie, who pulled her tail up to her ear and listened intently.
Rarity looked at Pinkie’s odd display and had to ask, “What is it you’re doing Pinkie?”
“Not even I saw this coming. My Pinkie sense must be off.” Pinkie replied matter-of-factly, poking her tail in random places.
Rainbow Dash facehoofed and shook her head. “Pinkie Pie, you are so random.” Then coming back to her questions unanswered, she turned to Fluttershy and asked, “So, what happened there?”
Fluttershy looked nervously around. “Well, Discord said that he would be here to hear what happened as well.”
Twilight closed her book and placed it on the table. “In other words, you want to wait until Discord shows up. Is there anything you can tell us about things he probably already knows about all of this?”
“I suppose he knows about how that world works, since he set everything up for me. So I could explain that if you want.” Fluttershy said, hopefully. Twilight was rather interested in this and so for the next few minutes, Fluttershy did her best to shorten the explanation into an abridged telling of how the world of Pokémon works and what she’s gotten herself involved in.
About the time that Fluttershy had finished her explanation, Spike had come back into the room with a serving platter with a dome lid, as well as Rarity’s tea, which of course he presented to her first and foremost before setting the platter on the table.
“Now I think I understand how you could go into a competition like that. It does sound like something that you would be good at doing. What with your connection to animals, I’m sure that this ‘Pokémon training’ is something you’d be pretty good at.” Twilight said, still intrigued by this unique world that Fluttershy had been telling them about. “I think Discord found the perfect world to suit you and your request.”
“Speaking of, where is he anyway?” Rarity complained, sipping her tea. “I’m sure he knows that we’re waiting. Any thought’s Fluttershy?”
“When I last saw him, he said that he was pulling a prank on Celestia. But that was this morning, so I don’t know what could be keeping him.” Fluttershy said, looking around for the draconequus again.
Spike licked his lips, “Well, wherever he is, he’s going to miss out on,” he pulled the lid up and then shouted in terror, “MY NACHOS!!!”
In place of a plate of nachos was one of those tacky Discord lamps. Pinkie Pie and Spike fell to the floor and screamed up at the ceiling, “NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!!!”
Twilight poked the lamp. “Very funny, Discord. Now, can you turn back to normal so we can get on with Fluttershy’s story?”
The lamp didn’t move.
“Come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the lamp. “And bring back those nachos!”
Still the lamp gave no response.
“Um, gals. You sure that’s even Discord?” Applejack said, looking at the lifeless lamp.
Suddenly, there was a loud crunch at the doorway. “Indeed. Though it’s a rather charming lamp, I dare say that the real Discord is far more handsome.” Everypony turned to the doorway to see Discord munching on the plate of nachos. “And I must say that these are quite exquisite. You simply must give me your cheese sauce recipe, Spike. It’s got just the perfect amount of zing to it.”
“So then, you weren’t the lamp.” Rarity said, masking her amused smile by sipping some tea.
Discord poofed the nachos back in place of the lamp, to which Pinkie and Spike started wolfing down the cheesy chips at great speed. “Of course not. Clearly, that was expected, so I just had to do something else. Through the door is such a simple entrance, but sometimes a little misdirection is the best trick.”
“And what was this about you pulling a prank on Celestia?” Twilight said, accusingly.
Discord slouched with a grimace on his face. “Don’t get your horn bent out of shape.” He turned towards Fluttershy. “Can you believe that she drank the whole thing as though nothing was wrong!?”
Just then, Spike burped a letter. He unfurled it and read, “To that cheeky draconequus. Is that all you’ve got?”
The look on Discords face was priceless, and Rainbow couldn’t help but snort and fall back laughing hysterically. Everypony started laughing and even Rarity had to set her tea down, not knowing if she could concentrate on levitating it while holding back her laughter.
Discord waged his finger at the letter in Spike’s claws as though it was Celestia herself. “Of course you know, this means war,” he joked and cracked his knuckles. “Let’s just see how much controlled chaos you can handle, Celestia.”
He turned to march out of the doorway dramatically, but was stopped by Twilight clearing her throat. “That can wait, Discord. We’ve been waiting for you to get here so that we can hear Fluttershy’s story. Or are you not interested anymore?”
Poofing next to Flutters in a big, comfy recliner, Discord chomped on a claw full of popcorn and said, “Of course I’m interested. I just got a little distracted is all.” Then he glared at the letter. “But as soon as we’re done here, I’ve got some business to attend to.”
Fluttershy turned to Discord. “Oh please don’t do anything too bad.”
To Fluttershy’s surprise, Twilight said, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, let him have his fun. He’s been invited to try anyway. The princess can handle it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t egg him on.” Then she gave a menacing smile to Discord. “Besides, he won’t do anything worth being turned to stone again. Would you?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Discord said, almost in disbelief.
Twilight placed her hooves behind her head and leaned back. “You’re always giving me such a hard time. It’s nice to see somepony can do the same to you.”
“As riveting as this banter is,” Rarity interrupted. “I was hoping that we could hear Fluttershy’s story now.”
All eyes were now on Fluttershy, but she wasn’t nervous this time. The banter, the atmosphere, the general feeling of having laughed and smiled with her friends made all of those apprehensions go away. She wasn’t worried, and instead, smiled as she began to tell her friends about the start of her new adventure in the wondrous world of Pokémon.
Fluttershy had just finished the story of her day in the world of Pokémon, and everypony reacted in just about the same way as she anticipated.
“Why’d you run off all scared at the end there?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, you’re fine walking around in public in Equestria normally right? So if you realized that the humans were like ponies, why did that scare you so much?”
“I know.” Fluttershy said, rubbing her fore leg. “It’s just that, suddenly realizing that was really scary for me.”
“Well dear,” Rarity said, almost as confused about Fluttershy’s reaction as Rainbow. “It was a pretty slow reaction to the whole ‘Pokémon thieves’ thing.”
“I wasn’t really paying very good attention to it at the time. But it sank in later and I feel like such a feather brain for ignoring it up to that point.” Fluttershy said, drooping her head in shame.
“Come on y’all, give her a break. Why, if I were a betting pony, I’d say that y’all’d’ve been distracted by just about everything else goin’ on as well. Maybe there’d of been somethin’ else that you’d of overlooked.” Applejack said, walking over to Fluttershy’s chair and placing her hoof on her shoulder. “But yer’ doin’ a heap bit better now I’m sure.”
Perking up a bit, Fluttershy nodded and said, “Oh, yes. I’m over it now. And I want to try and be as friendly and outgoing as I was able to before, but it will probably be a little hard at first.”
Finally, Discord chimed in. “I for one am very proud of you Fluttershy. But then, I was proud of you the moment you asked for this little adventure.”
“For once,” Twilight said. “I agree with Discord. I never imagined that you’d try and put yourself into a situation like this, and at first I thought that you may have tried forcing yourself into something that you’re not ready for. But it looks like you do understand now. And the fact that you’re doing it for your own personal growth, I can’t help but support this. Just be careful.”
Pinkie Pie gasped loudly. “Discord! Can you send me to another dimension like Fluttershy? I bet there’s entire worlds made of candy and ice-cream.”
“As well as cake, cookies, and pie.” Discord said, juggling those three things into his mouth. “But this is a onetime only gift to Fluttershy. Given her reasons and the fact that she wouldn’t request this unless she was completely serious about it, how could I not oblige?”
“Now how in the hay are there worlds made of desserts?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “In my experience, pies, cakes, cookies, ice-cream and candies don’t make themselves.”
“Because guys like me, with the power to alter reality, thought it would be fun to change the rules a little bit.” Discord said, taking a bow.
Rarity gasped. “There’s other creatures like you?”
“But of course.” Discord said, waving off the question as though it were common knowledge. “There are an infinite number of realities, and all have at least one spirit of chaos of their own.” Suddenly changing his posture and holding his arms up in gestures as though he were on stage, Discord continued to say, in a poetic fashion, “For ‘We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems.’”
Twilight’s eyes sparkled in wonder. As much as he gets under her skin, Discords enchanting voice delivered the lines of this wonderful poem so elegantly that she couldn’t stop herself from saying in an elongated awe, “Beautiful.”
Everypony looked at Twilight with raised eyebrows, snapping her back to her senses. She quickly pulled her book up once more and dove right in to hide her embarrassed face.
“Well I can’t take the credit,” Discord said, returning to his comfy chair. “After all, I didn’t write it. But I must agree that it is a beautiful poem.”
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, beautiful. What does it mean exactly?”
“The short explanation is that it’s a poem about dreams and imagination, which is something that resonates well with me as those are the basis of my chaotic powers. The ability to skew the lines between dreams and reality, influencing the world around with the power of my imagination. Every world has a spirit of chaos because, as much as you would like to think otherwise, we are necessary. Without chaos, there are no dreams to be had, no imagination to create wonders, and all around no fun, just stagnant nothingness. True, I may get a little crazy sometimes, but you’d hate the world without me in it, whether you know it or not. And also, back to the worlds made of deserts. I’ve made cotton candy clouds that produce chocolate milk rain, if you recall. I don’t see how a world of desserts is that much farther of a stretch,” Discord shrugged.
“That’s true,” Fluttershy said, smiling at Discord. “When it comes to you, anything is possible.”
“I want to go to a world of desserts!” Pinkie yelled out enthusiastically, galloping over and clinging to discord like a little kid trying to get their parent to buy them something in the store.
Discord poofed out of Pinkie’s embrace and crossed his arms. “Sorry, but I’m not going to send ponies willy-nilly into random worlds.”
“That’s oddly responsible of you.” Twilight teased, looking over her book.
“Oh don’t read into it. I just don’t feel like putting in the effort.” Discord said, turning up his head, deliberately trying to discredit Twilights claim. And before she had the chance to tease him more for being embarrassed about being called ‘responsible’, he quickly added, “Anyways, it’s been fun, but there’s a certain princess who’s just asking for a little chaos.” And with a snap of his paw, he disappeared in an explosion of confetti, leaving in his place a red velvet cake with a note on top.
Pinkie Pie gasped excitedly and started scarfing down the cake. Twilight levitated the note over to herself and read aloud, “Not quite an entire world, but enjoy this cake all the same. Love, Discord.”
“That was sweet of him.” Fluttershy smiled and Pinkie nodded in agreement with a mouthful of cake and a face smeared with frosting.
After a few moments, Spike burped out another letter from the princess. Twilight scrunched up her nose and flailed her hoof at the air in front of her face, “EWWwww, Spike. Use some mouthwash. That smells like burned nachos.”
Spike nervously laughed and kicked the ground. “Sorry about that.”
Twilight unfurled the letter and quickly read it over, her face going pale as her magic dropped the scroll and she froze with her mouth agape.
Rarity picked up the letter with her own magic and read out loud. “The fiend has stolen my cake! On the off chance he happens to leave it with you, please don’t eat it.”
Pinkie Pie nervously swallowed the last bite of cake and looked at the tray with a nervous and guilty grin. “Oopsy.”
Rainbow held her hoof to her mouth, trying to contain herself, to no avail. Falling backwards and flailing her hooves every which direction, she laughed hysterically at Pinkie’s frosting covered guilty face. Rarity levitated a napkin to Pinkie’s face and wiped it clean.
“Well, this has been a rather, interesting evening. I do hope the princess is not too upset,” Rarity said, tossing the used napkin in the nearby waste basket.
Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t know. The princess really loves her cake. But if anything, she’ll just be a little upset with Discord for a bit, as long as he doesn’t do anything much worse.”
“In any case, I’ll be taking my leave now,” Rarity said, finishing off her tea and setting it elegantly back down on the table. “Oh, and Fluttershy, could I borrow you for an hour or so? I’d like somepony to model my new designs for some last few touch ups.”
“Oh, of course Rarity,” Fluttershy said, getting up to leave with her. She stopped for a moment and turned to the rest of her friends. “And thank you all for listening to me and understanding.”
“Sure thing sugar cube,” Applejack winked.
“We’re proud of you Fluttershy,” Twilight added.
“Just be sure to keep us in the loop,” Rainbow said, walking over to Fluttershy and nudging her in the side. “I want to hear all about the awesome things you do over there.”
“Me too!” Pinkie Pie said, quickly glomping Fluttershy.
Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Spike?” she said.
“Yes Fluttershy?” Spike said, walking over to her.
“Would you mind writing a letter to the princess for me?” She asked.
“No problem,” Spike smiled and quickly grabbed a quill and some parchment.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy began. “I know we’re done writing friendship reports to you, but I wanted to share something that I’ve just learned. It’s great to have friends by your side when you need them, but there are times that you need to learn to grow on your own. However, even in those times, true friends will always understand, and offer moral support in what it is you need to do. I feel like the luckiest mare in Equestria, because I have friends that are always looking out for me, whether I need them by my side, or to stand back and be that moral support, they’re always there for me. They give me the strength I need to face my trials with my head held high. Your faithful subject, Fluttershy. P.S. Sorry about the cake. It was gone before we knew it was yours.”
Spike sent the letter and everypony just stared at Fluttershy for a moment with big smiles on their faces. Fluttershy blushed and followed Rarity out of the castle and to her boutique. Upon entering her studio, Rarity jumped and laughed nervously.
“Do forgive the mess,” She said to Fluttershy, quickly levitating a few things back into place. “I was in the zone, and didn’t quite realize how bad it had gotten.” She looked at a pile of fabrics, unrolled and heaped up on her bed, and grimaced. “Though I can’t say I recall it being THIS messy.”
“That’s ok Rarity,” Fluttershy smiled. Rarity began quickly rolling up several bolts of fabric from her bed when Fluttershy noticed something in the pile. “Oh my,” She simply said, getting Rarity’s attention right away.
Underneath one of the layers of fabric that Rarity had just rolled up were two little white hind legs, frantically flailing around.
Rarity groaned. “Sweetie Belle,” She said, grabbing hold of one of the legs with her magic and pulling the incredibly hyper filly from the pile. “Are you the reason my studio is this messy?”
“Of course not.” Sweetie said, almost too fast to understand. She started moving her legs really fast, as though trying to gallop in midair. “I mean, I probably didn’t help while I was playing around, waiting for you to get home, but it was already a mess when I got here.”
“Sweetie, dear. Why are you so hyper right now?” Rarity said with a confused look at her floating, rambunctious little sister.
“Hyper? I’m not hyper. Well, maybe just a little,” Sweetie Belle said, still almost too fast to discern her words. “Pinkie let us try this new candy that she’s working on when we saw her at the train station. She said it’s the most energy inducing thing she’s ever tried to make. Honestly, I don’t notice anything. Am I hyper right now? Hey, why is the room spinning?”
“Because you’re flailing around while I have you levitated by one leg.” Rarity said, setting the spinning Sweetie Belle down and bolting all over the floor, running this way and that. “Remind me to have a talk with Pinkie about the amount of sugar she lets Sweetie Belle have when she visits,” she said to Fluttershy, who nodded in agreement.
Rarity tried to ignore Sweetie Belle’s running around and went straight back to tidying up, feeling that Sweetie really needed to burn off the energy anyway.
“Hey Fluttershy. Whatcha doing here?” Sweetie Belle said, now running in circles around Fluttershy.
Fluttershy looked down at the circling ball of energy and adorableness and giggled a little. “I’m here to help Rarity with her new designs.”
Suddenly, Sweetie stopped running and instead started jumping up and down really fast. “Ooh! Ooh! You’re here to model for her? I want to model too! I can be pretty enough to be a model, right? Rarity, please?”
“Why of course you are Sweetie.” Rarity said, smiling at her adorable little sister. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any filly size dresses to work on right now. Not that I have any confidence in your ability to stay still at the moment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sweetie Belle said, trying to stand still in defiance to the statement, only to prove Rarity’s point when she started bouncing up and down again after only a second.
“Precisely that,” Rarity nodded. “Now, would you mind playing outside for a little bit so that Fluttershy and I can work? Celestia knows that you need to burn off that energy before bed.”
“Yeah!” Sweetie yelled, galloping out the door.
“Why in Equestria would Pinkie need to make something that gets somepony that hyper?” Rarity sighed.
Fluttershy laughed, then paused for a moment. “It’s strange.”
“What is dear?” Rarity replied, grabbing her current line of projects.
“I honestly don’t know what I was expecting would happen when I told everyone about what I’m doing, but things just seem to be the same as before. Everything is normal.”
Rarity gave a warm smile. “Did you want things to change in some way?”
“No, not at all. I mean, that was what I was afraid would happen.” She said, shaking her head.
“Well, aside from looking forward to seeing how you learn and grow from the experience, how would things have changed between us? We are still your friends, and we’ve been through a lot of abnormal things together,” Rarity laughed. “If anything, I think that we all know by now that the best thing to do is to return to business as usual. Take whatever needs our attention as it comes, and not continue to fuss over it unnecessarily. Besides, we trust in you to be ok. And of course, if you need us for anything, we’re all here for you.”
“Thank you Rarity.” Fluttershy said with an almost tearful smile.
For the next hour and a half, Rarity had Fluttershy trying on various dresses and making adjustments to them as she saw fit, just as usual. Fluttershy was happy to be able to keep her sense of normalcy, even with her grand adventures to come. When Celestia began to set the sun and she made her way back to her cottage, she felt excited again to be going back to the world of Pokémon, because she knew that Equestria, her home, was right here for her to come back to.
Quickly taking care of her animal friends and making sure they were all ready for the night, Fluttershy went straight to bed with the chain around her neck and found herself almost immediately waking up, back in the Viridian forest. Her sleeping bag was designed for it, so the water hadn’t soaked through at all, but her face, having been exposed all night, was now damp with the morning dew. She wiped her face of it while getting used to having hands and fingers again, as well as rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was a rather strange sensation, having just gone to sleep in Equestria, and feeling fully rested here in Kanto. It wasn’t disorienting though. It really felt as though she had slept all night and was waking up refreshed, because that’s exactly what this body had done.
Yawning, she stretched herself out and did her best to get her mind to register the change. Gaining and loosing body parts still felt so strange. She looked around at the sparkling forest around her. The green grass, bushes, and trees, still had the morning dew upon them as well. She shook the dew from her sleeping bag, which wicked off so effortlessly, and rolled it up. Packing it away and changing her clothes, she had a breakfast of an apple and a granola bar from her pack, and she fed Bulbasaur and Pidgey their Pokémon food. All in all, it was a very peaceful and quiet morning. After a little while, as the dew became the morning fog, Fluttershy stood up with her pack on and stretched.
“We should be off.” She said, peering through the fog to find the path.
It was actually still very early. The sun had yet to peek above the distant mountains, but the sky was bright enough to be considered morning. Bulbasaur and Pidgey looked to be very tired, and Fluttershy realized that they probably should still be getting a couple of hours more of sleep.
“You two can keep resting in your Pokéballs,” She said, withdrawing them and placing the balls back in her pack. “I suppose I’m an even more early bird in this world than in Equestria.”
With that, Fluttershy made her way to and down the path from Viridian to Pewter. Doing her best to recall what she had learned the day prior, she didn’t notice the odd groans coming from ahead until she was close enough that the fog wasn’t in the way. Looking up in a tree, overhanging the path, two figures were tangled in the branches, with some sort of deflated hot air balloon lying atop another tree nearby. Her first instinct was to run up to them and try to help, but once she got close enough, she stopped dead in her tracks, white as a ghost.
“Quiet, James. Someone’s here.” The red haired woman said.
“Oh?” James said, looking down at Fluttershy. “You’re right, Jessie.” Then to Fluttershy, “Would you mind helping us get down?”
Fluttershy let loose a high pitched scream that she had been holding in since the moment she recognized the thieves from the poster, and then bolted down the path so fast, Rainbow would have been proud.
“What’s the deal?” James said, as Fluttershy ran away.
“I’d scream too if it was my first time looking at your ugly mug.” Meowth said, popping out of the leaves. “We don’t need her anyways. I’ll have you two out in a jiffy. Just remember, I’m the top cat.”
“We know.” Jessie and James groaned in unison.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy had already made it way out of sight, but she didn’t stop running until her legs grew heavy and her lungs were on fire. She made her way off of the path and a little ways into the trees, in case the Pokémon thieves tried to follow her, then collapsed down on the grass, panting heavily, though trying to be quiet about it. After a few minutes, Fluttershy heard a noise. An odd noise that, if she was right, sounded like two small Pokémon, battling. She weakly got to her feet and headed towards it.
Before long, she stumbled onto a battle between two different types of worm like bug Pokémon. It appeared as though they were fighting over some food that was lying on the ground nearby. This was a clash that she was all too familiar with, back with her animal friends, and one that she was quick to instinctively resolve. As she approached and they noticed her, they scattered and hid in the bushes. Fluttershy didn’t pay any mind to that as she grabbed two handfuls of Pokémon food from her pack and placed them down in separate little piles for them.
“There’s no need to fight over something when you can share.” Fluttershy said in their direction.
Having done what she meant to, Fluttershy lay back down on the grass, her legs still heavy and weak. At first they did nothing but stare at her. But after a few moments, curiosity got the better of one and it went to go inspect one of the piles. The other followed to the second pile, but proceeded with more caution. Fluttershy closed her eyes and smiled at how easy it was to defuse the fight. But she didn’t let her guard down, listening intently to everything around her for the slightest sign that the Pokémon thieves were following her. The breeze rustled the leaves of the trees ever so slightly, but the sound of birds and bird Pokémon in the distance put her at ease. All these sounds were natural. She concluded that they hadn’t followed her.
Suddenly, an odd feeling started to crawl up both her arms and she was broken from her thoughts. Looking at her outstretched arms on the grass, she found that both of the bug Pokémon had finished their food and had climbed onto her. She didn’t mind at all though. Instead, smiling at the two of them.
“Do you two want to be my friends?” She asked. Both of them made their buggy noises, which seemed to mean ‘yes’. “Well,” She said, pulling out two empty balls, “There’s plenty of room on my team.”
Enlarging the balls, she placed them down on the ground and smiled. She readied herself to act, in case they tried to do what the Rattata had done yesterday, but to her delight, the two worm Pokémon crawled right into the balls without even hesitating. Neither ball wiggled for even a single moment, for the instant they closed, the metallic ding sounded and they lay still.
Fluttershy picked up the balls, which shrunk in her hands, and giggled to herself. “I guess the early bird really does get the worms.” She joked.
Though she wanted to call them out of their balls and see what the Pokédex had to say about them, she decided to do that later, since she thought that it would be prudent to find a spot to train her Pokémon a little anyway. They were on their way to Pewter to challenge a gym after all, and it was only maybe one or two days away. That doesn’t leave too much time to prepare. So Fluttershy set out. Now that the sun was showing over the mountains in the distance, and she had climbed a tree to look for it, she knew which way was north, and decided to head that way through the woods, rather than take the path. She didn’t know if the thieves were going to head north or south, and she didn’t want to run into them at all if she could help it. Keeping to the direction she had chosen for a few hours, Fluttershy emerged into a small clearing that had some large boulders around it.
“Perfect,” She exclaimed, resting up against one of the boulders and pulling out her four full Pokéballs. “Come on out everyone.” She said, tossing all four into the air, failing to catch a single one of them after they released their Pokémon. “I’ve got to work on that,” She blushed while picking them up off of the ground.
Bulbasaur and Pidgey eyed the two bug Pokémon that they had yet to be introduced to.
Turning his head to the side, Bulbasaur looked at Fluttershy and questioned, “Bulba?”
“These are our new friends. Umm….” Fluttershy was about to introduce them, but then remembered that she didn’t know what they were. Pulling out her Pokédex really quickly, she let it handle the introductions.
The metallic voice sounded from the device. “Caterpie, the bug type Pokémon. Caterpie, as well as Weedle, are known to be the fastest evolving Pokémon. Both share in the traits of being wormlike and evolve into a cocoon, then into a flying insect. Caterpie use the silk that they produce from their mouths, to protect themselves from harm, by stopping or slowing their attackers. Weedle, the bug/ poison type Pokémon. Weedle, as well as Caterpie, are known to be the fastest evolving Pokémon. Both share in the traits of being wormlike and evolve into a cocoon, then into a flying insect. Like Caterpie, Weedle produces silk in its mouth that can be used as a defensive mechanism, but chooses to more heavily rely on its large poison horn, to protect itself from harm.”
Fluttershy put away the Pokédex. “A little repetitive, but oh well. Hello Caterpie, hello Weedle. My name is Fauna. This is Bulbasaur and Pidgey.”
Bulbasaur puffed his chest out and held his head up high, as if to state his dominance in the group. Pidgey eyed Caterpie and Weedle with the eyes of a predator, looking at its next meal. But Pidgey wouldn’t dare attempt anything like that in front of Fluttershy. The message was quite clear though, and the two worm Pokémon moved closer together. Caterpie hid behind Weedle as Weedle bared its horn slightly to show he wasn’t intimidated.
“Now, I hope you all will get along,” Fluttershy said, un-ironically, “because we are going to spend the next few hours training together.” She now had all of their attention. “If we keep this pace, we’ll be at Pewter City in a day or two. Since we are planning on challenging the gym leader, we’re probably going to need to get a bit stronger if we want to stand a chance. Does that sound ok to everyone?”
The four of them all responded favorably, especially Bulbasaur, who had jumped three feet into the air in excitement. Over the course of the next three hours, Fluttershy and her Pokémon ran around the clearing, lifted and pushed large rocks, and did whatever random exercise sort of things that they could think of. Fluttershy even spent about a half hour, practicing throwing and catching a Pokéball, so as to get better used to the human body. Not that she was much of an athlete as a pony, but this was an action that, as a trainer, she’d be doing a lot of and would need to do it well. It was about noon, or so Fluttershy had guessed, when they took a break for lunch.
“After we eat, I want to see about working on your special moves.” Fluttershy said, rationing out Pokéfood. “I’d like to try some mock battles, for practice. But I’d rather have a Pokémon center nearby, just in case, if we were to do that.” She looked at the food in the bag. “There’s about three days of Pokéfood left.” She pulled out her Pokédex and pushed one of the buttons. “Whatever the currency in this world, I have three thousand of it. I hope that’s as much as it sounds.” Fluttershy laughed a little.
Grabbing the food for herself, Fluttershy found that her own food was much the same, in that, she only had about three days left of it. Things to be worried about later. As she ate, she looked at what information her Pokédex could tell her about her Pokémon and what special moves might be within their level. Once she was content with what she found, she leaned back and looked at her Pokémon as they ate. It really started to sink in, how well Discord had chosen the world to send her was. This was basically her life back in Equestria, but with a few key differences that made it so that she could have the adventure that she had asked for.
Once all of the Pokémon were finished eating they all sat themselves around Fluttershy.
“Ok, let’s start with our newest friends.” Fluttershy said, after trying really hard to think of how to determine who should go first.
Weedle scooted forward and Caterpie came up behind. They looked up at Fluttershy as she walked over and patted a large boulder.
“Pretend that this is one of the rock Pokémon that we’ll be going up against. According to the Pokédex, you should be able to do a string shot, and a poison sting attack Weedle, and Caterpie, you have string shot and tackle. Can you show them to me?” Fluttershy asked.
Weedle got a little closer to the boulder and looked determined. First, it sprayed a bunch of silk over it, draping it in strong, sticky threads. After that, Weedle bunched itself up, then launched itself at the rock, like and arrow. The boulder chipped pretty well where Weedle’s horn made contact, and a little of its poison dripped off of the impact point. Weedle looked a little loopy after having hit something so solid, but he shook it off and looked at Fluttershy.
“That was great Weedle.” She smiled and patted its little head.
It was Caterpie’s turn now. She looked rather nervous, but approached the boulder all the same. After a few moments, Fluttershy was about to say something, but Caterpie began right then. First, spraying more strands of silk over the boulder, Caterpie’s string shot was a bit more impressive than Weedle’s. Though, that was to be expected, as Caterpie relies more on the string shot than Weedle does. Caterpie then backed up a little bit and began a charge, slamming itself against the boulder. The force of the tackle was audible, though, Caterpie didn’t seem to have any issue recovering from having slammed into the large rock. Caterpie then scurried its way behind Fluttershy’s leg really quickly so as to hide itself from the other Pokémon.
Fluttershy bend down and patted her head too. “Good job Caterpie.” She said, feeling like Caterpie’s shyness was like a reflection of her own. She looked over to Pidgey. “I already know that you can do tackle and sand attack, but do you think that you could try to use gust?”
Pidgey took the question as a challenge and refused to be looked down upon, so he took to the air and glared at the boulder. Quickly descending upon it, Pidgey stopped just shy of it and swung its wings together in one motion, as hard as it could. It was an impressive display. Unfortunately, it yielded nothing.
“That was a good try.” Fluttershy said, trying not to hurt Pidgey’s feelings.
Weedle however wasn’t so considerate, and made a noise that could be comparable to laughing. This enraged Pidgey’s pride, and it took to the sky once more. Rounding on the boulder, Pidgey held nothing back as it tried once more to perform a gust attack. Swooping faster than before, Pidgey slammed its wings together as hard as it could, and this time, all of the silk that was covering the rock went flying off in all directions as an unnatural blast of concussive wind, slammed against the stone with a mighty clap. Were the attack aimed at a person, they would have been sent flying across the clearing. Pidgey perched himself atop Fluttershy’s hat and cooed in triumph.
Fluttershy brushed her finger along the back of Pidgey’s head and said, “That was incredible Pidgey.” Last but not least was Bulbasaur, who took position in front of the boulder and looked excitedly at Fluttershy. “Ok Bulbasaur. Can you do a leach seed or vine whip for me?”
“Bulbasaur!” He replied. Raising his back legs while lowering his front, Bulbasaur aimed the tip of its bulb at the rock, and in one quick shot, send a large seed at it, which stuck to the rock as a bunch of small vines spontaneously grew from it and wrapped the boulder. Now, if it were a Pokémon, the vines would be leaching energy from it and transferring it to Bulbasaur. But, as it was not, that was the end of the trick.
Clapping happily, Fluttershy smiled at Bulbasaur. Leach seed wasn’t the most effective of offensive moves, but it was a grass type, so it had an edge against rock. Undoubtedly, it would be of great use against the Pewter gym.
But Bulbasaur wasn’t done just yet. After dancing around in triumph for a few second, his gaze went back to focus on the rock. Everyone was quiet and still as they watched Bulbasaur for a few moments. It looked as though he was frozen in place with and intense look on his face. It became apparent what he was trying to do when he started to go red in the face. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not yet produce a vine whip.
