Disclaimer: Another Pokémon and Once Upon a Time crossover. I'm sorry, some ideas just don't want to go away. I do not own Pokémon or Once Upon a Time.
Chapter One: This is all Your Fault!
Storybrooke - Night
Fire burned around them, the ethereal cry of hunger churned against her soul. She spun the hat, faster and faster.
Nothing happened.
That could only mean one thing. The Enchanted Forest was gone. Her curse had destroyed the Enchanted Forest, maybe the entire realm - another screech tore through her...she didn't have time to think.
'Anyplace, anywhere the wraith could be beaten. This has to work.' A hand touched her shoulder, and a spark of power flowed through her fingertips. The wraith was upon her and someone tried to push her aside.
The wraith was pulled into the portal. It worked.
She smiled and nearly shouted her glee. Then she realized she too was being pulled into the portal.
"Regina!" Miss Swan called out in surprise.
It must have been her hand that tried to pull her away from the portal. 'How heroic,' she thought sarcastically, as the pull of the vortex finally reeled her in. 'Too bad it's too late...only one thing to say, Take care of Henry," she finished in a shout.
Wherever they were going...maybe the magic there would let her kill the wraith. She could only hope.
? - Night
She awoke to the sound of flowing water and smell of apples. Sweet, familiar apples. Apples and something heavy on top of her. She blinked. "Get off me, rodent," she shoved furiously.
The foxlike creature tumbled off Regina, dropping something with a small clang. "What was that for?" The thing asked in as it woke.
"You can talk?" She asked blandly.
A familiar voice answered. "Of course I can talk, Regina!" The creature snapped, its eyes opening to survey its surroundings. They were on a rather large, flat rock at the bank of a river. "What happened to you?" Its eyes trained on her own.
"How do you - Miss Swan?"
The quadruped nodded. She tried to stand, but quickly fell over. "Did that portal turn me into a cat or something?" She mumbled. The clothes they were wearing were gone, the fox-thing could feel a few accessories, Graham's shoe lace, her keychain-necklace, but no fabric.
Whatever had pulled her in had better not have killed her favorite jacket.
"Not quite," Regina drawled. "Why are you even here?"
"I fell," Emma spoke candidly. "I was right next to you, you know?"
Regina hummed, not really believing Emma Swan was playing anything other than little miss Savior.
"That magic vortex might have changed me," Emma began, "but it changed you too. You look like a little kid in a white onesie with a green haired bowl-cut."
"Well," Regina snapped, "you look like a little blonde, fluff-ball rat."
"You don't have to be so insulting," Emma huffed. "Where are we anyway?"
"How should I know?" Regina retorted. "As far as I'm concerned, this is all your fault."
Emma blinked. "My fault?" She asked finally standing on four legs. "How could this possibly have been my fault?"
"If you hadn't distracted me, the portal wouldn't have sucked us in," Regina snapped, standing as best she could. Looking at herself, she wondered if Emma's assessment of her new form was accurate.
"One, it's completely unfair that you can stand," Emma grumbled, much to her co-parent's amusement, "and two, this is not my fault."
"Of course this is your fault," she barked. "You and your mother, both the same. If you aren't causing trouble for me, you wouldn't be happy!"
"That's not fair!" The fluff-ball cried.
"Why are you still here?" Regina snapped.
Emma Swan's eyes adopted that heroic gleam. "I promised Henry I'd protect you."
A very male, and rather hollow laugh echoed through the orchard. "I'm here for you, Regina."
Regina's eyes widened, not that anyone could really tell.
"If we have to blame someone," the Savior commented as they gazed at the shifting form of the former wraith, "we should probably blame Gold. I know I do."
Without further preamble, Emma shot forward, only to fall through the wraith as it shifted from ghost to ghost. She shook her head and got back up, thankful she had lunged at towards the forest and not the water.
"Why don't you do something useful, Miss Swan," the Evil Queen commanded.
Emma huffed. "And just what do you expect me to do? Shoot it?" As soon as the words left her mouth, a dark purple ball of ghost energy shot forward and slammed into the wraith. It screamed, but continued towards Regina.
Instinctively, the Evil Queen teleported away, only this time it felt...different. Another purple thing shot out from Emma's mouth, once again hitting the wraith ignoring the little rodent. Typical.
"Since when do you have magic?" She demanded.
"I don't know!" The fluff-ball shouted. "It's just instinct."
Regina hissed, "How do you not know?" She called forth a fireball, only for it not to work. Incised she tried again, only this time with more anger.
Her fireball hit the wraith dead on, and pushed him back enough for her to teleport to the Savior's side. They continued to barrage the shifting wraith with their attacks. Slowly pushing it towards the river. A small tack-tack-tack caught Emma's ear.
"Regina!" She called. "The medallion!" Emma tried to point, but she forgot about her fingerless state.
"What?" Regina asked, firing another attack. "Where?" Her attack went wide, flying over the medallion. The force behind its movements swept up the medallion's chain and swept it off the edge.
Emma ran towards it, knowing the wraith would ignore her. She pounced, uncaring if she'd be marked or not, but missed as the last link pulled the medallion into the river and downstream.
The sky grew brighter; the clouds took on a dusty pink glow. Dawn seemed eminent, and the wraith seemed to recognize that. It turned to flee, and shouted...something that made Regina shudder.
Once it was gone, Regina rounded on the little fox. "You lost the medallion!" Her hands flew up, probably to fling her somewhere, but nothing happened. "This...this is all your fault!"
"Is that your catchphrase for the day?" Emma snapped. "It was your fireball that pushed it over."
"You distracted me," Regina insisted.
They continued to bicker, until a small cough interrupted them.
"What?" Regina turned to the new figure with a frown.
A shivering orange triangle stood before them. "Your fighting is disturbing the other Pokémon in Apple Woods."
"Pokémon?" Emma asked. "That sounds familiar..."
Regina waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever, if anyone has a problem with me, I'll just throw a fireball at them." She demonstrated smugly.
"Wow! I've never seen a ralts use fire like that before," it gushed happily.
Regina preened. "Well, we need to get going anyway. Miss Swan, go find the medallion."
Emma's tail betrayed her annoyance. The triangle, however, spoke up. "Why are you calling her Miss Swanna? She's an eevee, not a swanna. That's like calling me a swinub when I'm obviously a snorunt."
"Be silent," Regina snapped. Her attempted intimidation brought a snicker to the eevee's lips and a coo from snorunt.
"Uh, Snorunt?" Emma began. "Where does this river lead?"
"Oh, yes," Snorunt hummed. "This river winds through Oran Forest and leads to Waterfall Cave. Did you lose something around the river?"
Emma nodded, "It's kind of important."
Snorunt crossed its arms and adopted a thoughtful look. "Are you explorers then?"
If Regina's eyes were visible, their twitching would have a good portion of Storybrooke running for their lives. "We're wasting time."
"If you aren't explorers, well...Waterfall Cave is a Mystery Dungeon, you'd need explorer badges to get out." The snorunt was met with blank faces, though it was hard to tell with the ralts. "I'll explain while I take you there then."
Storybrooke - Night
They clung together, a sobbing mess. Emma had vanished...Regina too, but Emma. They had what? Two seconds to be a family? She was gone, again. It hurt so much.
"Snow," he spoke solemnly. "We need to get Henry."
That only hurt her more. "Oh, god! Henry," she cried. "How do I tell him?"
They were supposed to be heroes. They were supposed to succeed. How did they tell their grandson they failed?
Apple Woods - Late Morning
Regina tired quickly. She slapped something on the new eevee's forehead and sat under an apple tree. Stubbornly, she told the other two, "I'll teleport to you when you get there."
Emma huffed. "And just how are you going to tell when we get there?"
"I'll know, now shoo," she replied.
With them gone, Regina turned to the tree. She examined it like the expert she had become, and happily snagged an apple to sample. The crisp crunch of the ruby fleshed apple was a welcome sound, and the sweet taste reminded her of home.
Briefly, she thought of Henry, alone with Snow White and her Prince Charming. Alone with Rumpelstiltskin. The imp still wanted revenge, there was no doubt he'd want to hurt her as much as possible until she died. For once in her life, she actually hoped her most hated enemy would succeed at something. Because god help the little brat if she let the imp harm her son.
Hopefully, she'd see Henry soon.
Tears dripped slowly from her eyes. Unbidden and unwelcome. They wouldn't stop. Anger welled and she tossed the half-eaten apple away. Obviously this was a bad tree, to produce such an apple, she'd find a better one.
Waterfall Cave - Evening
Emma was feeling rather proud of herself. She had gotten a good amount of information out of the snorunt, enough that she could probably bluff her way through life with just about everyone else.
And she had finally remembered where she had heard about Pokémon before.
It was a bit odd that the creatures existed in a real world, crazy even. First fairytales now cartoons? Did Harry Potter exist too?
God she hoped not. There were enough evil villains running around Storybrooke, thank you very much.
Still, living a cartoon - video game or whatever, Henry would love that...she missed the kid...Regina probably did too.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She could worry about getting home later, for now she was on the job. Get in, get out, and find a way to save Regina's ass. After that, they'd find a way back to Henry. Emma nodded; there was no doubt in her mind they'd find a way home.
"Here we are, Waterfall Cave," Snorunt announced cheerfully.
She blinked away her daze. "What now?"
"Your friend should show up soon," the ice-type hummed. "We'll just wait."
"Right," she sighed. Emma only hoped the dungeon would keep the wraith at bay, night was nearing soon. Surprisingly, she didn't feel tired at all.
Apple Woods - Evening
Regina sighed as she felt the tracker tag on the fluff-ball still for more than ten minutes. They must be waiting for her. She eyed the apple tree she sat under with a wan smile, it was young, but produced the perfect taste. What harm could it do to tag the tree?
With that done, she teleported to Emma's side.
"Finally," the Savior hissed. "What took you so long?"
Regina smiled pleasantly. "I wanted to make sure you weren't just resting."
The snorunt smiled, "You two are such great partners! It's so great how you worry about each other."
Emma snorted at that thought. "Let's just go already." They entered the cave, and instantly her eevee nose told her something was off. At the entrance, she had smelled the waterfall close by. Now, it was nine floors down? "Did the cave just change?" She asked.
Snorunt nodded. "All Mystery Dungeons are like that. They'll change every time you enter. Local Pokémon sometimes get caught in the dungeons when they form. Usually they're are angry because of that, and will attack foreign Pokémon." Then out of the blue it twirled to face them. "By the way, I didn't mention it earlier, but you can just call me Sno!"
Regina blanched. "No," she stated flatly.
"Ah, close. It's Sno, with an s," Snorunt responded.
"I mean, I refuse to call you that!" She snapped.
Emma shrugged. "We'll stick with Snorunt."
It pouted. "Fine." They walked through the maze-like cave, scouring room after room for 'stairs.' They made it three floors before Snorunt stopped. "Enemy ahead. Be careful," it hummed.
Regina rolled her eyes, it just made her feel better. She conjured a fireball and sent it off. The fire first creature, a blue, bug-like thing. She smirked, the battle was just getting started.
Enchanted Forest - Night
She felt it. As if it were a breeze sifting through her hair. Somewhere in the distance, the spell had broken, truly broken. Oh and her girl, her beautiful Queen, she would need her mother.
A smiled curled against her lips. It was all coming together. Now, all she needed was an incentive for Regina to meet with her. To forgive her.
She stared at her heart, maybe putting it back would help? No. She'd find something else.
Cora's lips thinned. What could possibly -
A laugh caught her attention. The prince and the warrior had returned with the prince's true love, how quaint. She sneered at the happy faces and - wait...
"Happy?" She whispered. Her mind brought up a plan long forgotten, bring Regina her true love. Make her daughter happy. And Cora knew where he was, he, a widower, and his son, motherless, the perfect time for her girl.
Kidnap the boy and make the father fetch the compass alongside Hook. Oh yes, it would work just fine. She couldn't wait to reunite with her daughter.
Waterfall Cave - Night
Regina's fire didn't do much damage, it frustrated her that the fire and the little tags were the only bits of magic she could use. It would take her some time to realize the portal had traded her dark magic for "fairy" magic, but right now she just wanted the creatures to stop attacking her!
Her eyes glowed and suddenly the water guns stopped. Apparently Regina knew disable.
The ralts looked to the others. Snorunt threw about ice and snow, icy wind if she remembered correctly. Miss Swan on the other hand, seemed content just to fight like a common dog. No refinement, no finesse, some princess.
"Use your magic, Miss Swan," Regina scolded. "Your fighting should not be so...undignified."
Emma grunted. Her way was more fun...yeah, not saying that. "They don't mob me as much this way," she responded truthfully.
Snorunt smiled. "The mob's thinning out! We'll be done soon enough."
Sighing, the eevee started throwing shadow balls. The things she did for Henry...
Enchanted Forest - Midnight
"Kidnap a child?" Captain Hook snarled. "What sort of low bred cur do you think I am? I do not harm children." Not when he experienced three hundred years seeing that bloody demon destroy child after child.
"Oh, no. I don't want you to harm him," Cora smiled. "I simply need him for a bit of leverage. His father is the one I want."
That pleased Hook even less. "Why?"
The witch thought about not answering, her reasons were her own, but perhaps he'd be amenable if she explained. "I simply remembered the man, Raven? No...oh yes, Robin. Robin is supposedly Regina's true love. Love is a weakness, my dear Captain. I can use him to make myself repentant in Regina's eyes."
He looked at her, eyes narrowed, evaluating every word. "No matter what I choose...you'll abscond with him anyway," he deduced evenly. "If I agree to help, no harm may come to the boy, and both will keep their hearts intact." It was a gamble, but he couldn't take magic ruining the lives of a man and his boy. It hit a bit too close to home.
"Fine," Cora smiled. "I won't harm them, but I want them here. Tonight." She turned away, eyes glittering. "Oh and Hook, don't you dare fail me."
Grumbling, he slipped out of the clearing in search of the one place he had long avoided, the Dark One's castle.
Storybrooke - Midnight
Henry peered down, staring at the pages. He wished they would change, show him his moms. They were alive, and safe. They had to be.
The wraith wouldn't get Regina. Emma promised she'd protect his mom. Emma was the Savior! She'd be okay.
And they'd come back...
So why was he still crying?
Waterfall Cave Floor B9 - Dawn
Snorunt was supposedly gathering water, but Emma expected it was just giving them space. They were exhausted, Emma more than Regina, but at least they got the medallion back. According to the sunrise, they had spent the night wandering the dungeon. The whole night, and not even a sight of the wraith.
Regina had noticed it too. Her next words however surprised the eevee. "Are you tired, Miss Swan?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "A little...and you could just call me Emma."
Regina hummed, but didn't respond.
"The wraith couldn't get us in the dungeon," Emma noted. "We could go into them before dark and try to find some way home."
The ralts nodded. "We could..." She shifted uncomfortably. "We could always mark the Runt."
Emma frowned. "We're not marking any innocents," she insisted. "If you really can't stand the idea of having the mark on you...mark me. I'll deal with it alone."
She'd protect Regina for Henry, but she wasn't going to pretend Regina wasn't the Evil Queen. If she was going to protect Regina, she would have to protect innocents from Regina.
"No," the ralts spoke in a strange voice. "I'll live with it...for Henry." She swung the chain over her shoulder and let the medallion fall to her waist. It felt a bit odd, but it looked no stranger than if she wore a purse.
Emma nodded. "We'll find our way back," she told the psychic.
For once, Regina looked vulnerable, as if she had been waiting for someone to just tell her it would all be okay.
"How do you know?" She whispered. "Maybe this is my punishment."
"Atonement, maybe," Emma agreed, "but I know because I'm not ever giving up. Magic brought us here, magic will take us home." Her words, though they sounded hopeful, were filled with determination and stubbornness.
Maybe one day Emma could hope and dream, but today...
Today was about making due. Take what you can, and keep going. Stop for nothing short of death. Survive until you can live.
"Anyway," she continued. "We should find someplace to get some rest."
Regina nodded. "Snorunt, where's the nearest inn?"
"What's an inn? Is that like a guild hall or something?" Snorunt laughed nervously. "Well, it's probably in Treasure Town. There's lots of stuff in Treasure Town. My badge can get us there quickly!"
"That's nice," Regina patronized.
"Oh! And we should definitely get you two signed up as a team!" Snorunt continued obliviously. "I bet you'll be so great you'll get to meet all the legendaries! It was my dream to find Palkia...oh! You must be tired."
It reached into its bag and pulled out its explorer badge. A touch of Aura added in and the three were enveloped in a beam of light. In an instant, they disappeared from the cave.
A/N: Time moves faster in the Pokémon World. Also, some team name ideas would be nice...I lack good team names.
Thanks for reading, and please review!