//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 - That Came Back To Bite You... 
// Story: Pokémon Red and Purple 
// by Universal Librarian 
//------------------------------//

Sunset eyed the building ahead curiously. It was a large square construction with clean white walls. The clustered trees on either side of the path closed in until they met the building, forming a natural bottleneck to funnel travellers inside.

Inside was a small rest area, with seats for weary travellers and an information desk attended to by a kindly old woman. Elaine nodded cordially to the woman and carried on through a door on the other side, holding it open for the others. "Here we go, welcome to Viridian City!"

An urban sprawl stretched out in front of the group; hundreds of shops and houses and two-storey tenement blocks. Despite the number of buildings in immediate view it quickly became apparent that none of them were taller than a storey or two, which explained why the group hadn't spotted anything over the tops of the trees.

"This is bigger than I was expecting," Sunset mumbled.

Twilight glanced quickly down at her before turning her attention to the city. "Where should we go first?"

"This way," Elaine said as she took the lead. "We'll go to the Pokémon Center first to make sure that your Shimmy is okay, and then we'll hit the Mart. We can figure out where to go from there."

Both Twilight and Sunset looked around with interest as they walked. The people they passed seemed ordinary enough, but the creatures, Elaine assured them that they were all different varieties of Pokémon, drew their attention like moths to a flame; a floating iron ball with magnets poking out in each side of it, a pair of large dogs with flaming orange fur, even a heavily muscled four-armed humanoid that stomped along carrying a teetering pile of boxes.

After a short walk Sunset spotted a large building with white walls and a red roof. It had a stylised depiction of a Pokéball above the doors.

"That's the Pokémon Center," Elaine said brightly, pointing towards the same building. "You'll find one in most towns. If your Pokémon ever get themselves sick or injured, the Pokémon Center will heal them up for you free of charge."

"That's handy," Twilight and Sunset said in unison, though Elaine's words made Sunset realize a rather pressing problem. What are we going to do about money? A quick glance at Twilight's expression showed that the same thought had occurred to her, too. "Er, Elaine…?" Twilight began.

"Excuse me, miss?" The group turned to see a young man approaching them. He was wearing a long white lab-coat and a thick pair of oversized spectacles. "A-are you Miss Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight glanced at Elaine curiously, getting a confused shrug in return. "That's me. Er, can I help you?"

"Yes. Or, well, actually I think I'm here to help you." The man cleared his throat and held out a hand. "My name's Clive, I'm one of Professor Oak's aides."

"Hey, I remember you now!" Elaine cried, then smiled and rubbed her neck sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just, y'know, you're always off running errands and stuff."

Clive sighed and nodded. "Yes, I do seem to be away from Pallet Town a lot. In fact, I was actually running an errand for the Professor here in Viridian City when he gave me a call and asked me to help out Miss Sparkle when she arrived."

"What did he ask you to help me with?" Twilight asked.

"Currency," Clive replied, immediately getting everyone's full attention. "Luckily for you, he's found a large company that's willing to sponsor your travels through Kanto. We just have to go to the bank to finalize a few details, then we'll pop along to the local Mart to pick up a couple of essentials."

Sunset just stared at him in surprise. 

"How did he manage to find a company to sponsor you?!" Elaine asked incredulously.

"He didn't say," Clive told her, then looked back at Twilight. "Shall we go to the bank now, or is there something else you need to do first?"

Twilight looked down at Sunset. "What do you think? Do you want to go to the Pokémon Center first?"

Sunset hummed and touched her side tentatively. It was sore, but it would be fine for now. "Nah, I'm good." She trotted up to Clive and looked back at the others. "Let's go see what sort of sponsorship we're getting."

"I guess she's okay!" Twilight smiled and nodded to Clive. "Okay, let's go!"

Clive led the group quickly through Viridian City. Or, at least, as quickly as he could without forcing Sunset to break out into anything faster than a canter. Fortunately, the bank was only a couple of streets away. 

When the group arrived Clive found a waiting staff member who, rather than directing them to a counter, immediately whisked Clive, Twilight and Sunset into a side room and asked them to wait while she fetched her superior. Elaine was told to wait in the foyer with Pikachu.

Sunset looked around the room warily as they waited. It had three comfy-looking faux-leather chairs, with a round glass coffee table in the middle of them. It all seemed unassuming enough, but something still felt off to Sunset.

After a short wait the door opened and an older man stepped in. He had close-cropped white hair, and was wearing a tailored suit that was clearly cut from high quality material by a very skilled tailor. A leather briefcase dangled loosely from one hand. "Miss Sparkle, I presume?"

"That's right," Twilight replied.

"I see." He glanced at Clive. "And you must be Professor Oak's assistant. We'd heard that you would be coming." The old man held out a hand for Twilight to shake. "My name is William Peltzer. I am the manager of this particular bank. Please, take a seat."

Twilight, Clive and Mr Peltzer settled themselves into the available chairs, but Sunset was left standing on the floor. Unwilling to miss any of the conversation, and slightly miffed at being ignored by both Clive and the bank manager, Sunset trotted over to Twilight's chair and tried to hop up next to her. Unfortunately, she misjudged the jump and only managed to get her front end up. She teetered on the edge of the chair for one heart-stopping second, then slipped off and landed on her back with a thud.

"Sunset! Are you okay?!" Twilight asked in shock. She leaned down to check on her, but Sunset had already rolled onto her hooves with an embarrassed huff. 

"That didn't go as planned," Sunset muttered, glad that at least Pikachu hadn't seen that. She was just considering the merits of teleporting herself up onto the chair or the table when Twilight reached down, picked her up like a puppy and plonked her on her lap. 

"There you go!" Twilight said brightly. Several shame-fueled retorts flashed across Sunset's mind, but she held back on them for now. As much as she hated to admit it, her current diminutive form and inability to effectively communicate meant that she was going to have to put up with certain… indignities. 

Seeing that they were settled, Mr Peltzer placed his briefcase on the table and leaned back, steepling his fingers. "Now then, Miss Sparkle, I believe that you are here to assume control of a certain bank account?"

"I, um, I'm not really sure," Twilight replied. "I only learned that a company wanted to sponsor us a few minutes ago. I don't even know why they're sponsoring us."

Mr Peltzer nodded curtly. "Yes, I was told that that might be the case." He sighed and opened the briefcase just enough to slide a single sheet of paper out before closing it again. "Our bank recently received a request from a very prominent organisation to open a separate account for a person or persons unknown. It is only within the last twenty minutes that we actually received your name." He fixed Twilight with a suspicious look. "As you can imagine, this is all very irregular."

"Is that even legal?" Clive asked.

The banker gave him a flat glare before turning back to Twilight. "The answer to that is yes. While the method of setting up this account is unusual, I assure you it is entirely legal."

Twilight and Sunset both let out a breath. "That's a relief," Sunset muttered.

"Just out of curiosity, which company is sponsoring us?" Twilight asked.

"You weren't told?" Mr Peltzer asked. He frowned as Twilight and Sunset both shook their heads. "Hmm, that's unusual. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm not actually at liberty to tell you. I've been asked not to share any information about the account beyond how to use it."

"That's suspicious," Sunset said quietly. She listened carefully as Mr Peltzer explained how to use the account and access it correctly, then froze as she felt something stroke her back. It started between her shoulders and gently ran down her spine to just above her rump, then repeated the process over and over again.

Sunset's brain stalls momentarily. She slowly turned her head, only to see the betrayal in action. Sunset couldn't believe it at first; after all, there was no way that Twilight was so absent-minded or downright rude as to actually dare to pet her. Even so, there she was; casually stroking Sunset while listening to Mr Peltzer, as if the girl-turned-Pokémon was a puppy.

A small part of Sunset's mind registered the fact that she was actually quite enjoying being petted, but that was swiftly overshadowed by the fury that the rest of her felt at the sheer indignity of it. She was not a mere animal, no matter how soft and fluffy she was.

A number of different ways to end this indignity flashed across Sunset's mind, but she quickly settled on something short and sharp. Twilight loved learning, so Sunset decided to teach her something about hooves. They were tough, surprisingly sharp around the edges, and particularly unpleasant, as Sunset aptly demonstrated, when smacked against the sensitive little pressure point just below the kneecap.

Twilight yelped and instinctively kicked out with her leg, prompting Clive and Mr Peltzer to stare at her in shock. "Sunset! What the heck was that for?!" Sunset just glared at the hand still resting on her back. "Oh. Um, sorry. I wasn't thinking," Twilight said sheepishly as she took her hand away.

Mr Peltzer let out a short bark of laughter. "You've got quite a wilful Pokémon there, Miss Sparkle." Sunset switched her glare to him instead, but he ignored her entirely. "Anyway, shall we continue?"





Sunset trotted along behind Twilight and Elaine in something of a daze, torn between irritation at being treated like an animal and shock at the sheer size of the account that they had been given. There were a frankly alarming number of zeros in it.

The rest of the meeting had largely been a discussion of what Twilight was not allowed to do with the money; no purchasing property or motor vehicles, no using it for investments, and no using it to start up her own business. Now more than ever the two were curious as to what company would be willing to throw large amounts of money at complete strangers, but they still had absolutely no idea who was behind it.

Once the meeting was over Twilight and Sunset had reunited with Elaine and Pikachu and quickly told them what had happened. Clive had taken his leave shortly after, saying that he needed to get back to Pallet Town. 

Now that the bank was out of the way, Twilight decided to go back to the original plan of getting Sunset checked over at the Pokémon Center. Sunset herself didn't mind so much. One of the downsides of being stuck in such a tiny body again, aside from apparently having to be wary of attempted pettings, was that all of the walking around she had been doing was wearing her out pretty quickly.

As they turned onto the street with the Pokémon Center Sunset spotted something out of the corner of her eye. A short way down a dark alleyway was some kind of Pokémon; a strange humanoid creature with a face that vaguely resembled that of a fox and, bizarrely, a spoon clasped in each hand. The creature appeared to be watching her intently. Further along the street was a heavily built man clad in all black, subtly staring at the group from under his cap. The moment he noticed her attention, the man turned and walked quickly away from them, disappearing around a corner. Sunset frowned and glanced back at the odd Pokémon, only to see that it had vanished without a trace. "What the heck is going on?"

"Sunset? Are you coming?" Twilight asked.

"Huh?" Sunset looked up at her and realized that they were standing right in front of the Pokémon Center. "Oh, right. Yeah."

The doors of the Center slid open automatically as the group approached, revealing a spacious lobby with plenty of seating for trainers and a wide semi-circular counter opposite the entrance. Behind the counter was a woman with a kind face and soft pink hair, wearing a matching pink dress under a nurse's apron. 

"That's Nurse Joy, she'll take care of your Pokémon if they ever get hurt," Elaine explained. 

As the group approached the counter Nurse Joy smiled and called out, "Hello, and welcome to our Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. How can I help you today?"

Elaine deposited a Pokéball on the counter. "Pikachu here could probably use a rest, and I've got a new Bellsprout that I'd like you to give a once-over, if that's alright?"

"Of course," Nurse Joy replied brightly. "Anything else?"

Twilight glanced down at Sunset. "Er… we should probably get you checked out too after that Rattata attacked you."

Sunset nodded, lit up her horn, and teleported herself onto the counter, earning a surprised yelp from Elaine. "She can teleport?! That's amazing!"

"Oh, my..." Nurse Joy crouched to get to Sunset's eye level, inspecting her curiously. "You must be the Shimmy that Professor Oak told us about. You're an impressive little lady, aren't you?"

"Professor Oak told you about her?" Twilight asked.

"He called us about an hour ago to tell us that you might be dropping by," Nurse Joy replied. "The Professor often sends us details on new Pokémon. After all, the more we know about a Pokémon the better we can look after them if they get sick or injured." She straightened and looked down at Sunset wryly. "Unfortunately, Professor Oak was unable to get a reading on your internal body temperature."

Cold dread seized Sunset, and she whipped her tail instinctively over her rump as she realized what was coming next.

"Ah, you already know how we get that. You really are a smart one." Nurse Joy crouched again and gave Sunset a sympathetic look. "I know it's unpleasant, but since you're a Fire type we'll need an accurate internal temperature so we can calibrate our thermometers to account for your flame. Even if you can't breathe fire yet, it's quite likely that your mouth is a few degrees hotter than the rest of you, and a few degrees difference could mean a world of difference if you ever get a fever." Nurse Joy's eyes flicked up at Twilight. "Would it make you more comfortable if your trainer came through to the back with us and held you while we take your temperature?"

Sunset shook her head wildly, desperately hoping that her sudden blush wasn't actually as incandescent as it felt.

"Alright then." Nurse Joy gently lifted Sunset under like a puppy and cradled her against her shoulder. "That's it, you'll be alright." She glanced at Elaine and said, "I'll send Chansey out in a moment to collect Pikachu and Bellsprout. See you soon!"

As the Nurse carried her into the back room Sunset refused to look back at the others, desperately clinging to whatever scraps of dignity she could muster as she was brought ever closer to her doom.





Not far away, in a woodland clearing just outside Viridian City, Keres sat and considered how things were going. The Cascade had finally finished; the required pieces had all been acquired and sufficiently prepared, and the pair of wild cards had been set loose in the world with all the help that Keres could muster. Only time would tell how useful they would be. What was left of it, anyway.

Unfortunately, it appeared that certain other parties were already taking an interest in the two new arrivals, including one that Keres had never anticipated. The little Celebi was going to have to tread very carefully from now on.

With a sigh, Keres fluttered into the air and looked up at their companion, the dampener that Keres had conjured barely containing the incredible power of the massive Pokémon. "We should leave. Palkia and Dialga are almost certainly going to be after us for this, and there are a few things that I want to get done before they catch up to us."

"As you wish," came the reply.

A moment later there was a loud crack as Keres teleported the two away.