Summary, Part II

Luna's team working to locate those lost in the multiverse has not found out where the last human is trapped, and the Trans-Universal Recovery Team is given some spare time. At the ponies' insistance, they go to the Daring Do universe, where they find Daring herself, and she becomes part of the team for that portion of the adventure. Daring is on a treasure hunt, hired by Time Piece, the historian, to examine an ancient ruin known as the Temporal Temple located deep in the Everfree Forest, which is found to be defended by magical energies. These energies are surmounted with Zach's universal travel power, and they enter the temple to explore it. They discover a hidden staircase leading to a series of challenges, which require the use of all of their skills to surmount. They succeed, and find what they're looking for, an object aptly named 'time gem', which controls the magical field surrounding the temple, a potential weapon. Also found there is Trixie, who agrees to leave the temple with them. On the way back through the Everfree Forest, the team gets into an argument about whether or not Daring should be incorporated into the team. Zach doesn't like this idea, fearing that Daring and Rainbow would compete, and he lays bare, for all to see, his grievances of leading the team, and the burdens of keeping them all safe, haunted by the near-failure of his plan to destroy The Master. Zach instead suggests that Trixie and Daring team up, and the team goes their separate ways for the time being, and Zach goes home, Twilight contacting Princess Luna for any new information.

Part III: Chapter Fifteen: Monsters In Pockets

My parents told me to try to stop leaving the universe so often and for so long. I was needed at home to keep up on my chores. Their gripes were justified; I hadn't told them a word about the team and its goals, and they hadn't taken notice of my laser rifle or combat armor, both of which remained stowed under my bed when not in use. I didn't think I'd ever use that combat armor again, but that laser rifle had been very useful, I'd continue to keep that with me on my adventures. So my parents didn't know I'd been going to dangerous universes almost daily for the last few days, and they didn't know I had a futuristic weapon under my bed. I decided I didn't want to tell them; what they didn't know couldn't hurt them, in this case, even if they knew they couldn't help me if I were in danger anyway. For all they knew, I was just hanging out with the ponies. My excuse for returning in the small hours of the morning was that Pinkie Pie held a party and insisted that I stay. My excuse for being away for a few days to kill The Master? I'd been meeting with Celestia in Canterlot, to swap information. They bought it, having read up on the characters I was to be hanging out with, and knowing that these were likely enough stories given the nature of said characters. My relationship with my parents was good, and I didn't like lying to them, but I still had a job to do and I decided that I didn't really need to tell them anything about it.

School was as usual. I was tired, really tired, and the school day went by slowly, but it eventually passed, as it had done so hundreds of times before then. At home, I found a letter from Twilight addressed to me sitting on my computer desk, which had been serving as my trans-universal mailbox. It read that Luna had uncovered the second human's location, and would be waiting in the library with her until I arrived. I packed, I left a note, and I went through my transition routine; I left my house, went to the location corresponding to Twilight's library, opened my portal, and through I went.

I was met by a steady downpour of rain, and quickly knocked on the door to the library, pulling up the hood of my fleece sweater. Almost as quickly, it opened, and I stepped in to the pleasantly dry and warm interior of the tree-house-library. Twilight magically closed the door behind me. She and Luna were both standing in the middle of the room. I pulled down my hood.

"Hello," I said, non-chalantly.

"Greetings, Zach, I trust you've been well?" the Princess greeted.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. What's the location this time?" I asked.

"A world of humans and a great many creatures of great ability, physical and magical, in harmony with one another," Luna explained, "as the unicorns describe it." What could this one be? I pondered while Twilight continued.

"Since it appears to be that there are many animals in this universe, I've asked Fluttershy to come with us-" she paused, and we all looked around, "Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy emerged from the kitchen, and slowly joined the others in the center of the room. Why she was afraid to be here for my arrival, I couldn't tell, but the timid pegasus was, for some unfathomable reason, afraid of me.

"There you are," Twilight said, "as far as we can tell, humans in this universe sometimes keep these animals in some sort of capsules-"

"Pokémon! The human's in the Pokémon universe," I interrupted.

"You know of it?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, just like Fallout, it's a series of games in my universe. Also just like Fallout, I've played almost all of them, and know a lot about it," I replied.

"That is good. Please share your knowledge," Luna said.

"Wait, where's Rainbow Dash?" The blue pegasus that was always ready to join Twilight and I for our adventures was nowhere to be seen.

"She was going to be here, but-"

The door opened, and Rainbow came in. The soaked pegasus was panting.

"Sorry I'm late."

"You're just on time. So, I'll explain where we're off to next." I sat down on the floor, and began my spout of specific knowledge.

"The Pokémon universe is a lot like mine, but is far more scarcely populated, with about a thousand residents, give or take, in any one region, for some reason. Their technology and intellectual development is somewhat greater, as well. However, the major differentiation between my universe and this one is that this one is also inhabited by Pokémon, or 'pocket monsters', that get their nickname from a device called a Poké ball, that can be used to capture Pokémon in a harmless manner, though weakening the Pokémon is often required to catch it. Pokémon are often trained to compete against one another for various reasons, in sport and law enforcement, for example. They're often trained to assist humans in performing tasks as well. What makes Pokémon different are their abilities: Each Pokémon has a number of strong abillities that make them formidible combatants, well, most of them, at least. Additionally, all Pokémon can resist a great amount of damage, and are apparently very difficult to kill and heal quickly, or so it seems, and they all have a tendency to faint before taking any amount of damage that would severely injure them, so it's almost unheard-of for a Pokémon to die in a competitive battle, which are usually completely safe." Fluttershy made a noise, and I stopped talking.

"Fluttershy?"

"Umm, so humans make the Pokémon fight each other? Why would they do such a thing?"

"Well, they seem to enjoy it for some unfathomable reason, and since they only rarely recieve threatening injuries, I'd assume it's, well, for fun," I said.

"Is that what the games are about?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, that's what they're all about."

"So, what are these Pokémon things anyway?" Rainbow asked. Just as with Fallout, it was Q&A. A lot of it.

*****

Two hours had passed, and I'd managed to explain in some detail the numerous different regions and the differences between them, each of the player character's adventures in the games, and information on how Pokémon fight, and how trainers would probably try to engage us in battle should we approach them, because the ponies look like Pokémon. I'd also explained the currency, which we had none of, and the typical villain scheme of evil organization that tries to take over the world, the government- or rather, lack thereof- and the very seldom use of firearms, which gave us an advantage in my laser rifle. I'd explained that the universe was completely safe, for the most part, and most Pokémon would be either apathetic or oblivious to our actions, wild or otherwise. As it was, I was pretty excited to go to this universe in particular, and hadn't thought about it before as a possibility. I could get my own Pokémon if I wanted to! I could sell them in my world for millions! On the other hand, as we had been discussing Pokémon catching and the like, I'd developed a distaste for the method, and had decided that I would not bring any Pokémon back with me. It could cause problems, lots of problems, and problems were not my cup of tea. The discussion had been terminated, and Twilight was making last-minute preparations while Spike prepared us a meal. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were talking, the latter giving the former one of her typical speeches on courage. Fluttershy was scared, even though I'd told her that this adventure was going to be our safest one yet, or possibly ever.

"I have heard that you are uncomfortable with guiding these adventures," Luna began. Her larger size was ill-suited to the confines of the library, and she constantly seemed just a little bit too large for the room.

"Twilight told you about that, huh?"

"She thought it was important that it come to my attention. You are afraid of losing a member of your team, and would feel responsible."

"What are you getting at, here? Of course I worry about losing someone, and I wasn't the leader of that expedition, we didn't have a leader for that, really."

"Twilight says you've always been the one who's led the team. What I am getting at is this: Despite what you may feel, the rest of your team looks to you for leadership, and you will continue to provide it."

"I'm comfortable with this one," I said, non-chalantly, "I'm excited this time."

"That's good. Be careful, the team needs you as much as you need them. Good luck." Luna left the building then, and I knew what she meant, both logically and otherwise. They needed me to guide them through this universe, and they needed me to get back to their own world should something happen. Being a key part of something filled me with some dread. If I fell, all would fall around me. On the other hand, nothing in the Pokémon universe was likely to kill me, so I figured it'd all be okay. If anything, we'd have to scare off some grunts of some Team Something-or-Rather, or fend off a legendary rampaging Pokémon, and that's not quite an everyday occurance. We'd be fine.

After dining on some fruits and breads, we decided it was time to go. Spike elected to come with us at the last second, and the team members five entered the portal into the world of Pokémon. Our journey was about to begin.

We were in a forest. I glanced about the area, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. A trail could be seen through the brush, and we all went to it without a word. It'd probably lead us to civilization, which couldn't be far off. I didn't have any idea where, exactly, we were, but it was clear that it would be hard to discern from this location.

"Zach, do you have any idea where we are?" Twilight asked.

"Nope, no idea. Rainbow, can you fly up and check out the view from above?"

"Yeah, sure." She bolted upward. I took another look around. Fluttershy had strayed from the group, and was located near a tree off the side of the trail. I walked over to her.

"What is it?"

"Look!" Fluttershy pointed her hoof at a number of small grey birds perched on the upper branches of a tree. I recognized it to be Pidove. We were in Unova, or so it seemed.

"Those are Pidoves, a smaller species of Pokémon that lives in the Unova region. That must be where we are," I said.

Rainbow came down then.

"Looks like there's a town of some sort to the north, and farther north-west there's a bridge, and even farther there's more cities, including a really big one," Rainbow reported. We were in Unova alright, and this had to be... I couldn't remember this particular place, but this wasn't a video game perspective or an anime perspective, it was real life this time, after all. A lot of things could look different, or be bigger or smaller than they were in the game. Only time would tell. We continued along the trail.

A few minutes of walking later, I heard a rustling in the bushes. I motioned for the party to stop, and approached it, the ponies and Spike clustered behind me. I parted the foliage, revealing a Dustox. The poison-wielding bug-type scattered green spores over all of us as it frantically flew away. I wondered how in the world a Dustox had gotten here as I found myself becoming incredibly drowsy. I fell to the ground, and blacked out.