Challenger
“Princess Celestia?” came the sound of Twilight’s voice. “Are you awake?”
“Hmmm?” the white alicorn cracked open one eye and yawned. “What’s the matter, Princess Twilight? Do you need something?”
“Did I wake you up?” the purple princess winced. “I know you’re still recovering from that battle, if you need to sleep some more I can always-”
“Oh Twilight,” Celestia giggled, raising her head to look at her former student. “You know I’ll make time for you if I possibly can. I’m not so frail that I can’t hear whatever it is you have to say.”
“Uh… thanks,” Twilight looked a little embarrassed. “Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I’ve been talking with one of my new friends, and there was something he’d wanted to say to you. Right?”
“Right,” said a little yellow Pokémon, hopping down from the princess’ back. “Hi there, I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Pikachu.”
“I am Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria,” she said in a formal tone, before smiling a little. “I’m fairly certain you’ve heard of me.”
“Yeah…” Pikachu scratched the back of his head. “Anyway, the reason I interrupted your name was because I…” he looked at Twilight, “realized that the first time we met I sorta blindsided you without bothering to pay any attention to what you were saying. I didn’t really know what you were and you weren’t attacking, so I guess I should have listened a little harder.”
“For the record, that was my first time out of the Poke Ball, and I was berating what I assumed to be my kidnappers. I had no real idea what was going on at the time.”
“Oooh…” Pikachu winced. “Well, anyway, what I wanted to say was that I’m sorry about blindsiding you like that. I thought you were one of Team Rocket’s usual Pokémon and were there to help try and kidnap me again.”
“Given what I know now, I suppose I can understand that particular assumption,” Celestia said.
“Also, about what happened in Laverre… if we were getting played and helped make what happened the other day possible, I’m sorry about that too.”
“Likewise,” Celestia replied.
“Princess-” Twilight began, but her elder held up one wing.
“I ought not to have immediately made assumptions about your knowledge of events. If I had told you who and what purpose you were actually serving, perhaps things would have turned out differently.”
“I dunno, maybe,” Pikachu looked thoughtful. “I mean, usually Team Rocket is pretty up front about their ‘villainy’ so it’d have given me a moment’s pause at least if you had started talking about being on the side of good.”
“Also, I’d like to thank you for saving my life and Team Rocket’s lives the other day,” the white princess said. “If you hadn’t blindsided Rhyperior when you did, it is very possible that we would all now be dead.”
“Well, thanks,” Pikachu blushed and scratched the back of his head.
“And I’d also like to thank you and your trainer for coming in on my side in the discussion with Team Rocket earlier today. I believe we may have gotten through to them.”
“That’d be a first,” the yellow Pokémon muttered.
“Oh, and apology accepted,” Celestia smiled warmly.
“Same here,” Pikachu nodded back.
“So everyone’s on the same page?” Twilight asked hopefully. “Cause with the whole end of the world thing maybe looming over everypony’s shoulders…”
“We wouldn’t want any lingering animosities,” Celestia finished for her. “Not to worry, Princess Twilight, I don’t think there will be any issue working together.” She looked at Pikachu. “Right?”
He shook his head. “None at all.”
“Manectric, Thunderbolt!” Celosia ordered, hand outstretched. “Drapion, Sludge Bomb!”
Her yellow and blue hound-like Pokémon crackled for an instant before unleashing a searing lightning bolt that tore through the forest to strike a luckless pack of Houndour. Simultaneously, her purple scorpion-like creature opened its mouth and spewed a stream of purple-black poisonous globs. The four wild Pokémon cried out as they were electrocuted and slammed with toxic discharges all at once by creatures far more powerful than themselves. Their brief attempt at defending their homes ended as they collapsed in a heap.
Celosia gestured briefly with two fingers, and behind her Team Flare grunts immediately began throwing their Dark Balls. The Houndour, paralyzed or simply unconscious, could do nothing as they were drawn inside by black energies. The orbs fell to the ground, crackling with their sinister intent. The Team Flare Scientist nodded briefly in satisfaction.
“Good work,” she congratulated her two Pokémon, hands on hips.
“All Pokémon are secured, ma’am,” she heard one of her subordinates’ voice behind her. “That brings today’s total to thirty-three in all.”
Beneath her visor, Celosia rolled her eyes. “I can already see that. And if I want a report, I’ll ask for it.” She reached down and petted Manectric on the head. Her Pokémon wagged its blue tail eagerly.
“Yes ma’am,” the grunt said. “Should we continue our sweep?”
“No,” Celosia shook her head. “I think we have enough to make our point now. Tell the others to open up the case and call out the catch of the day.”
A minute or so later, and the forest before her was filled with a small army of Pokemon, from Houndour and Snubbull to Spearow and Electrike. No matter their species, though, they all stared up at their mistress with characteristic soulless, dead gazes. Many still sported injuries from their brief battles earlier that day, but none voiced so much as a whimper of complaint. Even the Houndour just captured from their den stood at rapt, mindless attention.
“This,” the scientist pulled a small holo-projector from her belt, “is your target.”
Celosia flicked the device on, and almost immediately a half-size hologram of a dark alicorn took shape. It had taken painstaking hours of work to compile a decent likeness from blurry pictures taken outside during the brief skirmish near Geosenge, but she considered the result a reasonable facsimile. Certainly, this creature wasn’t likely to be mistaken for anything else, even by the braindead slaves now lined up before her.
“This creature, this Luna,” she went on, “poses a potential risk to our plans. But she has proven elusive so far, so I want all of you to split up. Scour this forest in all directions and keep an eye on the skies. Fight anything else only to defend yourselves, but seek out and kill this thing without delay. No rest, and no mercy. Am I understood?”
A chorus of barks, howls, and growls answered in the affirmative.
“Good.” Celosia pointed. “Now go!”
Almost instantly the brainwashed Pokémon scrambled to do her bidding, scurrying, bolting, or flying off in all directions. Those that could had their noses pressed to the ground, seeking traces of scent. Those that could fly rose rapidly past the forest canopy and out of sight. Those that could do neither simply picked a direction and ran that way, but in all cases they rapidly left the humans of Team Flare behind.
“Was that wise, ma’am?” one of Celosia’s underlings asked. “We’re not likely to be seeing them again, and we can’t reuse the Dark Balls without cutting them loose.”
“We have more than enough captured Pokémon to fuel the ultimate weapon already,” she told her lackey. “A few running around in the wilderness doesn’t change the balance of things at all.”
“Do you really think they can kill her?” another questioned. “The battle at the base doesn’t make it look like she’ll go down easily.”
“On the contrary, I expect maybe one or two to actually locate her and then go down almost instantly. The rest can run themselves ragged until they drop, it won’t matter. The point isn’t to directly defeat her with freshly-caught, largely-unevolved Pokémon. The point is to deliver a challenge she can’t ignore.”
“Ma’am?”
“Think, you fool. If she truly is gathering a force of wild Pokémon to her, the sight of one of their own bursting from the bush and fighting to the death to try and kill her is sure to scare them out of their wits. Even if she doesn’t want to try and destroy our Dark Balls to rescue them – and witness testimony suggests she will – she has to respond somehow or look weak. We’re here, in the middle of the territory she seems to be fluttering about in, and we’re capturing the very Pokémon she’s trying to build a coalition of. And if she isn’t gathering a force about herself then she poses little threat anyway.”
“And what happens if she does decide to come and get us?”
“In that case…” Celosia tossed an empty Dark Ball into the air with one hand, then caught it and smirked. “We’ll be ready for her.”
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... why am I suddenly fearing the return of Nightmare Moon?
9049071
You and me both and since Luna knows how to fight against Mind Control, which in a sense is what the Dark Balls are doing to pokemon, if she is turned into Nightmare Moon then when she looks as Luna's memories and see's what these Evil Humans of Team Flare are planning on doing she will be VERY Angry, and I mean on HULK level Angry.
Are we going to see a Poké-Nightmare Moon?
Celestia and Pikachu are now friends! Team Flare's days are counted.
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Luna doesn't have to necessarily turn into Nightmare Moon.
I'm inclined to think Luna wouldn't turn into Nightmare Moon, as much as I like the idea. This is because I don't think Dark Balls would turn Celestia into Daybreaker - the character of Daybreaker runs deeply contrary to what we've seen of the Pokémon in the Dark Balls. Dark Balls don't turn a Pokémon evil, they turn them mindlessly aggressive and emotionally dead. This runs pretty counter to both of the princesses' evil forms, which are in some way a product of negative emotions and have plenty of personality. For a Dark Ball to corrupt either one of them in this way, I'd think something would need to go wrong with it - maybe get overpowered by what it unleashed.
Things are officially settle between the protagonist.
Now comes the biggest threat on Luna and was she right about her warning. All those captured Pokemon would still be free if they had listen.
Yikes, looks like Luna is heading for some hard times.
At least Celestia and Twilight, and their respective groups are all working together for the time, it seems. Excellent chapter.
i just hope luna army is ready for them
9049116
From what I remember in this story, I don't think the Dark Balls physically change a Pokemon's appearance; though the wiki for the Dark Ball says that those under its control will have its color scheme darkened. The only exception was Celebi, whose pupils narrowed and turned black. So, the closest that Luna could possibly turn into Nightmare Moon is having similar-looking eyes and maybe a darkened color.
Nightmare incoming.
Considering what was Luna main argument to convince prokemon to join her, I'd say she has just been given some great material for her propaganda on a wonderfull silver plater.
Despite how many voice that Luna turning into Nightmare Moon via dark ball is not likely, I do hope it is the case if only because something went wrong with the capture and now the humans without any morals got a monster of their own creation rampaging about. Figuring Nightmare Moon would have hypnosis or some other sleep inducing abilities and then Nightmare. Just on a level akin to what Darkrai uses, so putting folks to sleep and torturing them with the nightmare move...be fitting end for a few Flare leaders I think. -shrugs-
9049359
I don't think physical appearance is as important as the psychological effects. A Dark Ball switching a certain (and only certain) Pokémon to an evil form is fine to me, just like XD001 was the only Shadow Pokémon to change colors. And I'd totally headcanon a Dialga in a Dark Ball going primal. Luna has a documented evil form, hence why everyone's bringing it up; if she's going to get whacked with a device that forcibly turns her evil, it makes sense on the surface level to run with it. But Nightmare Moon isn't an emotionless killing machine, which is what Dark Balls create; she's a madly jealous pony craving recognition and domination. She was born of feelings the Dark Ball can't induce. It'd be interesting seeing her here, but the story would need to do additional work to justify it.
9049694
So like her nightmare form being introduced to protect her from the effects of the darkball.
Also I kinda want luna to assassin's creed out of a tree/sky and tko Celosia.
9047186
Enough already. If you absolutely must quote gigantic paragraphs to point out tiny spelling mistakes in this currently 58-chapter story, then kindly gather them all up and PM them to me instead of cluttering up my comments' section with them.
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I still hope Luna doesn't get captured as it makes the whole Poke'army recruitment feel entirely moot point or feels pointless and underwhelming. At least, have her escape but just barely and be able to meet up with the gang, reuniting the princesses and starting recruitment from there.
9049116
Celestia also never became Daybreaker. She was just a figure dreamed up by Starlight. Nightmare Moon on the other hoof is very real. Now we don't know what it's like getting caught by a dark ball, but I can certainly see Luna desperately fighting against it's influence and possibly grabbing hold of the strongest emotion she knows as a way to guard against the emotional deadening effect. And her strongest emotion in such a moment is likely to be a negative one, which could easily lead to another transformation into Nightmare Moon.
It would be nice if the show writers would clarify how her transformation works.
9049396
Exactly what I was thinking. I can't wait to see the droves of pokemon that will flock to her as soon as word hits the wind.
Commenters have a point that even NMM would still want to fight Team Flare, but I don't think that even if it happened it would happen the way they are expecting. I predict either no NMM, or Luna gets caught in a Dark Ball and Team Flare gets a nasty surprise.
Nightmare Moon used "GET REKT" It's super effective!
P.S. I was confused by one line of dialog until I figured out the mistake.
"the reason I interrupted your name was because" nap
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It's already been pointed out, not two chapters ago, that Ponyland has an analogue to the Dark Balls: Sombra's mind control helmets. To answer the speculation as to whether Luna being captured in a Dark Ball would triggrer Nightmare Moon, put a mind control helmet in its place. It's plain to see that of course it bloody wouldn't. Sombra's helmeted minions were aggressive and heedless of pain - and his subjects, who may have felt a similar effect, were listless and depressed - but neither were jealous or needy, Nightmare Moon's defining, overpowering traits.
There's a slightly more sophisticated version of this speculation that says Luna calls upon Nightmare Moon to fight off the mind control, but that doesn't track either. First, it's not at all obvious that it should work. If anything, Nightmare Moon, being a distorted personality, is weaker-willed than Luna's whole self. Second, we've seen how Luna responds to mind control, and it isn't by calling on Nightmare Moon. In To Where and Back Again she doesn't call on the persona to fight changeling hypnotism, and in the Accord arc of the comics (I'll wash my mouth out later for mining this piece of trash for evidence) she doesn't use it to beat the titular villain back from her mind. Third, while looking like Nightmare Moon is something Luna can do on a whim, see Luna Eclipsed, it's not at all clear that she can tap into the persona's ill-defined powers (and the boundary between her power's and Nightmare Moon's is even more ill-defined) at will.
Oh, and let's not forget that it would be wholly uninteresting. We've already had Celestia and Twilight having to fight. That was dramatic because it is not a confrontation that happens often (because Twilight is a deferential doormat when it comes to Celestia, as she should be, because her judgment is awful) and because both were lucid. Either one of them coming face to face with Nightmare Moon again? After the initial visceral gut punch, it's old hat.
9050660
In all likelyhood, the only difference between Luna and Nightmare when it comes to their ability sets, would be their willingness to use the various schools of forbidden magic.