//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Beauty and the Frog // Story: My Little Pokemon: Rings of Darkness // by Napalm monster //------------------------------// “Okay.” I murmured to myself, I think it’s safe to say, my odds were dwindled currently. Especially when my Greninja was on his back, in a puddle mixed with both water and blood, both bruised with stiletto marks across his body and smalls scratches on arms and face leaking blood. Finally an evil, wet, white unicorn woman with her hair dripping, standing over him with a malevolent grin and pointing a fencing sword at his right FUCKING EYE, Yep! I’m sure saying: “My odds are dwindling.” Is a pretty GIANT FUCKING UNDERSTATEMENT. (A few minutes earlier) "Damn it!" I muttered, frustrated, "Don't worry girls I won't let you die! I got something! I got something for his ass!" I tossed my pokeball in the air and a giant white flash erupted, releasing its contents from within for all to witness. A few feet away from me stood a giant dark blue ninja-like frog with a yellow underbelly, crouched down with with his knees both bent and legs spread out, right hand touching the ground and his left arm stretched far behind him, posing like an authentic silent warrior from the east, most note worthy was his tongue wrapped around his neck like a friggin’ scarf! “Whoa!” Scootaloo uttered from her prison, next to her friends, “What the heck is that, I’m not sure if that thing is either awesome or weird.” “Meh,” I shrugged my shoulder, “It’s more or less a mix of both.” “Pfft!” Corrupted Rainbow scoffed, arms crossed and eyes rolled unimpressed, “It’s not as awesome as me though, even when I’m evil I’m still the awesomest thing in the room.” “Too bad we’re outside.” Pinkie replied. “Shut up Pinkie,” Rainbow replied harshly, “You know what I meant.” ‘Haha.’ Yveltal laughed softly, ‘I see you picked the first Pokémon that will be representing you for this battle, I look forward to breaking your little toy.’ Yveltal turned his head towards the now corrupted Rarity, making direct eye contact with the former fashionista and nodded, signaling her to step up to the playing field. Rarity had a twinkle of mischief in her eyes as she smirked, relishing the oppurtunity to be the first one to draw blood, all while Corrupted Pinkie moaned. “Awww! I wanted to beat up someone first!” Pinkie whined like a small child. ‘Worry not, my little slave you will have your opportunity.’ Yveltal reassured, acknowledging her discontent, ‘Time will make it all the more sweeter.’ “Ooo!” Pinkie squealed in delight, “I love sweets and I love hurting others too! It’ll be the perfect mix!” Applebloom gripped the bars softly and turned to her sister who was now a corrupted shell of her former sibling, obeying an evil force of destruction. “Please sis!” Bloom called out to her, “Y’all ain’t some mindless follower, please I know yer still in there, we’re family!” Corrupted Applejack just glared and narrowed her eyes at her youngest sibling, “Shut yer trap! I don’t need family, just Yveltal and if you keep spoutin’ out that nonsense I’mm’a kick yer teeth out, then we’ll see how well you keep on talkin’!” “Oh, Applejack.” Applebloom whimpered sadly, praying that once Omega wins Yveltal restores her sister. She then turned to Omega and Greninja facing corrupted Rarity, “Please Mr. Jones bring my sister back.” Corrupted Rarity ignited her horn and a fancy fencing sword materialized in her right hand, the sword itself was made up of the same material as her magic, it was also the color as the magic currently enveloping her horn. She strolled into the battlefield confidently. Sword held firmly, back straight, and head held high. She lifted her weapon and positioned herself in a very regal posture, silently signaling she was ready to start the duel, the only sound emitting from her was the intense humming of her horn, directing the flow of magic towards her sword and keeping it materialized. No fear or doubt was held in her eyes. There was none in Greninja’s either, he held the same pose as from when he was first released. Greninja and Rarity stared silently at each other, waiting. Yveltal then announced, ‘As I said before, no medicines, restores or revives. Discord will explain the rest ’ Discord suddenly teleported at the center of the battlefield, sporting a referee uniform with vertical black stripes, a whistle around his neck, and black pants and shoes, “Alright Colts and Fillies and creatures from other alternate realities I want a good clean, friendly fight, no biting, scratching, or hair pulling unless I have my camera rolling. Battles over when the players either tap out, or stops breathing, no hitting below the belt, anything else goes so let’s get this show on the road!” Discord then snapped his fingers before teleporting out of exsistence. Then appearing on the sidelines with an oversized wheeled chalkboard with a white chalk line down the middle separating one side that had an Omega symbol on the left, and on the right side was a “Y” to obviously keep score. I looked apprehensively at Corrupted Rarity still maintaining her pose with such elegance, along with how she held her sword, eyeing both me and Greninja. I flinched slightly when she glanced over at me, can’t blame me, the fate of the world literally is determined by who wins the most in the next six battles, how did my life become this? Oh yeah! Screw you Comic con! Somehow Greninja sensed my uneasiness and turned his head to give me a quick sideway glance, he made eye contact with me and gave me a quick nod, as if to assure me he won’t give up without a good fight. This was enough for me to swallow my nervousness. ‘Dont worry sir!’ Metagross telekinetically called out, ‘This is hardly any different then a regular Pokémon battle, just do what you’ve always done!’ ‘Omegakan! Omegakan! Omegakan! Go Omegakan!’ Hoopa cheered. “Yeah!” Scootaloo cried out, “Kick her sorry flank Mr. Jones!” Applebloom joined in, “Do it Mr. Jones take her to Smackdown Town, population: just her!” “Uh guys,” Sweetie Belle grumbled, with an annoyed frown, “That’s my big sister your rooting Mr. Jones to beat up.” Both crusaders hunched their shoulders awkwardly, offering an embarrassed grin, as both apologized in unison, “Sorry.” “Okay,” I began, sizing up my opponent, “ready for a four star smack down courtesy of Greninja?” Rarity responded by breaking her pose, stepping forward holding her literal magic sword vertically in front of her face, “Oh don’t worry dear, you won’t last long.” I cracked my neck, balled my fists and cracked them against both of my palms, “Let’s just see what my Greninja has to say about that.” “Gren!” Greninja replied, summoning a water shuriken. Next thing I know, Discord is back in his referee clothes and blows his whistle signaling us to start. “Hajime!” Discord proclaimed loudly. “Greninja charge and hit her with your water shuriken!” I pointed, Greninja nodded. Both Rarity and Greninja charged with both shuriken and sword before leaping at each other dramatically. Me, Pokémon, Crusaders, Yveltal, and his minion watching the spectacle in awe, both in worry and excitement to see the winner of the first match that would decide the fate of all of Equestria and quite possibly the multiverse. Twilight crashed against a tree, her form bouncing as her momentum carried her far away from her opponent. She skidded to halt and gritted her teeth. She felt sweat forming across her forehead. Her clothes were both singed and torn, she was missing her right sleeve and the fabric ended right near her shoulder as a result of taking way to many magic blasts directly, her bangs were disheveled, along with the rest of her once straight mane, and her heart was beating 10 times as quickly from the adrenaline of battle. She took a minute to catch her breath and keep herself from having a heart attack, the battle was no doubt taking its toll on her body, even with the magic of all the princess in her. “I can’t keep this up,” Twilight said softly, “I don’t know for how much longer. With all that magic in Tirek I can’t overwhelm him.” “For once you are correct.” Twilight shoot her head up to meet Tirek’s gaze, but as tired and battered Twilight was, so was Tirek. He had multiple marks and bruises from the ongoing battle, even Twilight could sense the fatigue from the mighty centaur. He was also getting tired. “I’m....I....am....growing tired.” Tirek huffed between each word he managed to spit out, “You are....a stubborn...pony....and a determined one....I can respect that.” Twilight gritted her teeth from both exhaustion and malice for the centaur, “Coming from you....that doesn’t mean much to...me...you’ll pay for what you’ve....done Tirek....stealing everyponys magic....both you....and that alien.” Tirek raised a brow, “Alien?....you mean...that oversized bird...rest assured, I will steal his magic next.” It was Twilights turn to be confused, “Wait?...what bird are you talking about?” Twilight slowly turned her head and her eyes widened, she saw Yveltal perched on top the Carousel Boutique, the strange bird dragon was watching something intently along with what appeared to be Discord. She couldn’t see what it was since all the buildings were in the way, but whatever it was it’s attention was fully invested on it and if it was on top of one of her friends house, she somehow knew that they were involved. “Oh no,” she muttered, extending her wings, “Rarity.” She took flight towards Ponyville, but she found herself caught in Tirek magic during midair and flung against a tree. “No!” Tirek growled, “you will not escape me, not before I have your magic!” Tirek gave Yveltal a quick sideways glance, “I don’t know what that...thing is or what it’s doing, but I won’t care once I have it’s magic,” he turned to Twilight, “You and every being across Equestria will be powerless once the magic is all mine.” Twilight growled in anger and her horn flared to life with renewed vigor, her eyes glowing blindingly white, “I’ll die before I let you win!” She then charged at the centaur, with a magic trail behind her, the same color as her mane and tail with sparkling white stars. Tirek chuckled, charging both horns, “We’ll just see then, won’t we?” Both of them charged, and when they collided another intense magical explosion erupted, creating tremors across the land. Greninja was pushed back, he leaped forward at Rarity with his water shuriken still in his hands, but Rarity teleported behind the ninja frog, kicking him in the side of the head and teleporting away when Greninja spun around to attack at her with the oversized shuriken, teleporting right back in front of him and catching him a bit off guard. Rarity lunged to strike, but Greninja managed to jump over her blade, Greninja lunged his water shuriken back before tossing it to the spot Rarity was currently standing at. She had time to leap back before an explosion of water erupted in front of her, drenching both her mane and outfit, much to her distress. “Oh you hoodlum! this is cotton!” Rarity shrieked angrily, “Your supposed to use warm water on it!” “Don’t care!” I called out from across the field, “This is a battle! Greninja use Night Slash!” Greninja nodded as he used a quick burst of speed to send him across the field towards Rarity and slashed at her with a purple blade. Rarity was on the defensive, blocking all his attacks with precise movements. She then began to parry him and kicked him with her stilettos shoes knocking him back, and leaving a mark of her soles on his body. “Greninja use water pulse!” Greninja then fires a blue sphere comprised entirely of water at the white unicorn, which exploded into a wave of water. Knocking Rarity a few feet back, her clothes and mane wet entirely, much to her dismay. “Ugh, it’s gonna take hours to fix up my mane!” Rarity huffed, “I hope your proud!” “Rarity quick worryin’ bout yer getup, just knock this fool out!” Applejack called. “Fine!” Rarity huffed, “This is for my mane you scoundrel!” ‘Oh damn!’ I thought as Rarity charged leaving Greninja to defensively parry her attacks pushing him, ‘all my big plans are going down the crapper! I was going to meet a nice blonde girl, have 3 or 2 kids and a nice house in the suburbs, maybe a Labrador retriever called “Cheeseburger.” and all that other white American dream stuff.’ Greninja narrowly dodged a fatal attack as Rarity lunged and swiped her sword, nicking his arm. ‘Now everyone’s gonna blame me and lose they’re lives when this flying piece of bacon kills everyone!’ Greninja used the purple blade and brought it up horizontally to block another attack from Rarity. ‘I don’t even have an excuse for what happens after I die. I’m just gonna be that guy who brought the whole multiverse to a ruin, and what about my loved one!? They’re gonna die too. Then my friends, my uncles and-” Greninja received another kick from Rarity, Greninja tried to swipe her with Night Slash, but then she vanished in a blink and appeared beside Greninja, sweeping her feet out from beneath him and causing him to slam onto his back. ‘-then my third grade teacher, and that weird coach I had in little league who lived in his van, I think his name was “Alfredo” or something, then my neighbor will die, shame too, cause she made the best almond cookies ever, makes me hungry for them right now actually-‘ Rarity leaped into the air above Greninja and pointed the edges of her stilettos directly towards him, Greninja rolled out of the way, barely getting trampled. ‘Oh shoot, I should’ve saved one of those cookie with me before I left to Comic Con, could really use one right now. The almonds are so crunchy and salty, contrasting the warm, softness of the cookie itself. I’m really surprised I never asked her for the recipe.’ Greninja lashed out at Rarity, but once more the unicorn teleported out of his reach of attack. Greninja spun around just in time for his Night Slash blade to collide with Rarity’s magic sword, the sound of both magical material clanging, echoed across the battlefield. ‘-But I don’t think it would be a family secret recipe if she just gave it cause someone wants it, but then again-‘ “Hey!” I paused my musing and looked up to see the Crusaders in their cage glaring at me with a mixture of annoyance and impatience, when Scootaloo remarked, “You’ve just been looking at the ground while Rarity is beating up your ninja frog thing, did you forget we will all die if you lose?” “Oh yeah.” I remembered, for a second it almost slipped my mind, “How you doing Greninja!?” “Gren! Gren!” Greninja called back, dodging each swipe from Rarity. “I can’t tell if that’s an “Okay” or a “Not so good”.” ‘He’s saying that he really needs you to focus sir!’ Metagross passed on his message. ‘You can do it Omegakan!’ Hoopa kept cheering. “Right!” I said pulling my focus back, “Greninja use double team!” Greninja nodded, he began vibrating as multiple Greninjas began to appear and form a big circle around Rarity. She playfully scoffed at being surrounded. “Oh dear,” She said with mocking despondency, “so many opponents, so outnumbered. Whatever is a lady to do?” Her horn suddenly ignited creating a white flashing light that forced everyone to cover their eyes or look away at risk of being temporarily blinded, everyone including the Greninjas. Taking this opportunity to her advantage she zipped up to every Greninja clone and swiped at them causing each to dematerialize as she sought the real one. “Greninja use smokescreen!” “Gren!” All remaining Greninjas opened their mouth and a thick cloud of black smoke poured out of their maw and filled the battlefield. No one could see what was happening now. “Greninja use quick attack until you find her!” Greninja croaked in response and everyone heard a bunch of zooming noise from within the smokescreen, but no one actually was able to spot him. After a moment of Greninja zooming blindly across the field trying to strike Rarity we finally heard her yelp. “AH! You ruffian!” Then there was the noise of a sword swiping multiple times, but Rarity was just as blind as Greninja was as she swung aimlessly hoping to hit her target. Soon enough the smoke finally lifted in the air and we could all see. Turns out Rarity managed to get a few nicks on Greninja with her sword, none of them were deep, but they looked like they still stung. “Ooo! Intense!” Discord said sitting on a lawn chair, arms folded behind his head. ‘HAHA!’ Yveltal laughed mockingly, throwing his head back, ‘Your warrior doesn’t look so good. They say: “First impressions last” if that’s the case for this battle, then the upcoming battles don’t look well for you.’ “It’s always darkest before the dawn Bacon Bird!” ‘Words I shall etch on your tombstone.’ Yveltal smirked proudly. Meanwhile Discord materialized between Hoopa and Metagross carrying a box full of merchandise with T-shirt’s, plushies and flags. “Get your poke-battle of the universe collectibles!” Discord spoke in a 50’s mid-Atlantic accent, “We got’ Em all! Plushies, T-shirts! Water bottles! You won’t find them in any other reality!” Hoopa floated up to Discord, ‘Does creature have shirts in Hoopa size?’ ‘Hoopa!’ Metagross glowered sternly, ‘Don't fraternize with the enemy.’ ‘Hoopa don’t know what “Frat” or “Nize” mean, but Hoopa will buy extra for big white spider friend.’ Hoopa looked back to Discord, ‘Here!’ Hoopa tossed a ring over Discord and out flowed was a heap of gold coins that buried him completely. A talon popped out gripping two T-shirt, for both Metagross and Hoopa. Hoopa floated towards it and plucked both pieces of fabrics from the talon hand, before he nodded. ‘Thank you.’ Back to the fight Greninja didn’t seem to be doing so good. He had multiple scratches across his arms and face from failed blocks of Rarity’s sword. Greninja raised his water shuriken and swung it vertically, Rarity rolled out of the way and kicked him on his sides, around his ribs. Greninja clutched his sides where Rarity landed her kick. He then felt an elbow collide on the side of his jaw, Greninja crashed on the ground. I paused as I felt my eyes widened and my pupils turned to pinpricks, I hunched my shoulders. Greninja was currently on the ground, bruised with stiletto marks across his body and small scratches on his arms. Rarity herself was pointing her sword at his eye, raising it up and preparing to sink it back down on Greninja. “Shit! Shit! Mega-shit! Shit!” I whispered, full panic. Yveltal chuckled sadistically and watched his champion about to pluck the ninja frog’s eye out painfully. Ready to end this match and secure his first victory. Rarity guffawed mockingly, “Game, set, match.” I had an idea, “Greninja smokescreen full blast!” Greninja with renewed vigor opened his maw and smokescreen blasted Rarity directly. Caught off guard and accidentally inhaling some of his smoke, Rarity coughed violently, and unfocused. The battlefield was once again covered in smoke. “Uppercut!” A “smack” sound was heard as Rarity was sent flying over the black smoke after receiving a nasty uppercut, courtesy of Greninja. “Now use water pulse!” Greninja jumped high until he was over his own smoke and infront of Rarity. He charged water pulse and unleashed it on Rarity sending her back to earth, the blast hit her directly and created multiple cracks on the earth as the smokescreen faded completely, overwhelming her with water. Omega wasn’t done yet. “Now elbow her in the gut on your way back down!” He shouted. Greninja nodded and did two flips in the air, using the momentum to launch himself towards Rarity. He slammed his elbow in her stomach, causing the fashionista to jerk up and eyes exploded until they were wide as dinner plates. She moaned in pain as she felt the spot where Greninja hit her, a full blast of pain spread across her. She fell back down clutching her stomach, teeth gritted and eyes clamped shut, as she continuously moaned, resting on the ground. Everyone with their mouth gaping watched as Greninja stood over her, victoriously. Everyone was speechless, until Yveltal. ‘W-What just happened?’ Yveltal spoke in disbelief. Omega stood silently with a blank face for a moment, “I think I just fucking won.” The moment of silence was broken when the crusaders and Hoopa quickly began to cheer. ‘Omegakan! Omegakan! Omegakan! Omegakan!’ “Mr.Jones! Mr.Jones! Mr.Jones! Mr.Jones!” Yveltal growled as he watched Rarity lying on the ground clutching her stomach in pain. Discord went to the score board and timidly put a tally under the omega symbol. “Greninja!” Omega ran over to Greninja, “High five-Ehrr...” Omega looked awkwardly to Greninja webbed hand and counted three digits. Omega just laughed. “Whatever! gimme some!” Omega smiled, Greninja obliged and both their hands clapped together victoriously. Rarity limped over to her fellow elements and received a very cold welcome back, as many just glared at her and narrowed their eyes at her, for her loss. “Loser.” Rainbow whispered harshly. “Pathetic, beaten by a frog.” Fluttershy grumbled. Yveltal narrowed his eyes at Omega, ‘Enjoy the victory for it shall not last. I won’t let you have another one.’ “Bring it on turkey breath!” Scootaloo remarked. Omega turned to Greninja and patted him on the back, “You rest up, we’ll celebrate after you recovered.” “Gren Gren.” Greninja nodded before he turned into red light and disappeared into his pokeball. ‘Ready for the next round?’ “Always,” Omega smirked, fueled by confidence from his previous victory, he put away Greninja’s pokeball and pulled out his next ball, “I’m actually looking forward to it. What about you?” ‘The only thing I look forward to is your humiliation, followed by your demise.’ “Yeah, sure.” Omega rolled his eyes, “Well come and get it if you can!” Yveltal glared, ‘Gladly.’ Omega looked to his pokeball with hopeful eyes, and whispered, “Alright, it’s show time.” Omega pulled his pokeball behind him and hurled it on to the battlefield, another light exploded and out popped Omega’s next Pokémon ready for action.