//------------------------------//
// The Raging Storm 
// Story: A Matter of Genetics 
// by Guardsman_Sparky 
//------------------------------//

Sleep was nice.  If there was one thing I enjoyed about becoming Mewtwo, aside from the phenomenal psychic powers (heh, alliteration), it was that I could sleep just about anywhere.  I'd just sort of stretch out, and then bam, catnap.  Finding sunbeams on the floor to flop on was always enjoyable.  All warm and fuzzy and poking my nose...

Wait, no, there's something poking my nose.  Repeatedly, and rather insistently at that.  Blast it, was it too much to ask for my sleep to go uninterrupted?

Yawning cavernously, I sat up and stretched.  Smacking my lips, I opened my eyes to see Angel Bunny standing imperiously upon the couch, the back of which I had draped myself upon (and had promptly went to sleep on) when I returned from Castle Cerulean late last night.

I glowered at the white rabbit blearily.  I'd been planning to sleep in, dammit!  You'd better have a good reason for waking me up, Hassenpfeffer.  

Angel thumped a staccato beat upon the couch cushion with his hind leg and pointed out the window.  

Fluttershy needs help with the blizzard, I repeated.  The rabbit nodded.  I leaned in close.  What blizzard?  

In response, Angel simply pointed out the window again.  Groaning, I turned to look out the window and was met with an expanse of howling white.  Oh.  That blizzard.

Wait, what?

After double checking to make sure that yes, I was awake, and yes, that was a blizzard, I turned back to Angel Bunny.  Yes, that's a good reason.

Groaning, I levered myself up and off the couch to float a few inches off the floor.  Scrunching up my face in a yawn, I scratched at my cheek with a paw as I looked around.  Where's Fluttershy?

Angel Bunny thumped his reply on the couch.  Thumpa-thumpa thump.

Outside checking on the chickens?

Thup thump-thumpa!

I see.  Thank you.  Stifling another yawn, I held out my paw and plucked my cloak out of the air as it hurtled towards me.  Let's see, if I hold it just so, I think I can...

With a mental twist, my cloak twisted around my body to fasten itself around my shoulders.  I smirked.  Sure, I had to adjust the collar where it bunched up somewhat, but I figure if I practice it enough, it'll make one heck of a party trick.

Ah, right, back to the matter at hand.  Paw.  Hoof.  Whatever.

Floating over to the door, I opened it...

COLD!

...and immediately regretted it before slamming the door shut against the howling gale.

I stood there shaking for I don't know how long, just sort of shellshocked by the sheer cold and amount of snow that had barreled through the doorway.  Finally, I got the wits about me to breath again.  Giratina's left asscheek, that's a bit more than just a blizzard, I'd say.

Abruptly, I was aware of two things.  One, I was covered in snow, and two, there was a little white shite sitting on the couch, laughing at me.  Unamused, I gathered all the snow that had billowed into the living room, creating a ball that was bigger than a pumpkin but smaller than a really big pumpkin, and promptly dropped it onto a certain lagomorph.

Ignoring the sputtering and flailing behind me, I cracked my knuckles.  Right, let's try that again.  

I opened the door again, but this time a bubble of blue, psychic energy was holding back the raging elements.  After a moment, satisfied that I would be able to hold up the psychic shield with little to no problem, I stepped outside and closed the door.

As I trudged through the snow (somehow, flying about in a blizzard didn't seem a very good idea), I was struck by just how eerie it was.  The wind was...it was so prevalent that it was almost not there at all, but in a manner that you could not not know the wind was howling.  And the snow, there was so much of it, that you could not see your nose at the end of your face.  If it weren't for my ability to sense living minds, I'd very likely be horribly lost within seconds.  As it was, it was like walking around in a muffling bubble (although, considering I was in fact walking about in a bubble made from psychic energy, that metaphor might not be quite right).

crunch...crunch...crunch...  Oh, hello.

I stopped, the sounds of crunching snow stopping with me as my bubble passed over the chickenwire fence that surrounded the chicken coop.  Opening the gate, I trudged into the pen until my bubble engulfed the front of the henhouse.  Fluttershy, you there?

From inside the henhouse came a soft "eep," and a few moments later, Fluttershy poked her head out the chicken coop's door.  She blinked up at me.  "Mewtwo?"

I couldn't help but smirk in amusement as several chickens poked their heads out around Fluttershy.  Angel woke me up, said you were checking on the chickens.  Everything alright?

"Um, well...I, uh...no," Fluttershy finally replied.  "I wanted to check on the girls, make sure they were alright, but then the storm got worse, and I couldn't see the house anymore."  She looked around.  "It still is, I think.  Getting worse, that is."

The storm is getting worse?  Cocking my head to one side and raising one ear to the sky, I listened carefully to the ubiquitous background howl. 

...

Yes, yes I do believe it's getting louder.  It's faint, but it's there.  I turned back to Fluttershy.  I think you're right.  We should probably get you and the...girls, back to the house.

Fluttershy looked at me, then around at the almost solid wall of white outside our little bubble of calm and tranquility.  "Are...are you sure we can make it?  How will we get to the house?"

Don't worry.  I tapped the side of my head.  Just follow me, I'll get you back safely.  Just stay close, and we'll be there in a jiffy.  

"Well, okay." Stepping out of the henhouse, Fluttershy turned back to coax the chickens out into the snow.  "Come on girls, let's get you out of the cold."

And that is how I found myself acting the mama duck to a line of chickens, with one butter-yellow pegasus bringing up the rear.  Life is funny that way, isn't it?

It was rather amusing how the chickens made their way through the snow, jumping into the air and pumping their wings frantically before disappearing into the snow with a plop.  Jump, flutter, plop.  Jump, flutter, plop.  It reminds me of when my dog would do the same thing...huh, I just remembered that I had a dog.

...dang it, now I've made myself sad.

Sighing, I came to a stop.  We're here.  Sure enough, Fluttershy's front door was poking through my psychic bubble.  Standing aside, I opened the door, holding it for the chickens to march inside.  It's strange, I said, as Fluttershy started inside.  

Stopping short, Fluttershy looked up at me owlishly.  "Um...I'm sorry?"

The weather, I elaborated, looking up at the blinding white obscuring the sky.  It was forecast to be sunny and warm, and yet...

I trailed off.  Fluttershy peered around me to look in the direction I was facing.  "Mewtwo?"

I shushed her.  Something was coming closer, approaching through the storm, though what it was, I could not tell through the storm.  I tensed, prepared for anything.

Fwump fwump fwump THWACK!  ...  squeeeee

I blinked in bemusement at the spread-eagled, dark grey pegasus with a light grey mohawk slowly sliding down the side of my psychic bubble.  I had not been expecting that at all.

A gasp came from behind me.  "Thunderlane?"  Ah, apparently Fluttershy knows this pony.  I tweaked the shield, allowing the pegasus to fall through the bubble into the snow with a plop.

As the grey pegasus sat up with a groan, Fluttershy squeezed around me.  "Thunderlane?  Are you okay?"

"Huh?"  Thunderlane looked up.  "Fluttershy!  Oh thank goodness."  He leapt to his hooves.  "Listen, Rainbow Dash's sent all of us in the weather teams out to warn everypony outside of town to hunker down and stay indoors."

Fluttershy seemed to shrink in on herself.  "It's that bad?"

Thunderlane nodded.  "It is.  The storm's getting worse, and nothing we do is working to calm it."

Excuse me, Thunderlane, was it, I interjected.  The grey pegasus tensed up upon being addressed, but rallied with a nod.  Perhaps you could explain something to me.  I was under the impression that the weather today was to be sunny and mild.  I leaned in.  Would you mind telling me what happened to change that?

Thunderlane shrugged helplessly.  "I dunno.  Storm rolled in from the north last night, caught us all off guard.  We haven't been able to contact anypony outside of town, but near as we can figure, the storm's covering a good portion of Equestria."  He paused, shifting uncomfortably in the deep snow.  "Look I got to get going: I've got to warn the ranger stations along the Everfree, and it's getting colder by the minute.  Stay safe."

I had stopped paying him any attention, though.  Instead, I was staring straight up at the dark clouds obscured by curtains of white up above.  So the storm was unexpected, eh?  Strange, considering the pegasi control the weather, but whatever.  It doesn't concern me.  Although...

I smirked, raising a paw into the air.

...this presents me with an excellent opportunity to show off.

As I began to twirl my paw in tight, concentric circles, I reached out with my mind to impose my will upon the clouds above.  Closing my eyes, I felt around the storm clouds.  There, at the top layer of clouds, I could feel the sun burning away at the moisture therein.  If I could accelerate that process, I might be able to...no, it wasn't working.  I dropped my paw.  If anything, it was making it snow harder, now with little bits of hail added in.  I should probably learn more about meteorology before attempting to manipulate the weather in the future.

No matter though, time for plan B.  Bringing up both paws, I drew them apart, as if throwing open a curtain.  Lo, and behold, the clouds above began to split apart, the cloud cover curling up on itself until there was a miles-wide patch of clear, sunny sky surrounded on all sides by walls of dark, ominous clouds.  Dropping my arms to my sides, I allowed myself a smug smile.

The only thing that could have made this moment better was if the Sorcerer's Apprentice theme had been playing in the background.  Actually, come to think of it, I am psychic.

Note to self: figure out how to broadcast my own background music.

Thunderlane, in his shock, had stalled out mid takeoff, and had promptly face-planted into the snow.  Sputtering wildly, he shot to his hooves and stared up at the clear sky above, jaw hanging loosely.  "H-how did...?"

I smiled smugly.  Psychic.

Then, I heard it, carried on the wind.  The sound of flat rocks skipping across a frozen pond, that eerie, warping sound that echoes off the trees into the distance, the sound of wind whistling across an icy lake, of ice shifting on a frostbitten river.

A cold chill went down my back.  I knew that sound.

Slowly, woodenly, I turned to the north, to the roiling cloud wall there.  I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.  Something dark, something evil was fast approaching.  And it was angry.

Fluttershy, I ground out harshly.  Get inside.  Get inside right now.

Fluttershy shrunk back from me.  "Mewtwo?  What's going on?"

Still staring to the north, I ground my teeth.  By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.  

"Wait, what," Thunderlane asked in confusion.  "What's coming?"

I ignored Thunderlane, instead turning to Fluttershy with a soft voice.  Fluttershy, I need you to go inside.  I can't guarantee your safety, otherwise.  

Fluttershy stared at me in confusion.  "Mewtwo?"

DO IT!  Out of patience, and out of time, I shot into the air on a ballistic course for Ponyville.  I shall have to apologize to Fluttershy for my harshness later, but right now, if I don't stop what's coming, Ponyville will be put into the deep freeze.

I think Thunderlane tried to follow me, but my mind was elsewhere, thinking ahead to the conflict ahead.  I prayed to Arceus that it wouldn't be as bad as I feared, but I knew in the back of my mind that Murphy was not so kind.

It was as I crossed the outskirts of Ponyville at altitude that my fears were proven true, as a dark, avian figure burst out of the clouds and into the sunshine.

Articuno, the Freeze Pokemon, had arrived.  

Five and a half feet in height, Articuno was a large avian Pokemon, the first of the three Legendary Birds.  The three rhombus-shaped feathers upon its head, the short beak, the thin legs, and the long, streamer like tail were iconic to the Pokemon, giving it a distinctive silhouette.  It was said that Articuno chilled the very air just by flapping its wings, and that it would appear before doomed hikers lost in the mountains.  

But there was something very, very wrong with this Articuno.  It was not the icy blue that it should have been.  Instead, it was the dark grey of shadows and the sickly purple of an infected bruise, its eyes a cruel yellow, and with each beat of its wings it let out a poisonous black miasma.  However, most disturbing was its mind: it had none, not one that I could recognize.  All there was, was a cauldron of rage, hatred, and a cold, predatory hunger.

For a short eternity, it was as if the world itself was frozen in place.  Then, with a piercing cry, the moment was broken.  Diving down towards Ponyville, the dark Articuno opened its beak and spat out a black Ice Beam, leaving a trail of jagged, dirty ice pillars in its wake.  

Down below, in Ponyville, panic struck, as the ponies who had come out at the blizzard's sudden cessation saw the dark Articuno and the wave of blackened ice encroaching upon them.

Snarling, I drew up vertical and slammed my paws together, drawing them apart to unleash a barrage of spinning yellow stars that immediately arched after the Articuno.  The Ice Beam cut off with a pained screech, the barrage of stars obscuring the corrupted Pokemon in a cloud of smoke.

...Wait, when did I learn Swift?  Gah, not the time!

With a shriek of rage, the Articuno burst from the smoke, black miasma trailing from its pinions.  Twisting in midair, I 'pushed' off the air, propelling myself downwards at a ninety-degree angle from my previous trajectory, barely avoiding the dark, icy blast of a gruesome-looking Blizzard.  Pulling up, I flipped onto my back, spamming Psywave attacks at the corrupted Legendary.

Avoiding my Psywaves by juking from side to side, the Articuno retaliated by unleashing another Ice Beam at me.  Flipping to one side, I avoided the attack with a half barrel roll.  Fortunately, I was still outside of Ponyville proper: the only thing damaged was a small stream that was suddenly dammed by the Ice Beam.

Before I could respond, I was buffeted by Hurricane-force winds, knocking me from the sky.  Thinking quickly, I threw up a bubble shield around myself, halting my plummeting descent just in time to catch a shotgun blast of Ice Shards against the blue mental energy.  Snarling, I pulled the shield apart and collected it in my paw before firing it off at the Articuno.  It tanked the attack, but to my surprise, the avian began flopping about in confusion.

Did I just use Confusion?  Well, okay then.  Didn't mean to do that, but I'll take it.

Unfortunately, the effect didn't last long, and the Articuno snapped out of its confusion, doing its best to glare me to death.  Just then, the rogue Pokemon's head snapped to the side as a rainbow trail blitzed past it.  A moment later, the avian's head snapped to the other side as the rainbow curved around and made another pass.

I snarled as Rainbow Dash flew by me.  What the hell do you think you're doing!?

Dash slowed to a hover, her confidence giving way to confusion.  "What d'you mean 'what am I doing?'  I'm helping," she declared, more than slightly miffed.

No, I practically shouted.  Get out of here, it's too...  My eyes widened as Articuno spat out a barrage of Ice Shards.  Look out!

Throwing myself between Rainbow Dash and the attack, I shot off an Ice Beam of my own.  The two attacks collided.

I opened my eyes.  Somehow, the two attacks had exploded.  I think I lost consciousness for a moment, as I was currently hurtling towards the unforgiving ground, Articuno crying victoriously above.  Growling, I shook my head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs from the explosion, and that's when I saw it out the corner of my eye.

There, on her own terminal trajectory towards the ground, was Rainbow Dash, eyes closed and trailing feathers.  My eyes widened.  She was completely out cold.  If she didn't wake up soon...

With bated breath, I pulled the unconscious pegasus over to myself with my telekinesis.  To my relief, she was largely unharmed, albeit knocked out by the explosion.  I started arching down towards Ponyville when an Ice Beam shot by, my fur standing on end from how close the cold laser passed.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw the Articuno rear back.  My eyes widened as a premonition of doom settled over me.  Immediately, I threw up a bubble shield and shot downward as fast as I could, practically clawing for more speed.  

I almost made it.

Just as I was pulling up to skim across the ground, the Legendary Bird unleashed its attack.  The Sheer Cold took my breath away, and if it hadn't been for my shield and cloak, I would have surely passed out.  As it was, the shock disrupted my concentration, sending me and the still unconscious Rainbow Dash towards the hard, unforgiving ground.  With a cry of exertion, I spun myself around and braced for impact.

Pain shot through my back as I hit the ground.  Through some sheer act of dumb luck, I came down on a large patch of smooth ice.  Instead of the sudden, painful stop I was expecting, I instead hit the ground and slid what felt like several hundred yards before finally coming to a stop.

Snarling in pain and anger, I gingerly placed Rainbow Dash aside (still in one piece, thankfully) and got to my feet.  Several ponies were already galloping towards us, but I paid them no attention.  Instead, I was looking up, my Laser Focus on Articuno high above as it circled about for another pass.  Roaring in defiance, I pushed off the ground as hard as I could, launching myself into the air.

This ended now.

Rocketing upwards, I brought my fist back.  Squawking in surprise, the Articuno forced itself to a stop, pumping its wings frantically in an attempt to backpedal.  But I would not miss.

The sound of the Articuno's beak breaking upon my fist was deafening, and as the dark Legendary reeled, I flipped over and grabbed the bird, pinning its wings to its sides.  Screaming in exertion, I forced us downward, putting the two of us into a death spiral.  The Legendary struggled to escape, but I would not let go.

The ground loomed close.

Off in the distance, the dark storm clouds surrounding Ponyville began to fade away.