Pokémon RWBY
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: Nintendo owns Pokémon and Rwby was created by Monty Oum.
The sun was just dipping below the horizon when the group of five arrived at Gehenna Village, and the four teens from Remnant were ever so relieved to arrive, all of them hoping that they would be able to find a way back home here. It was getting late though, so the group headed to the local Pokémon Center to rest up and inquire about the location of Professor Marval while also getting Ruby's ankle looked at.
"Welcome to the Pokémon Center," said a Nurse Joy as they entered, causing Team RWBY to blink in surprise.
"Wait," said Yang, "didn't we just see you back in Daybreak Town? How did you get here before us?"
"Oh," replied Nurse Joy with a smile and a casual wave, "you must be thinking about my older sister. She runs the Pokémon Center in Daybreak Town."
"Your older sister?" asked Weiss in confusion.
"Why yes," said Nurse Joy, as she pointed towards a framed picture hanging on the wall behind the counter, "you see, I'm from a large family that runs the various Pokémon Centers around the world. Funnily enough, we all look alike, and are all named Joy."
"Seriously?" asked Weiss incredulously as she and her teammates gaped at the smiling Nurse and the many identical family members in the picture.
"An entire family of identical sisters?" said Blake in disbelief, her feline ears twitching as she tried to process this fact.
"Don't worry," said Nurse Joy with an amused giggle, "I get that reaction a lot. Now, how can I help all of you today?"
"My Pokémon could use a checkup and we wouldn't mind a room for the night," explained Alex, "also, we were looking to speak with Professor Marval Diece. Do you know where he is at the moment?"
"Of course," said Nurse Joy with a smile, "Professor Diece is working late at a nearby research site. He said he was following a lead that may indicate a connection between the valley and the Reverse World. He should be back eventually though."
"Sounds about right," chuckled Alex, "I guess we'll have to wait here for him then."
As Alex handed his Pokéballs over to Nurse Joy, the members of Team RWBY made themselves comfortable on the couches that sat in the Pokémon Center lobby while one of the nurse pokemon tended to Ruby's ankle. The four girls from Remnant looked rather depressed that their only lead on a way back home was still far away after the trouble they went through to get here, so Alex walked over to the vending machines and purchased some drinks for them.
"Chin up," said Alex reassuringly as he tossed the canned juice to the Huntresses-in-training, "this is barely a setback in our plans. It's not like the Professor is gone forever. He'll be back when he finishes his work in the field, and I'm sure he'll have a good deal more knowledge on dimensional transit than he would if we had caught him before he went on his trip."
"That is true," nodded Weiss as she popped the tab on the can she had been given and took a sip of the drink, her eyes widening at the familiar mixture of sourness and sweetness.
"Lemonade?" said Yang in surprise before drinking from her can in earnest.
"Well," said Alex with a chuckle, "it's good to see that there are some things that transcend the divide."
"Well of course!" exclaimed Ruby, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Lemonade is awesome! Why wouldn't everyone have it?"
Smiling at the young girl's exuberance, Alex popped the tab on his drink and raised the can in toast to the crimson reaper, "You do have a point."
"So," said Weiss after a moment of silence, "what exactly does Professor Marval study? I mean, you mentioned he studies alternate dimensions, but what does that exactly entail?"
"Well," said Alex, "there are many species of Pokémon that humanity has discovered over the years, and not all of them reside in the same realm of existence as we do. Professor Marval travels the globe to study this multiverse concept with the attempt to learn more about these Pokémon, their origins, and how and why they interact between dimensions. Hopefully, he'll know something that can help you four get back to the world you came from."
"Here's hoping," said Yang with a nod.
At that moment, the doors of the Pokémon Center suddenly opened and several men in black suits with gas masks affixed to their faces stormed in, causing the assembled patrons to jump up in surprise.
"This is a raid!" announced the lead figure as he addressed the people in the lobby, "We are Team Poison. Surrender your Pokémon and nobody will get hurt."
To emphasize their point, the goons threw out their Pokéballs and released several Pokémon resembling giant bees with spikes for hands and large purple skunks with tails sticking into the air behind them.
"Please," pleaded Nurse Joy, "this is a hospital! This is a place of healing! All the Pokémon here are injured."
"Your excuses make no difference," scoffed the lead thug, "give us all the Pokémon or things will get ugly."
"Hey!" yelled Yang as she threw down her empty can, "How about you guys get lost or it'll get 'ugly' for you!"
"What are you doing?" exclaimed Weiss. Yet the blonde ignored her as the members of Team Poison turned to regard the dimensionally displaced teen.
"Big talk for a little girl," said one of the Team Poison members, "Beedrill, go! Use Fury Attack!"
"Yeah, you too Stunky!" yelled another Team Poison goon. "Use Acid Spray on that chick!"
The bee-Pokémon let out a loud buzz as it rushed forward, attacking rapidly with its spike-arms. But luckily, Yang's Aura defended her from the Bug-Pokémon's attack, allowing her to send it flying into the far wall with an Aura enhanced punch, the impact causing a crater to form in the concrete before the Pokémon slumped to the ground in a faint. However, this left Yang open as the skunk-like Pokémon spat out a hissing blob of purple liquid that streaked towards her.
Yang didn't need to worry though, as a glowing white snowflake glyph appeared in the air in front of her, shielding her from the corrosive liquid as she jumped back to put some distance between her and the enemy Pokémon.
"Thanks Ice Queen," said Yang with a smile, causing Weiss to sigh.
"I've told you to stop calling me that!" groaned the irritated heiress.
"What the hell?" exclaimed one of the goons.
"There's not a scratch on her!" exclaimed another.
"Heh," scoffed Yang as she slammed her fists together, triggering her Semblance to cause flames to dance through her hair, "still feeling lucky punks?"
"They're just kids!" said the lead goon with a growl. "Mob them! They can't beat all of us at once!"
The members of Team Poison sent their Pokémon at the three older members of Team RWBY, with their Beedrill attacking the girls with their arm stingers glowing purple as it stabbed at Blake and Weiss. The two girls weren't daunted though, and were quick to defend themselves. As one of the Bug-types struck at Blake, the Faunus quickly made use of her Semblance and substituted herself with a Shadow clone. Weiss was quick to follow through by casting a large Glyph behind the Bug-types as Blake used her Semblance to give her a springboard to kick the Beedrill into it, adding Aura to her attack for added force, the Glyph sending them flying back across the room to land in a heap.
While this was happening, Yang was keeping busy as well, fending off the fangs and claws of the various Stunky that the Team Poison members were attacking her with. She was relying on her Aura to tank the blows while she built up power in her Semblance for a counterattack. Once she felt that she had built up enough, she unleashed it. Her Semblance igniting flames across her golden locks as she swung her fists forward with a yell as she hit the Skunk Pokémon with an Aura enhanced punch and sent them flying back into their trainers, knocking the goons down as they lay there unconscious from the blows.
The lead goon scowled at this, not having expected this much trouble from what was supposed to be a simple Pokémon Center raid, and definitely not three teens that fought like Fighting Types in human form. As he watched his fellow grunts get beaten down, his gaze slid to Ruby, who was hanging back from the action due to her skill in unarmed combat not being at the same level as the others, and a sinister smirk appeared on his face.
"Stunky!" he yelled as he pointed towards Ruby, "Forget the other three. Get her instead!"
"Ruby!" exclaimed Yang as the Poison-Type charged at her sister, but she and the others were blocked from helping by the other Pokémon that they were forced to deal with.
As the Stunky charged at Ruby, the younger girl backed away in fear and tripped, falling to the ground as the Pokémon leapt at her, its claws glowing white with energy, but just as it was about to attack, a small blue bur shot past her and slammed into the Skunk Pokémon, sending it skidding back across the ground. The blue figure flipped back, landing in front of the red-clad huntress-in-training, and Ruby suddenly recognized it as the Riolu that she had encountered in Gateway Forest.
"Rrr," growled the Riolu as it stood protectively in front of Ruby, just as it had when it had deemed Yang to be a threat, "Riolu!"
"So you have a friend?" sneered the grunt, "No matter. The higher ups will be thrilled if I bring a Riolu back. Stunky, take them down! Use Night Slash!"
"Stunky!" roared the purple Pokémon as its claws glowed purplish black and extended, but the Riolu quickly closed the distance, getting inside the Poison Type's guard and thrusting its palm forward, releasing a blast of energy upon contact that sent the Pokémon flying back into its trainer, knocking the goon to the floor.
"What the hell?" exclaimed the goon as he inspected his unconscious Pokémon, "Right, everybody retreat!"
The members of Team Poison quickly returned their Pokémon and made to cheese it out the door they had barged in through, but they found their way blocked by an irate Nurse Joy and several uniformed Police Officers, led by a Policewoman with blue hair and a Growlithe who's scowl matched his trainer's.
"Oh poop," muttered the goon as he hung his head in despair.
xXsceneXx
"I'm very sorry you had to get involved," said Nurse Joy once the members of Team Poison had been taken away, "but in any case, thank you so much for stepping in. As I told them, all the Pokémon here are injured or sick, so they are in no condition to defend themselves. I am curious though, why didn't you use any Pokémon of your own to fight?"
"Well," said Ruby awkwardly, the Riolu from earlier perched on her lap, having claimed the spot as his, "we actually don't have any."
"Really?" asked Nurse Joy in surprise. "Well, you performed admirably considering the circumstances."
"Indeed," said Alex with a nod, "though I hope your future visits to Pokémon Centers will be less eventful."
"What's this now?" asked a voice from the entryway, "Did I miss some excitement again?"
Walking into the Pokémon Center was a middle-aged man wearing a trench coat over a t-shirt and jeans with a suitcase in his hand. His hair was starting to grey, but he looked to be in excellent shape and had the air of someone not afraid to get out there and do hard work under the sun, complete with the tanned skin to prove it.
"Diece," exclaimed Alex with a smile as he walked over to the older man, "always arriving after the cleanup is done of course."
"Alexander," replied the now identified Marval Diece, "still traveling the world looking for something to focus your research on?"
The two men let out a bark of laughter at this and clasped each other's forearms in camaraderie before they turned to the members of Team RWBY.
"Girls," said Alex, "this is Professor Marval Diece, an esteemed Pokémon Researcher and possibly the region's best mind in regards to researching alternate planes of existence. Professor Diece, meet Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. To put it simply, they're the victims of a dimensional displacement, and were hoping your expertise could help them return to their home."
"Dimensional Displacement huh?" mused Professor Diece, "Haven't seen much of that recently. What kind of place do you call home by the way?"
"Our home is called Remnant," said Blake, "and from what we've seen, it's very different from here."
"Really?" asked the Professor, intrigued at the prospect, "Would one of those reasons be why you seem to have a working set of animal ears atop your head?"
Blake flinched and instinctively moved to cover her Faunus ears as Yang moved closer to her in a comforting manner, "Yes," Blake admitted, "I'm a part of a species known as the Faunus. We inhabit Remnant alongside humans, with our defining characteristic being that we possess a functioning animal's body part alongside our normal human biology."
"Fascinating," said Professor Diece as he plopped himself down in a chair, leaning forward eagerly, "what else is different?"
"Well for one," said Yang, "the moon is in one piece here."
"I'm afraid I don't follow," said the Professor.
"Well," said Weiss, "in Remnant, the moon overhead was shattered years ago by some unknown force with its pieces hanging above our planet along with the moon's fractured remains. Though our mythology states that it was once the sun that fell to the earth long ago and was restored to the sky by mankind's hands, with a greater copy being raised as well to become our current sun."
"Amazing," said the Professor, "what about Pokémon? How have they adapted to this alternate world?"
"Actually," said Ruby, "there are no Pokémon on Remnant. We'd never encountered any until we arrived here."
"I see," said Professor Diece as he scratched his chin.
"So Professor," said Yang, "do you know of any way for us to get back home?"
Unfortunately, the Professor shook his head and regarded them with a somber expression, "I'm afraid not girls. While I do know much about realms like the Reverse World, Ultra Space, and the Unknown Dimension, my knowledge on how to willingly travel between said realms is limited at best, and I wouldn't know where to begin to look to find a way to a world like what you've described to me. The dimension travel that I research is mainly based around certain Pokémon and how they cross over from their realms to ours and back again. I'm very sorry."
This news hit Team RWBY hard and they slumped in their seats as the gravity of their situation fully hit them. They were quite likely stuck here, with no way home. No way of letting their friends and family know that they are alright. No way of seeing anyone they knew ever again.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Ruby sadly as Riolu, sensing her despair, gave her a small hug from his spot on her lap.
"Don't get too down on yourselves," said Professor Diece, "I only said that I didn't know about any way to traverse dimensions. I'm sure a way exists out there, and there's nobody better suited to find it than I."
"Really?" asked Ruby, "You'll keep searching?"
"Of course," said the Professor, "I've been needing a good research project for a while now, and I can think of nothing better than finding a way to cross dimensions at will to be said project."
"What will we do in the meantime though?" asked Blake, "I mean, it's not like we have any money that would be accepted here."
"Well," said Alex, "why not become Pokémon Trainers then?"
"I beg your pardon?" asked Weiss in confusion, prompting Alex to elaborate.
"Pokémon Trainers do more than just catch Pokémon and train them to fight in battles," said the traveling researcher, "after each battle, the victor is given a monetary reward by their opponent, and if you take the Gym Challenge and aim for the Pokémon League, an annual Tournament where the best go to compete, the rewards are even bigger. You could get the money you need to survive from that, at least, until the good Professor can get you back home of course."
"I think I could get behind that," said Yang with a smirk, "sounds like a lot of fun."
"Not to be a wet blanket though," cut in Weiss, "but we actually don't have any Pokémon to call our own."
"Really?" said the Professor as he glanced at Ruby, "Then who's Riolu is that?"
"Oh him?" asked Ruby. "I guess he kinda followed me here after we met in the forest. He seems quite friendly."
"Well," said Alex, "if you girls decide to make it official, then he could be your first. Your Starter, if you will. As for the rest of you, I think I have an idea. We just need to get back to Professor Hawthorn."
"Really?" groaned Yang, "After coming all this way?"
"Actually," said Professor Diece, "I may have something that can help with that."
To be continued…
