friendyousohard | 11th Spell: [Video/Action for Union Cave]

[The gear clicks on in steady hands, focusing directly on Twilight's face. She checks it out a moment before nodding in satisfaction.]

Looks good, Starswirl. Make sure to keep it recording so I can review this later.

[She clears her throat and goes into scientist lecture mode.]

Date: September the Seventh by Johto's Calendar.

Location: Outside Union Cave, Azalea Town entrance. Preparing to re-enter the cave.

Experiment: In order to test the effectiveness of the Repel item sold in the shops, I wore the fragrance through the Cave and am now going to return into it as the item has worn off. I will document the difference in the frequency of encounters and use this data to determine a rough estimate of the effect. Further experiments may be necessary depending on my results.

The experiment begins now. Come on, Starswirl.

[She turns and heads inside the cave, walking along at a sedate pace. Soon enough there's the sound of wings flapping.]

Hmmm, we seem to have Pokemon already. Well that's a fairly large difference in and of itself.

Wait, just how many of them are-

[She's cut off with a shriek as a Zubat flies by, and another buzzes the gear. Starswirl quickly drops the gear and goes to help his trainer, causing the image to drop to the ground and start showing nothing but rock. Before the gear shuts off, Twilight shouts:]

It's in my hair! It's stuck in my haiiiiiiir!

[It clicks off after that.

A few minutes later, the gear clicks on again, showing a very grumpy Twilight sitting outside the cave with a bandage on her face and her hair looking like it just went through a wind tunnel. One full of various debris.]

Conclusion: There is no need for further study. The item clearly works, and works very well.

Also, a personal note here.

I hate Zubat.

Can't believe I had to catch the rotten thing to get it out... [She mutters a few more inaudible things as she switches the gear back off. Well, no one ever said scientific research was easy.]

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[She's been calmly waiting outside the cave as the experiment goes on. Cream the Ampharos is with her, ready to go in and light up the cave with her tail if need be. Both wave uneasily as Twilight and Starswirl emerge.]

... Um... did you learn anything?

[Twilight might be feeling like she wants to punch something (preferably all the Zubats that just attacked her) but she still manages to reign in her anger, irritation, and general grouchy feelings and give Fluttershy a calm answer.]

Apparently, Zubat are quite numerous in that cave.

[She pulls at her messed-up mane a bit, grimacing.]

And they like my hair.

Oh, dear. Well, we can comb that over... hopefully...

[she puts down her bag, and begins rifling through it to look for a brush. ]

I leave myself in your capable hands, Fluttershy. Just try not to tear my hair out.

[She plops down on the ground with a groan and takes her gear from Starswirl, who's looking on with an expression of mixed concern and exasperation. She clicks it on and records her conclusion message while she waits for Shy to get the brush.]

[She manages to find a brush, and comes up behind Twilight, lightly petting her head.]

I'm no Rarity, but I'll do my best. Did you make any friends in the cave?

[And, ever so gently, she begins to brush. Wow, more knots here than a pretzel factory...]

Rarity would have a fit if she saw this.

[The thought reminds her of the circumstances of her first meeting with the fashionista, and she actually chuckles a bit, though it passes rather quickly.]

Well, I did end up catching the Zubat that got tangled in there, though I don't know if I'd call that a "friend"... But I guess I have to start somewhere.

[She winces at the pull of the brush, but keeps any comments or noises of pain behind clenched lips. Fluttershy's doing her best, after all. It's not her fault Twilight's mane is currently a literal bat's nest.]

[Well, Fluttershy is happy about it, at any rate.]

Oooh, a Zubat! They're so cute! Did you know they use sonar to see because they don't have eyes? Though they kind of grow eyes when they evolve into Golbat...

[She could ramble on and on, the Pokenerd.]

[Fluttershy, are... are you out-nerding Twilight?]

Yeah, that's true of regular bats at home, too. Well, they have eyes, but they aren't very good since they live in the dark all the time. Golbat and Crobat are probably similar to them in that regard.

[Oh, no. Just equaling her. That's almost as impressive. At least the nerdy discussion is keeping her mind off the brushing.]

I hope I'm there when... Or, really, if... your Zubat evolves. It must be so exciting to have sight for the first time!

[She frowns at that thought, because quite frankly the last thing she wants to think of right now is bringing that jerk of a Pokemon back out again, much less training it.

But that probably wouldn't be a very good thing to bring out, so she just tries to think of how hard Zubat is to evolve.]

They evolve pretty early, don't they? I think you'll probably get the chance.

Are you going to give it a name? You're very good at names.

Well of course I'll name it, I just... don't know what yet.

I don't even know if it's a male or a female, come to think of it.

We can ask it, when it's ready to come out.

When I'm ready to have it out is more like it...

Yeah, we'll just figure it out then. Hmmm... maybe I should think of names for both male and female ones. Or gender-neutral names...

I had a few bats at my home, back in Ponyville. They were the sweetest things. I would let them nest in my hair...

Then how did you avoid... well, this?

[She gestures at her own hair as the brush encounters a particularly tough (and hence, painful) knot, and winces again.]

Well, I think you moved around too much... You probably scared them just as much as they scared you.

They dove down at me right out of the darkness!

[She can, however, see Fluttershy's point, even if she really doesn't want to admit that she's probably just as responsible for her current state as her new Zubat.]

But that's their home, they might not be used to strangers in their home...

Don't people go through this path all the time, though? Do you think they all get... dive-bombed like that?

Maybe they're still not used to it.

[Which gives her pause.]

I wonder if the Pokemon in this world are used to all these people...

You mean, the people who came from other worlds? I don't know... I know we must be really different from what they're used to, judging by the natives. Some of them probably still don't know quite what to make of us.

I hope they can get used to us. I know our wildlife would be spooked if a whole bunch of new people and ponies came over.

Well, there's nothing we can do about it except try to be careful, I suppose. Still, it's not like it's all bad. Most of the trainers I've seen have had teams that seemed pretty happy.

Yes, that's true. We have to adjust here, and they have to adjust to us, so we have to work together.

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