Hastings held up his walking cane just as Gene threw the first strike. The glowing blade of the Gallade left a shallow scar in the cement, the Leaf Blade dealing little damage and Hastings was unharmed... for now.
The elderly Pokemon swung his club around, the powerful Hammer Arm nearly taking Gene’s head off, had the Gallade not ducked at the last second. His Mega form offered such power, Gene felt as light as air as he danced around the wild swings, a small smile on his face.
His blades shone with a magenta hue, as he slashed with the Psycho Cut attack in a vertical arc. Hastings heaved his heavy body backwards, to avoid being cut in two. And while he was able to dodge it, it was apparent that he wouldn’t win this battle should it continue. He... didn’t like his odds. Both of his opponents were Psychic types, and Mega Evolved at that. I didn’t even know Gallade could Mega Evolve, he thought to himself. Not to mention that the other three Pokemon present had yet to make a move.
One soon did however, Belle took the opportunity to launch a Shadow Ball into his gut while he was distracted,the Professor wheezed as he doubled over and fell to the ground, the wind knocked from him.
“You wanna just surrender?” Gene asked with a smirk. “I wouldn’t blame you.”
Hastings gritted his teeth as he stood up. “A Ranger never surrenders... Hammer Arm!” The Conkeldurr swung his cane downward, trying to hit one of them, but failed as Belle Teleported them out of the way.
“Oh please,” Belle scoffed, as psychic power built up in her right hand. “You’re just the Union’s director, not a Ranger.”
Hastings growled. “I was once,” he said, squeezing his cane. “Until I lost my partner to a man like you!” He thrusted his cane at Gene once more and Belle switched her attack to a Protect, blocking the pillar as sparks showered from the collision.
“What?” Gene asked in confusion. “She fell in love and left you or something?”
“No,” Hastings said coldly. “We were... separated while we were investigating a possible attempt by Team Rocket to expand into Almia... one of the grunts caught her,” Hastings’ look was now one of sadness, his cane held at his side. “I spent years tracking her down, almost got kicked out of the Union more than a few times... and when I finally found her,” Hastings eyes hardened and he glared at Gene. “She had her arms wrapped around some perverted monster who claimed to have ‘rescued’ her... I tried to arrest him but she resisted and... when I called for backup... something went wrong. He got away and my dear Mienshao... didn’t.”
The old Professor was actually crying now. “My fault... all my fault.”
Gene looked at Belle, who shook her head. He looked back at Hastings and sighed before stepping forward. “Hastings I... I’m sorry that happened... but you’ve been letting that cloud your judgement for your entire life... please... I love Belle with all my heart, just... stop this. I can talk to Princess Celestia, I promise she won’t be too hard on you... what do you say?”
Gene held out a hand to the Conkeldurr, a soft smile on the Gallade’s face. Hastings... frowned. “Get. AWAY FROM ME!” He swung his cane as hard as he could and slammed Gene across the clearing where he collided with a tree.
“GENE!!” Belle shouted. She saw Seth and Selena rush over to him, deciding he was in good care for the moment, she turned her attention elsewhere.
Hastings was panting, but he was also smiling a little. He’d wanted to hit that man for a long, long time.
Unfortunately for him, his victory was short lived, as he felt a cold shadow wash over him and an icy grip envelope his mind. “You... idiot.” Belle said, hovering above Hastings head and looking down at him. “He gave you a chance... and you blew it.” Belle’s eyes were glowing bright blue, filled with an incomprehensible rage. Her body crackled with power, emanating a similar glow that her eyes held.. “Well know this Hastings... you had every chance to avoid this.” Belle extended her arm, and Hastings mind erupted in pain.
“GAHH!” Hastings fell to the ground, clutching his skull. The pain he felt was unlike any other, like an icy claw was squeezing his mind, threatening to tear it from his skull.
“You could’ve left us all alone,” Belle said coldly. “You could’ve just gone off and lived the rest of your miserable life on your own... but no. You just HAD to try and ruin other peoples lives.”
“You HAD to bring YOUR HATE HERE, you HAD TO TRY AND RUIN OUR LIVES... and I... I can stop you.” The Gardevoir smirked at the Conkeldurr struggling beneath her. Her voice shook as she gave an unsettling laugh, her eyes barely holding back the madness that lay beyond. A clear result of YEARS of repressed anger. “It’d be so easy... I tear your mind apart, change Seth, Gene, and Selena’s memories to make it look like I had no choice... and we’d be done with you.”
Hastings was shaking and gasping as Belle glared down at him. His entire body was wracked with unbelievable fear,“N... no... stop.”
“I could CRUSH you like the WORM you are, and no one could blame me...” Belle tilted her head, she could shred his mind, leave him a gibbering mess... but instead? She simply smirked. “But I won’t.”
Hastings felt Belle withdraw from his mind for a moment, and breathed an inward sigh of relief, before he heard her again. “Instead... I’ll do this.”
Hasting’s had no time to respond, before the Embrace Pokemon unleashed her power, filling his mind with countless memories. Hasting’s let out a silent gasp as they begun to play, and all he could do was watch...
“Gene... I’m sorry but... I love you... I’m so, so sorry but... I should go........ Gene?”
“Belle... don’t leave me... please... I... I need you... I love you... please don’t leave me.”
“I love you Kasai, I love you so much it hurts.”
“Abby,”
“It’s true, without you... I’d probably have broken down for good when it happened. Instead... you were always there for me, always holding me up, always giving me licks when I need it....”
“With all my heart, I couldn’t feel this way about anyone else... I love you Sethy! I love you so, so much!”
“And we’re lucky to have such a wonderful mare. I may have been... apprehensive about this relationship at first. But, I can say with absolute certainty that I don’t regret the decision in the least. Apple Fritter? Rika? I love you both so very much.”
“Nick, For every Pokémon that was held in captivity, there were a hundred that chose to be caught by those worthy of their power. To stay with their trainers. You earned my loyalty, you’ve earned my friendship. And now... even as you dare to question both my feelings and your own... You have earned my love.”
“I... I love her, and I say that from the bottom of heart. And I beg you to believe me when I say that I will never do anything to hurt her and that I would NEVER force her into anything that she didn’t tell me she was ready for.”
“And the same goes for me, we just want to be happy dad... is that so bad? I mean, yes we just started but... I really do think that I’m in love.”
Hastings felt hundreds of memories flooding into him, each one sweet, heart warming, and accompanied by emotions of love... and Hastings felt sick.
“Albert...” a familiar voice said from the depths of his mind. “Please Albert, I love him, he saved my life, he nursed me back to health after those Rocket grunts put me through hell... don’t make me leave him.”
“Mienshao...” he sobbed. “Please...”
“You drove her away Hastings,” Belle said coldly. “And you’re the reason she died... you’re the reason for so much suffering.”
As Belle withdrew from Hastings mind, she and Gene changed back to their normal forms. “And now... now you know what you tried to destroy.”
Belle turned away from him and walked over to Gene, who was sitting up and rubbing his head.
Hastings watched her leave, then pulled his knees to his chest as his new memories continued to settled into his mind.
No... no... lies... they're all lies...
“My beautiful Fairy Princess... I love you so much Belle... ever since I’ve met you, you’ve made every moment a treasure... will you marry me?”
“Gene... I... yes. A thousand times yes!”
The Conkeldurr wept silently. It... I can’t have been wrong... all these years... I can’t have been-
“Kasai you big, loveable mutt... why do you have to be so sweet?”
“It’s easy with a mate as wonderful as you.”
...What have I done?
Later that day, everyone had gathered in the Golden Oaks Library, which was excessively cramped due to the number if ponies and Pokemon who had gathered there.
“Thank you all for coming,” Princess Celestia said, addressing the beings gathered before her. “Now I know you all are very tired and probably just want today to end, but before that can happen we need to discuss the... misguided individuals whom we currently have in custody.”
“How many of them are there again?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m confused on who we actually arrested.”
Celestia sighed. “Professor Hastings, Grimsley, Lt. Surge, Brandon, and Koga are all in custody with various assault charges.”
“Did we miss any of ‘em?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.
Celestia shook her head. “No, but-”
“Then ship ‘em ta Canterlot and lock ‘em in the dungeon,” the farmpony said, crossing her front legs. “They threatened our town.”
“While that is true... it’s a bit more complicated,” Celestia said, obviously deep in thought.
“What’s the problem?” Gene asked, holding Belle close to him.
“I’m... I’m afraid two of them may be mentally disturbed,” Celestia said with a sigh.
No one spoke for a moment. “Uh, Princess? They tried to force their laws on others and arrest people cause of love, I think they’re all a little disturbed.”
“Or the byproduct of a society that demonized that kind of love since they were born,” Aurea said angrily, crossing her arms.
Once again, everyone fell silent. “Oookay,” Dash said, giving the Beheeyem an odd look. “Not sure what that was about.”
“Mental health issues are no laughing matter back on Earth,” Belle said, rubbing her head. “At least three people with them tried to destroy the world.”
“.... you were saying Princess?” Twilight asked, hoping to get back on track.
“Yes, well, I spent a short time talking with each of them, and while Koga seems penitent about his actions, Brandon is... very hard to read, even in a prison cell, and Grimsley at least realizes that what he did wasn’t entirely appropriate, his words, not mine, Hastings and Surge are... worrisome,” Celestia shook her head. “Surge almost certainly has war-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Hastings...” The Alicorn turned to look at Belle. “... is apparently going through some sort of existential crisis. And as Professor Juniper said, they’ve all been raised to hate people like Gene and Abby simply due to their sexuality and life choices.”
“Sexuality?” Gene asked quietly.
“So what are you going to do with them Princess?” Twilight asked.
Celestia sighed. “Take them back to Canterlot I suppose, try and get Surge and Hastings the help they need. It’s the best I can do at this point.”
“And what about everyone who was part of his group, but didn’t attack?” May asked worriedly.
Celestia smiled. “The others are under arrest for assault... I can’t arrest people for public speech.”
The Delphox let out a sigh of relief, she was happy her father wasn’t going to end up in prison.
“So... is that it?” Korrina asked. “We won?”
“It was easier than some of the other things that’ve happened recently,” Pinkie pointed out. “Buuut, this means I can throw us all a victory party!”
Several of the others groaned as Pinkie pulled out her Party Cannon.
“Maybe wait until tomorrow Pinkie?” Twilight suggested. “It’s been a long and stressful day for all of us.”
Pinkie paused for a moment, then slid the cannon away. “Alright... but it’ll be a double party then!”
Princess Celestia let out a sigh of relief as she stepped into her room. “Finally,” she said, slipping off her tiara. “I’m glad that’s over with.” The Princess lied down on her bed and stretched out, glad she was finally able to relax for once.
“You handled that quite well Princess,”
Or not.
Celestia looked up and was surprised that she didn’t see Arceus looming over her bed.
“Over here,” Arceus’ voice resonated from the mirror on her dresser.
Celestia sighed and got up. “Are you really- yep, you’re in my mirror... what would happen if I smashed you right now?”
Arceus chuckled dryly. “Very funny Princess, but really, you handled that situation quite expertly.”
“No help from you,” Celestia snapped. “Why didn’t you show up anyway? I know how much you love putting on a show for ponies.”
“I can’t show up every time a mortal problem involves Pokemon,” Arceus pointed out. “No one would ever learn anything and I’d find myself with severely less free time.”
“Of course you would,” Celestia turned away from the mirror, only to find herself standing face to face with the god.
“I’m serious... you don’t personally show up every time one of your ponies has a crisis do you?”
“Of course not, that would... ah, I see what you’re getting at.”
Arceus nodded. “I’ve been active lately because I’ve had no other choice. I brought the Pokemon here and I need to protect them... however, eventually things will calm down, and I can take a more hooves off approach, rather than showing up every time something goes wrong.”
Celestia laughed loudly. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
Arceus smirked. “And you will Celestia, you and I will both be around for a very long time... I have a feeling you’re eventually going to warm up to me.” He winked at her.
Celestia just smiled. “We’ll see about that.”
THE END.
Of Book One
And thus ends the Story of ANW, ANW. For now, at least.
Onward! To more shit!
great ending to the first book^^
What should the name of the second book be?
wow...just....wow
and good on you Belle! show him the truth!
i can't wait for book two!
Thanks for the ride can't wait for the next distinctions.
HOLY
FUCKING SHIT.HOLY.
FUCKING.SHIT.This was such a great ending *happy tears*
If this is the end then you should change the status to complete instead of incomplete.
5922149 Still marked as incomplete
Also, what little was ground into Hastings' head left to simmer is not nearly enough to make weasely little worms like him realize their mistakes and negative impacts on societies advancement and come out of the self-reflection as better people no matter the help they are given
well, two stories have ended... (and will have a sequel)
i might do that too, and i know where it will happen
5922242
She uploaded hundreds of memories. These are just the more notable ones
I saw that, 'THE END', and I swear to God my heart skipped two beats. You have no IDEA how frantically I scrolled down, trying to find more Horesewords... Oh my God, you scared me. Nice, ZD. Nice.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!!
saw "The End"
was then like nah it can't end
turns out i was right
Well that.....was unexpected.
Wait it still says incomplete
An enjoyable chapter. Great work.
Welp, this explained a lot of things.
AW Man it's over?? I'm already for book 2
Me: *giving you the middle finger for scaring on the The End bit* well played though.
Felsin: *wearing a form hand giving the middle finger for the same reason*
Both: But we do appreciate your hard work and time you've put into it, and we excitedly await for more!!
Me: You know what? I'm going to write a fanfic....wish me luck.
Can't wait for Book Two. Also I like to thank for inspiring me to make my own story in reverse.
You deserve a break. A week one long break maybe. Writing these chapters can be tiring too, that's what doing.
I can't wait for book two.
I was sad until I saw the "of book one". It was a 'lol jk!' moment if ever there was!
*sees the 'THE END* nonononnonononononononononono*sees the 'OF BOOK ONE' Oh thank arceus! You had me worried there!
Thank goodness that Candice won't be arrested. Also, it is even possible for Celestia and Arceus to breed together?
Godsdamnit, Zeus! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Well played, but isn't trolling Hoopa's job?
The End...
Bo schit!
(toggles down)
:of Book One:
Better.
5922574 Quite Possibly. You never really know with these pokemon.
I saw THE END and had a heart attack. Then I saw "of book one" and I am now whooping all around my room.
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY
The End... Yeah you didn't fool me for a second. Of Book One, yep I knew it.
A nice end to the first part, but I'm a little disappointed that the Swords of Justice didn't really do anything even though they were in Ponyville for that whole crisis.
5922418 Good luck.
5922574 Well, considering Arceus is a legendary, and we don't know if Celestia has her own egg group, then I would assume no.
Not fond of the blaming PTSD for Surge being a huge bigot. Otherwise, well done.
5922787 Even though Arceus has already stated his intentions of trying to woo Celestia?
I give you three days for book two to appear.
Dun goofed.
5922802
Not sure how this applies to my comment. Did you mean to reply to someone else or am I having a blonde moment?
5922787
Oh no, that's just icing on the cake, and something Tia pointed out. His PTSD didn't make him try to attack River, he's just put A LOT of faith/weight in the law, it's really just the reason he joined Hastings, the rest is just Surge being Surge
The ending seems abit abrupt, you know jumping from conflict to ending. That being said, the story now has an ending, which is a all-round good thing. Now for the story overall:
A lot of people will
complaincomment that this is a wish fulfilment fix, created for personal fantasy. To me, that seems somewhat true. But this is story lacks the short-sightedness that is common among them. Long-term effects of the Pokemon occupation of Equestria has certainly been shown and it is no simple transition,a little smoothand there is certainly conflict.Personally, I found that some of the characters were...villianized. Some for character reasons, others for plot reasons. A half/half situation. Granted that is a normal reaction when an foreign population is introduced out of thin air.
The support for this crossover is staggering. Over two dozen stories dedicated to this universe with ongoing docs that are still going on. It has been both a blessing and curse. While the author taking his fans into consideration is a great thing to see, having them have influence on the main storyline itself is very distracting, and practically overflows the story with characters. A common issue with a lot of Pokemon stories.
Writing quality varies throughout the story. Intially, you can easily tell how excited the author was when planning the story out. Heck he probably was overflowing with giddiness from a writing high for the first dozen chapters alone. As time went on, exhaustion set in, a few chapters weren't as exhilarating, but they didn't really affect the whole. Then there was the collaborating chapters with other writers.
This might just be me personally, but reading the same chapter in two different stories, with the only real difference was the character POV, was annoying. But that just depends on how much you read about the universe itself.
Closing comments, a massive crossover that chose to challenge the common attempts and proceeds to blow your expectations away. Not flawless, but a respectful fic with excellent editing and it's FINISHED!
I WANT MAOR!!!
Personal comments to the author: Everyone is right Zeus, you need to take a break. Jot down ideas in a note book if you have to, but don't write for a week. The last thing we need is you burning out on us.
Review: I love how Belle handled Hastings, perfect revenge. I'm guessing Luna might be involved in his treatment, but I can easily see her getting fed up and using the Royal Canterlot Voice on him at some point. And when I saw 'THE END" my first instinct was to check for white text in that massive field beneath the words, so I didn't see "Of Book 1" until I'd convinced myself there was no hidden text.
Belle uses Psychic. Its super effective?
How many Pinkie Class entities does this make in that one small reality now?
Onwards, To Party? Yes Pinkie, To Party, but more importantly, To Adventure. An Adventure Party.
When I saw THE END I was like "wat the fuck!"
When I saw the white underneath I was like "this better be a joke"
When I saw "of book one" I was like "thank God"
Now I'm like "when is book 2 coming out"
Great story. Keep up the great work
You know, seeing Professor Hastings break down like that...
I'm beginning to think that what he did was just a tragic decision. No one ever likes to make choices that lead to tragedy.
Enjoy a well deserved break and come back swinging
Has anyone written a story focused on Ash? He's got a lot going for him in this story and I always did like a tragic hero :) (lets be honest here, all those happy moments and connections, all those lessons learned just flat out gone with every new continent. Nothing is more tragic then amnesia.)
5923705
Zeus retconned Ash's reset button in this verse
I think Belle was right in thinking that Gene's mother was brought to Equestria as well. That means that the couple have one last hurdle to cross before they can settle down.
390,810 words for one book? What is this, the second coming of Project Horizons?
NOOOOOOOOOOO
...
Oh, you cocktease.
5922253
First, Burning An Old Way.
Then A New World A New Way.
Who's next?
Great story
Thanks to you, I'm finally back on track w/ the Pokemon fandom, and this Xover just makes it even better!
Man, it has been a WHILE since I've left a proper and absurdly long comment on this story. Anyways, time to get my inner-editor on with a few things that stick out to me (as well as a few "just because" observations).
Actually, I believe you did forget about one rather important figure: Pyramid King Brandon, as his "encounter" with Ash and Latias definitely counts as assault in my book and he should be heading to the Canterlot dungeons or whatever with the rest of them (unless Latios got to him first, that is).
Speaking of crime and punishment, what's gonna happen to the Pokemon owned by those guys? Would they be charged with "assault" alongside their trainers under the post-summit Equestrian laws (in which Pokemon are treated equally as any natural-born citizen in terms of laws and rights), or would they just be classified as "accessories to assault" or whatever given the fact that they were mainly just following orders from their trainers? When you really think about it, the whole Trainer-Pokemon dynamic is likely to make stuff like this rather confusing for a short while.
Okay, this one is really just a result of my natural nitpicky-ness, but just to let you know I believe the the proper way to write that is "war-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" (hence the acronym of PTSD).
Most would probably be surprised that Team Rocket has been around since Hastings was a young man (likely somewhere between 30 and 50 years ago). However, considering that Giovanni's mother was the Rocket Boss back when Jessie's mother was a member, I think it's safe to say that the Team Rocket organization has been around for as long as any of the major organized crime syndicates of real life (which is probably fitting when one considers that Team Rocket likely has mixed elements of the Italian Mafia and the Yakuza).
Also, it should probably be written that Team Rocket was attempting to "expand into Almia" (again, just my personal nitpicking).
I see what you did there.
Anyways, great chapter and a great end to the first book. I greatly look forward to reading books 2, 3, and possibly 4 or 5 in the future. But for now Zeus, I'd like to agree with Bubba's sentiment by appropriately paraphrasing what Ash says in the anime every time he recalls a Pokemon from battle; "Get a good rest, you did great out there."