Chapter One: A New Life

The sun shone through the open blinds in the window as the day started anew. I awoke with a fresh yawn and peeked out the window only to squeak in surprise, everything had changed overnight! I ran downstairs and pushed through the door out into the grass of the front lawn. I looked around at the colorful buildings around me as creatures walked around, talking with one another and in a sense just going about their daily lives as if it was completely normal and nothing was wrong.

That was except when they saw me they stopped and stared. I stared back, wondering what they were and I would only presume they were doing the same to me. I heard whispers from around them, "Is that a new breed of Pokémon?"

"Can't be, I'm sure I've never seen it before but there can't be a new breed of Pokémon."

"Well now, you can't just claim that. They are always discovering new types and breeds of Pokémon."

I had just about enough of listening to it so I asked, "What is a Pokémon?"

The crowd gasped and backed away. I couldn't tell why but their muttering got low as they all walked away from me. It was odd to say the least but I figured I would get my answers soon enough. I galloped down the road looking for others who were just like me but none came into sight.

I sat down and sighed, this was bad. I didn't know where I was or what these creatures were around me. Worst of all I didn't know how I had even gotten here in the first place. All seemed lost until I heard a familiar voice behind me, "Rainbow Dash!"

I turned around to see Twilight Sparkle running towards me. I was beside myself with glee. I hopped up and yelled, "Twilight! Boy am I glad to see you here!"

We stopped just short of each other and looked at each other. I spoke first "Are any of the others here with you?"

"I don't know, I woke up in the house over there." Twilight pointed over to a large building next to the one I came out of.

"Oh okay, I woke up in the one next to it. Any clue what's going on?"

"Not a clue at all. I hope the others are okay though."

I sighed again, Twilight the genius didn't even know what had happened. I looked around us and had a thought occur to me. "Maybe some of the locals know what's going on, let's ask them."

We rushed over to a pretty mare with a deep magenta mane or at least I presumed that's what it was. I couldn't tell on these creatures because they didn't look like any pony I had ever seen before. Twilight decided to speak to her so I let her go ahead.

"Um, excuse me ma'am, but where are we and how do we get to Ponyville from here?" she asked her.

The mare got a weird look on her face and said "Ponyville? I haven't ever heard of that, is that in a far off region? This here is Twin Leaf Town, home of Professor Oak, the great Poké Professor from Pallet Town in the far off Kanto region. He recently moved here to study strange spatial disturbances in the Sinnoh region. You should talk to him if you have any questions regarding towns in unknown places." She went back to doing what she was doing and we decided to take her advice.

No pony could miss the giant sign that read "Professor Oaks makeshift lab in Twin Leaf Town!" because it was put right in the middle of the town like some old store building that had be renovated for this specific use. We walked right up to it and decided it was best to knock on the door.

It opened and a mare greeted us at the door. She had a smile on her face till she looked down and saw us, then she frowned and said, "Professor, I think we have a problem."

A stallion in a white lab coat came strolling over and when he saw us he dropped his cup he was holding. As it shattered on the floor he bolted over to us and started peering over us. "Magnificent! Just magnificent, that radial blast last night must have done this. Jewel take a note," the mare, who seemed to be named Jewel started rushing to grab up paper and a pen and started to take his note, "Massive fluctuation in the spatial plane caused weird creatures with humanistic characteristics to appear out of thin air, presumably in the middle of the night so as to accompany the time of the fluctuation."

She was writing just as fast as he was speaking. I couldn't follow what he was saying as I didn't know the meaning of half the words that were coming out of his mouth so I decided to step in, "Um, please sir, are you Professor Oak, the stallion we were told about?"

He gave me an odd look as the mare excitedly jotted more stuff down on the paper. "A stallion? I am hardly a stallion young girl. Yes I am Professor Oak, top Poké Researcher in all the lands. Who might you be?"

"Rainbow Dash, top flyer in all of Equestria and proud of it!" I said, spreading out my wings and standing tall. He didn't look impressed by my title though, he only looked impressed by my wings.

"Those are magnificent! Just plain magnificent! And you can fly with those? You're a pegasus and this one over here seems to be a unicorn. What does your horn do? Oh this is just magnificent, a chance to really see what other dimensional creatures act like!"

"Um Professor, didn't you say last night if that fluctuation brought intelligent life into our world that you would help them get back to their world while subsequently helping our own research and giving them a tour of the Sinnoh region?" the mare, I suppose they're called girls here, name Jewel said.

"Yes that too. Right now though we can study their behaviors!" he had a look of glee on his face as he studied us intently. Just then a loud beeping sound came from behind us and he looked away. "Oh darn it, who could be calling right now."

He went back and stood before what looked like a giant projector screen. A man had appeared on the screen and seemed to be talking to him. We started to follow him but Jewel stopped us, "No one is allowed to disturb the Professor during his phone calls."

We waited for a good ten minutes there with everyone staring at us intently like the Professor had.

Twilight leaned into me and whispered, "This is a bit odd, wouldn't you agree?"

I nodded my head in agreement and kept waiting. I wanted answers so I knew I wasn't going to just leave the place. After a little more waiting the Professor finally came back out and looked at us. "That was Professor Rowan, he is a fellow Poké Professor living in the next town over, Sandgem Town. He has been reading into disturbances in the physical world brought on by the local legendary Pokémon named Dialga and Palkia. It seems as if at the same time of the spatial fluctuations last night, a rift opened up in the physical world. He is unsure where but he thinks it beneficial that we investigate it. When I mentioned you two to him he got as excited as I did then suggested letting you two investigate the physical fluctuations in the world as it might lead to you being returned to your correct dimension."

I stood there looking dumb because that was a lot to process at the moment. I still didn't quite understand the term Pokémon and whatever he meant by Dialga and Palkia causing physical rifts in the world, I sure didn't understand it. I did however understand the potential at returning to Equestria so I said, "Let us do it! If It means potentially going home we will help in any way we can."

Professor Oak smiled and turned away from us. "Then follow me this way, I got an express shipment in just yesterday that you two would benefit from." He led us back into a store room that had a huge box in it, nothing else.

He opened the box and started rummaging in it and mumbling things like "I know it was in here somewhere."

It took a little while but he finally stood up and held out a bag. "In this bag are a few items you two will find necessary on your trip into the Sinnoh region." He walked out and placed the bag on a counter next to a big machine with a screen on it.

"Now pay very close attention because you will want to know everything I will tell you. Pokémon are very powerful creatures that listen to your every word so long as they belong to you. You capture them using what's called a Pokéball and that Pokéball becomes their home until you either release it or it dies. This is a Pokédex," he pulled out what looked like a little flip book, "It registers anything you need to know about wild Pokémon and even stores data about your own Pokémon."

He placed the Pokédex next to the bag then pulled out another and placed it on top of the other one. "The next bit of information you need to know is that wild Pokémon will attack you, you will need to defend yourself with a Pokémon and that's where this comes into play." He pulled out around fifteen little balls then pushed a button on each one and they grew in size. He then placed them each in individual holes on the machine next to us.

"This machine reads and tells you what Pokémon is stored in the Pokéball that is placed in the holes." He pressed a button and the machine turned on.

On the screen popped a little green animal with a round leaf looking thing on its back. Writing appeared on the screen that said "Bulbasaur, Grass type Pokémon."

"Whoa, what is that?" I asked, looking at the screen in amazement.

"That is a Pokémon and it's one of the rarer Pokémon out there. All fifteen of these Pokéballs contain a rare Pokémon. I am going to give you each one Pokémon to start you off with so go ahead, look at them and make your choices." The Professor answered.

"But Professor, are you sure it's a good idea to give away such important Pokémon?" Jewel asked.

"I've done it before and I'm willing to do it again. Plus these are currently the only Pokémon we have that aren't already claimed as a trainers Pokémon. They may have their pick of one of these fifteen." He answered her.

It was all very odd, from the Professor right down to the little balls that seemed to hold a living creature in them. I turned to Twilight and said "What do you think?"

"I think if we are to find out way back to Ponyville we need to trust these ponies, er. I mean people."

I nodded, I guess it couldn't hurt to try a different way of life and if it meant getting back to Ponyville, I'd try just about anything. So I stepped up to the machine and looked at the screen, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Just look through the choices and take a Pokéball, to move the screen just press this button." He showed me which one to press and he pressed it and the machine shifted to the next Pokémon and it showed a little dragon looking Pokémon that had his tail on fire and was colored a nice shade of orange. The text changed to "Charmander, Fire type Pokémon."

I kept pressing the button till I got back around to the Bulbasaur and it seemed I had the choices of Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Chikorita, Cyndaquill, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott.

"Wow, that's a lot of different choices, they all seem pretty cool. Now this Pokémon thing, are they like your pets or something?" I said.

"Some people use them as pets, others for battling and training. If you wish to find the rift in the physical world you will want to train your Pokémon to battle. It's not that hard and I will help you when you pick your first Pokémon." Professor Oak said.

I looked back at the screen, so many choices and they all seemed the right choice. I didn't know how I was going to pick one so I decided to try something. You said this Pokédex thing tells you about Pokémon, right?"

"Yes, ones you have seen. I can tell you what you want to know about these ones though."

"I want one that's fast and strong, just like me." I said

"Then picking Treecko would be great for you. Once he evolves he is a strong and fast Pokémon. Of course that is just my recommendation based on what you want."

I figured if he recommended it then I should go with it because he knew more than I did about the Pokémon. I pressed the button until Treecko came up again and I looked at him. He was a small gecko looking green Pokémon. "Alright, I'll take him!" I said, pushing out my wings. That was a bad idea though because it knocked the Pokédex's off the counter and the Pokéball holding Treecko out of its place in the machine.

"Be careful! If the Pokéball breaks it could spell trouble for the Pokémon inside." Professor Oak said as he reached out and caught the Pokéball.

"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

"Well, is it my turn to pick?" Twilight asked.

I stepped back so she could get up to the machine. She grinned and poked on the button till she found the Charmander. "I like this one, reminds me of Spike, I'll take this one." She said as she removed the Pokéball using her magic and placing it on the table.

"Whoa, you can use magic?" the Professor stammered.

"Yeah, all unicorns can use magic. Are there no unicorns in this world?"

"No there aren't but some Pokémon display attributes similar to that in which I have seen from you two." Professor Oak said. "Okay now that you two have your first Pokémon you need to be taught how to battle, come with me."

He led us further into the lab where there was a wide open area that looked unused and separated us from each other. "First off, the rules of a Pokémon battle are as follows, you use your Pokémon and the moves they know to attack your opponent until they can't fight anymore. It is not to the death, just until they no longer can move. Simple and easy to follow and under no circumstance should the trainers be physically involved in the battle."

We nodded our heads in agreement and held out the ball. It was like that for a good minute until Twilight asked "How do we get the Pokémon out of the balls?"

"Oh right, how could I forget that you don't know how to use a Pokéball! You just throw it and the Pokémon will come out of the ball."

That's a bit weird I thought but I wasn't going to argue about it. I threw the ball and out popped the little green gecko I saw on the screen. He was a cute little guy but I didn't know what to tell him to do. Twilight and thrown her Pokéball as well and across from my Treecko stood the little dragon named Charmander.

"Look at your Pokédex that will tell you what moves your Pokémon has trained with, only type specific moves will come up on the database though. They aren't very strong right now but train them more and more and they will become stronger and stronger." Professor Oak yelled to us.

I opened the strange device that the Professor gave us and it showed the stats for my Treecko, it didn't have any type specific moves and nothing else was listed. I supposed that was because he hadn't trained on anything. I looked up, Twilight seemed to have had an idea because she yelled out "Charmander, hit that Treecko as hard as you can!" and her Charmander launched forward.

It was quick but I decided this would be pretty easy to get used too. "Treecko try to dodge him and hit him with all you've got!" I yelled to him. He jumped out of the way and I saw what the Professor was talking about, this Pokémon did have speed.

After he moved out of the way Treecko shot downwards and punched Charmander. It pushed him but back then Charmander flung himself forwards and pounded into Treecko's stomach. He was baiting him!

Treecko was flung backwards and landed on his back. He was trying to get up when Twilight yelled "Okay, he's down. Now give him a knock out hit!" and Charmander ran towards Treecko. Oh no I thought to myself but it was unnecessary because Treecko saw it coming. He dashed out of the way and Charmander bounced his head off the ground and lost his balance.

Treecko looked prime to strike so I said "Finish him off Treecko!" and he lurched forward and smashed hard into Charmander. That knocked Charmander across the floor and into the wall. It didn't look like the little guy could get up after that one as Twilight was yelling for him to get up.

Professor Oak stepped forward and looked at him. "The battle goes to Rainbow Dash and Treecko."

I was beside myself with glee and it didn't seem Twilight was too bad off about it. She came up to me and congratulated me on a job well done and a fun first battle. "Yeah, I thought Treecko was done though when you had him down but the little bugger sure is a fast one." I said with a slight laugh.

"Okay, now throw your Pokéball again and it will return your Pokémon to their balls and that will be the end of the battle." Professor Oak said.

We both tossed our Pokéballs again and a red light appeared from them and sucked Treecko and Charmander back into their balls. I kept ahold of it as the Professor led us back into the main study room where the bag was. "Okay, now listen, as payment for the Pokémon I want you to take something over to Professor Rowan for me. It's in a suitcase in this bag and it's for his eyes only. He will know what to do with it once he sees it. Do this and return to me and I'll help you further to find that rift that could take you home, do we have a deal?"

"Yes, of course!" Twilight said. I didn't have a problem helping him if he was going to help us. Twilight slung the bag across her back and we walked out of the lab with the Professor.

"Alright, you see that north road out of town? You take that road, turn right and follow the path and it will lead you straight to Sandgem Town. Once there you will notice the lab pretty easily just like here. Small towns like their notoriety so they point it out for visitors to see. Now run along and remember if you meet any Pokémon along the way you can use those ones I gave you to defend yourselves."

We thanked the Professor a lot then made our way north towards the road. It was beautiful out, a bright sun and a nice breeze. The grass was waving and I thoroughly enjoyed it here in Twin Leaf Town. Nothing though would stop me from getting the answers I wanted about how we came to be here and what this was all about. At least the Professor agreed to help us, that was one good thing, I thought to myself as we left the town. Little did we know a grand adventure had begun for me and Twilight, one that would change us forever.