Pokémon and Ponies
#74-The Pokemon Festival 2 Part 2
The Crystal Empire, Pokemon Festival. 15:30.
Unbeknownst to a few ponies, today was Hearts and Hooves day. Or as it's known in the Pokemon World, Valentine's Day. Normally, this would be the time where everyone focuses on their special someone/somepony, etc. But the festival had them occupied. It truly was addicting.
However, there were a select few individuals who were focused on this special day because they have someone special that they adore.
The four main candidates were Twilight, Meloetta, Spike, and Celestia. These four have their own interests but some are more passionate than others.
Those some being Twilight and Meloetta who have been at odds with each other ever since they had both met during the first day of the Pokemon Festival.
They both have an affection towards Ash. And neither of them was ready to let the other achieve victory. Apparently, to these two, this was considered a battle of some sorts.
As for Ash, he was enjoying the festival, too pulled into it to even notice. Although, Ash did sense an odd presence through him. Almost as if someone from Kanto was heading his way.
"I got an odd feeling..." Ash looked up in the sky.
"Pika?"
"Mrrgh..." Twilight was sitting near the battle spot, thinking about Ash and Meloetta at the same time. Mostly Meloetta since she was the one riling her up the most. "That Meloetta...She's really irritating." A vein appeared on Twilight's head.
"Espeon?" Eve's gem shuddered from Twilight's emotions. Unfortunately, Eve couldn't do anything about this since she's not an expert with this sort of affection.
But Eve could tell that if this fiery feud between Twilight and Meloetta continued further, there is a very good chance that someone is going to perish in all of this.
"I have to do something." She shifted her eyes around. "If I can just spend some time with Ash for one day..."
"Eon?"
Twilight began digging deep into her mind, trying to find out how to have Ash for herself. "Maybe I could cast the Want-it-Need-it spell on me? No, that'll just drag others in."
"Esp."
"Hmm..." Then, something struck Twilight's mind. She remembered that there was one Pokemon that could be the answer to all her problems. "Wait a minute." Twilight quickly took out her dex, searching for the Pokemon she recalled. "Here it is!"
"Luvdisc. The Rendezvous Pokemon. Luvdisc lives in shallow seas in the tropics. This heart-shaped Pokémon earned its name by swimming after loving couples it spotted in the ocean's waves. Luvdisc's heart-shaped body is a symbol of love and romance. It is said that any couple meeting this Pokémon is promised a loving relationship that never ends."
"That's it!" Twilight's widened before shrinking. "Oh, wait. I saw a Luvdisc on my own." She sighed as she closed the dex. "Joy."
"Espeon?"
"Then I'll have to take matters into my own hooves." She flew up. "I won't let Meloetta best me. I'll have my time with Ash before the day ends!"
"Esp." Eve had a very bad feeling about this.
The young alicorn flew over to Ash, ready to do what she believes will guarantee her the victory over this small yet extended feud.
"Hey, Ash."
"Yeah?" Ash turned around to face Twilight.
"I was wondering. If we could spend some time together. Like how we did during the New Years, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember." Ash nodded. "You wanna go through that again with just us?"
"Mhm." Twilight smiled. "I've got a pretty great feeling about today."
"Hm." Ash thought for a moment. He wasn't really occupied at the moment. He had just finished up a battle and could use something else to do. "Sure. It's always a blast anyway."
"Pikachu!"
"Yes!" Twilight pumped her hooves. She looked around to see if Meloetta was looking. Instead, Meloetta was chatting with Ash's Pokemon at the moment. So Twilight took this opportunity to use magic to grab Ash while she was distracted.
"Oh!" Ash looked at his body and how it was surrounded by magic now.
"Come on! I know where to start!"
To get Ash away from Meloetta, Twilight used teleportation as a means of escaping. But Meloetta could tell that Twilight went off with Ash due to the sound of magic being used.
"Melo!" Meloetta growled, knowing that Twilight had snatched Ash away, according to Meloetta herself.
The Melody Pokemon thought about a few possibilities to get Twilight back. Turning invisible and messing with Twilight was a strong possibility.
But instead, Meloetta sparked something genius. She spotted a stand that was selling Scented Pokemon jar. More specifically, jars that had Sweet Scent in it.
Not just any Sweet Scent. This was a special product known as Sweet Scent Supreme. A Pokemon Coordinator and Breeder's best friend.
It was the only Sweet Scent Supreme jars here since the others were just normal Sweet Scent jars. Not as potent as the Supreme one.
Meloetta had hit the jackpot. She knew exactly how this would benefit her.
The Melody Pokemon turned herself invisible, floating over to the stand where they sold the Sweet Scent jars. The person running it would never see Meloetta coming while the rest of Ash's Pokemon were wondering what she was up to.
With perfect stealth, Meloetta carefully grabbed a single jar of Sweet Scent instead of multiple. All she needed was one and that was it. Now it was time for her plan to play out.
But what was her plan? Simple.
If she were to pour Sweet Scent on Twilight, all the Pokemon nearby will be drawn to her, giving Twilight zero opportunity to be alone with Ash.
Inside the Crystal Empire Castle, Cadence was observing Meloetta's shenanigans and Twilight dragging Ash along. She had observed everything ever since they came here. The look on her face was one of disappointment.
"Pathetic." She uttered as she looked down on them all. Cadence also knew what kind of unbridled chaos would emerge from this.
But she was going to watch it instead of intervening.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, while Twilight and Meloetta were creating disharmony, Spike and Rarity created the opposite. Harmony.
Spike had come over to the Pokestar Studio attraction since Rarity was currently there. Rarity had just finished making a short movie with Cilan and Pheromosa and it turned out well for them.
"How'd the movie go?" Spike asked.
"Smashing." Rarity replied. "Although, Cilan seems to have tired himself out from all that hard work." She turned her head to Cilan who was on the floor, exhausted and knocked out.
"Aha..." Cilan mumbled in his sleep.
"Sala?" Salamence detected something unusual in the corner of his eyes. He spotted a jar of Sweet Scent flying in the distance. He wasn't exactly sure how that was possible but his superb dragon nose picked on the scent of Meloetta. "Salamence?"
The Dragon Pokemon didn't think too much about it. He thought that he was just out of it since he had finished having a fierce battle with Dragonite not too long ago. So he just shrugged it off for now.
However, even though the jar of Sweet Scent Supreme hadn't been opened up yet, its scent was powerful enough to grab the attention of any nearby Pokemon. Not necessarily bring them towards the Sweet Scent, but make them aware.
Once that liquid comes out of the bottle, then a flood of Pokemon will be drawn into wherever the scent is coming from. Which is exactly what Meloetta was hoping for.
But Pheromosa had also spotted the floating jar of Sweet Scent. Pheromosa wasn't a dragon so she couldn't pick up on the scent and know that it was Meloetta.
However, her pheromones were potent enough to cancel out the scent of Sweet Scent. So while every other Pokemon here noticed the faint scent, Pheromosa didn't due to her pheromones.
Just like Eve, Pheromosa had a bad feeling about this.
Speaking of Eve, she was keeping an eye on Twilight in hopes that nothing would go wrong. But with how her gem was shaking, she could tell that somehow, in some way, things were going to wrong eventually.
She just didn't know when.
Strangely enough, Absol didn't sense any potential problems popping up. But then again, he was too busy being followed around by Sylveon to pay attention to anything else.
"Say, Twilight..." Ash wanted to ask Twilight something as he was being dragged along by magic instead of having any control of his body.
"Yes, Ash?"
"You and Meloetta. You two haven't been given each other the best looks recently. Something wrong?"
"Huh?" Twilight shot up from that question. "O-Of course not! There's nothing wrong! Meloetta and I are just...you know...I just have a bad feeling about her."
"Bad feeling about Meloetta? How come? She's fun to be around, ya know. Especially when she sings." Ash grinned. But that didn't sit too well with Twilight at all. She wasn't too fond of hearing Ash praise Meloetta. It rubbed her the wrong way.
"I can sing well too..." Twilight said under her breath. Unbeknownst to Twilight Sparkle and Ash Ketchum, Meloetta had caught up to them.
But she wasn't here to steal Twilight's spotlight. Not yet at least. Instead, Meloetta was planning on drawing Twilight away from Ash with the potent scent of Sweet Scent.
But she didn't go undetected. Pikachu and Eve spotted the invisible bottle of Sweet Scent floating in the air. Naturally, this greatly confused them.
"Pika?"
"Espeon?"
The jar of sweet scent was heading straight for Twilight as the invisible Meloetta crept up on her. All she needed to do was drop it on Twilight and watch the chaos unfurl.
"Pikapi! Pika!" Pikachu called for both Ash and Twilight's names, warning them about the impending sweet scent.
"Hm?" With Pikachu's warning, the duo faced the direction the Electric Mouse Pokemon was pointing at. And the moment they did that, Meloetta's cover had been blown.
So she panicked and spilt the Sweet Scent frantically in hopes of getting it on Twilight.
But it didn't land on Twilight.
Instead, it landed on Ash.
Whoops.
"Ugh..." Ash winced as he rubbed the Sweet Scent off his face. But the damage had already been done. Now the potent aroma of Sweet Scent could work its magic.
With this plan being a huge failure, Meloetta made a tactical retreat by flying away whilst still being invisible as she dropped the jar.
"What was that all about?" Ash tilted his head.
"Meloetta..." Twilight narrowed her eyes, knowing who was the cause of it. "Hah! Nice try but you missed!" She taunted Meloetta by raising her voice.
"Etta." Meloetta showed her physical form as she hid behind a bench. If there was an accurate time to panic, it was now.
The Sweet Scent was meant to hit Twilight, not Ash. A flop in Meloetta's eyes. The Melody Pokemon knew how powerful Sweet Scent was. And now that it was on her favourite human of all time, things are going to go south instantly.
"Slur...Slurpuff." All of Pinkie Pie's Slurpuff's were the first to sense Sweet Scent thanks to their sensitive noses. Each of the Meringue Pokemon started moving in a single line like zombies as they left their trainer Pinkie, focusing only on that scent.
"Hm? Hey! You guys! Where are you going?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. But it wasn't just them. Spinda jumped out of her mane, falling for Sweet Scent as well.
"Spinda..."
"Spinda? You too?!"
Soon, many of the Pokemon here in the Crystal Empire had been drawn to Sweet Scent, leaving their trainers and not listening to their cries at all.
Some Pokemon even came out of their Poke Balls, showing just how powerful one single Sweet Scent was. After all, they're very popular with Pokemon Coordinators for obvious reasons.
"Hm. That's an odd sight to witness." Rarity's eyes widened.
"Where are they all going?" Spike said as he was on Salamence's head. Surprisingly, Salamence and Pheromosa did not follow the Pokemon as well.
For Pheromosa, it was because her pheromones helped knock some sense into her. But for Salamence, that was a mystery for now.
Unfortunately, Rarity's Leavanny's and Ampharos had been pulled in by the scent. No matter how far, the aroma would pull the Pokemon in.
"Audino..."
"Chiko..."
"Huh? Audi? Chikorita? Where are you going?" Fluttershy stuttered. She flew up to witness the sea of Pokemon moving like zombies. All focused on one thing only "Oh my..."
"Gardevoir..." Passion was floating towards the scent alongside her teammate Arcanine.
"Arca..."
"Sylveon..." Sylveon finally got off Absol, freeing the Disaster Pokemon from her endless pin. But unfortunately, Absol himself had been pulled in. And eventually, the rest of Twilight's Pokemon. No one was exempt from this.
"Absol..."
"Ninetales..."
"Cinccino."
"Uh, Sceptile? Golett? What's gotten into you two?" Applejack stood up, witnessing Sceptile and Golett walk off like drones.
It didn't take long for the Pokemon to track down the source of the Sweet Scent. Ash was now a walking target who could pull in so many Pokemon by just being here.
And this is where everything was slowly starting to shift.
Ash and Twilight spotted the sea of Pokemon coming this way, seeking the sweet scent and nothing more. At first, the sight was a bit intimidating to look at but then it just looked silly to them.
The fact that the Pokemon were all letting out mutters and mumbles made them really feel like mindless zombies. Perhaps Sweet Scent is a bit too potent.
The Pokemon surrounded Ash, shoving Twilight out of the way as they saw her as a mere obstacle. "Ow! Hey!" Twilight fell.
"Uh..." Ash froze for a bit, seeing how Pokemon of all types, sizes from different regions and different trainers had cornered him. "This is a pretty weird feeling...Maybe this is what I felt earlier?"
"Pikachu..." Pikachu climbed up Ash's shoulder for safety.
"What is all of this?" Twilight rubbed her head. She tried to make her way towards Ash but the number of Pokemon was just ridiculous. And there's a very good chance that more Pokemon will show up since the festival is ongoing.
"Twilight. What's going on?" Applejack went up to Twilight. "And why are there so many Pokemon around Ash?"
"I-I don't know?" Twilight shook her head. "They all just suddenly swarmed towards us."
"Think he's got something tasty on him?" Pinkie appeared in the middle of the Pokemon crowd as she had somehow slipped in.
"Ash looks a bit overwhelmed," Fluttershy said. "How did this happen?"
"Pikachu?"
"You've got me, buddy. This is new territory for me." Ash chuckled.
The trainers of each of the Pokemon came over to retrieve their Pokemon. They used their Poke Balls to return their partners as it seemed like an easy fix to a potentially chaotic solution.
Except it wasn't.
Immediately, the Pokemon came out in a heartbeat, shocking the trainers. The Pokemon refused to stay inside of their Poke Balls since they were so attracted to the scent.
As long as Ash was here, they weren't going anywhere.
If Ash made any sudden movements, the Pokemon will surely follow him. He was a walking target and there was hypothetically no escape.
"Esp. Espeon." Eve brought over the jar of Sweet Scent that had been dropped, showing it to Twilight and the others.
"Hm? This jar?" Twilight used her magic to lift the jar as she saw the name of the jar. "Sweet Scent...Supreme?"
"Oh, that makes sense now." Fluttershy nodded. "They're drawn to the Sweet Scent. But...did some of it fall on Ash?"
"...Sure did." Twilight sighed. "Meloetta dropped some on him. She planned this from the start that crafty little-" Twilight was about to go off until Eve calmed her down.
"How do we stop this then? Nopony's gonna get their Pokemon back at this rate?" Applejack wondered.
"I think we might have a solution to that. Pinkie Pie!" Twilight called for Pinkie.
"Yes?" Pinkie slipped out of the crowd, appearing in front of Twilight.
"Have all of your Slurpuff's use Sweet Scent in unison. That way, all these other Pokemon will be drawn away from Ash." Twilight explained.
"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie slipped back into the crowd, heading to her partners. "Slurpuff! I know you're focused on Ash, but you think you can use Sweet Scent for just a bit?"
"Puff. Slurpuff." Even if the Pokemon were all drawn to Ash, they can still mostly listen to their trainer's commands. And yet, they won't get back in their Poke Balls.
One major problem though.
For the Slurpuff's to use Sweet Scent, they would have to move away from Ash in the first place. Except, like most of the Pokemon here, they are unable to separate themselves from the human.
They had still used Sweet Scent by emanating a pink aroma, but that only worsened the situation since the Sweet Scent Supreme had combined with the normal Sweet Scent.
The Sweet Scent Supreme overpowered the normal Sweet Scent by a gigantic margin. It wasn't even close. The best the normal Sweet Scent could do is become one and add more potency to the Supreme variant.
Now Ash was an even larger target. Everything was going horribly wrong.
"Oh." Pinkie made a poker face.
"This might be a problem." Fluttershy gulped.
"Grrgh...Meloetta..." Twilight's horn was flashing aggressively. Her alone time with Ash had been foiled.
Originally, this was close to what Meloetta was actually planning. But Twilight was meant to be the target, not Ash. So in a way, it was basically a clear guaranteed sign that the plan would've actually worked if it landed on the right target.
Ash decided to walk away and get some space, but that was no good. The Pokemon all followed him either way. He was no longer free to have his own space.
"How'd I get here..." Ash said to himself as he lowered his head.
"Pikachu..."
Twilight grumbled as she and her friends followed the army of Pokemon, trying to come up with a plan to get them away from Ash or at least cancel out the Sweet Scent.
Celestia, Cadence, Sunlight and Eventide had observed everything from the outside. It was truly a bizarre sight but somewhat enjoyable. Something was satisfying about seeing a trainer have many Pokemon follow them. It almost made Ash look like a true Pokemon Master, the goal he is still aiming for to this day.
"Hm. That's peculiar." Eventide narrowed his eyes.
"Mhm." Celestia and Sunlight both nodded. "How did this happen?"
"...I think I know how." Cadence knew from the start. She had been watching Meloetta's actions from the very beginning. She saw the Sweet Scent Supreme and how Meloetta and Twilight were not on the best terms. So she figured something like this would eventually happen."
"You do?" All three of them turned to her.
"Oh yes. We'll standby for now and see what happens."
Cadence knew that there was a solution to all of this. Twilight and her friends just haven't found it yet. Especially Twilight. But Cadence does. And yet, she found this so amusing that she decided to spectate. She seems to get giddy on Hearts and Hooves day for obvious reasons.
Ash decided to sit down and chow down on some food just to clear his head. Unfortunately, it was hard to do so because of two reasons.
One, so many Pokemon were surrounding him and two, Ember's Gible was biting on Ash's head as he had been drawn to the Sweet Scent as well.
"Mmmm..." Ash grumbled as he continued to eat, trying his best to relax. But that would prove to be a challenge.
"Okay. Does anypony have a plan?" Twilight pulled her friends in for a group huddle.
"Well...I saw a stand that sold Sweet Scent jars earlier." Applejack said. "That might be where that Supreme jar came from. We could buy all of those and pour them somewhere else for the Pokemon."
"That does sound great but...we need these Pokemon to go back to their trainers." Twilight wasn't too sure about it.
"We could try spraying the Sweet Scent on everypony's Poke Balls. That way they'll all want to go back inside." Fluttershy added on to Applejack's plan.
"Hm...That does sound clever. Although, that might make it difficult for anypony who wants to have a battle...but it's worth a shot anyway." Twilight decided to go with the plan. "Let's go!"
Each of her friends, minus Rarity and Spike who were still at the Pokestar Studios attraction, dashed off towards the Pokemon Sweet Scent stand. The source of all this trouble.
The old man over at the stand had seen the entire sea of Pokemon go after Ash already. He knew that it had to be the work of Sweet Scent. Mostly because he noticed that his Sweet Scent Supreme jar was no longer here.
Twilight and her friends went up to the stand, spotting 10 bottles of Sweet Scent.
"Excuse me, sir. Could we buy these Sweet Scent jars? How much do they cost?" Twilight asked.
"Oh. You're buying them to sort all of this out now, are you?" The old man said, rocking back and forth on his chair.
"Mhm." Fluttershy nodded. "Our friend Ash is a bit overcrowded right about now. And we want to give him back his space."
"Heh. Good luck. I'll let you have them for free since it's pointless to try."
"Pointless?" They all said.
"Yep! That Sweet Scent Supreme's too powerful, I tell ya. Ain't no way a regular Sweet Scent's gonna beat it out, that's for sure."
"So it doesn't matter how many we pour? Just how powerful is that Sweet Scent Supreme?!" Pinkie screeched.
"Hah! It's a rare jar. Very few of 'em exist in our world. Gonna have to find a new alternative to even match the Supreme's scent."
"Ugh!" Twilight groaned. "We'll take them just in case!" Twilight grabbed all of the jars. "I'm not gonna let any of this ruin my time with Ash...No matter what!" Twilight suddenly used her Royal Canterlot Voice which startled everypony else.
She was serious about fixing this and getting back to Ash. Meanwhile, Meloetta was hiding from all of this. She knows she was the cause of this and felt guilty about it.
"Melo..." Meloetta pouted as she peeked her head out of the side of the bench.
At first, it looked like there was absolutely no way this situation could get worse. Ash was already a large target. The Pokemon won't go back to their trainers no matter what.
It seemed as if this debacle had reached a peak.
That is until Ash heard very familiar sounds coming his way.
"...Huh?" His ears twitched as his pupils expanded. This sound he was hearing was closing in on him. It was insanely familiar. So familiar, that he could instantly tell that it belonged to one of his Pokemon.
But it wasn't Pikachu. Because he was on his shoulder. Most of his pre-evolved or smaller Pokemon have that same cute and playful walking sound, like Pikachu.
And one Pokemon who also fit that bill was none other than the very obsessive Leaf Pokemon.
Bayleef.
"Bay!" Lo and behold, Bayleef had shown up as she had arrived at the Crystal Empire.
"Huh?! Bayleef?!" Ash gasped. "Did you follow me all the way here?!"
"Pika?!"
"Bay! Bay! Ba-" Bayleef came to a screeching halt by skidding on the ground. The reason being was that when she got close enough, her eyes locked onto something she despised more than anything.
Pokemon around Ash. But in this case, it wasn't just Pikachu like always. It was hundreds. Perhaps even thousands of Pokemon surrounding her favourite human.
"Bay?!" She was distraught by this. Her worst nightmare had come true. Pikachu, she could live with. But a gigantic number of Pokemon, not at all.
Naturally, in Bayleef's case, she was aggravated by this. So aggravated that she decided to attack all of the Pokemon that were surrounding Ash.
This is where things began to spiral out of control.
An enraged Bayleef had used the move Vine Whip to wrap around the tail of a Linoone.
"Noone?" The Rushing Pokemon notice that a vine was wrapped around its tail.
"Bayleef!" With unusual strength, Bayleef had lifted Linoone off the ground for one tactic that could certainly separate the Pokemon from Ash.
She swung Linoone around, hitting all the other Pokemon with the Rushing Pokemon's body, using Linoone as some sort of mace.
"L-Linoone! Noone" Obviously, Linoone didn't enjoy being used as a weapon.
The Pokemon, mostly the smaller ones, were being sent flying from Bayleef's rampant swinging as she was picking them all out like flies one by one in a short amount of time.
Twilight and the others watched as Bayleef was going on a rampage, attacking the Pokemon with such vigour and aggression.
"W-Wait, Bayleef!" Ash stuttered as he tried to stop Bayleef.
"Bay!" But Bayleef as too focused on cleaving them all away. She knew that she would need someone larger and heavier than Linoone to take care of the big ones.
So she tossed Linoone aside, switching for a larger Pokemon. Obviously, the Pokemon weren't okay with this at all. They didn't take too kindly to Bayleef's sudden attack on them. Especially the Pokemon who had already been hit by her.
"Marill!" An enraged Marill fired a Water Gun at Bayleef's face out of anger. But this only escalated the problem.
"Bay!" The Leaf Pokemon wrapped her vines around a Klang, which was already a larger threat than a Linoone.
Klang is a heavy and hard Pokemon. That's no surprise since it is a Steel-Type. The type that has the least weaknesses and is well known for being the most defensive Pokemon Type there is.
So if Klang is swung around, someone's gonna get hurt.
And somehow unsurprisingly, Bayleef was strong enough to lift a Steel-Type with just vines alone, showing how she's a cut above other Bayleef's.
"K-Klang?"
"Bayleef, don't!" Ash rushed over, barging through the crowd of Pokemon around him. "You're gonna really-"
"Leef!" It was too late for Ash to stop the swinging. The moment she swung the Gear Pokemon around, she ended up hitting Ash instead of the Pokemon.
"GOUGH!" Ash's eyes widened as he had been hit square in the stomach. That amount of force was powerful enough to send him flying.
Which it did.
Ash was launched, screaming as everyone in the Crystal Empire witnessed him blast off into the distance, becoming nothing but a star in the sky.
"Bay?!"
"Pikapi?!"
"Melo?!"
"OH!" Twilight and everypony gasped.
"Wow!" Barry slid in, looking up at the sky. "Talk about a home run! What a slugger of a hit!"
"Poor Ash." Fluttershy shook her head.
"A-Ah..." Twilight dropped the jars of Sweet Scent as she was flabbergasted. Her alone time with Ash had not only been interrupted by many Pokemon but now Ash had been flown far away from her. Who knows where he's ended up? "This isn't how I imagined my first Hearts and Hooves day to turn out."
"Bay..."
"Melo..."
Bayleef and Meloetta felt the same as Twilight. What a shame.
On the bright side, this meant that the Pokemon would stop following Ash since he was very distant from them now.
"Ugh..." Ash groaned as he had landed face first in some snow, unfortunately. But he had quickly recovered thanks to his years of taking severe punishment. "What a day."
The young trainer sat up, holding his head as he shook the snow off his face. He was definitely far from the Crystal Empire now. In fact, Ash noticed that he was currently in a new location that was also taking part in the Pokemon Festival.
Yakyakistan.
As noted by the large number of yaks moving around with their own Pokemon, taking part in attractions. Although some of the attractions had been destroyed.
"Huh? Did I land all the way here?" Ash looked around as he wiped the snow off his hat.
"Ooh..." The voice of a yak travelled through Ash's ears, grabbing the attention of the young trainer as he turned around. A young yak girl came up to Ash, gawking at him. "Who are you, stranger?"
"Ah, sorry." Ash stood up, putting his hat back on. "I kinda crash-landed here in...is this Yakyakistan."
"Yes!" The yak bellowed. "Yona saw you fall from high up. Even going over the gates!" She revealed her name to be Yona.
"I flew that far?!" Ash gasped. "Man...Has Bayleef been training this entire time...?"
"Oh!" Yona's pupils widened as she took a good look at Ash. "Are you Ash Ketchum?!"
"Yeah, that's me?"
"Ah! Where's Peekaachoo?!" Much like all the yaks, they pronounce Pikachu's name differently.
"I kinda got separated from him after I got launched. I gotta get back to the Crystal Empire."
"Aw. Can't Ash stay behind for festival in Yakyakistan?"
"Hm? You want me to stay?" Ash turned around.
"Yona would enjoy having a hero here! So would all yaks!"
"Hmm...This is still apart of the Pokemon Festival. But Pikachu's probably worried about me..."
"Please?" Yona made a puppy-dog face to try and get Ash to stay behind.
"Uh." Ash knew that this tactic was always used on him by Sweetie Belle and most of the time, it proves to be highly effective. "I guess I can hang around for a while. I wanna see these new attractions. The ones that aren't broken anyway."
"Hooray!" Yona jumped up, making the ground tremble a bit. "Ash should meet Yona's partner Piloswine too!"
"Swine?" Speaking of Piloswine, the Swine Pokemon popped out of the ground, moving its head around.
"Hey, Piloswine." Ash kneeled, rubbing the chin of the Ice-Ground-Type.
"Pilo!"
Before Ash would return to the Crystal Empire, he decided to experience what Yakyakistan has to offer. It also counts as his first time here so that's a fairly neat bonus. Surprisingly, Bayleef's rampant swinging led him to a discovery for a new adventure.
Truly a happy little accident.
Back at the Crystal Empire, Meloetta had decided to come forward and explain to Fluttershy and the others that she did in fact cause this from the start.
"Melo...Meloetta." Meloetta lowered her head, feeling guilty and responsible for this mess as she gave the honest truth to everypony.
"Meloetta said that she was planning on spilling the Sweet Scent on Twilight, but it backfired and landed on Ash." Fluttershy translated.
"What?!" Twilight screeched.
"Etta! Melo!"
"She says that she didn't mean for all of this to happen. Honestly."
"Yeah, well, I'm still not fond of you trying to ruin my time with Ash." Twilight scoffed.
"Etta..." Meloetta apologized to Twilight with all her heart. The Normal-Psychic-Type confessed that her jealousy had gotten in the way.
"Bay..." Bayleef sat down, looking at the sky, waiting for Ash to come back. Unlike Meloetta, she wasn't apologetic at all. Bayleef would never apologize to her rivals.
"Ugh..." Twilight sighed. "I guess I understand. I'm a bit jealous of you too, Meloetta. With your history with Ash after all."
"Jealous?" Pinkie paused for a moment as she was processing that information. Then it hit her. "Oh! Twilight! Are you-"
"Gh!" Twilight shuddered as she was caught slipping. Using the word Jealous was a dead giveaway. "N-N-No, wait! I mean I'm jealous of-"
"Yeah, that makes sense now." Applejack nodded as she understood everything from those words.
"Um. If it's okay with you, Twilight. I knew from the start." Fluttershy hid behind Audino.
"I-I...I don't!" Twilight cowered on the floor with her face turning red.
"You like him?! That's wonderful, Twilight!" Pinkie dashed over. "I always knew you two were a good match!"
"Now that makes a lot of sense actually..." Spike pondered.
"Okay! You've got me!" Twilight exclaimed. "Now can we please figure out how to solve this?! Ash is obviously coming back and that Sweet Scent is just going to pull the Pokemon back in!"
"Well, we still ain't got nothing that might really work..." Applejack shook her head. Even with Ash being set off in the distance, they still didn't have a plan for the Sweet Scent debacle.
That is until Rarity sparked something up that just might work.
"Unless..." Rarity uttered as she turned to face Pheromosa. "Pheromosa, darling. How strong are your pheromones again?"
"Mosa-Mosa. Pheromosa." Pheromosa shrugged as even she herself had no idea how potent her pheromones were.
"I think the Pokedex has like extra information on the Pokemon." Spike hopped on Rarity's back, pulling her Pokedex out. "From what I heard anyway."
"Really now?" Rarity took the Pokedex with her magic, activating it. She quickly selected Pheromosa's dex entry as she found out that there was indeed an extra page that goes into further detail about Pokemon. "Hm. How useful."
With the revelation of a second page, Rarity selected it as the dex read out further information about Pheromosa.
"Pheromosa. The Lissome Pokemon. According to the Aether Foundation, Pheromosa also produces a sort of disarming pheromone which was described as "previously unknown to science" that causes those nearby to become awestruck by its presence. Whether good or bad."
"Oh!" Rarity gawked. "An unknown pheromone you say?!"
"It's that big of a deal?" Pinkie dashed over to Pheromosa to test it out herself. But when she got close, she couldn't smell anything at all. "Hm...I don't smell any pheromones."
"I think Pheromosa has to let the pheromones out," Fluttershy said. "Like a perfume bottle."
"Mosa." Pheromosa pointed at the tips of her antennae, revealing where the pheromone actually comes from.
"If even scientists can't measure it, then it has to be powerful, right?" Spike spoke.
"It must be. But I'm curious about one thing." Fluttershy turned to face Salamence. "How come Salamence wasn't affected at all? He's one of the biggest Pokemon here and I didn't see him."
"Ah-" Spike froze for a bit. "Hm...That's a good question. Salamence, why didn't you go to Ash."
"Sala. Salamence."
"Salamence says that apparently, a Dragon isn't so easily charmed by scents." Fluttershy translated.
"Oooh. Nice." Spike gave a thumbs up.
"Well then, I think I know what the perfect plan for this is." Rarity rubbed her hooves together. "Spike. Let's go find Ash, shall we?" Rarity returned her Pokemon as she got on Salamence's back.
"Okay!" Spike hopped on his partner Pokemon, joining Rarity. "We'll be right back."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu quickly ran over, joining Spike and Rarity at the last second, just to see if his best buddy was alright as Salamence took the skies, flying off.
Twilight and Meloetta looked at each other suddenly. Twilight could see that Meloetta, a Pokemon that Ash describes as kind and caring can have a drastic shift in personality due to jealousy.
Twilight knew that one day, she might end up like Meloetta due to her crush on Ash. Someone who can be so sweet with their special someone but immediately finds disdain and shifts personalities when their special someone is with another who is interested in them.
"Say, Meloetta," Twilight spoke to the Melody Pokemon.
"Melo?"
"You don't really hate me, do you?"
"Etta." She shook her head.
"Yeah, figured. I don't hate you either. I guess we're both just possessive of Ash when it comes to somepony else, huh?"
"Melo." She nodded in understanding.
That small conversation they had was a sign that the two of them can actually get along and bond despite their affection towards the same person. It was slow, but it was there.
Yakyakistan.
Ash had enjoyed the attractions that this part of the Pokemon Festival had to offer. From Hariyama Wrestling where he and Yona were strapped onto two Hariyama's and they duke it out like sumos.
An attraction that was known as Rampage Rollout where two Donphans that they picked had to take multiple laps around the snowy track and sending snow tornadoes at each other for victory.
And a personal favourite that was still enjoyable, Poke-End, which Ash absolutely crushed Yona in. Needless to say, they were having some fun together.
"That Rampage Rollout got a bit destructive there." Ash sat down as he was chatting with Yona.
"Yona was almost buried down there!" Yona's eyes widened. "But it was a lot of fun with Ash!"
"Sure was!" Ash grinned as he patted Yona's head. "Well...I think I should get going." Ash stood up. "Been a real blast meeting you Yona."
"Aw..." Yona pouted. "Ash is leaving now?"
"Yep. My friends are all waiting for me after all. Can't leave them worried, ya know."
"Yona understand. But Yona will see Ash again someday, right?"
"Of course! Now that I know where this place is, I can come and visit you any time! Count on it!"
"Yona will count! Thank you, Ash!"
"No problem!" Ash ran off, waving goodbye to his yak friend he had just met due to an accident caused by his own Pokemon. How peculiar.
Ash ran out of the gates of Yakyakistan, sliding on the snow as he looked up in the sky. He knew it was a long way back to the empire. After all, Bayleef hit him far.
"Wonder if there's a sledge somewhere here..."
Ash wouldn't have to walk back to the empire at all. Because up in the sky, he noticed something approaching him. None other than Salamence who had Rarity, Spike and his best pal Pikachu.
"Ash!" Rarity and Spike both yelled.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu hopped off Salamence's back, relieved to see that his partner was alright and in one piece.
"Guys!" Ash put his arms out as he caught Pikachu, hugging his best buddy. "Great to see you again!"
"Pikachu!"
"I should've expected nothing less from you, Ash." Rarity spoke. "You always find some way to stay in one piece."
"No need to worry, Rarity!" Ash grinned.
"Well, I have good news for you Ash, darling. We might be able to solve your little Sweet Scent problem with all those Pokemon following you."
"You can? Awesome! What is it?"
"Pheromosa. Come out." Rarity sent out Pheromosa as the potential problem solver of all of this.
"Mosa." The Lissome Pokemon landed on the ground.
"Use your pheromones on Ash."
"Pheromones?" Ash tilted his head.
"Mosa...!" Pheromosa's antennae twitched as they were aiming at Ash like some sort of weapon. Pheromosa for the first time released its pheromones as they came out of the tips of he antennae's.
"Oh..." Ash looked around himself, seeing a pink mist cover him completely. The pheromones of Pheromosa clashed with Sweet Scent with both of them fighting for dominance.
"Let's hope this works..." Rarity bit her hoof. She was hoping that the pheromones don't end up becoming a second Sweet Scent in which more Pokemon will be attracted to Ash.
The pheromones and Sweet Scent had finished their scuffle as the outcome was that none of them emerged as the victor. Instead, both aromas had cancelled each other out due to their potency.
Ash no longer had a potent scent around him thanks to that clash as the pink mist vanished.
"D-Did it work?" Spike stuttered.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu sniffed his partner to see if Sweet Scent was still there. Thankfully, it wasn't. Ash was back to normal now. "Pikachu!" He hopped on Ash's shoulder.
"Success!" Rarity picked up Spike, hugging him out of nowhere. "It's wonderful that you informed me of that second page of the Pokedex, Spike!"
"Oof! N-No problem, Rarity." Spike gave a thumbs-up as he was enjoying this hug.
"Phew. I need that." Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Now let's get back. Still a lot I wanna do before the day ends."
"Pikachu!"
The Crystal Empire.
Once Ash returned, none of the Pokemon were pulled towards him at all. Pheromosa's pheromones ended up being the saving grace of this whole debacle.
Bayleef, Meloetta and Twilight went up to Ash, relieved that he was alright.
"Ash! You're okay!"
"Bay!"
"Melo!"
"Yeah. It's gonna take a lot more than that to stop me. Feels good to have a ton of space too."
"Melo. Meloetta." Meloetta flew over to Ash, bowing her head as she gave multiple apologies to him.
"Don't worry." Ash took Meloetta's apology. "But Bayleef..."
"Bay?!" Bayleef was fearful that she was going to get scolded by Ash.
"Bayleef. You ran away from Oak's lab again?" He kneeled, patting Bayleef on the head. "Attacking all the Pokemon like that was a bit much. But I guess it's a good sign that you're getting stronger every day."
"Bay."
"I know you mean well, Bayleef and you wanna see me, but sometimes you can go overboard a lot, ya know."
"Bay." Bayleef lowered her head.
"No need to worry. But, it's also pretty awesome that you came from Kanto to here. You've gotten way faster too!"
"Bay!" Bayleef liked the sound of Ash praising her development quite a lot. Twilight watched as the two Pokemon surrounded Ash. But this time, she wasn't feeling jealous. Mostly because they were apologizing instead of crushing on him.
And of course, Ash knew how to not only accept their apology but help them grow in the future. It was one of the many reasons why Twilight adored Ash so much.
"Anyway." Ash stood up as he saw the sunset. "I'm beat." He yawned. "Think the Crystal Empire has some rooms?"
"Sure does." Twilight went over to Ash. "I'll take you there."
"Thanks, Twilight."
"Heh." Twilight turned around, facing the other two Pokemon. Even after that small chat with Meloetta, Twilight was still competing with her and Bayleef for Ash as she turned around, sticking her tongue.
"Melo?!"
"Bay?!"
Meloetta and Bayleef gasped. They realized that despite all that they've done, Twilight was the only one who didn't give an apology to Ash since she hadn't done anything to cause him so much trouble like spilling Sweet Scent or hitting him with another Pokemon.
Crystal Empire, late afternoon.
Rainbow Dash and Soarin had just arrived at the Cyrstal Empire. They missed out on the whole Sweet Scent debacle that happened during the afternoon.
"What did we miss?" Rainbow Dash asked as she and Soarin went up to Rarity and the others.
"Not much honestly. But there was a fairly entertaining situation with Ash." Rarity replied.
"Sure was." Spike nodded. "Especially on Hearts and Hooves day."
"Oh, it's today?" Soarin said. "Geez, this festival's distracting."
"And that train was so slow..." Rainbow sighed. "It's almost already night right now."
"Ah, but the day isn't over yet. There's still a lot to do before midnight." Rarity walked off.
"Well. Guess this is where we part ways, huh?" Soarin turned to Rainbow.
"Mhm." Rainbow flew up. "See ya in our next Gym Battle. Or back at the academy, I don't know."
"See ya too." Soarin and Rainbow Dash bid their farewells as they went their separate ways, most likely to see each other again somewhere else.
Many trainers were deciding to clock out of the day as well. They had their own eventful day as their Pokemon had also been involved with the whole Sweet Scent debacle. Their own Pokemon almost left them for some fragrance.
The calming aura of the orange sun slowly setting was enough to make anyone drowsy. Even the Pokemon that are nocturnal by nature.
"Chiko..." Chikorita yawned as she was placed on a Crystal Empire guest room bed by Fluttershy.
"There you go," Fluttershy said to her partner. "Get some good rest. We might head over to another location tomorrow. Maybe." She put the bedsheets over the Leaf Pokemon.
"Ko..."
"Audi. Can you stay here and watch over Chikorita for me?"
"Audino!"
"Good. I'll be right back." Fluttershy fluttered out of the room, leaving everything to Audino as a caretaker to Chikorita while she goes off to finish a few things up before midnight.
With how the sun was setting, it looked to be a peaceful and calm night like usual. But, something was amiss. Chikorita began to doze off, letting the orange glow of the sun be her method of sleeping as Audino kept watch.
As for others who were tired themselves, they had entered the guest rooms for some rest with their Pokemon.
Bayleef, who had come all the way from Kanto to meet Ash wanted to stay here and be with Ash, refusing to head back to Professor Oak's lab.
But Ash had gone to the guest rooms for some rest. Bayleef didn't want to disappoint Ash and make him upset any further, so she willingly took herself back home.
If she can come from Pallet Town to the Crystal Empire in a few hours then it wouldn't be a huge problem for the Leaf Pokemon to return to Oak's lab.
Celestia decided to set the sun herself while all the way back in Canterlot, Pyrestar would be the one to raise the moon instead of Luna, who's whereabouts are still unknown.
Overall, the last and final hours of the second day had been fairly slow and calm in contrast to the hyperactive morning and early afternoon shenanigans that occurred.
But sometimes, the night can get just as wild.
Along came the night. The festival was still lively at night but not as much as in the morning or afternoon. Lights were everywhere to illuminate the darkness. Most of it was actually coming from Rarity's Ampharos due to him being the ultimate light source.
Up in the night sky, a shooting star could be seen passing by. Although, there's a 50% chance that it could just be a Minior. It was still beautiful to look at.
Fluttershy was out with Twilight and the others, just having a normal chat and discussing what they would end up doing for tomorrow.
So far, they were all tempted to head over to Manehattan since they were curious as to what that part of the festival has to offer for them. Everywhere, there's a different attraction with some reoccurring ones after all.
As for their Pokemon, most of them had split up to do their own thing instead of hanging around their trainers like they always do.
Sometimes, at night, the Pokemon have their own adventures that they get up to when their trainers are either asleep or chatting with each other.
"Aaah..." Pikachu stretched his arms as he came out of the castle. "Lucky for me, I didn't get any Sweet Scent on me." The Electric Mouse Pokemon, unlike his trainer Ash, got off easy from the Sweet Scent Event.
He couldn't begin to imagine what would've happened if some of it got on him. He would have Pokemon of all kinds chasing him which wouldn't spell well for a Pokemon of his size.
"It's not close to midnight yet." Pikachu looked up in the sky. "What to do..." He began pondering on the spot. Just then, along came Absol who looked completely out of it as he was groaning.
"Urgh..." The Disaster Pokemon walked past Pikachu.
"What's wrong, Absol?"
"Mrrgh..." Absol fell flat on his face. "That Sylveon...Sticking to me for most of the day...What did I do to deserve this?"
"No need to worry." Pikachu patted Absol on the head. "Wait. Does that mean you won't be doing your night watch like usual?"
"No way." Absol shook his head. "Not this time. I don't wanna stay awake with Sylveon around." He shuddered. "I'll just head to bed instead. Hopefully, we head somewhere else tomorrow.."
"Well, I heard earlier that we might be heading to Manehattan. You're gonna love it!"
"Really?"
"Oh yeah!" Pikachu nodded. "It's a real blast! Kinda reminds me of Castelia City a bit."
"As long as it means getting away from Sylveon..."
"Getting away from who?" The voice of Sylveon reached Abosl's ears, startling the Disaster Pokemon. Sylveon was right behind Pikachu and Absol alongside her fellow Eeveelution, Eve.
"Gah!" Absol jumped back. "Y-You're not asleep with your trainer?!"
"Not at all!" Sylveon grinned.
"Why are you so scared of her?" Eve wondered. "Sylveon here doesn't look that harmful at all."
"It's not the look..." Absol growled. "It's the Fairy magic. It just makes me uncomfortable..."
"Oh, that makes sense now?" Eve nodded. She understood that being a Dark-Type meant that Fairy magic was a bit of a hazard for him.
"Aw, my Fairy magic isn't bad at all. It's soothing. Here. Let me show you." Sylveon approached Absol.
"No...Stay back...!" Absol's legs quaked as he slowly backed away from the approaching Fairy-Type.
"Don't be scared, Absol. Embrace it!" Sylveon lunged at him.
"A-Ah!" Absol used Quick Attack to evade but Sylveon also used Quick Attack to chase after him. "Get away from me!" Very soon, the two of them entered a chase sequence with Absol trying to escape from Sylveon as if his life depended on it.
"You can't run forever, Absol~!"
"She's a bit different with Absol, huh?" Pikachu said.
"Well, it's obvious. Sylveon's not what she seems." Eve nodded.
"She's not?"
"Not at all." Eve then shook her head. "Behind that cute and adorable face is a fiendish Pokemon who enjoys making others her playthings for her own amusement.
"...Oh." Pikachu's eyes widened as he gulped.
"But she means well. I think."
"Yeah...Hopefully" Pikachu laughed nervously.
Whilst he and Eve had a midnight chat, all the way back inside of the guest room, Audino was trying her best to stay up to keep watch of Chikorita.
"Can't...fall...asleep," Audino grumbled as she leaned back on the wall. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly a nocturnal Pokemon, despite those sensitive ears she has.
The same goes for Chikorita and most Grass-Types since being out at night in the harsh cold can be a bit unhealthy for them at times, depending on the Grass Pokemon. Except for Oddish who loves moonlight.
However, this night was different.
Chikorita was having a case of somnambulism. Also known as sleepwalking. "Mmm..." The Leaf Pokemon sat up from her bed, undergoing her first-ever sleepwalking case.
"Hm?" Audino could hear Chikorita getting off the bed as she noticed the Grass-Type walking out of the guest room. "Chikorita? Where are you going?"
"Aha..." She didn't respond to Audino at all.
"Wait..." Audino figured it out as she lowered her voice. "Is this sleepwalking?!" She knew not to raise her voice since waking up a sleepwalker, while not exactly dangerous, can lead to some disorientation.
However, the major difference between a sleepwalking Pokemon to say a sleepwalking human or pony is that if a Pokemon wakes up after sleepwalking, the results could be destructive.
"Ah..." Chikorita mumbled in her sleep.
"What to do..." Audino bit her hand. She decided to follow Chikorita, making sure that she doesn't end up harming herself. When someone is sleepwalking, their movements tend to be complex and unpredictable which can prove to be a problem for someone trying to stop them from harming themselves.
The sleepwalking Chikorita wandered the halls of the Crystal Castle as she gained the attention of the guards who were stationed to keep watch at night.
They saw how Audino was gently running towards Chikorita, trying not to wake her up but also attempting to keep her away from any harm.
Audino's large body compared to Chikorita's small size meant that she had to keep a safe distance away from the Leaf Pokemon without making any direct contact.
Eventually, Chikorita's sleepwalking and Audino's pursuit led the duo to the outside. But instead of going through the main castle doors, they ended up at the less well-known back doors. Out there, they were behind the castle itself and a bit distant from everyone else at this point.
"Behind the castle?" Audino turned around. "We can't get too far away...Fluttershy doesn't even know about this part of the castle."
It wasn't time to panic yet for Audino since Chikorita was still in one piece and unharmed. But moving further away from the castle and the festival as well was a bit of a red flag for the Hearing Pokemon. She was hoping that this would end soon.
Chikorita's little adventure led Audino further away from the Crystal Empire. The Hearing Pokemon looked at her surroundings as she noticed that they were entering a snowy area that wasn't the Frozen North since they've technically gone South instead.
This could be considered uncharted territory to them as the snow here, while not as violent as the frozen north, was still aggressive and harsh.
So harsh that it was kicking up a mist that covered the area, making it harder for anyone's vision to work properly. Unless it's a Pokemon with amazing eyesight. Unfortunately, Audino and Chikorita don't exactly have amazing eyesight and Chikorita's still sleepwalking.
"Oh, dear..." Audino gulped as she noticed that the view of the Empire was being blocked out by the mist around her. If there was any time to panic, it might be now. But Audino was keeping her cool.
"Fluttershy..." Chikorita spoke in her sleep.
"Oh, I wish I had Psychic-Types moves right about now..." Audino whimpered. She knew not to make contact with Chikorita as she is now but if this keeps up throughout the entire night until morning whilst treading in uncharted territory, there might be heaps of trouble coming their way.
And indeed, in an area like this, there was trouble lurking around the corner. But for once, the trouble wasn't a horde of Sableye scampering around.
It was something much worse.
Audino stopped as she noticed a familiar figure in the mist. The silhouette of the figure was in the shape of a spike ball with arms and legs sticking out.
Just one look and Audino already knew exactly who it was. And it immediately made her shudder as a voice came from the familiar figure.
"Well! How convenient!" That voice belonged to the rival of Mayor Mare and the demon in angel's clothing, Togepi as the mist revealed the Spike Ball Pokemon.
"Togepi?!" Audino gasped as Chikorita suddenly stopped while still asleep.
"Out alone here, are you?" Togepi grinned. "Too bad."
"Why of all times...?" Audino groaned as she looked down at Chikorita who wasn't walking anymore. But she was still in a sleepwalking state.
"Hm?" Togepi herself also noticed how Chikorita was asleep on the spot, out in this cold weather which was bad for a Grass-Type Pokemon. Especially one as young as her. Togepi felt like taking advantage of the situation around her because of this.
"Why are you here?" Audino got in front of Chikorita.
"Pssh. None of your business. But since I bumped into you two..." Togepi eyes were shining as she was about to use the move Mega Punch. "I'll keep you two in my custody for the time being!"
Togepi planned on keeping Audino and Chikorita as her captives for the same reason as always. She wants to grab the attention of Mayor Mare since Audino and Chikorita are essentially citizens of Ponyville.
Any chance of getting back at her archenemy was a catch in Togepi's eyes as she rushed towards the duo.
"Oh, no!" Audino screeched as she now had to figure out how to fight Togepi off while protecting Chikorita.
The Spike Ball Pokemon raised her stubby arms, ready to smash them onto the Hearing Pokemon. Audino decided to use Protect as a means of defence. A green barrier formed in front of her and Chikorita, blocking the Mega Punch from succeeding.
"Heh." Togepi grinned, knowing that Protect can't save Audino from her forever. The Spike Ball Pokemon jumped back as she had other means of attacking.
Perhaps her most useful move was Psychic, allowing her to manipulate her opponents with her mind. Physically not mentally, much to her dismay.
The Fairy-Type's eyes illuminated blue as she lifted Audino and Chikorita with her mind, holding them both in place. Thankfully, Chikorita hadn't woken up since Psychic isn't about physical contact but this was still a bad situation.
"Gotcha!"
"Not for long!" Audino opened her mouth as she was about to fire off Hyper Beam as an orange ball of energy formed inside of her mouth.
But obviously, Togepi wouldn't let herself get hit by such an attack. So, when Audino fired Hyper Beam which tore through the air, the Spike Ball Pokemon used Substitute to avoid it.
Togepi moved back quickly when the Hyper Beam came close as she created an afterimage of herself. When the afterimage was hit, it had disappeared.
But not only did it hit the afterimage, but the ground as well. Any time Hyper Beam hits the ground, there is bound to be some hefty destruction.
Which is what was happened right about now.
The snow around the ground had been blown away by the explosion of Hyper Beam as a massive crater had been formed. But it didn't stop at just an explosion and a crater, the snowy hills around the area had crumbled as the ground itself was shaking.
Audino was losing her balance as she realized she put too much power into that Hyper Beam. Now the ground was covered in more snow that fell from the hills.
"Missed!" Togepi taunted. "Now it's my turn!"
"Ugh..." Audino fell on her knees, as she had to take a rest after using Hyper Beam, unfortunately. This allowed Togepi to strike while the iron was hot.
And she did so by using Dazzling Gleam. By creating a rainbow sphere in her arms, Togepi sent a large array of rainbow beams towards the defenceless Audino who still hadn't recovered after using Hyper Beam.
Audino gasped as she put her body over Chikorita without making contact with her, hoping that she could withstand the beams of Dazzling Gleam while protecting Chikorita too. From how fast they were moving, she knew that this might pummel her violently.
She was prepared for the worst to happen.
"Mmm..." But then, as Chikorita grumbled in her sleep, something unusual happened. A piece of her leaf came out, flowing in the wind as it landed on Togepi's head.
From Togepi's point of view, she witnessed the multiple beams of Dazzling Gleam bombard Audino and Chikorita, making it a direct contact.
The beams were pouring on them as multi-coloured explosions graced Togepi's eyes. It looked like her attack was a success and she had successfully knocked them both out.
But that's when the unexpected happened. Togepi's eyes had suddenly blinked as an instant flash happened before her eyes. The Spike Ball Pokemon rubbed her eyes, wondering what that was flash was.
Once she got done rubbing her eyes, it was revealed that Dazzling Gleam hadn't hit Audino and Chikorita. Almost as if they had missed. Which was odd.
But even more unusual, Togepi said something she had already said earlier.
"Missed! Now it's my turn!" That's when it hit her. "Huh...? Didn't I say those words earlier?"
"What...? What happened?" For Audino, it was a different experience. While Togepi thought that the attack had missed, Audino realized that Togepi never fired the attack in the first place.
"Must've been a dud. Let's try this again!" Togepi sent more Dazzling Gleam beams towards the duo once more. She was expecting to hit them this time.
"Mrrgh..." Once again, Chikorita grumbled as another tiny piece of leaf came off her, landing on Togepi's head.
That same mysterious flash happened to Togepi's eyes as the moment she rubbed them, she saw that yet again, Audino and Chikorita were completely fine.
"What's going on?!" Togepi screeched. "Let's try a new attack then!" She switched it up, going for Flamethrower this time. A blast of fire came out of Togepi's mouth as she knew that an attack this wide was unlikely to miss. The raging fire melted the snow around the area as an orange glow illuminated Audino's back.
Audino covered her eyes as a third tiny piece of leaf came out of Chikorita's head, phasing through the fire itself as it landed on Togepi's face.
The fire had engulfed Audino and Chikorita as the Hearing Pokemon cried out in pain. From how she was screaming, Togepi thought that it was a success since Audino generally sounded like she was being burned by intense flames.
But lo and behold, the flash happened once more. And to Togepi's shock, Audino and Chikorita were fine yet again. They looked like they hadn't taken any damage whatsoever, their bodies weren't burned and what's more, the snow hadn't been melted by Flamethrower like what Togepi saw.
Naturally, this freaked the Spike Ball Pokemon out. She slowly backed away, flabbergasted and confused about what was going on.
It was almost as if something was changing the outcome that was less favourable to Togepi and more favourable to Audino and Chikorita.
Similar to changing fate itself.
Audino shook her head as she herself had no idea what was going on, so she quickly stood up as she was about to perform something very risky. She was going to make contact with the sleepwalking Chikorita.
"Sorry about this, Chikorita." Taking the risk, Audino placed her hands on the Leaf Pokemon, raising her as she made a run for it.
All the while, Togepi stood there, confused, befuddled and lost on what she had just witnessed. She could've sworn that Dazzling Gleam and Flamethrower connected.
If the attacks missed, then she would've seen them miss. But instead, each time she unleashed an attack, this mysterious flash happened in front of her eyes as she also noticed that a leaf came close to her.
Togepi quickly snapped out of it as she chased after Audino and Chikorita. "Come back here!"
"Just have to find the castle! If I can pick up on the sound of the festival..!" Audino exclaimed as she turned around to see Togepi running after her.
"You won't get away from me!"
"Mrrgh..." Being grabbed by Audino meant that Chikorita had been woken up, breaking out of her sleepwalking. "A-Ah-Ah..."
"Chikorita?"
"AH!" As expected, waking up a sleepwalking Pokemon resulted in less than stellar results. Not only was Chikorita's heart beating fast, but she released a ton of Grass Infinity energy from her body, creating a powerful pulse of energy that spread across the area.
This was one of the many reasons why no one ever wakes up a sleepwalking Pokemon. The Infinity Energy inside of their body will overload and they'll unleash an energy pulse so destructive that it surpasses their limitations. Especially the pre-evolved Pokemon.
This pulse was so strong that it not only destroyed the ground beneath Chikorita, Audino and Togepi, but it also made each of them fall into the large hole.
Well, Togepi used Substitute to save herself from falling as she watched Chikorita and Audino fall instead, hearing their screaming.
"Hmph. It's better if they're left deep down there..." Togepi grimaced as she used the move Ancient Power to block off the hole with large ancient rocks of the past.
After being woken up and exerting all of her energy, Chikorita had gone back to sleep due to that power overload. But she and Audino were still falling down a seemingly endless abyss.
Audino screamed as she had let go of Chikorita. "Chikorita! You're going back to sleep now?!"
"Mmmm..." She smiled in her sleep.
"Ah!" Audino curled up as she saw that there was no end to this fall. It could go on forever. She closed her eyes in instinctive response because of this. "Not like this!"
"Mmmrgh..." Chikorita grumbled in her sleep as yet again, the leaf on her head was acting up. But this time, instead of one, two tiny pieces of leaves came out of Chikorita's leaf as they both flew over to Audino who hadn't seen the leaves fly over to her.
Once the leaves touched her head, that same mysterious flash forced Audino to open her eyes as she had seen it appear before her eyes.
This flash lasted longer than what Togepi saw from what it seems. About 5 seconds. Almost as if an explosion was going off. And the last thing Audino saw was a green light and that was it.
"Ugh..." Audino had woken up after the flash, seemingly alright and in one piece. But there was an even better result than just being okay and healthy.
Audino sat up as she noticed that not only was she in one piece with Chikorita by her side, but she was safely on the ground as if the impact had been cushioned mysteriously.
Even the rocks that Togepi created were gone too.
"W-What happened...?" A befuddled Audino stammered.
"Mrrgh..." Finally, Chikorita was waking up, no longer in a sleepwalking state. She didn't let out any infinity energy since she woke up by her own will without contact. Once she opened her eyes, the Leaf Pokemon noticed that they were in an underground area all of a sudden. "Huh? What? Audino?"
"Chikorita. You're awake?"
"Mhm." She nodded gently. "Where are we?"
"Far from the Crystal Empire and the Pokemon Festival. Underground too. But we're okay...somehow. You were sleepwalking and we ended up here from me following you."
"Oh. Okay." Chikorita yawned. "I didn't know I could sleepwalk. That was my first time."
"Hopefully, it's the last." Audino stood up as she picked Chikorita up. The Hearing Pokemon noticed that they were at the absolute bottom of the underground.
Whatever saved them from having a horrible landing, brought them to safety at the lowest part of the underground.
Audino couldn't even see the entrance. Mostly because the main problem was that this hole was unnaturally deep. with only a small ray of moonlight beaming through. That moonlight wasn't enough to cancel out the darkness, unfortunately.
After all, Audino did see it as an endless abyss when she was falling. But obviously, there was a way out of here somehow. So the two of them would most likely have to search for a way out.
But that didn't need to happen because they weren't alone underground. Right next to them, a group of Drilbur's popped up, startling the duo.
"Howdy!" The group greeted.
"Ah!" Chikorita and Audino jumped back.
"You two lost?" A single Drilbur spoke.
"Lost?" Then after that, they all spoke in unison.
"Oh, um yes." Audino nodded. "We've fallen underground sadly. And now we're just looking for a way out."
"Ah, that's easy enough!"
"Easy enough!"
"We'll get you out of here in no time. Where do you two wanna pop out?"
"Just up near the Crystal Empire. Oh, but, you don't know what that is, do you?"
"Oh, that large place with those crystals and stuff? We know it. Pretty shiny!"
"Pretty shiny!"
"We'll get you there lickety-split!"
"Lickety-split!"
"Neat!" Chikorita squeed. They had the perfect guide out of this underground in the form of Drilbur's who were already drilling experts. How lucky.
The Drilbur's didn't need to dig in order to guide them out. Since they've dug in this underground area so frequently, many holes are plastered all over the place with their own exits and entrances. Although they might have to dig a hole when they reach their destination.
Along the way, Audino noticed that Chikorita looked a bit different. The leaf on her head was missing a few bits. It looked like a Rattata had nibbled on it.
"Say, Chikorita..." Audino spoke.
"Hm?" Chikorita turned around.
"What happened to your leaf? It's missing some parts."
"Oh?" Chikorita looked up. "Ah! My leaf! Is this bad?! Am I in danger?!"
"I don't think so." Audino shook her head. "But it is a bit surprising."
"Mrrgh..." Chikorita grumbled. "Fluttershy's going to be so upset when she sees this."
"But, one thing that has me curious...those flashes. Where did they come from?" Audino wasn't sure what caused those sudden flashes.
But what she could tell was that somehow, in some way, these flashes saved her and Chikorita from being hurt. Not only that, but Audino noticed how the number of flashes that she saw was identical to the number of leaves that Chikorita leaf was missing.
Audino thought it was a coincidence as she shook her head. She believed that the reason why they were still in one piece was due to a Pokemon that was so fast they could only see it as a flash of light.
At least, that's what Audino believes.
The helpful Drilbur's eventually led them out of the underground as they appeared right underneath the house of a crystal pony.
"We're here!" A Drilbur popped up. "All safe and sound."
"Safe and sound!"
"Thank you all so much." Audino thanked them as she and Chikorita climbed out of the hole, finally reaching the surface as they were back in the Crystal Empire.
"Catch ya later!" All the Drilbur bid their farewells as they descended underground, getting back to work.
Audino and Chikorita decided to return to the guest room by acting all stealthy. They were hoping that Fluttershy didn't already know they had left the guest rooms. The last thing they want is the Stare.
But, since they were gone for a while, Fluttershy already knew as she spotted her Pokemon walking at a slow pace, trying to be sneaky.
"Audi! Chikorita!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she flew over to them. They had been caught in the act by their trainer.
"Dino?!"
"Chiko?!"
"Where have you two been?! I've been so worried about you?!"
"A-Audino..." Audino gulped as she was fearing the worst.
"And..." Fluttershy also ended up noticing Chikorita's leaf was different. To Fluttershy, she thought that a smaller Pokemon attacked it.
"Chiko..." Chikorita hid behind Audino.
"Audi! You were meant to keep watch of her! What happened?!"
"Audino..." Audino whimpered as she knew she had to spill the truth to her. "Dino. Audino..."
"Sleepwalking?"
"Audino." She nodded.
"Hm." Fluttershy sighed. "I guess that would explain it...But what about her leaf?"
"Audino..." She didn't know. Audino couldn't answer the part about Chikorita's leaf.
"Okay...As long as you two are alright. That's what matters the most. Come on. Let's get to bed. We're heading to Manehattan tomorrow."
Their fear of being scolded by Fluttershy almost came true which is something Audino and Chikorita would never want since they're so well-behaved.
But, after a simple explanation, Fluttershy understood the scenario. But still, the biggest mystery to Audino were those flashes. There might be a chance they'll show up again and perhaps, they'll save her from harm once more.
The third day of the Pokemon Festival is here.
And the next choice of destination is the bustling Manehattan. Ash and the others had already bid their farewell to Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart as they were on the train to Manehattan, looking forward to what it could hold.
However, while everyone is excited to go to Manehattan, Audino is a bit worried. The reason involving Chikorita's leaf and how it had bits of it missing. And to an extent, Fluttershy as well.
Since they both had no idea how Chikorita lost bits of her leaf, they were starting to worry. Mainly Audino since she was there with Chikorita last night.
On that night, mysterious flashes occurred that Audino herself saw. Those flashes were a mystery. But what was known about them was how they seemed to save Audino and Chikorita from harm.
But, during all the times they've been in situations where they could get hurt, Audino wondered why of all times would the flash be showing up.
It never showed up during Eternatus or Spiritomb at all.
"Audino..." A confused Audino looked down at the floor.
"Audi?" Fluttershy grabbed the attention of her partner.
"Dino?"
"Are you alright? You look a bit down and out of it? Is this because of what happened last night?"
"Audino." She told Fluttershy that there was no need to worry.
"If something's wrong just tell me, Audi." Fluttershy flew over to her partner, patting her on the back.
"Dino...Audino." Audino decided to tell Fluttershy about what she saw last night that really confused her. She explained how she saw these mysterious flashes appear before her.
These flashes happened at a precise moment where it looked like Audino and Chikorita would end up getting hurt from what she could remember.
Audino also told Fluttershy about how for some odd reason, the number of leaves missing on Chikorita's leaf is the same as the number of flashes that occurred. She also explained that these harmful moments occurred when they bumped into Togepi who threatened to hold them hostage.
But every time Togepi attacked them, the flashes happened, saving them from any harm.
"Flashes of light, you say? And they saved you?"
"Audino." She nodded.
"Hm..." Fluttershy pondered. "I'm a bit lost on that myself. These flashes saved you? How's that possible?"
"Audino." She didn't know.
"Fluttershy. What's wrong?" Twilight went up to her.
"Oh, Twilight. Audi's telling me about what she saw last night. Togepi came along and-"
"Togepi?!" Twilight screeched. "She didn't hurt any of you did she?!"
"Oh no. I wasn't there. But Audino and Chikorita were. Togepi tried to hold them hostage. But Audino described how these flashes of light had saved them from any harm."
"Flashes of light saving them from harm?" Twilight scrunched her eyes. "That's odd..."
"Odd is right. Audino herself couldn't tell how it happened. All she saw were the flashes."
"Audino..."
"Hm...Well as long as you're all okay, that's all that matters." Twilight stood up. She noticed that the train had stopped, meaning they had reached Manehattan at last. "Oh, we're here! Come on. I know I'm excited at what Manehattan has to offer."
Finally arriving at the bustling Manehattan, Eventide was the first to exit the train as his silver aura shined across the ground.
"Hmm...!" He took in the fresh air of Manehattan. "I've never been to a city of this scale. This should be interesting!"
"Don't go too crazy, dear." Sunlight hopped off the train.
"Pardon me." Rarity scooched past Sunlight and Eventide.
"Mrrgh..." Rainbow Dash grumbled as she flew out of the train. "Can't believe I came in late yesterday."
"At least you're here now" Applejack replied.
As the rest of them came outside, they saw how extra bright this sunlight was, compared to the Crystal Empire and even Canterlot itself where Celestia was born.
When Chikorita came outside, something miraculous happened. The bits of her leaf that had been torn off were suddenly regenerating in a few seconds as Fluttershy and Audino ended up witnessing this.
"Chikorita! Your leaf!" Fluttershy gasped.
"Chiko?" The Leaf Pokemon looked up to see that what was once lost had been returned. Her leaf was back to normal will all the missing parts restored. As if it had never changed in the first place. "Chiko..."
"Audino..."
"Oh, I get it." Fluttershy looked up. "Bright sunlight regenerates your leaf. Of course! Oh, that's a great relief, Chikorita!"
"Chiko!" Chikorita jumped around, relieved and pleased that her leaf had regenerated. She thought that the damage would be permanent. But not at all.
"Looks like there was no need to worry, after all." Fluttershy picked the Leaf Pokemon up. "Come on. Let's enjoy this festival!"
"Chikorita!"
With that little issue gone and Chikorita's leaf restored, they could enjoy the festival without having to worry about anything that could be potentially troublesome. At least for now that is.
Manehattan's attractions, much like everywhere else, had something new to offer. But more importantly, the attractions here were more about fashion and style which fit Manehattan's energy perfectly.
Some more Pokestar Studios was here alongside Pokemon Contests, showcases and even the famous Pokemon Musical from Nimbasa City in Unova which is a more modified version of contests.
Although, there was something action-packed here. The Pokeathlon. Straight from Goldenrod City in Johto. Clearly, Manehattan was showing off, as it usually does.
"Awesome! The Pokeathlon's here!" Ash exclaimed.
"Pikachu!"
"What's the Pokeathlon?" Applejack asked.
"It's a competition where Pokemon take part in a bunch of athletic competitions. This takes me back." Ash explained.
"Did you say athletic?!" Rainbow Dash got up in Ash's face, scrunching her nose on his.
"Mhm." Ash nodded.
"Excellent..." Rainbow Dash had a devious grin on her face as she was rubbing her hooves together. "First one there!" She dashed off.
"Hmmm..." Ash looked at Gengar's Poke Ball. "It's been a while, but I'll let Gengar and the others try this Pokeathlon too. Let's hope we're not rusty, buddy."
"Pika!"
"I'll take you on, Ash." Applejack offered to try the Pokeathlon. "Sounds fun to me. Right, Sceptile?"
"Tile!"
"Then in that case, out you come guys." Ash sent out all of his Pokemon to not only enjoy what Manehattan has to offer but to also take part in the Pokeathlon.
"You all are athletic, right?" Twilight turned to her Pokemon.
"Esp..." Eve wasn't so sure as she squinted her eyes.
"Sol." Absol nodded. He was a fairly nimble fellow.
"Nine." Ninetales was just here to have fun. He didn't even care how athletic he as.
"Ccino." Minccy was athletic but she wasn't sure about dirtying herself. All of Twilight's Pokemon had varying responses.
"You guys..." Twilight shook her head. "Alright. We'll see who'll go when we get there."
"Well, I think I'll be joining Rarity," Fluttershy spoke. "We both decided on the Pokemon Musical. But I'm not sure Audi and Chikorita can sing. Can they?"
"We'll see how it works. Come along Fluttershy." Rarity walked off with Fluttershy following behind.
"Aha!" Eventide bellowed as he spotted Luna in the distance. "There is that elusive Luna! Finally!"
"Has she been here all this time?" Celestia tilted her head.
"Come, you two!" Eventide placed his hoof around their necks, dragging them along. "We have a lot to catch up on with her!"
"Ough!" Celestia's eyes bulged. "F-Father...Your grip...hooves...too heavy!"
"Out of the way!" Barry yelled as he and the CMC dashed out of the train, leaving behind a trail of dust while Cilan casually walked out of the train instead.
Everyone had something they wanted to do. Most of the attention was geared towards the Pokeathlon, however. It was very tempting. For both humans and ponies alike as well as a different species which are currently here.
The Pokeathlon.
A type of competition involving Pokémon racing and similar athletic competitions, with a total of 10 events. All of it taking place on the outside.
It tests everything about a Pokemon. From Synchronicity, Speed, Power, Skill, Stamina, and Jumping capabilities. And it tests all of those stats at the very same time, making it a challenging competition.
Arriving there, they already saw how there were many humans and ponies gathered here to take part in this competition. But more importantly, some griffons could be seen in the mix too.
Ash already explained the rules to Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Applejack since he's taken part in it before. Like in Pokemon Contests, four competitors participate at once as each uses a team of one Pokémon in each event. The Pokémon and trainers that take part are known as Pokéathletes.
By winning events in the Pokéathlon, the participating Pokémon will earn medals for their species. Their Trainers earn points for the competition based on how well the team did and if they qualified for any of the several bonuses. The Trainer with the highest score wins, with a tie settled with a random draw by the Pokéathlon host.
The Pokéathlon was confirmed to have started in Johto, with the current Pokéathlon being the first to be held in Manehattan. The Pokéathlon was a qualifying match, with the winner moving on to compete in the regional competition.
All they had to do to participate was register.
"This seems a bit challenging, doesn't it?" Twilight gulped.
"Sure does! That's what makes it fun!" Ash tightened his gloves.
"It ain't gonna be a problem for Sceptile here. He's a versatile fella if you haven't noticed." Applejack placed her hoof on Sceptile.
"Scep."
"Pssh." Rainbow Dash scoffed. "If anyone's versatile it's Braviary. All of my Pokemon are. See that Hurdle Dash over there? We're blazing that for sure."
"Ah!" An employee slid over, responding to Rainbow Dash's words. "No Flying-Types or any Pokemon that can fly are allowed in the Hurdle Dash."
"Wh-" Rainbow Dash froze. "Aw...Fine. I guess I'll stick with Luxio, Mienfoo and Whirilipede for the Hurdle Dash."
"You think you've got it rough?" A familiar voice reached the ears of Rainbow Dash. One that was also familiar to Twilight and Applejack but not Ash.
That familiar voiced belonged to Gilda.
"I can't use my Pokemon for this either." Gilda shook her head.
"Gilda?!" The three of them exclaimed.
"Oh!" Ash gasped as he dashed over. "A griffon?! Awesome!"
"Pikachu!"
"Hm?" Gilda looked up at Ash. "You...You that Ash guy?"
"Mhm. That's me." Ash nodded.
"Definitely taller than the other griffons think you are. At least Gabby does..."
"Oh, yeah I remember. Griffons are apart of this too. So you actually came, Gilda?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Sure did. But right now I can't do anything cause my Pokemon can't take part in the Hurdle Dash." Gilda sighed.
"What Pokemon do you have?" Twilight asked.
"Only one. Come out." Gilda took out a Poke Ball, revealing her partner which ended up being a Shiny Staraptor.
"Staraptor!"
"Gonna have to wait for the other events to use Staraptor. Which blows." Gilda groaned. "But when I get my chance I'm gonna ace these events no problem. Staraptor here has been looking forward to something like this, right girl?"
"Raptor!"
"She seems...different from when we last saw her..." Applejack whispered.
"A lot happened when Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash went to Griffonstone from what I'm told..." Twilight responded. "She's back to being Rainbow Dash's friend too. Or...she always was."
"Don't sweat it, Gilda. When you get the chance, let's go head to head in uh..." Rainbow Dash was looking at one of the events she and Gilda could take part in. "Goal Roll!"
"Sure. I'm looking forward to that." Gilda nodded.
An extra friend of Rainbow Dash being apart of this was always a nice feeling. But another friend who came along was none other than Goh, who had just caught up.
"Ash! Guys!" Goh screamed as he ran over.
"Hm? Goh?" Ash turned around.
"Yeesh...Finally caught up..." Goh breathed in and out. "I got too distracted in Canterlot's Relief Zone. Couldn't even catch any Pokemon there." He sighed.
"No need to worry!" Ash grinned. "You're just in time for the Pokeathlon."
"Hm? Pokeathlon? Oh, I've heard of that! It's here?!" Goh shot up. "Nice opportunity..." Goh rubbed his hands together.
"Oh! I forgot to register!" Ash bolted off along with Rainbow Dash. The first event, Hurdle Dash was already about to begin so there was no time to waste whatsoever. Gilda would be sitting this one out along with her Staraptor.
As they registered their names, they were officially apart of the Pokeathlon. This would end up being Manehattan's first Pokeathlon although, to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they were fairly familiar with something like this.
The first event, Hurdle Race was about to begin as over 10 Pokemon were selected to race against each other, each with their own trainer.
Ash chose Pikachu for this since he's very nimble, Twilight went with Absol, Applejack's only choice was Sceptile, Rainbow Dash chose Mienfoo and Goh stuck with his Cinderace.
The hurdles were stretched across the streets of Manehattan. And despite how many there were, it wasn't enough to fill the entire city, showing just how massive Manehattan truly is.
But before they could start, the Pokéathletes were all given the necessary synchronization eye vizor gear that they were all required to wear. The Pokemon themselves were given headgear instead.
"What are these?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head, looking at the device. She wouldn't have to wonder since the announcer was about to explain the rules.
"Now that each trainer has received their devices, I'll quickly explain how they're used. You'll notice that each of your Pokemon have been equipped with a video camera. The image from that camera will be visible to the trainer using the goggles that they've been given."
"Ooh..." Rainbow Dash put the vizor on along with everyone else. Once they put it on, they could see that everything was green and red. The scenery was green while the trainers and Pokemon were red.
"As each Pokemon runs, hurdles will suddenly appear on the track. However, these hurdles will be visible to the trainers before their Pokemon. At the appropriate time, the trainers will jump which then transmits a signal to their Pokemon, signalling them to jump. Success in the third round Hurdle Dash will depend on the perfect timing and execution of those jumps. And remember, no flying, everyone."
"Bit hard on the eyes this little doo-hickey." Applejack grumbled.
"It's amazing!" Twilight squeed. "I wonder if I can sell these anywhere!"
"Let's ace this, buddy!" Ash exclaimed.
"Pikachu!"
"Let's start the countdown!" The announcer raised her arm.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"START!"
"Pika!" Pikachu and the Pokemon instantly got a move on, bolting off the ground. All the while, the trainers were standing by, waiting for the hurdles to appear.
Out of all the Pokemon here, Pikachu's years of experience made him the fastest as he was ahead of everyone else, including the speedy Cinderace.
Once the Pokemon reached a certain distance, the first hurdle appeared in the device of the Pokéathletes, right before it showed up for the Pokemon.
"There!" Ash uttered as he jumped up which ended up prompting the device on Pikachu's head to react to Ash's movements.
"Pika?" Once the device beeped, Pikachu saw the hurdle appear into reality. "Pika!" With nimble agility, the Electric Mouse Pokemon jumped over the hurdle with ease. "Pika!"
"I see one!" Rainbow Dash ended up seeing a hurdle through her device. Since she wasn't allowed to fly, she could only jump for this.
"Mien?" Once she did, Mienfoo's device beeped as a hurdle appeared in front of the Martial Arts Pokemon. "Mienfoo!" By showing off, Mienfoo front flipped over the hurdle in front of her instead of a simple jump.
"Sol!" Absol easily jumped over since he was just as nimble as his friend Pikachu.
But Sceptile and Cinderace might prove to be a problem. They're much bigger than their friends to they tall statures might end up costing them the event.
Luckily, despite their larger figures, both of them were able to work around the hurdles easily. Cinderace at the end of the day is a rabbit-based Pokemon. So it's obviously going to be an expert at hopping.
As for Sceptile, being naturally built to move around in an area such as a forest meant that every Sceptile could leap great bounds with no issue.
Which is exactly what Sceptile did here. By leaping over the hurdle with a single bound. That jump was enough to make the Forest Pokemon get ahead of its contenders.
The Pokemon would have to run around Manehattan where there will most likely be buildings blocking the view of their trainers. But it certainly proved to be a challenge for them.
The further they got, the faster the hurdles were starting to pop up. Other Pokemon had different means of jumping over the hurdles.
A Spoink just did what it does best by just bouncing continuously, a Scrafty headbutted the ground, propelling itself upwards, a Hitmonlee used its springy legs to jump up and so on.
But Pikachu was still in the lead with superior speed. But as he noticed, from the corner of his eye that Sceptile and Cinderace caught up to him since their speed could match his. "Pika?!"
"Sceptile!" Sceptile beat out Cinderace in speed by just a bit as he was neck and neck with Pikachu as they all jumped over the hurdles.
"Ace?!"
This time, it wasn't just more than one hurdle, it had increased to two hurdles this time. Two was a bit of a challenge, but nothing that the Pokemon couldn't achieve as their trainers jumped at the right time the moment they spotted the hurdles.
But here's where things get tricky. Not only were three layers of hurdles added, spiking up the difficulty but now the hurdles weren't far apart from each other. Instead, they were closer to each other now, making the gap tighter as the Pokemon were forced to change things up.
This meant, getting closer to their fellow Pocket Monsters. For the smaller Pokemon, this was a problem since the larger Pokemon could easily squish them.
"Mienfoo?!" Mienfoo looked around her to see that a Heatmor and Heliolisk were very close to her, casting a shadow over the Martial Arts Pokemon.
Mienfoo, being the temperamental Pokemon that she is, was feeling the powerful urge to slug both of these Pokemon right here so that she can clear some space. But she knew it would most likely disqualify Rainbow Dash, so she restrained herself.
As for the other Pokemon, the tight gap and extra layer of hurdles were proving to be very challenging as some of them tripped over the hurdles, losing speed and momentum, sadly.
Seeing that things were getting harder from here on, the Pokemon sped up as they were aiming at crossing the finishing line before it gets worse for them.
The increasing number of hurdles popping up in a short amount of time forced the Pokeathletes themselves to jump faster without taking many breaks.
Some Pokeathletes couldn't react fast enough since the hurdles were popping up faster than expected. So their jumps were heavily delayed, causing their Pokemon to jump at the wrong time with delayed beeps.
Although, there was one Voltorb that just simply ploughed through the hurdles since it just kept on rolling. The hurdles weren't a problem for it at all.
"They're going too fast!" Goh screeched as he was having trouble timing his jumps when a hurdle showed up in his device.
"Are we at the finish line yet?!" Applejack yelled.
Ash and Rainbow Dash were able to time their jumps properly compared to everyone else. Rainbow Dash was able to do this since her reaction time is so great thanks to her amazing speed.
Ash was able to do it because of his many years of experience with fast Pokemon and high-speed battles. And all that journeying across regions for years really helps with the legs and eyes.
It was neck and neck between Pikachu and Mienfoo with Sceptile being behind them both as he outsped Absol, Cinderace and the other Pokemon.
"Pika-Pika!"
"Mien!"
"Sceptile!"
The finish line was right there. Victory lies before their eyes as the three of them were giving it all they had, unleashing their energy in a final spurt of speed.
But out of nowhere, they had all been outdone by Voltorb, which had just been rolling this entire time without slowing down. It had passed all of them, just barely beating Pikachu out by an inch as it passed the finish line first.
"Voltorb!"
"Pika?!"
"And that's that!" The announcer exclaimed as the Hurdle Dash had come to an end with all the Pokemon came to a screeching halt. "With that, the winner of the first event is Voltorb in first place!"
"Huh?!" Twilight took off the device along with everyone else. "Voltorb won?!"
"Would ya look at that..." Applejack removed the device and took off her hat. "Always the one you'd least expect, huh?"
"Mhm." Ash nodded with Pikachu and the others.
"Pika."
"That's my boy!" Voltorb's trainer dashed over, hugging his partner.
"Voltorb!" The Ball Pokemon responded by self-destructing in front of its own partner out of love.
"We're not done yet!" The announcer yelled. "Soon we'll be heading on to the second event! Ring Drop! So get ready Pokeathletes!"
"We'll ace the next one for sure, Mienfoo." Rainbow Dash tried to cheer Mienfoo up. "If it's your speciality that is."
"Foo!" She crossed her arms, upset at losing.
Even if Voltorb won the first event, there were still more events to come and more opportunities to seize victory in the Pokeathlon. So all was not lost for those who couldn't win the Hurdle Dash as the next event was the Ring Drop.
But before that, there was a short break.
Meanwhile, with the Cutie Mark Crusaders alongside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, they were running along searching for something to do while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were just casually walking by.
But as they were zooming across the city, Apple Bloom spotted something that was right near a back alley. Something that really caught her eye.
"Hey girls!" She stopped running. "Look at this!" Her words prompted her friends to come over as they looked at where Apple Bloom was facing.
"Hm?" They all said in unison.
What Apple Bloom had seen along with all of her friends was certainly something that seemed unusual, but in reality, it was something that was horrifying.
Orange stone statues of Pokemon could be seen in the alley. These Pokemon statues all had petrified faces on them as if they were running away from something. Not only that, but they spotted statues of ponies as well, who had a similar expression on their face.
"What's up with these statues?" Scootaloo went up to a Phanpy. "They look kinda freaked out."
"This doesn't look like the best place to put statues." Sweetie Belle scratched her mane. "You think somepony misplaced them."
"I don't know...Something about this is rubbing me the wrong way." Silver Spoon slowly backed up.
"Hm." Diamond Tiara noticed a Ribombee statue that fallen over as she picked it up. When she did, she could hear sounds coming from the statue. Very faint sounds.
"Ribombee..."
"Huh?" Her eyes widened as she stepped back. "D-Did it just talk?!"
"Talk?" Silver Spoon turned to her friend. "I don't hear anything."
"It'd be cool if these statues could talk though." Scootaloo nodded.
"Bombee..."
"Seriously...You don't hear them talking? Cause I do!" Diamond Tiara gulped as she was starting to get uncomfortable.
"They shouldn't be talking." Just then, an unfamiliar voice reached their ears, prompting the young fillies to turn their heads to the source of the voice.
The main reason why the statues were here and had petrified faces on them wasn't because they were here for show. Not at all. Instead, Diamond Tiara hearing the Ribombee statue speak wasn't something she imagined. That was because this Ribombee was an actual living Ribombee. Along with all the other Pokemon statues and ponies here. And the one person who did this to them had arrived to collect the statues.
J.
"Then again, not many can barely hear them," J smirked as she intimidated the fillies.
"U-Uh! H-Hello, miss!" Apple Bloom shuddered at J's sharp eyes as she and her friends huddled near each other. "A-Are these statues yours?"
"Hm? Oh, yes." J nodded as she went up to a Starly statue. "I was just about to collect them and bring them back with me, you see."
"All of these? Aren't they a bit too big and a lot to carry?" Silver Spoon asked.
"Oh, not at all. I have that." J pointed behind her as she showed the young fillies a carriage. Two of them actually. Both of them were being pulled by her Pokemon. Her Salamence and Drapion.
"Dra."
"Sala."
Both her Pokemon glanced at the fillies, causing them to shudder.
"I'll be placing them all inside. Besides, they're small enough after all." J chuckled as she picked up a petrified pony. A small cry travelled through the ears of Diamond Tiara as she once again heard the statues let out a sound.
J had her Drapion come along, using its sharp tail to latch onto the statues as she sent out her Ariados to use String Shot on the petrified ponies and Pokemon.
Diamond Tiara was very uneasy as she watched J and her Pokemon take these supposed statues away. The fillies just stood as they watched this intimidating woman take them all away alongside her intimidating Pokemon.
But as the final statue was being taken away by J, Diamond Tiara noticed that a crack suddenly formed on a Meditite statue. This crack had some light beaming out of it. It was faint but it was there.
All of the statues were placed in J's carriage as she tossed them like ragdolls. Diamond Tiara wasn't so sure about this J character. Something about her demeanour and how she tossed the statues made her very skeptical.
So, Diamond Tiara took out her Xtransceiver, using the camera function to take a picture of J. She wanted to get a picture of the Medittie statue but it was lost in the pile of other statues, unfortunately.
J looked back at the ponies, pondering for a minute. She saw that they weren't getting in her way at all since none of them, at least from what she could tell, were suspicious of her. They just seemed intimidated.
Which was good. As long as no one interferes with J's plans, they won't suffer the same fate as the ponies and Pokemon she petrified.
In fact, these statues were all trainers who tried to oppose J since they saw what she was up to, turning Pokemon in the wild to stone. As such, J turned them to stone as well.
J was smart enough to know not to blow her cover in a populated place such as this especially during a festival with more species being involved. So she'll just play it cool and be subtle.
"See ya later, kids." She said her last words to the young fillies as her Pokemon got a move on. But J wasn't gone without something that they can remember her by.
Diamond Tiara got J's image on her Xtransceiver. But she noticed how J didn't have a trainer number at all. But that should be obvious. She's a Pokemon Hunter, not a trainer.
But with the image of J on her Xtransceiver, Diamond Tiara felt like this could come in handy someday in some way. The intimidated fillies returned to the festival as most of them didn't think too much about it. But they knew something was amiss.
As J looked back at the festival and the number of petrified Pokemon and ponies she had captured, she got out scot-free. J had her own secret base of operations that she formed in this new world. Wherever it was, her presence in Equestria was certainly there as the journey continues.
