//------------------------------// // Chapter 81 – Melding // Story: Pokémon Eclipse // by moviemaster8510 //------------------------------// Ember and several reformed changelings neared Ponyville, Zecora and the dragon army noticing her from afar. “Your queen Ember has returned!” Zecora hailed, getting the attentions of the soldiers who couldn’t be bothered to notice. “Let our fires of victory burn!” As they saw her approach, more-fully unveiling her features, a loud chorus of hurrahs erupted amongst the dragons and a few ponies who, although confused, were wrapped up in their spirit. Zecora squinted as she saw the creatures that flew beside her from nearly every angle. “My brain must be tricking me to the max, for those changelings bear resemblance to Thorax.” “Changelings?!” Several dragons readied their spears and arrows and pointed them at the sky, ready to take them on upon landing. Seeing her army’s reaction, Ember dove straight down and picked up speed. Coming back up, she flew low to the ground and pulled back up to avoid the buildings upon reaching the town’s outskirts. Within a few more seconds, she came to the center of town and landed before her subjects, who refused to let their guard down. “Queen Ember!” An orange-scaled, silver-armored dragon pointed up at the sky where the changelings continued approaching. “Can’t you see the–” “Yeah!” Ember spat. “I’m not blind!” Another dragon’s arm trembled as they pointed up, the changelings he signaled at getting even closer. “But the–” “I know about the changelings! They’re not bad guys anymore, alright?!” Most of the soldiers lowered their arms upon her saying this, staying still even as the arriving changelings landed beside her, prompting more murmurings from the dragons and few ponies around. “Hold on!” the red snaggletoothed dragon exclaimed. “How do we know she’s not one of them and trying to trick us?” A fatter, dark-blue dragon glanced between his supposed queen and her companions, the possibility of his comrade’s claim looking more likely upon further thought. “He’s right! What should we do?” “Do not fret, my friends with wings.” Zecora broke through the army to approach Ember. “I think I may have just the thing. While you were away from Ponyville, I decided to concoct an enchanted swill.” She then removed a vial containing a bright red liquid from a small satchel hung beside her right shoulder. “If Ember drinks and maintains her form, you needn’t worry any more, but should she a changeling become, we’ll force them all back to their own kingdom.” “Hold on!” The red snaggletoothed dragon walked past the zebra as he held his hand out to stop her. “I have a better idea.” Ember stood still as a statue as the dragon walked up to her and stopped with only a couple of inches between the two of them. After an awkward pause from the dragon’s visible hesitation, Grubber wrapped his arms around Ember and pulled her in for a tight hug. It wasn’t until they saw Ember tense up with sheer disgust that the dragons that could clearly see recoiled at what the snaggletoothed dragon had gotten himself into. With a baring of her teeth, Ember reeled back her arm to punch, only for the dragon to squawk in fear, let go, and fall to his knees in surrender. “Okay, okay, it’s you! I’m sorry!” Ember put her arm down and looked amongst her army, who were all thoroughly as convinced as he was. With a nod, she tapped the dragon’s shoulder with the end of her scepter. “Alright Garble, get up.” Upon him doing so, Ember smirked and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Nice job.” “And I would know how awkward that feels, right?” Ember couldn’t help but laugh at Garble’s reference. With Ember’s identity confirmed, the dragons all slowly turned to the changelings standing there with a far less malicious intent, making them feel far more comfortable in their presence. A purple dragon with long blonde hair covering his eyes turned toward Ember and Garble. “So… what happened up there?” Ember faced her army, looking into the purple dragon’s eyes. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the air around her and Garble appeared to be gusting and changing directions at a rapid pace, feeling as though it was vibrating. As the two dragons backed away, Zecora and several others followed suit, giving the spot enough room as they watched it ripple, brighten, and roar as it rose nearly two dozen feet up and stretched out a dozen feet out. Soon, several ponies of varying ages and species began to pour out of their house, perplexed by the sudden, alien commotion. Upon seeing the unmistakable anomaly rising to rival the tallest building in town, each and every unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony felt their limbs weaken as fear began to take hold. “This phenomenon is not right!” Zecora had to scream over its noise. “It’s giving me quite the fright!” “Ember!” The plump blue dragon yelled. “What’s happening?!” Ember’s eyes and attention refused to leave the warping air as it began to distort even more violently, displaying an array of colors that her surroundings did not have. “No… it can’t be…” The vibrations then began to tighten until they were now staring at a solid pillar. Rather than be composed of any kind of substance, however, it appeared to almost be a cylindrical entryway to another world that could be seen into from any angle that any creature stared at it from. From Zecora’s angle, she was staring out at the entrance to a pier, where several humans and their timid Pokémon were being cornered and blocked from escape by several Prism grunt hybrids. From Zecora and Garble’s vantage, more hybrids were chasing people and Pokémon around, filling the both of them with dread. Ember felt her eyelids tremble in insurmountable fear. “Please don’t tell me…” “Tell you what?” Garble snapped, gripping onto both shoulders. “You know what’s happening here?!” Screams of ponies could suddenly be heard, causing the dragons, ponies, and changelings nearby to turn their heads around to the source of the nearest sound. Each one looked about as they saw the very tops of new portal pillars rise up over the tops of the roofs at various points in the town. “This can’t be happening…” Ember shook her head, each new swivel getting faster and more panicked. “What can’t be happening, Ember, my friend?!” Zecora called out. “Don’t tell me this is Equestria’s–” A sharp shrill cry of a woman broke through the chaotic cacophony, leaving every Equestrian outside of it bringing their attention back to the portal pillar. They just barely saw as Carly, her Carracosta piggybacking her, were thrown at the pillar by an Oranguru grunt. Upon reaching the pillar on one side, she and her Pokémon emerged out from it on the opposite side, landing on Equestrian soil and sliding back slightly at Ember and Garble’s feet. “More of them?” Garble sneered. Carly scrambled to her feet as her turtle stood up onto its hind legs. Upon sighting Ember and Garble, she began to look even more worried. “Why are you standing around?” she loudly whimpered. “Can’t you see they’re–” “Look out!” A changeling shouted off, pointing at the pillar. The Oranguru hybrid came charging at Carly’s back, prompting Ember to tackle her to the ground as Garble scooped her Carracosta up and fall away with it, allowing the hybrid to bound out from the portal pillar and land in an open space for the Equestrians to see in all its horrific grandeur. Carly and Ember both looked up as the Oranguru hybrid spun about, uncertain if it wanted to target a dragon, changeling, or pony standing around it. “Carracosta, Aqua Jet!” On Carly’s command, her Pokémon’s backside began to leak with water as Garble stood back up with it. “Ew, gross!” he shouted, holding it as far away as possible. “Is this thing seriously pe–” Water shot out like rockets out Carracosta’s back, slamming Garble onto his back and propelling itself out at the Oranguru hybrid, who turned to face and focus on it. “Now get it with Crunch!” Carly ordered. Opening its maw wide, her Pokémon rammed into the hybrid and clamped its hard mouth around the left side of its neck, sending both of them to the ground. Garble stood back up, jiggling his body and his unfurled wings to shake the water soaking his scaly body. “Okay, I’ll admit that was pretty cool.” The screams around town began to get louder as the roars of the hybrids broke through the night. Ember frowned, knowing that it could no longer be helped. “Alright, everyone!” she began. “You’re not just fighting for Equestria anymore! You’re fighting to save this entire world! If you see anything that looks like one of those…” She pointed at the Oranguru hybrid, who managed to pry Carracosta off itself and throw it back toward Carly. “…you show it no mercy. Now, find one of these pillars and send these monsters crying back home! Let’s go!” With a cheer louder than ever, several dragons took to the air and flew over the town, ready to kick some hybrid tail. Zecora, gladdened by their immediate willingness to protect her homeland, huffed a pleasant smirk and galloped off to follow one of the groups from below. As they spread out, the changelings took a nervous look back at the town hall where their still imprisoned brethren resided. Looking back to each other, they shared a nod and galloped off toward there. With most of the area gone, the only ones standing around the first portal were Ember, Carly, Carracosta, Garble, and a handful of dragons. With the dragons joining their sides, the Oranguru hybrid stood back up to face them just as a Kadabra hybrid leapt out the portal on another side, forcing Garble and a couple of dragons to face it as well. Ember glanced at Carly from the corner of her eyes. “You sure you’re ready for this?” She forced a reluctant shrug. “I’m dead if I’m not, so yeah, sure.” Ember smirked, accepting the honest answer. With a synchronized roar, both hybrids ran at the squadron, each creature between them readying themselves to ensure the first strike. The Mossdeep employees’ Sharpedo and Scrafty were thrown back by a Espeon hybrid’s Dazzling Gleam. At the same moment, the Shiftry delivered a strong Leaf Blade at a Bruxish hybrid before taking a Slowking hybrid’s Ice Beam. Finally, a Metang hybrid socked the Mightyena in the gut, forcing a hard, winded yelp out its throat. With their backs already nearly against the Aether House’s front walls, the expressions on the hybrids appeared almost joyful as they took more steps closer at them. While weak, the employees’ Pokémon were still able to retreat just a little bit more. For the employees, they knew it was only a matter of time before they’d be defeated. At once, the air between the hybrids and the employees’ Pokémon began to warp and whine, transforming the employees’ despair into slight wonder. As the distortion began to compose itself, every creature on either side of it found themselves looking out at a city whose buildings and roads were molded out of dense clouds. Numerous pegasi flew down from the windows and stayed a safe distance back as they looked upon the strange creatures on the other side of it. Behind the hybrids, another portal quickly formed, this time showing a much more modern, metropolitan city, the portal’s sudden appearance causing a pony-drawn taxi to come to a quick stop at the intersection where it appeared, another carriage-pulling pony crashing into the taxi as a result. With resigned huffs, several of the hybrids turned to either portal and began to run inside. In the nearest portal, the employees watched as the hybrids began to fall through the clouds, only to quickly pick themselves up with their psychic powers and float safely above the surfaces. Inside both portals, the unfortunate ponies nearby screamed for their lives as they were suddenly chased, their city and world completely infiltrated. As a male employee stepped toward the portal, compelled to help, they finally heard a voice of one of their saviors. “Yo, yo! What they hey hey is going on over here here?!” Jerking their heads to the right, they spotted ten Skull grunts running up the hill toward them, their jet-skis parked on the shores of the nearby beach. “I think the world’s falling apart!” one of the employees shouted back. “That sounds wack, yo!” The female grunt motioned her arm to summon them forward. “Let’s get you guys out of here!” “But…” The female employee looked back into the portals where the last of the hybrids were pouring into, the screams and cries of the ponies being attacked inside filling her with regret. “What about–” “Our Pokémon aren’t strong enough as it is!” one of her co-workers reasoned roughly. “We have to escape with our own lives.” With an incredibly guilty scoff, the female employee returned her Sharpedo back into its ball, prompting the other three to do the same with their Pokémon. “Hey, hurry!” A blue-haired grunt shouted out. “We ain’t got all day!” One of the male employees ran toward them, the others following close behind. “We may not even have the night either,” he said under his breath. Forced to run past the anguished entryways into the other world, the four employees sprinted to follow the Skull grunts to the beach. As they reached the sand, a walkie-talkie began to fizzle and sputter on the side of a blue-haired grunt's shorts. Snatching it up, he held it to his ear to make out what his ally back in Po Town was screaming about. “…ro… …eird por… …opened up…” were the only comprehensible words that weren’t drowned out by static. “I can’t hear you!” The grunt struggled to mount his jet ski as his friends and the employees also reached their vehicles. “You’re breaking up real bad like a Brick Break!” “…onie… …lots of dra… …and a castl… …all these black skin… they’re attack– AH–” With a loud crack and warbling squeal from the other end, the line went dead quickly after. With a shout, he whipped his walkie-talking behind him and began to rev his jet ski up, scooting it closer to deeper water with one leg. “What’s happening, bro?” a pink-haired grunt shouted, clearly noting something wrong. “Po Town’s under attack!” The grunt’s jet ski’s motor no longer touched the sandy bottom, allowing him to skim off to the north. “Skulls, move out!” The grunts barely waited for the Mossdeep employees to pile on before they zoomed off across the waters to head back home. Neither of them could focus on anything except what was ahead, causing them to miss another portal opening up just to their right. Upon it fully forming, a lone blue-feathered, gold-armored hippogriff soared down onto the beach where the portal had formed, staring into the alien sea that the portal revealed to him. Another portal opened up to his right, revealing another sea, but instantly noticing two Bruxish hybrids swimming out from it and at him. The hippogriff wasted no time in flying back up the mountainous island, his eyes locked onto the top where his queen resided. “Novo! Novo!!” Sam and Alice continued sprinting down the street alongside Aegislash and Lycanroc, ignoring the icy burn in their lungs or the ache in their knees and calves. Just as they were set to make the slight left turn onto the street where their home was, they found the air ahead of them was beginning to ripple and shred. “Sam, look out!” As the warped space began to expand and rise, Alice and Sam dove out from its path, falling onto their stomachs and backing away from the portal until it reached its full width. Standing back up, the siblings watched as the portal completed itself, revealing Ponyville to them and its incredibly chaotic state. Despite the urgency of their own mission, they couldn’t help but feel incredibly distraught to see ponies running for their lives as the hybrids invaded the town, making short work of the dragon soldiers attempting to hold them off. “Dear god…” Sam muttered. “That bastard’s attacking both our worlds…” Lycanroc arched back and growled at an Oricorio hybrid that flew past the portal on the other side, filling Alice with sudden determination. “We have to help them.” “What?” Sam gasped. “But mom and dad–” “–are still indoors. Our friends in Equestria are a lot less safe!” “Bu–” As badly as he wanted to continue protesting, the weary wails of the hybrids’ victims became harder to ignore. He then looked back at Aegislash, who nudged him twice in the back with its shield for further encouragement. At that, Sam breathed a sigh that marked his decision. “Okay. Aegislash!” Sam ran headlong into the portal with his trusty Pokémon beside him. Alice was momentarily stunned by his sudden action, but with her mind already made, it didn’t take much longer for her to run in after her brother. Spike and Twilight stood guard of Rarity, Shining Armor, and Capper behind them, huddled close together as their Blacephalon and Clefable stood before the Slowbro and Espeon hybrids. Before either creature could go forward to attack another, the air distorted and roared between them until it formed a portal to inside the Canterlot palace. Standing inside were Celestia and Starswirl, who were being protected by Stronghoof and Somnambula as a Kadabra hybrid and a Hypno hybrid tried rushing in to attack them. Even with all she had experienced that week, Twilight’s eyes trembled with the truth that the ponies she had missed so much were indeed within her sights. “Princess Celestia! Starswirl?!” With the burly stallion and swift pegasus mare continuing to keep them safe, Celestia and Starswirl turned to face her. “Twilight!” she called back. Twilight couldn’t withhold a gladdened smile, which proved to be short lived upon noticing the Espeon hybrid sprinting for the portal. Upon disappearing inside of it, Twilight scowled lividly. “Don’t you dare hurt her!” With a flap of her wings, she dove into it with Clefable not far behind. Spike began to run in after her. “Twilight!” Capper’s paw caught his shoulder before he could run further in. “Hold on, there!” Spike tried to fight past the cat’s grasp before he noticed the Slowbro grunt quickly waddling around it to face him and his other friends. Blacephalon was quick to guard its trainer and his friends, who spread out beside Spike to join in on the beatdown. Lady kept the Kadabra hybrid at bay with her Fairy Wind as Comfey had the Hypno hybrid half-conscious on the ground with its tail wrapped tightly around its neck. Sophocles’s Vikavolt helped keep the Kadabra hybrid further back by ramming the front of its sparking pincers into its gut while Molayne’s Metagross delivered Bullet Punches faster than the Espeon grunt could block or retaliate with. Off to their right, the atmosphere broke and warped until it became a portal, the light shining from inside of it impossible to not notice nor look away from. It didn’t take long for the ponies to recognize the Crystal Heart still spinning beneath the palace at the center of the Crystal Empire, especially with ponies already galloping the streets for safety. Upon seeing Cadance and Sunburst exiting the palace through the backs of one of the palace’s supports, neither Starlight nor Fluttershy could keep their attention on anything but them. “Princess Cadance!” Fluttershy cried. “Sunburst!” Starlight had to stop herself after one step toward the portal. “Get back inside, now!” “Starlight?!” Her friend galloped up just to the foot of the portal, a mixture of elation and worry in his expression. “What’s happening here?! Where have you been?!” “You and Cadance need to get back inside right–” Cadance was knocked back by a Psychic blast, too winded to shout in shock. “Cadance!” Sunburst, Starlight, and Fluttershy screamed in unison. Sunburst then appeared distracted by the sight of the creature that attacked him. “What in Celestia’s name is that?!” Starlight scowled as she and Lady galloped into the portal together. Upon sliding into the space between Sunburst and the weakened Cadance, they were alerted by the sight of a Metang hybrid charging at the three ponies. “Lady!” Starlight commanded. “Hit the Metang thing with Bite!” Her Pokémon lunged forward and opened its mouth, only for it to feel a sharp, shooting pain push up through her gut. The three ponies gasped as Metang’s closed claw drove into Lady’s stomach quick and hard enough to launch it into the ceiling of the base, hitting it with a horrible thud. “Lady!!” Starlight screamed. As it limply fell down, Fluttershy and Comfey rushed into the portal, the latter snatching Lady up before it could reach the floor. At the same time, Sophocles’s Vikavolt swung inside and lashed a Thunderbolt attack from the tip of its abdomen, leaving the Metang hybrid awash with bright, thick sparks. As its body tried to fight through the popping and tingling, Molayne’s Metagross soared in and clocked it hard with a Brick Break attack, sending the hybrid flying into one of the other supports. Cadance and Sunburst stared slackjawed as the Metang hybrid slammed into it and left a sizable crack there as it crumpled to the ground. Cadance then slowly turned to their alien saviors. “Who– no… What are you?” “They’re our friends,” Fluttershy calmly explained, “and these creatures we have are called Pokémon.” Sunburst cocked his head ever so slightly. “Poké… mon?” Comfey set Lady back down onto its paws, its legs trembling weakly. Sophocles slid down to his knees while pulling a Super Potion from his coat pocket, and as he sprayed along the length of Lady’s belly, the Metang hybrid began to slowly return to its feet. The bottle was quickly emptied, and with it, Lady’s strength and élan returned to it, much to Cadance and Sunburst’s ever-mounting surprise. Sunburst finally noticed the Metang hybrid back in fighting form. “Guys, look out!” Fluttershy, Starlight, and their Pokémon faced the hybrid with steadfast resolve, only for Molayne, Sophocles, and their Pokémon to stand in front of them. With a shriek from Cadance, Fluttershy and Starlight turned back toward the portal to see the Kadabra, Hypno, and Espeon hybrids enter through it to confront them. “Hey, Soph.” Molayne seemed to recognize the danger without even turning his head. “You help Starlight and Fluttershy against those three. Their Fairy-types are no match for Steel-types.” “What’s he talking about?” Sunburst asked nervously. “Fairy-Steel what?” Starlight sighed as she and Fluttershy faced the new arrivals as Sophocles and Vikavolt joined them. “You get Cadance back inside and keep Flurry Heart safe, got it?” “Oh! Right!” At once, Sunburst and Cadance returned inside the palace, leaving the four trainers alone to face the four hybrids. “To think they’d start invading Equestria so soon!” Fluttershy whimpered. “Yeah…” Sophocles balled his fists. “Last mistake they’ll make.” Encouraged by his words, Starlight, Fluttershy, Lady, and Comfey faced the three hybrids strongly, almost eagerly awaiting their advance and the beatdown they’d deliver. As the violent commotion of the interdimensional battle waged on, the unreformed changelings inside the town hall could only wait and imagine what horrors were outside its walls. Suddenly, the front doors burst open, many of the changelings recoiling and hissing in fright. Many of them were quick to recognize the handful of reformed changelings entering inside, confusing them. “What are you…” One of the unreformed changelings quickly understood. “No, don’t tell me you–” “That’s right,” one of them responded. “Queen Cocoon too.” “What?!” another black changeling spat. “Lies! There’s no way our queen would fall to the same trickery that Thorax had!” Just then, an Oranguru hybrid and an Oricorio hybrid blocked the exit from outside. Turning around, two of the reformed changelings shot beams of magic at the hybrids, which only managed to make them take small steps back from the recoil. The unreformed changelings then stared in amazement as the hybrids attacked the changelings that attacked them. With a clap of its hands, the Oranguru hybrid sent the first changeling flying off a psychic pulse while the Oricorio hybrid twirled about and lashed its wings at the second, flinging it off its hooves and into the gathering of unreformed changelings. Seeing their power first hand, the unreformed changelings laughed and cheered as the other reformed changelings timidly backed away. “Excellent!” a black changeling chuckled. “With these allies, Equestria will be at its knees!” “No!” a reformed changeling shouted back at it. “They’re not your friends. They only–” The Oranguru hybrid swung its arms in a wide reach, its flat hand fanning a wave of psychic energy at the front of the changeling gathering. The force was strong enough to wipe a quarter of them off their hooves and to the left walls like mere dust. The unreformed changelings now in front began to back into their comrades, who became too timid to move and formed an impassable wall. “But…” a black changeling whimpered. “We want to take over Equestria too! We’re not your enemy here!” “We’re all their enemies,” a reformed changeling breathed out in bitter acceptance. “Any Equestrian in their path is just another obstacle to them.” “But…” Despite their failed attempts at protest, the Oricorio hybrid callously readied itself for another attack on each and every changeling inside, completely deaf to reason or empathy. A shout suddenly entered the building, and just before the Oricorio hybrid could turn around, a blade of purple slashed up its back, throwing it onto its stomach with a pain-riddled squawk, Sam and an upraised Aegislash now standing where it had. The Oranguru hybrid turned around just as an X of yellowish-green crossed over its chest, throwing it onto its back to reveal Lurantis and its held-out scythe arms. Lycanroc then leapt over the leafy insect to lunge its open mouth onto the fallen hybrid’s neck, biting down hard. With a loud roar, the Oranguru finally succumbed to unconsciousness just as Alice arrived inside. “You! Guys!” A reformed changeling stepped toward them, uncertain if their eyes were deceiving them. “What are you doing here?” “Portals are opening up all over our world back to Equestria,” Sam explained. “Team Prism’s grunts and their Pokémon all got fused together and are attacking!” “That’s what those are?” another reformed changeling asked. “Wait!” An unreformed changeling stepped forward. “I don’t understand! What’s happening?” “Your world is under attack, buddy,” Alice coarsely explained. “You’re more than welcome to keep making enemies of everyone in it to try and take it for yourself, but if you want to actually keep living in it come tomorrow morning, I suggest you cut your crap and fight with us this time around.” “And why should we do that?” one of the black changelings sneered. “We’ll just be enemies again by then!” “Accelerock!” On her sudden command, Alice pointed at the recovering Oricorio hybrid, allowing Lycanroc to check it into the wall at imperceptible speeds. “Iron Head!” With Sam halfway toward the Oranguru hybrid, Aegislash swung around its trainer to throw its shield, frisbeeing into its head before bouncing back into its cloth arm. “Then let’s stop being enemies!” Alice shouted back. “I love too many things from this world to let it fall into these bastards’ hands, and that includes you guys too!” This statement left the unreformed changelings speechless, giving Sam enough time to make his final peace. “Our worlds are too precious for us not to save them together hoof in hand. If your queen can recognize that, then you sure as hell can too!” The two trainers refocused onto the hybrids as they slowly tried getting back up, leaving the unreformed changelings to mull over what they had told them. Finally, the two hybrids got back onto their feet, each one staring at Sam, Alice, and their Pokémon before roaring angrily at them. Two swishes of flame and another pair of roars suddenly filled the air, and with them, a bright, purple bear with sparkling fur and a minotaur rushed in from the changeling group and slammed their bodies into the Oranguru hybrid and Oricorio hybrid. Sam and Alice jolted as they were thrown into the walls into the outside, appearing motionless as they rolled to a stop on the ground outside. Sam and Alice each faced one of the creatures, who in turn looked back at them. “You…” An unreformed changeling stepped up front, the bear and minotaur acknowledging its approach. “You’re really choosing to help them?” “The humans are exactly right,” the bear replied, “we realize this now.” “And it’s not that we’re choosing to help them,” the minotaur then spoke, “we’re helping them and everything else, and that’s including you guys!” “And if saving you means helping them, I’m more than glad to do so.” Sam and Alice approached the creatures and put their arms around them, pulling them in for an appreciative hug. At once, the imprints of the humans’ bodies appeared as a glow on the transformed changelings and spread over, surprising their unreformed brethren behind them. As the light completely overtook their unoriginal forms, it then began to condense until they formed two colorful reformed changelings. Just as the light came off of them, Alice gave the changeling closest to her another hug before it could even process what happened to its body. “Thank you,” Alice said. The changeling Alice hugged returned the embrace with a single arm. “No, thank you. This is the greatest I think I’ve ever felt in my life!” “I’ve never felt love like this…” The changeling nearest Sam was almost fearful over its new sky-blue arm. “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Sam hugged it, and upon realizing the truth of his words, the changeling smiled warmly and hugged him back. The remaining unreformed changelings looked back to each other guiltily, almost as if feeling foolish for remaining the way they were for so long. A pinprick of light then formed on all of their chests over their hearts, quickly spreading out until the entire group of them was awash with bright white, Sam, Alice, their Pokémon, and the two reformed changelings they were with looking on at the sight. The light dimmed once again, and the changelings realized they were surrounded by their comrades in bodies that they did not recognize. However, upon seeing the new forms they all took, many of the changelings reacted by hugging each other, ecstatic over the comforting warmth now flowing through their bodies for the first time. The already-reformed changelings gladly integrated themselves with their converted companions, giving them cordial affection as well. The changeling nearest Sam looked down on him. “Thank you humans. I am now more willing than ever to protect my home and every creature who walks upon it.” “That’s awesome,” Sam replied. “We need to return to our own world and protect it soon, and Ponyville could really use your help as well.” “What are we supposed to do?” the changeling nearest Alice responded. “You already showed us how easily those things can zap us of our magic! How are we supposed to face that?” Sam and Alice stole a glance to each other, a sly grin appearing on their face. Outside, a Kadabra and a Bruxish hybrid ran out from the town and near the town hall. They recognized the greatly weakened Oranguru and Oricorio hybrids lying on the ground, coming to a complete and cautious stop. Looking up at the building, they spotted the two holes they had left, clearly made by the creatures that had thrown them out. After taking only two steps toward it, Sam, Alice, and their Pokémon sprinted out from the front doors, already banking to the left and away from the two hybrids. Just before they could take chase, a massive wave of many creatures, including bears, minotaurs, manticores, giant eagles, and griffons poured out from the entrance and the two holes, ready to rush the two hybrids who no longer even considered Sam and Alice as they ran further away into the town, looking for the portal that would send them back to Hau’oli City. Neither Sam nor Alice looked back, even as the clear sounds of the transformed changelings decimating the two hybrids got quieter with each step away they ran. Rainbow Dash, Pheramosa, and Applejack started to tire out as the Metang hybrid, Oranguru hybrid, and Slowking hybrid closed in around them. Then, on either side of the tightening scrum, two portals formed, the first creating a passageway to the cloud-constructed city, while the other appeared to be a dilapidated village of cracked houses, dead grass and trees, and scatterings of hay piles. Applejack glanced between both pillars, her eyes returning to the second, unfamiliar one. “That’s Cloudsdale, and that’s…” “Griffonstone?” Rainbow Dash recognized. With chaotic sounds of worried pants and terrified screams permeating out of both portals, both ponies felt their stomachs sink knowing that more hybrids had already found their ways there. At that moment, a griffon with light-brown lion’s fur and white plumage in her chest with three-purple tipped feathers draping at the top of her head landed before the portal, instantly recognizing the two ponies on the other side of the hybrids cornering them. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted to her. “Is this where you’ve been hiding all this time?!” “Gilda!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack kicked the Slowking and Oranguru hybrids away to allow themselves to run to the Griffonstone portal. “You need to run and hide! Equestria’s under attack!” “As if!” Gilda darted out of the portal, flying past the ponies and Ultra Beast and slashing at the Metang hybrid in an uppercutting motion, hitting it hard enough to send it through the Cloudsdale portal, its body falling through the street. “Though seriously, what is this place? And what’s that tall bug thing next to you?” As the Oranguru and Slowking hybrids got back up, Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned to face them once again. “We’ll tell y’all about it later!” Applejack huffed. “Right now, we gotta’ stop these guys!” “Hmph. I’m game.” Gilda leapt up and floated down to a spot between Applejack and Pheramosa, prepared to give it her all with her close friends by her side. Further into the city, Sam and Alice hopped out from the Ponyville portal with Aegislash, Lurantis, and Lycanroc right behind. After getting their bearings and their settings sorted out, they took off westward down the street. Just as they were ready to make the south-leaning curve further down, an Espeon grunt and a Metang grunt leapt down from a building to the left, landing in the middles of both lanes and holding their ground to block their path. Alice smirked as she veered to run the yellow line down the middle. Sam and his Pokémon were even more confused as Alice grabbed two Poké Balls, using one of them to return her Lycanroc back inside. She then slid to a stop as she tossed her next ball out. “Noivern, Boomburst!” Upon her black-and-purple wyvern forming from the energy of its ball, the air in its ears began to vibrate with greater and greater intensity. With a shriek, it tucked its head down, aiming both ears out at both Pokémon. With a massive pulse, the air blasted out and struck both hybrids like a brick wall, hurling them high off their feet. Alice leaned forward and resumed her run, Sam choosing to pick up his pace while the two hybrids were still incapacitated. With Noivern briskly walking close behind, it hovered over Sam, Alice, Aegislash, and Lurantis as it guarded them from above as well. Bending down the curve, Sam and Alice’s eyes reached the building the apartment was in. Putting their vision forward again, they spotted the portal to the Crystal Empire where Starlight and Fluttershy continued their battle against the hybrids with Molayne and Sophocles. With no hybrids in sight, the siblings could rest assured enough that the rest of their journey would be unimpeded. Sam and Alice were about to run past the portal, their parents’ apartment only two buildings away. Unbeknownst to them or their Pokémon, two Hypno hybrids leapt out the portal on their side, each of their pendulums and chains wrapped around their fists. The lowest among them punched their red-hot fist forward, clocking Aegislash square in the eye and knocking it off Sam’s arm. The highest flew out at Noivern’s chest as it turned to it, its white, frosted fist colliding with its target hard enough to fell it as well. “Aegislash!” “Noivern!” Sam and Alice slid down to see to their Pokémon’s injuries before both hybrids landed before them on the other side. Sam and Alice looked up to their attackers, whose pendulums were already uncoiled off their hands and began to swing them. Realizing immediately what was happening, Sam and Alice could only shut their eyes tight as they attempted to resist the dual Hypnosis attack. As their Pokémon came to and opened their eyes, they were instantly hit by the soft magenta waves pulsing off the coins rocking back and forth. Sam and Alice, despite their concentration, felt their strength slip away as their minds absorbed the energy radiating into them. Lurantis squealed as it prodded and shook its trainer’s arm, hoping in vain to keep him awake. As Sam slumped further and further into slumber, Lurantis leaned its face into Sam’s hair and took two sniffs. With another regretful whine, it darted off in the direction of Sam and Alice’s parents’ home, the hybrids ignoring it as they nearly finished lulling Sam, Alice, and their other Pokémon to sleep. Off from the sides, a Kadabra hybrid and a Slowking hybrid joined in. Before Sam could lose consciousness, he felt his body fall through the street as if there was nothing there. His smoky, imperceptible surroundings took form as he found himself in the corner of a narrow alley. Along with the stone walls and the bright white space at the end of it, four more pillars of smoke rose up from the ground, forming into two young humans, a purple-and-gold furred cat, and a blue bat with purple wings and a large mouth taking up its entire face. “Wha…” Sam looked down, finding a grey t-shirt and blue shorts in place of his jeans and tank-top, as well as two 11-year-old sized hands in place of his 17-year-old one. “Yah! What’s going on?!” “I’ll tell you what’s going on,” one of the trainers jeered, their voice getting lower in pitch with each word he spoke. “We’re teaching you a lesson of who the real trainers are!” Sam glanced to his right, seeing a Honedge floating there, who appeared equally frightful of its younger appearance. “Wait, no… Am I back…” The feline and bat Pokémon lunged out at Sam and Honedge while their trainers laughed. Alice’s surroundings were almost all black, the only bits she could recognize were the stony surface on which she stood as well as some large stalagmites and craters down only as far as the darkness could allow her. “I’m in a cave?” She then gasped, something immediately not right. “My voice! Why do I sound like a kid?” She then looked down at her clothes, a uniform consisting of black shorts and an orange jacket. “Ahh!” She leapt back hard enough to nearly fall over. “Why am I in my Jr. Range… Wait, hold on!” With a high pitched squeal from the ceiling, she looked up to see a Noibat flying down to meet her and appearing glad. “You… you’re the Noib…” She was interrupted by the Pokémon’s warbling, who smacked its chest in an attempt to get the girl to realize. “Wait, Noivern?! Why are you a Noibat again?” Hungry clicking then erupted on both sides of Alice and the Noibat, Sam tensing up as she instantly recognized the sound. “Those are from Ariados. I’m… No, we’re back when we first met!” The clicking was closer this time, and as Alice and Noibat went back to back, each one facing a source of the noise, two Ariadoses walked out from the pitch blackness. Alice, at first feeling a modicum of confidence, felt it sink all at once when she and Noibat saw that these spiders were twice Alice’s size. “No… they weren’t that…” Alice had suddenly fully understood. “Oh shit… Those Hypno… this is…” With an even wider open-mouth, the two Ariadoses’s mouths rattled before they skittered right at Alice and the Noibat, neither of them brave enough to move out of their way. As the Espeon hybrid charged at Lady, Sophocles’s Vikavolt caught its arm in its pincers, jerking around to fling it onto its back. Starlight and Sophocles shared a nod before she refocused to the Kadabra and Hypno hybrids still standing. Suddenly a pair of familiar voices screamed out from outside the portal, filling Starlight and Fluttershy with dread. As they looked back at it, the screams sounded off again, unable to mistake them for anyone else’s. “Sam! Alice!” Starlight ran into the portal with Lady. “Starlight, come back!” Upon turning back, Fluttershy whimpered to see the Espeon hybrid getting back up with its two comrades. Seeing them out numbered, Molayne retreated to join his friends’ sides, leaving their 3-on-4 odds much better than before. Upon leaving the portal, Starlight and Lady turned to find turned to find the Kadabra hybrid and the Slowking hybrid leaned over Sam, Alice, and their Pokémon with their their glowing hands held to their faces as the Hypno hybrids watched on. With a scowl, Starlight and Lady charged them, the latter trained on the Kadabra hybrid. Nimbly leaping up, Lady went completely undetected by any of the hybrids until the Kadabra one was thrown to the ground with Lady standing on its chest and biting down on its neck. The Hypno hybrid put its hand up and yanked Lady off its ally’s chest. Starlight gasped as her Pokémon groaned under the Hypno hybrid’s pressure as its psychic powers squeezed in on it. Just as Starlight readied her horn to charge, she noticed five shapes running at the hybrids from behind. “Throat Chop!” With the Hypno hybrid still concentrating on Lady, it wasn’t aware as a Hawlucha leapt up and slammed the side of its arm-wing into the back of its neck. The Hypno hybrid crumpled onto its stomach and let Lady go, who gasped for air and hobbled back to its trainer. She then saw as Lurantis sprinted at the Slowking hybrid leaning over Sam before winding its arm back and delivering a Leaf Blade hard enough into its back to throw it off and into the other Hypno hybrid, knocking them both to the ground. “Meowstic, Shadow Ball!” Still silhouetted in the dark, a single dark-purple orb was slung out and struck the still-awake Hypno hybrid in the head, knocking it unconscious at last. With all four hybrids momentarily incapacitated, Starlight and Lady felt safe enough to look up at who her other saviors were. Along with her Meowstic, a woman and her husband ran to their children, Starlight suddenly connecting them to their Pokémon. “Susan! Benji!” As they fell to their knees, Starlight and Lady ran to their sides to help in any way they could. “What are you… how did you–” “This little thing was banging on our door and screaming up a storm,” Susan explained. “We assumed it was one of our kids’ and went down to see what was the matter.” “Must have tracked his scent to where his room was,” Benji reasoned as he pulled out a pair of Full Restores from his back pocket. “It’s the end of the god-damned world and we nearly slept through it!” After Susan removed Alice’s glasses, Benji sprayed both his children from the head and down the lengths of their bodies. After a few moments, Sam and Alice breathed in as hard as they could, their eyes about to burst out from their skulls. Shooting up into sitting positions, they took the next several moments to realize their lucidity before they recognized the ones surrounding them. “Mom? Dad?!” Sam fell towards his father, who caught and embraced him as he wept. “I was back in that alley in Lumiose! They were–” “Shh, shh.” Benji stroked Sam’s hair. “You’re alright now.” “Why are you here?” Alice asked Susan. “That Lurantis over there found our place and brought us down,” she said. “Good thing too, it looks like you and Sam were having a bit of a rough time.” “You don’t know the half of it.” “Do you have any more Full Restores?” Starlight asked Susan. “Their Pokémon could use a bit of a wake-up themselves.” Susan’s mouth slightly came open in realization. Pulling two green square spray bottles out from her pockets, Starlight took them from her hands with her magic and held them out to aim them at Noivern and Aegislash. With a strained grunt. She squeezed the triggers and sprayed the two Pokémon liberally with the medicine. As their Pokémon woke up and stood back up, Benji helped Sam up as Alice went to Noivern to stroke and hug its neck. Aegislash stroked Sam’s back to help fully soothe him out of the trauma they both had to relive, Sam putting his arm around the base of its blade and pulling it toward him. “Are we good then?” Benji asked. “Guessing we should head back inside now?” Just then, the Metang hybrid darted out from the Crystal Empire portal, its claws aimed right at Alice and Noivern. “No!” Susan jumped into the Metang’s path. Without hesitation, the Metang hybrid continued its lunge, and with its arm still held out, the metal claws on the ends of it drove into Susan’s stomach. Susan let out a weak gag as she clutched the Pokémon’s arm. Alice, Sam, Benji, Starlight, and all of their Pokémon felt their gasps catch in their throats as Susan’s arms trembled trying to pull herself away. As Fluttershy, Molayne, and Sophocles exited the portal, they were just able to see as the Metang hybrid twisted its stuck arm out, further tearing at Susan’s gut. Her cough was wet as a small spray of blood filled her mouth and leaked out past her lips. Fluttershy gasped loudly as tears welled her eyes quick enough for them to instantly overflow. Alice’s shriek was the first to break the otherwise macabre silence. “MOOOM!!”