"Use Scratch!" Nincada jumped at Ralts and vertically scratched it with its claws.

"Disarming Voice!" Twilight said after looking at her battling guide. Ralts quickly recovered and let its sound waves loose at the bug- type.

"Leech Life!" Nincada bit Ralts and sucked its energy out, healing itself.

"Um... Confusion!" Before Nincada could get away, it was lifted up in the air, and slammed to the ground. "Now Magical Leaf!"

"Woohoo!" Spike cheered. "Go Twilight!" After he stopped cheering, he put his hand on the case that kept his egg safe. "I can't wait till I battle with you." He smiled, before looking back at the battle. It had seemed like Twilight was about to win, but Rainbow quickly turned the tides and had Nincada hit Ralts with a Scratch, knocking it out.

"Wow that was really close." Rainbow said. "But I'm just too amazing. Of course, you were still awesome too Twilight."

"Yeah, you really did great Twilight." Spike smiled.

"Well I'll still go and find some other trainers to battle, after Ralts is healed and everything." Twilight tended to Ralts while everyone else did their own thing. Spike was currently sitting in the shade with his egg and Dratini.

"What do you think Dratini, do you want to practice something?" His Pokemon squealed in delight as they went into the deep sand, where a Scraggy popped out.

"Okay Dratini, use Twister!" The small tornado surrounded Scraggy, who took significant damage, but it jumped head first and slammed into Dratini with a Headbutt.

"Now Wrap!" While Scraggy was close, Dratini wrapped itself around the fighting- type, who desperately tried to remove it but failed. Scraggy then decided to grab some sand and throw it at Dratinis eyes, causing it to release its opponent and focus on shaking the sand off.

"Dratini!" Spike got worried, especially when it got hit by another Headbutt.

"Extreme Speed!" Dratini suddenly began moving at blinding speeds, and hit Scraggy head on, despite falling down to the ground itself. "Now Thunder Wave!" Dratini quickly recovered and sent a small electrical shock towards Scraggy, who then found it difficult to move, but still managed to land a Low Kick. When Dratini got up, it faced the Leer of its opponent, and backed away slightly.

"Don't let it intimidate you, counter is with your own Leer!" Both Pokemon glared at the other, but ended up frightening each other and both backed away. Scraggy was the first to recover and ran to hit Dratini which made Spike very worried, but suddenly stopped due to the paralysis.

"Whew" Spike thought. "Now use Twister!" Dratini whipped up another small tornado, but Scraggy jumped right through it at rammed into Dratini with Headbutt then went for a Brick Break and hit Dratini with the horizontal blow. Scraggy then began to move more slowly.

"Yes, the paralysis!" Spike thought happily, but this joy was short- lived as Scraggy's skin suddenly started to crack and break. Scraggy shed its skin and was no longer held back by a status condition. It then hit Dratini on the head with a Brick Break and the dragon- type fainted.

"Dratini!" Spike ran towards his Pokemon while Scraggy jumped back into the sand.

"Are you okay?" He held his Pokemon, who woke up and nodded. Spike let out a breath of relief while he carried his Pokemon to Fluttershy. He waited patiently while Fluttershy did her work.

"I'm sorry Dratini." He said as he clutched his egg case. "I swear, I'm gonna help you get stronger, and I'm gonna be strong too." He looked at his egg and smiled. "We'll all be super strong!" Suddenly, his egg began to glow.

Everyone was gathered around the egg, which was out of its case and glowing even brighter than before. Spike had an extremely excited look on his face and all the girls were happy for him.

"C'mon, hatch already!" Spike whined impatiently.

"Don't be impatient Spike." Twilight scolded her adopted brother. "It'll hatch soon. Don't rush it."

"Alright." He pouted. After several more moments, the egg glowed at its brightest, and Spike had no choice but to cover his eyes, as well as everyone else. Once the light died down, the Pokemon was shown, stating at all of them with its small black eyes. It had trouble standing on its talons as it wobbled slightly.

"Chic." It chirped happily, as Twilight got out her Pokedex.

Torchic: The Chick Pokemon.
Torchic sticks with its Trainer, following behind with unsteady steps. This Pokémon breathes fire of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, including fireballs that leave the foe scorched black.

"Hello." Spike greeted his new Pokemon. "I'm Spike." He waved, and Torchic gave another happy chirp.

"Hoot." Twilight's Hoothoot jumped down from Twilights shoulder to greet the Pokemon but when it got close, Torchic let out a loud growl causing the flying- type to step back.

"It just used Growl." Spike faced Torchic. "Why did you do that?"

"W-Well." Fluttershy piped up. "Pokemon love battling by nature, so it's probably eager to start."

"Okay then." Spike smiled. "You wanna battle Torchic?" His new Pokemon nodded eagerly. "The. Let's do it!" Twilight and Spike walked away from each other, and stopped when they were far enough apart to send their Pokemon out. Hoothoot and Torchic were then facing each other with the former being calm and the latter incredibly excited and enthusiastic. Applejack was the referee.

"You have the first move Spike." Twilight offered.

"Okay, use Growl!" Torchic lowered Hoothoot's attack.

"Confusion!" Twilight looked at her battling book, and decided that since Hoothoot's physical attack stat was lowered, a special attack was her best bet. Torchic was flung into the air and it landed having taken significant damage.

"Scratch!" Torchic's small talons glowed as it ran towards Hoothoot.

"Confusion again." Torchic was stopped in its tracks again as it felt the large pressure on its body.

"Now Peck." Torchic was pecked viscously before it fell down and its eyes spiralled.

"Torchic has fainted. Hoothoot wins!" After Applejack announced the conclusion of the battle, Spike went over and picked Torchic up.

"Hey Spike, that was a good battle." Twilight said. The fire- type woke up and chirped loudly, letting out another growl.

"I think he still wants to battle." Spike looked at his Pokemon. "You wanna battle, Rainbow?"

"Sure. Go Nincada!" Her bug- type popped out of its Pokeball.

"Use Ember!" The newly hatched Pokemon shot the small balls of fire at Nincada, who easily dodged.

"Scratch!" Nincada jumped at the fire- type and gave it a small slash across its body.

"Growl!" Nincada stepped back after the Growl.

"Don't let up Nincada, your attack may be lowered but we can still win this with Leech Life!" The insect Pokemon bit Torchic and sapped its health.

"Argh, use Scratch!" Torchic tried to scratch Nincada while it was close, but it jumped away easily.

"Dig." Nincada burrowed underground, leaving its opponent to try and figure out where it was. Eventually, the bug- type rose up and hit Torchic directly.

"Torchic is unable to battle, Nincada is the winner!"

After Torchic recovered quickly and wanted to battle again. "You want to do another one Torchic? You got it."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "You two have done a lot. Why don't you two rest?"

"How about me dear?" Rarity stepped forward.

"Uuuh..." Spike zoned out as he stared at Rarity, before finally shaking his head to get himself out of his daze. "Okay."

"Show us your elegance, Duskull!" Her ghost- type floated in front of Spike's new Pokemon.

"Uuh, use Ember but be gentle...." Torchic, not hearing its trainer's mumbling used the attack at its full- power.

"Shadow Sneak!" Duskull sunk into the ground avoiding the Ember.

"Now Peck!" While Duskull was still there, Torchic's beak lit up as it viciously pecked the ghost- type.

"Confuse Ray." Duskull's eyes glowed, and Torchic was suddenly very dizzy. It struggled to stay standing, wobbling with every step.

"Umm, Peck again!" Torchic ran towards what it thought was Duskull, but instead hit a tree. It was stuck and tried to pull its beak out of the trunk.

"Astonish!" As soon as Torchic got its beak out of the trunk, it was hit by the ghost- type attack which knocked it out.

"Uuh, Fluttershy! Battle me!" He pointed at Fluttershy, who jumped at the finger pointing at her.

"U-um, are you sure? Maybe y-you two should rest, if it's not too much trouble? I don't want to bother either of you or anything, but it might be for the best..."

"Yeah, you two have been battling a lot. Maybe it's time you both rested."

"Come on Twilight, one more battle?" He whined. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Alright, ONE more battle, then you both rest."

"Yes!" He and Torchic cried.

"Oh okay, go Bunnelby if that's okay with you." Bunnelby snorted and hopped onto the battlefield.

"Peck!" Torchic quickly ran towards Bunnelby with its extended beak.

"U-use, umm..." Torchic was right in front of Bunnelby, but it was blocked by the normal- type's ears on its forehead. It tried to run more forward, but Bunnelby's ears held it in place.

"Ember!" Torchic ignored Spike and continued trying to Peck Bunnelby, who responded by lifting its ears up and hitting Torchic in the face three times with Doubleslap.

"I said to switch to Ember Torchic, why didn't you?" Ignoring its trainer, it tried to Scratch Bunnelby.

"Maybe, if it's okay with you Bunnelby, you could use Quick Attack?" Obeying its trainer, the normal- type quickly dashed away from Torchic, then dashed back into it from its side. This time, Torchic used Ember only for Bunnelby to avoid it and hit Torchic head- on again.

"Scratch!" Torchic's talons glowed as it tried to scratch Bunnelby with kick- like motions, but the normal- type hopped away.

"Growl!" The fire- type let out a huge cry that caused Bunnelby to clench its ears and lowered its attack.

"Tackle, it that's alright..." Bunnelby shot forward.

"Peck!" They both collided, and Bunnelby easily overpowered Torchic. The young pokemon fell to the ground, once again with the spirals in its eyes. Spike stared at his knocked out Pokemon. When it got up it glared at him, before turning its head away. He had lost, once again.

"I think we'll take that rest now."

Spike and Torchic tried to rest together, but Spike was thinking once again to himself. He wasn't able to win even one of those battles. Was he a bad trainer? He even had a rare dragon- type Pokemon and he still couldn't win. The others won most if not all of their battles, so why couldn't he? He wanted to be strong, just like Twilight. He had tried to get Torchic in its Pokeball, but it didn't seem to want to just yet. He stared at his lucky necklace, as did Torchic, who seemed to be just as, if not more fascinated with it than he was.

"You wanna look at it? Here." Spike took his necklace off and handed it to Torchic, who tried to pretend the stone didn't catch its attention when Spike looked down. Eventually, the fire- type turned around, looking at Spike and the necklace expectantly. He was just about to place it around his Pokemon's neck, when something jumped out of the sand and grabbed it from his hands. He looked to his left and saw the same Scraggy from earlier. Spike was about to get Twilight, but Torchic got angry and ran towards it, causing both Scraggy and his Pokemon to get away.

"Torchic, wait!" He cried out in vain while trying to run after them, but not only did the Chick Pokemon ignore him, but to make matters worse a large sandstorm whipped up and they were weren't anywhere to be seen. He wanted to get the girls to help him, but he couldn't see them either, so he was on his own. He put his go- goggles on, and ran in the direction of Torchic and Scraggy. In this weather, there wasn't any time at all to look for the girls so he had to do this by himself.

The girls were able to reunite shortly. Fluttershy was the first to find Rainbow Dash when she first caught wind of the weather. After that, the others gathered and made sure each was safe, when Twilight suddenly got extremely worried.

"Spike!" She cried. "He's still out there! We have to find him." The others nodded in agreement and they set out in the storm to find the young boy.

"He couldn't have gotten far, right?" Pinkie asked.

"Maybe, but remember what Silverstar said; that there are lots of dangerous Pokemon out here in the desert." Twilight replied. "I won't let my little brother get hurt."

"Torchic? Torchic? Where are you?" Spike called for his Pokemon, but got no answer. That didn't exactly surprise him though, since he could barely even hear himself over the sandstorm nor did it calm his nerves, especially with the fact that it would be even more difficult for his Pokemon to hear him in mind. He knew that he really needed to find Torchic, and fast.

He would've had no idea how long he had been searching for if not for his Poketch. He had been out in the unknown for only 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour or maybe 2. The hostile sand- filled winds of the desert were pushing against him, making it difficult to run and even walk. He was currently doing his best to walk through the sand. It was almost as if the wind was deliberately trying to make him fall over no matter how long he had held on for. He could barely see ten metres ahead with nothing but the sandstorm all around. However, something was very odd about the sandstorm. The sand seemed dark and it felt like the sun wasn't even there. He doubted he could've seen the sun in a regular sandstorm, like in the one created by that Cacturne when Applejack caught Lairon but here it just felt... gone, almost like it was night- time.

After about five more minutes, he found something. It was a cave with a fairly large entrance. He would have to go in there for now, since the sandstorm was only getting worse. He entered the cave, leaving the sandstorm behind. Once he was inside, he allowed himself to breathe more easily. He continued his trek through the cave. He heard a few Pokemon cries; one of them sounding a lot like Torchic. Since he was more able to do so, he ran towards the sound to see both Torchic and the Scraggy, playing Tug of War with his necklace. They both struggled, but Scraggy eventually won and was about to run off once again.

"Stop!" It turned around and saw Spike again, holding a Pokeball but merely laughed as it was about to continue its run. "Go, Dratini!" He sent Dratini out once again. Torchic chirped in annoyance, as it wanted to battle for the necklace. "Torchic. You're tired and you've been battling all day. You're going to sit this one out." He said firmly. The young Pokemon was surprised, and moved behind Spike while grumbling a little. "Wow where did that come from?" He thought to himself before throwing his Pokeball. "Go, Dratini!" When Scraggy saw the dragon- type, it grinned and put the necklace on.

"Wipe that grin of Scraggy's face with Extreme Speed!" Dratini dashed towards Scraggy at blinding speeds, but the attack was avoided causing Dratini to crash into the wall, making a lot of echoed noise inside the enclosed cave. It was dizzy enough after having hit its head and it was not prepared for the Brick Break to the face which caused it to slam once again into the wall. It went in for a Headbutt, but Dratini ducked and Scraggy hit the wall itself.

"Wrap!" Scraggy was clenching its head when it suddenly found itself getting wrapped by Dratini. Scraggy could barely move; it tried to get Dratini off, but to no avail. Dratini was slowly whittling it down; it knew it had to do something so it used Sand Attack to distract Dratini. With the sand its eyes, it was distracted, causing it to loosen its grip on Scraggy.

"No!" Spike called out but thought quickly. "Use Twister!" Dratini shot a devastating tornado filled with dragon- type energy. Once it made contact with its target, Scraggy was launched up before it slammed into the ceiling and fell to the ground. Once the smoke cleared, it jumped out, coming at Dratini with a barrage of Brick Breaks.

"Dodge them!" With its serpentine body, it avoided each and every one of the attacks thrown at it with graceful dance- like movements, while Torchic watched in awe. It worked well until Scraggy changed tactics and it hit Dratini with a Low Kick. When it fell over, it closed its eyes to avoid getting anymore sand in its eyes. When it opened them, it was greeted with a Brick Break.

"Use Extreme Speed!" Dratini dashed at Scraggy while it was close. The fighting- type got hit straight in the stomach and blown back. It landed on the ground and it was mad when it got up.

"Twister!" Scraggy was about to Headbutt, but it took a dragon- type tornado to the face. It growled at Dratini when it recovered.

"Now Thunder Wave!" The fighting- type was about to retaliate with a Brick Break, but its body went stiff.

"That paralysis won't last for long! Let's finish it off with another Twister!" The roaring tornado forced Scraggy back. "Now Extreme Speed!" It didn't even see Dratini coming after it hit the fighting- type directly. It slammed into a wall, and its eyes became spirals. Spike was stunned for a moment before a huge grin appeared on his face.

"Yes! We did it Dratini!" He cheered as he held his dragon- type up in the air. They both smiled at each other while Torchic stared at the fainted Scraggy who had beaten it, then back to Spike. "Now, let's get my necklace." It removed the stone from the unconscious wild Pokemon's neck and put it on his own. "Now let's get out of here. The girls are probably worried about us." He went to leave with the two when he heard a huge roar, as well as dozens of small cries. He saw a large number of Pokemon running in the direction of the entrance/ exit. He heard the roaring again, but this time it was louder and closer. He took no time in running and went for the way out, but before he could go even three metres, an eruption in the ground in front of him blocked his path. He turned to see a large red Pokemon on four legs. It had two stone humps on its back as well as a dark aura around its entire body. He knew Twilight had said something about it at some point, like she had about every other Pokemon but he couldn't remember its name. He looked into its eyes and saw only darkness, nothing more.

He, Dratini and Torchic all tried to back away, but ran towards them in a rage, which was barely avoided by Spike and his Pokemon. It was sort of like a tackle, but it felt like something was different about it. However, it also meant that Spike and his Pokemon's path to the entrance were now blocked. It readied a dark fire in its mouth, and was about to fire when something jabbed its mouth shut. It turned around in a rage and saw a certain ghost- type Pokemon using a poison- type move on it.

"Gengar?" Spike thought aloud. He also saw Herdier, Purugly, Audino, Shuckle and Sandile as well as all of their trainers.

"Give it another Poison Jab Gengar!" The ghost Pokemon happily obliged as its hand glowed a bright purple once again. Once Camerupt was hit in its side, it merely shook it off, not even poisoned. "A Camerupt!" Twilight got out her Pokedex.

Camerupt: The Eruption Pokemon.
Camerupt has a volcano inside its body. Magma of 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit courses through its body. Occasionally, the humps on this Pokémon's back erupt, spewing the superheated magma.

Twilight gulped at the entry, but shook her head. The Camerupt then shot fire at them all from its mouth, but it wasn't a normal fire attack like a Flamethrower, it was as if it was made of pure darkness. The fire spread out hitting each and every one of the Pokemon, and they all took significant damage.

"What move was that?!" Rainbow asked.

"Let me check..." Twilight looked at her Pokedex.

Move unknown.

"What?" Twilight frowned. "How could it be unknown?" Before she could wonder some more, the same attack was shot at them.

"Gengar use Shadow Ball!"

"Gyro Ball Shuckle!"

"Purugly use Slash!"

"Herdier, Take Down!"

"Extreme Speed, Dratini!"

"Woo hoo, Foul Play Sandile!" Gengar shot the Shadow Ball at Camerupt's face, stunning it and blasting smoke everywhere. Once that smoke cleared, the Camerupt was greeted with five Pokemon ramming into it. It was being slowly pushed back by all the Pokemon, and their trainers were all smiling at the sight of their Pokemon beating the ground- type. However, these smiled were soon shattered when Camerupt whipped up the dark flames once again and sent all of them flying, destroying their progress with a single attack. It reared up for another one, but Gengar shot a Shadow Ball out and the two special attacks collided, filling the cave with smoke.

"Yes! We can finish this! Then we can take it in and analyse its strange attacks!" Twilight was suddenly quite positive. "Let's bring it home, Gengar! Shadow Ball!" She pointed at Camerupt, only to wince as a giant shadowy hand flicked the back of her head, making her stumble. "GENGAR!" She looked to the ghost-type, who pretended not to know what was going on. She sighed. "Nevermind! Ralts, Hoothoot!" She unleashed the Pokemon from their balls. "Confusion!" They both shot the same psychic attack at Camerupt. By the time it wore off, the fire-type was dizzy and weak, and Twilight smiled.

"Come on Spike. Let's go!" Twilight said as she and the others returned their Pokemon. She grabbed Spike by his right arm and pulled him away, with Dratini around his neck and Torchic in his left arm. The rest of them followed.

"What were you thinking going out there in a sandstorm?!" She asked angrily, while the rest of the team was being healed by Audino. "Do you know how dangerous that is?! Do you know how lucky you are to not get hurt?! What made you go out like that?"

"Torchic ran off after a wild Scraggy, so I went after him. I couldn't let him get hurt like that, there was no time to get any of you." He exclaimed. Twilight stared at him for a moment, before sighing.

"I still wish you would've come to us for help Spike. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt."

"I'm not a baby, I can handle myself." He pouted.

"Anyway, I'm just glad you're fine."

"Yeah." Spike turned to Torchic. "And I'm glad you're fine." He had a group hug with his Pokemon. After a moment, the hug broke up.

"So, are you ready to go into your Pokeball?" He asked and Torchic nodded. "Okay." He brought his Pokeball out and pressed it on Torchic's head, causing the ball to open and a red light to envelop Torchic. Once it was in, the ball shook for a couple of seconds before it stopped. Hee couldn't wait to do some more training with both Torchic and Dratini.

While the seven trainers walked away, Sunset Shimmer was sitting in a lab in an undisclosed location, analysing the reports and notes taken from checking on the Pokemon. The scientists were all doing their work properly and efficiently. Just as she was about to leave the lab, her Pokegear began to ring.

"What are your reports?" The voice asked.

"My report is that the Shadow Experiments have been developing properly; some have even emerged early though we did encounter problems containing them, but everything is okay now."

"Excellent. When will the first batch be ready?"

"I estimate that they will all be ready in a couple of says sir. Of course, we will need more Pokemon to experiment on for the second batch."

Welp, I'm back. Hoorah! I hope you all liked this Spike- focused chapter.

Spike's Pokemon:

Torchic
Moves: Scratch, Growl, Ember and Peck
Dratini
Moves: Extreme Speed, Twister, Thunder Wave and Wrap