The lift was well into the snowy territory of Mount Lanikila, and there was still so much of the track left going up. While the Equestrians were for the most part moderately uncomfortable with the chill, Sam and Alice’s knees buckled together as they hugged their arms to their chest. Even with Sam now wearing his light jacket, he may as well have continued wearing it around his waist with how cold he continued to feel.
“Sorry we couldn’t let you change into something warmer,” Nanu half-heartedly said to them.
“Well…” Alice’s trembling voice stuttered, “We didn’t pack anything warm at all.”
“Hmph. I suppose it’s not as if you expected to be up here today.”
“Here, let me try this.” Starlight charged her horn, producing a cube-shaped blue aura at the tip of it that expanded until its edges went against the railing.
Everyone inside couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of extreme comfort as the warmth of their new space washed over them all at once. Lady especially let out two loud mews of contentment as its feelers hugged its face.
“Whew!” Applejack exclaimed. “Good thinkin’, Starlight.”
“Hah.” Alice rubbed her legs quickly with her hands, heat and feeling quickly returning to them. “Thanks a million, Starlight.”
“Hold on,” Sam said, “you faced Team Prism and you still have your powers?”
“Well, yeah!” Starlight sounded a bit proud of herself. “I mean, Chrysalis was the only one who attacked me, and it’s not like getting hit with magic hurts anypony else’s magic.”
“Huh. Fair enough. Nice job then.”
Starlight giggled. “Thanks, Sam.”
“And we can’t all just fly up?” Alice wondered. “None of you have Ride Pagers or Flying-type Pokémon?”
“We certainly don’t have enough to get everyone up at once, at least not very quickly,” Acerola said. “Besides, most Flying-types aren’t going to really want to be out in this.”
“Not to mention,” Guzma added. “The Ride Pagers are typically for younger trainers like you two, so yeah, we’re going on a little evening hike.”
“What about your magic?” Sam wondered. “I’m sure someone like you could fly us all up.”
Starlight awkwardly frowned. “…I could, but if Prism attacks me anywhere between here and the League, my magic’s out, and that would mean a very steep, very tall drop for all of you.”
“And don’t bother looking to me,” Rarity butted in. “My magic abilities are about as basic as can be.”
“Hey, don’t put yourself down like that!” Pinkie Pie whined.
“I said my magic was basic, not my aesthetics.” Rarity smiled and fluttered her eyelashes to her friend.
“And thanks to Prism,” Shining Armor said, “Discord and I are pretty much out of commission, which means…”
“We’re going on a walk together!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she hopped up on the lift.
The carriage rattled harrowingly as Nanu tried to keep his balance. “Careful! If this thing breaks, that’s going to be another fall that we probably won’t survive.”
“Oh, whoops!” Mid-fall, Pinkie Pie floated gently back to the floor, confusing Guzma and Acerola greatly. “Sorry!”
“Don’t sweat it.” Guzma pointed up at where the track finally ended at a platform at the edge of a cliff. “We can start moving now.”
The lift began to gradually slow down until it crawled up the hill before reaching the platform, where it stopped with a smooth, non-lurching approach. At once, the gate opened up, allowing the group to pour out into the snowy mountainside. As Starlight’s aura touched the ground, the snow quickly melted around it, allowing them all a dryer path to walk upon.
The large cave before them seemed ominous, but the rest of the surface outside of the cave only led to a large, tall formation of rock that would prove too dangerous to climb. “I’m gonna’ to take a wild guess and say we need to go through that cave?” Applejack asked.
“Yep,” Guzma responded. “Let’s go. I’d hate to think what would happen if Starlight’s too tired to keep that spell of hers up.”
Starlight and Lady led them inside, changing the shape of her spell to a more round, oblong form to fit inside the entrance. Walking further inside, Starlight’s aura also helped to provide the dark cavern with enough light to see the labyrinthine pathways, neither of them providing her with any indication over which was the correct path.
Acerola came by her side. “I’ll guide you. No use getting us all lost.”
“Huh, right…” The two of them walked together as the others followed them. “So, why would you choose this place of all places to have the Pokémon League? It’s so cold and what if trainers get lost? You don’t want them freezing to death at the final leg of their journey, do you?”
“No, but we wouldn’t want getting to the Pokémon League to be too easy either, do we?”
“I guess not, but this just seems a little… extreme.”
“Not to mention, most trainers don’t really get to come here in the middle of their Trials, so your friends will have a much better idea of how to navigate these caves.”
“Also,” Nanu added, “trainers are typically prepared and well-equipped for a journey like this and not have to worry too much about freezing. Like I said, I’m sorry we had to rush into this the way we are.”
“Hey, it’s fine now!” Sam replied. “As long as Starlight is here to light and heat up the way, this should be a nice little walk we’re going on.”
Applejack and Rarity verbally approved his feelings, no one able to make out their statements over the other. Discord, his ears drooped in shame, pressed the pads of his thumb and index fingers of his lions paw, and upon snapping them, a purple spark quickly ran from the hand and spread over his entire body. With a tired yell, Discord crumpled to the ground, forcing Acerola and Rarity to run back to try and help him.
As Rarity lifted Discord up by his left talon arm, Acerola slipped under his right arm and hoisted it and herself up, putting him back on his weak, almost dangling feet. “Man, you okay? What just happened?”
“Oh, nothing,” Discord moped, his eyes glistening. “Just… nothing.”
Discord walked ahead, leaving Rarity and Acerola behind before they quickly resumed their journey. As the group began to venture further inside, Nanu and Guzma went on either side of Starlight and each pulled out a tan-colored spray-can, which they proceeded to douse around the area around their posse. Starlight then looked up as she noticed some ominous shadows appearing from a large crack in the ceiling, which very quickly receded inside with a nervous hiss and squeak.
“Nanu, Guzma,” Starlight wondered, “what was that you just sprayed?”
“Max Repel,” Guzma said. “Really don’t want to waste any more time today fighting wild Pokémon, and I’m sure they’d rather go to bed than fight any of us, and to that I say, my sentiments exactly.”
“Tell me about it.” Discord stretched his arms over his head as he took the next few steps on the tips of his draconic back claw and antelope’s hoof. “At least then I can see if this whole day has been nothing but a bad dream.”
Guzma walked back to rejoin Acerola, Starlight nodding at his and Discord’s statements as she let out a big yawn. Shining Armor picked his pace up to a trot until he was to Starlight’s left, bending his neck down low enough so that his mouth was near her ear.
“So, uh…” he whispered to her, “how exactly did you meet those two anyway?”
“Her portal dropped her off not too far from where we were at the time.” Sam’s sharp voice seemingly pierced through the back of Shining Armor’s head, freezing his face in fear. “Sorry, were you afraid we wouldn’t be honest about it?”
Shining Armor relaxed himself only slightly and let out a huff. “Okay, look, I’m a stranger on a strange world, and all I know about it is that this strange world is responsible for taking my sister and eventually myself, so sorry if I’m a little hesitant to trust you all right now.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Starlight replied, “everything they’d tell you would be true, but take it from me. Yes, Fluttershy and I were thrown onto Melemele Island where Sam and Alice found us. They agreed to let us accompany them to find our friends while they took their Island Trials.”
“And what about these Prism guys? What’s the deal with them, and what do they want with us?”
“We’re not entirely sure ourselves,” Alice spoke in. “All we know is that they they need you guys for… some reason.”
“That reason being the unification of your worlds.” Nanu’s response turned the heads of Sam, Alice, and the two ponies ahead of them.
“What do you mean ‘unification?’” Shining Armor wondered.
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie was suddenly sitting on Shining Armor’s back, something he didn’t seem to mind at all. “Unification doesn’t sound so bad!”
“It would if you knew their intentions.” Nanu crossed his arms, flustered by what he was about to say. “According to one of their higher ups, they intend to merge our worlds together so they can take over both and create their own empire.”
“Eee!” Pinkie Pie’s fluffy mane and tail jolted into hard spikes. “Okay, yeah, unification doesn’t sound that great anymore.”
“Of course, that doesn’t explain what they’d need you for though.”
“Then these Prism guys…” Shining Armor was still clearly having trouble making sense of everything. “They’re the ones to blame for our being here?”
“I’m not really sure…” Starlight looked away, not wanting to betray her lack of clarity in her expression. “There wasn’t any sign of Team Prism at the Aether Paradise this afternoon when the accident happened. If the accident that sent you here is anything like the accident that sent us here, then they may very well not have been there either, which can really only mean one thing.”
“That there’s a spy for Prism within this Aether Paradise.”
“That ain’t unlikely either.” Applejack and Rarity also stepped forward to join in. “I mean, that Dexio fella’ we met used his friendship with Olivia to lure her into a battle so he could try and take us.”
“True,” Rarity agreed, “but if that’s the case, there’s no way he’d be let onto that floating building to cause another accident.”
“It’s not unlikely that there are probably more of them,” Sam said, running his hand through his hair, “and if the Aether Foundation was smart, they’d be running every kind of background check on their employees and every scan through their systems imaginable as we speak.”
Shining Armor grunted, both physically and mentally strained. “All these conspiracies… And if these spies really are this deeply ingrained inside this Aether Foundation, I don’t have any idea how we’re all going to get back home at this rate.”
“Shining Armor…” Alice walked close to him and laid her hand onto the side of his stomach.
Shining Armor gently lifted his left leg out and let Alice run into it before sliding her away from him. “No. I can’t let this go on. I understand you two are trying to help, but this isn’t your fight to win or lose here.”
Starlight lightly gasped, knowing where he was heading. “Shining–”
“Starlight, look at them! They’re practically… whatever the equivalent is for colts and fillies, they only look just older than that, and as long as they’re with us, Prism will continue to target them. We don’t need you dragged into this conflict like I am, and to be honest, I certainly don’t want that for you either.”
As the group continued walking, the silence left by Shining Armor’s remark lingering in the echoes of the cavern, Sam felt his pace slow down, letting everyone pass him until he was last in the group. By the time he was already several feet behind the next person in the back, Alice turned back to see him still standing there, forlorn and upset.
“Sam?” At the sound of her voice, the group stopped and turned back, mildly surprised by how much more behind he was than them.
“Sam, come on!” Starlight called. “We’re almost there now!”
“You’re not seriously letting this guy keep you down, are you?” Discord wondered, pointing at Shining Armor with his talon thumb.
“No, it’s just…”
“Just what, then?” Rarity wondered.
“Come on, just spit it out!” Applejack stepped closer to him, hoping to provoke a reply.
“Just be careful not to spray it when you do!” Pinkie Pie scrunched her nose as she pulled the handle of an umbrella behind her back, ready to defend herself if needed.
She didn’t have to wait long for him. “Look, Shining Armor. I get it, and I’ve been through this before with Starlight and Fluttershy. I’m truly sorry this is all happening to you, and yes, I never wanted any of this to happen. If you were still at home with your sister and, I don’t know, a girlfriend, wife, and Twilight and her friends were all safe and home, and Alice and I were just doing our Island Trials, I’m sure we’d all be happy. All of us.”
Sam looked upon the faces of the people and creatures he spoke to. The Equestrians looked down to the ground and pawed at the floor of the cave, seemingly feeling more alone and homesick than ever, and the humans, especially his sister, continued looking at him, strongly feeling that he was far from done.
“However,” he said, “that didn’t get to happen, and… you know what? I’m kind of glad it didn’t!”
“What?!” The ponies shouted in unison.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Guzma bellowed.
A very small smile appeared on Alice’s face, starting to understand Sam’s meaning.
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for these accidents, I would have never met the best friends I could have ever hoped to make, I wouldn’t be going on the greatest adventure anybody could have in their entire lives.” Suddenly, the unpleasant shock became confused surprise among the Equestrians. “I don’t know if it’s fate that brought us together or us being extremely lucky, but whatever the case, you’re all here, and I honestly can’t imagine my life being better than it is right now without any of you in it.”
While the other Equestrians remained floored, Starlight, Lady, and Pinkie Pie already had streams of tears running down their faces, entirely gladdened to hear that from him.
“Yeah, I think my bro’s got a point for once.” Sam was too proud of himself to care about Alice’s backhanded compliment as she approached him and wrapped her arm around his back. “For all the crap we’ve gone through, all of us… well, I can’t exactly speak for you two yet…” Shining Armor and Discord waited to hear her out. “…but I mean, I’m having a blast over here! So, Shining Armor, I appreciate you looking out for us, but with all disrespect, I’m telling you that Sam and I aren’t going to be leaving any of you for a moment! I mean, Sam and I will have the Island Trials to go back to when this thing’s all over, but even with the danger we’re all in at this very moment, I still wouldn’t give any of this up for anything.”
“Yee!” Pinkie Pie blasted off of Shining Armor’s back and wrapped an arm around both Sam and Alice’s necks, snuggling them close. “I really like you guys too!”
Guzma and Nanu crossed their arms impatiently as Sam and Alice returned the hyper pony’s affections. Even Discord and Shining Armor, strengthened by their calls of support, looked to Sam and Alice with newfound respect.
“Are we about done?” Nanu mumbled.
As Starlight wiped her eyes on her wrist, she noticed a white light flash twice from behind the pathway far behind Sam, Alice, and Pinkie Pie. It was when she noticed two silhouetted shapes appear from the pathway and charge at the group that her fear kicked in.
“Lady, Fairy Wind, now!”
Lady, now also alert, quickly breathed in and blew a plume of sparkling pink air out. Pinkie Pie immediately tucked her leg up and winced as if she felt something pinch her knee, and before the attack could plow into either her or Sam or Alice, she threw them and herself down to the ground to let it pass over them. Looking behind them on their backs, Sam and Alice were stricken with panic as they watched the wind pummel into a Kadabra and a Metang, keeping them at bay long enough for them to shoot to their feet and face their foes with their hands on their Poké Balls. The Kadabra and Metang stood by as they awaited their opponents’ next moves, the humans and Equestrians looking frightful that Prism had caught up to them.
Discord then looked spitefully annoyed, “You see?! This is exactly why we should save the sappy scenes for the end!”
“Akakazam, Psychic!” the familiar, electronically-distorted voice commanded.
Starlight hissed a breath in, realizing it was too late. Halfway into turning around, she felt herself lifted up as her mind struggled to resist the energy shooting through it, the aura covering her and her friends bending and warping out of control. Letting out a scream, she also heard Rarity cry out, and turning her head as much as she could, she found that she too was being lifted up.
“Rarity!” Applejack and Pinkie Pie both cried.
Shining Armor and Discord, haunted by their earlier experience, took hesitant steps back as they watched the two unicorns get assaulted. At long last, Starlight’s magic gave out, throwing the cave back into darkness. The humans and Equestrians also let out harsh yelps as they were instantly washed over by the cold they had been protected from, clutching their arms and limbs as their only other source of warmth.
With a loud yell, Lady bounded around the humans and Equestrians with her feelers glowing and made its way at the Alakazam and its two glowing spoons standing at the top of the incline of the upward path, its teeth bared to attack.
The hooded grunt seemed unfazed as Lady leapt at their Pokémon to attack. “Catch her.”
Thrusting its left shoulder forward, the Alakazam swung its arm in to catch Lady by the neck, the spoon in its head pressing into its windpipe. Starlight let out a wail of agony as she heard her Pokémon whimper and gasp for air, futilely thrashing about as the light in her feelers flickered. Sam and Alice grit their teeth, the threatening eyes of the Kadabra and Metang all but daring them to take their eyes off of them.
“No more playing nice with you brats!” the hooded grunt exclaimed. “I’ll break you down before I take them from you!”
“Dark Pulse!” Before either the hooded grunt or their Alakazam could register, a ball of black energy crashed into its head. Disoriented, the Alakazam let go of Lady as she fell to its side, gulping in air. As well, the psychic hold on Starlight and Rarity had dissipated, making them fall to the ground as well.
As they weakly got up, Nanu and his Persian slowly walked back toward Sam and Alice, passing between them as the Kadabra and Metang both scuttled back, their grunts standing behind them.
“Yo, Metang!” A grunt with short blue hair called out. “You gonna’ let this old man and his kitty cat scare you?”
“That’s the Kahuna you’re talkin’ to,” his partner, a young woman with a long face and medium-length brown hair, responded in dreadful reverence.
“I’ll handle them,” Nanu said. “Guzma, Acerola, help escort the kids and the ponies to the summit. I should be just fine this time.”
“But, Nanu,” Acerola began to object, “you’re–”
“GO NOW!” Nanu turned his back to his enemies to shoot an intense and demanding stare at Acerola.
“Metang, Brick Break!”
“Kadabra, Dazzling Gleam!”
With a well aimed punch into its face from the Metang and a blinding, colorful flash of light from the grunt’s Kadabra’s spoons, Persian was thrown to the ground and fainted on the spot.
Acerola felt a strong pang of guilt as she took a step toward the hill going forward as Nanu returned his fallen Persian and reached for another ball. “Okay, you heard him! Let’s go!
As she and Guzma led the charge, the hooded grunt’s Alakazam regained its footing and stood guard of its trainer. “You’re not going anywhere!”
“Wanna bet, you bastard?!” Guzma threw a Poké Ball out. “Ariados, Leech Life!”
Acerola tossed a ball herself. “Frosslass, Shadow Ball!”
Both Guzma’s large spider and Acerola’s ice spirit emerged from their balls, the latter shooting a dark-purple orb into the Alakazam’s waist, swinging it down onto its stomach, allowing Ariados to mount it and sink its fangs down on its neck. As Alakazam cried out in helpless despair, everyone passed it on either side, the hooded grunt letting out a yelp of shock as they scrambled to find another ball on their belt.
“Not this time!” Starlight shouted. “Lady, use Quick Attack!”
With a yip, Lady vanished and instantly appeared in front of the grunt, tackling them to the ground and onto their backs. As the group approached, Lady let out a supportive battle cry and continued down the path. With the humans and Equestrians nearing them, the grunt rolled to the side and curled up, waiting as they all leapt over or passed around them, Ariados and Froslass the last to leave.
Once they had all left, the hooded grunt and their Alakazam stood back up and turned around to see Nanu and his Krookodile, as well as the grunts’ Metang and Kadabra both falling down at the same time, defeated. As the grunts returned their Pokémon and scuttled back away, Nanu and Krookodile twisted their heads to peer at the hooded grunt from the corners of their eyes. With an angry tsk, the hooded grunt spun around and ran to give chase to the others, their Alakazam following.
Reaching the outside, the group tiringly continued their sprint to safety. The mountainous canyon was just barely wide enough to allow them to run side by side in twos. With the chill of the air piercing their lungs, the breathing amongst everyone was hoarse and painful. As they rounded a turn, they were all horrified to see two Bruxishes, a Starmie, an Oranguru, and two bipedal yellow-and-brown tapirs lining the pass, six grunts further blocking the next cavern entrance just up ahead.
“We have to face them all?” Applejack grunted.
“No, just me!” Acerola threw her arm forward. “Froslass, Blizzard!”
Acerola’s Pokémon raced to the front of the group and hugged its glowing arms in. Swinging them out, a blast of snow and ice barreled at the grunts and their Pokémon, the walls of the canyon funneling it right at them. With shouts and cries from both Pokémon and grunt alike, Acerola smirked at the foolproof quality of her plan.
She then glanced to Guzma and shared a nod, and with that, the two slid to a halt, letting Lady, Sam, Alice, and the other Equestrians pass them.
“Wait!” Sam huffed. “Guys!”
“We’ll handle them!” Acerola shouted. “Just wait for us at the Pokémon Center! You’ll be safe there!”
“We shouldn’t be long!” Guzma waved them off.
Sam turned back and ran forward. “I sure as hell hope not.”
With the snow from the Blizzard still lingering, the humans, Pokémon, and Equestrians prepared to charge through it. Shining Armor, seeing the shapes of the Pokémon and grunts still blocking their path, charged his horn up, grunting and moaning loudly as he tried to get it to full power. With a scream, a beam of magenta light went through the middle of the path before dividing out and stretching up to form walls that pressed the grunts and Pokémon into the sides of the pass, providing only the narrowest of pathways for the group to safely run through.
As she looked back, Starlight watched as Shining Armor laboriously slowed down before falling to his shins, panting heavily. “Shining Armor!”
“You guys go on!” he croaked as loudly as he could. “I’ll fall back with these guys!”
Starlight let out an anguished squeal as she and her friends passed through the pathway and into the cavern. With Discord and Rarity being the last, they entered in just as the magic walls faded and freed the grunts and their Pokémon. As they came to their senses and reformed their phalanx, they all found themselves facing Shining Armor, Guzma, Acerola, and their Pokémon. Guzma grinned as he cracked his knuckles.
As they ventured through the caverns, they spotted a pair of brightly burning torches lighting both sides of the next cavern exit.
“We’re almost there!” Rarity panted. “We’re going to make it!”
“That’s about as good a sign as I can see,” Alice agreed.
With Sam and Alice up ahead, they were the first to exit the cave. As they turned left to enter a wide, grassy area, they were caught completely off guard by a Shadow Ball already halfway blasted out by the Alakazam that stood guard of the tram track at the end. The two could only instinctively put their arms over their heads and cower to a stop as the attack came at them. Lady, seeing this, made a hard leap out, zipping between Sam and Alice’s heads just in time to let the attack collide into it. The Shadow Ball blasted safely out as Lady fell, having fainted before it even hit the ground.
“Lady, no!” Starlight ran past Sam and Alice and slid down to her stomach, scooping Lady into her arms and hugging her close.
As the group stopped, left with nowhere else to go, the hooded grunt let out a giggle that erupted into full, maniacal laughter. “Oh, you thought you had me back there, didn’t you? Foolish children. And it even looks like your guides have left you.”
“Yeah, well…” Applejack tried to hide her apprehensive inflections. “When Nanu, Guzma, and Acerola get back, you’ll be real sorry!”
“Yeah, well…” Sam sounded resigned with himself, cementing the earth pony’s concerns. “I doubt he’s going to let us wait until then.”
“Which means we’re on our own for this one.” As Alice, reached for her Poké Balls, a sudden realization froze her hand in place. “Shit!”
Pinkie Pie also looked equally nervous. “What’s shit, shit sounds, bad I don’t like shit, what’s shit?”
Sam understood too. “That damn Absol…”
“Oh?!” The hooded grunt sounded elated by this. “You weren’t able to heal your Pokémon before you came here? And now you’re going to be facing me with your table scraps!”
“No, we’ll still take you on…” Alice detached a ball from her belt. “Whether we can buy them enough time to get here or defeat you here and now, we’re still facing you. Right, Sam?”
“Yeah… right.” Sam took out his only Poké Ball with visible trepidation.
“Let’s go, Mimikyu!”
“You can do this, Salandit!”
Both Pokémon emerged from their balls, the Mimikyu’s disguise-head back in an upright position. The others became disheartened as the hooded grunt broke into more hysterical laughter.
“A Poison-type against Psychics?” he continued giggling. “You really are down to your last Pokémon! No matter. A win is a win, and one against children such as yourselves are certainly no exception! Alakazam, hit them both with Dazzling Gleam!”
The Alakazam crossed both of its spoons together, producing a harsh, vibrant light that struck both Salandit and Mimikyu, causing the latter’s head to be knocked down again. Salandit, appearing only slightly affected, shook off the tingling sensation in its body as if it had merely gotten a small static shot. Despite its lack of damage, Mimikyu’s broken disguise caused it to erupt into a horrifying tantrum that echoed even outside.
“Oh, my!” Rarity groaned, covering her ears with the bottoms of her hooves. “He made it angry!”
Pinkie Pie glanced to her. “I don’t think he’ll like it when he’s–”
“Raichu, hit Mimikyu with Nuzzle!” Tossing his next ball out, an Alolan Raichu shot its way at Mimikyu, who was still so wrapped-up in its anger that it didn’t notice its foe approach until it rode the bottom of its surfboard-tail across its face, the static charging on both quickly accumulating until it shot Mimikyu back toward Alice in a sparking heap.
Starlight and Pinkie Pie winced. “Okay, maybe he doesn’t mind when he’s angry.”
“Mimikyu!” Alice called to her Pokémon, which slowly got up due to its minor paralysis. “You okay?” Mimikyu glanced back to its trainer, as if telling her to just get on with it. “Fair enough! Mimikyu, hit Alakazam with Shadow Claw!”
“And then finish it off with Dragon Rage, Salandit!” Sam commanded.
Mimikyu let out a grunt as it made a small slide forward, the hooded grunt relaxing its stance over what they surely thought would be a futile fight through the paralysis. It then quickly began a sprint with small hops as its shadowy arms slipped out from beneath it. The hooded grunt and their Alakazam froze as the pointed fingers at the end of each arm slashed down on it, greatly injuring it.
At the same time, Salandit began to fill its mouth with blue energy, wisps of the aura spilling out from between its lips. Mimikyu leapt out of the way just as Salandit launched its attack, striking the Alakazam in the chest hard enough to knock the spoons out of its hands. Falling onto its back, it laid its head down and let out a final grunt before fainting.
From behind them, the Equestrians cheered Sam and Alice on. “Good show, you two!” Discord applauded.
“Take ‘im down hard!” Applejack shouted.
“I’m freezing and want to go to bed!” Pinkie Pie loudly exclaimed.
Sam chuckled, feeling more confident than he had in the past several minutes. “Working on it!”
“Ugh! You little bastards!” The hooded grunt seethed as they returned their Alakazam into their Poké Ball. “I don’t know why you keep fighting! I still have four Pokémon left to fight with, but I don’t think you’ll survive this last one!”
“Four Pokémon left,” Alice accounted aloud. “Got it.”
“Ach! Whatever, let me just end this. Go, Hypno!” The hooded grunt tossed out their next ball, and a Hypno leapt out of it and landed firmly upon the frosty, rocky ground. “Now, Raichu, hit Mimikyu with Thunderbolt!”
With a clenching of all its muscles, the Raichu shot a small burst of lightning up into the clouds not far up. As the sky quickly darkened and the clouds swirled directly above Mimikyu, the Equestrians took a step back and marveled at the sight of it. With a brightening of the clouds, the lightning came down far stronger, ravaging into Mimikyu as it cried in pain.
“Oh no, Mimikyu!” Alice quickly withheld her concern and looked brave for it. “Fight though it and hit Raichu back with Shadow Claw!”
Once the lightning had ceased, Mimiku tried to move forward, but only succeeded in slowly tipping itself back onto its stomach. As it grunted to try and fail and pick itself up, the Equestrians looked up to the hooded grunt, who continued laughing.
“And here I thought that Mimikyu would actually pull through for you guys. Alright, Hypno, knock the Salandit out with Hypnosis!”
“Salandit, hit him first with Dragon Rage!” On Sam’s command, Salandit charged its mouth with blue and shot an orb of similarly-colored energy out at Hypno, who already began to swing its pendulum, ripples of red and purple pulsing out from the coin on the end of the string.
The Dragon Rage ball traveled through the ripples as they shrunk down and wrapped around Salandit’s head before fading away. Salandit’s attack struck Hypno in the stomach, sliding it back though it still maintained its balance. As more of the ripples slipped around Salandit’s head, its eyelids grew too heavy for it to keep open and with a sigh, it collapsed onto the snow, forcefully brought into a seemingly peaceful slumber.
“Oh my goodness!” Rarity whimpered. “What kind of attack causes a Pokémon to faint in one turn?”
“She didn’t faint,” Alice assured her. “She’s just sleeping.”
“Yes,” the hooded grunt confirmed, “but it might as well have fainted considering how helpless it is now! Raichu, finish the Mimikyu off with Psychic!”
With its tail glowing, the Raichu tilted its tail at Mimikyu, bathing it in the same glow. At once, Mimikyu arched itself up and let out a wail as the psychic energy squeezed onto it. Once the Raichu ceased its assault, Mimikyu’s head rested on the ground and went limp, having finally fainted.
“Yes!” The hooded grunt pumped their fist. “Now, Hypno, take Salandit out with Psy–”
At that moment, Sam ran forward, hopped over his sleeping Pokémon, and landed in front of it with his arms out.
“Sam!?” Starlight’s hope drained from her eyes. “Sam, what are you doing?”
The hooded grunt simply sighed. “Kid, what is wrong with you? You really think that’s going to help?”
“I don’t care!” Sam barked. “You making my Pokémon unable to fight like that; it’s dirty!”
“You naïve little pissant. You do realize that I must do whatever’s necessary to make sure those ponies are put in our hands, right?” Sam refused to yield, even going so far as to bare his teeth. “Fine then. Hypno, hit them both with Psychic!”
Hypno bounced its pendulum up so it could pinch the chain right above the coin, causing it to go alight. A large, circular aura appeared before Sam, making him clench his fists with what was to come. Hypno thrust its hand and pendulum forward, the aura condensing into the center before blasting out wide, throwing Sam off of his feet and launching Salandit off the ground, now wide awake and screaming with its trainer.
The Equestrians all gasped as it appeared Sam and Salandit would be thrown off the side of the mountain.
“SAM, NO!” Starlight cried.
Sam hit the ground and violently rolled towards the edge of the cliff, catching himself on his stomach just as his body slid off the precipice, grabbing on with both hands. He then noticed his Salandit hit the ground with a single bounce before starting to plunge off the side.
With a pull up and a scream, Sam let go with his left hand and swung up to follow his Pokémon, just barely grabbing the end of its tail before gravity swung his arm back down. Sam looked as his Pokémon dangled over the grey, snowy void not far below. Alice put both hands over her mouth, horrified to only see her brother’s single hand as the only thing keeping him and Salandit alive.
Salandit slowly and weakly looked up to Sam, who smiled as he felt his hand begin to slip. “I got you, girl.”
His tired and almost-numb fingers finally couldn’t hold on, and he slipped. He then felt his wrist clamped by something large and plush, forcing him to look up at who could have saved them.
Discord, lying on his stomach chuckled as his rescue attempt had actually worked. “No, I do believe it’s I who has got you!”
Applejack and Starlight quickly rushed over and helped Discord pull Sam up by his jacket sleeve with their teeth, Sam finishing the climb and pulling Salandit back up to the surface.
“Thanks, guys,” Sam said as he petted both ponies necks before patting Discord on the shoulder.
“Don’t mention it, sugar,” Applejack replied.
The hooded grunt, having watched it all, scratched their head. “You see what I meant when I said we’d do whatever’s necessary? I mean, do you want me to try it again… successfully this time?”
“Nah,” Sam was so exhausted yet so pumped with adrenaline that his voice sounded like a wounded screech. “Once is enough for one day.”
Salandit, its back and tail furiously flaring up with magenta flames, led Sam as both approached to rejoin the battle, instantly melting the ice and snow around and in front of it.
“However, there’s something I’d like to try with you right now!” Sam rolled up his left jacket sleeve, revealing his Z-Ring and Firium Z inside of it. “I don’t know if Nanu and the others are going to get here before you beat us, but at least I’ll get to hit you with this one good hit!”
Sam crossed his wrists together, producing a flash that compelled Salandit to roar out and stand on its two hind legs as it also crossed its arms. At that moment, Salandit was completely covered in white light, which faded to reveal its body having become a green swirling aura.
Alice, seeing this, couldn’t keep her mouth closed. “What the…”
“What on earth is happening to it?” Discord exclaimed, appearing the least surprised amongst the Equestrians.
“No…” The hooded grunt, for the very first time, sounded terrified. “This can’t be!”
Sam didn’t appear to notice his Pokémon’s evolution, only continuing his motions by putting his arms down and crossing them back out. As Salandit moved in synch with its trainer, its body grew twice its size, the spines on its back receding into its neck. Sam fanned his hands upwards twice, Salandit continuing to mimic the moves as its waist shrunk into feminine curves and stretched out into a more slender shape, two long flaps of skin stretching out from either side of the base of its wider tail.
Finally, Sam grabbed his left elbow and swung his arm down so his palm was aimed at Hypno. Salandit glowed white once again as it repeated Sam, and once it swung its arm down, the light shattered off of its body, revealing a Salazzle brimming with Z-Power that flickered off its body.
“It evolved,” Starlight tearfully responded, answering Discord’s question.
Sam finally looked to his Pokémon, deathly surprised by how big his Salazzle looked, only realizing what had actually happened a few moments later, causing him to erupt into deeply anticipatory laughter. “Oh, this is way better than what I wanted to do.”
“Hah… no, please!” The hooded grunt fell to his rump and put his hand up. “Please, have mercy!”
“That sounds nice,” Sam said. “…but you just tried throwing my Pokémon and I off a cliff, so now, I gotta’ completely destroy your Hypno. Now go, Salazzle! Take Hypno out with Inferno Overdrive!”
Salazzle brought its head down as flames formed from nowhere to converge before the end of its snout, forming into a large ball that began to instantly melt the snow all around them and even singe most of the grass around it. With its own mouth alight with fire, some also dancing on its back, Salazzle threw its mouth open, blasting its fireball at Hypno. The hooded grunt let out a final scream before their Hypno was engulfed in the fireball before it exploded, the fires blasting back into them, their Raichu protecting itself with a spherical shield.
Sam, Alice, and the Equestrians shielded their eyes from the blast as it blew intense heat into their bodies, Salazzle staring directly into it with pride. With the snowstorm quick to blow the fire and smoke away, Sam was content to see Hypno already lying on its stomach with its eyes weakly closed and its body covered in soot.
“Hoh…” Sam tilted his head up and let the snow pelt his neck. “That feels nice now…”
The hooded grunt stood itself up, sparks spitting out from their neck, their Raichu cautiously watching them. “yO*u… l*!-le sh*t!” With the device masking its voice having gotten fried, it sounded incomprehensible. “Y-*!ll pa#*1y frrrr TH!*!T”
Suddenly, Nanu, Guzma, Acerola, and Shining Armor made it through the back cavern, their faces concerned with the possibility of being too late.
“What was that noise?” Acerola loudly asked.
“It was like this entire god-damned island exploded!” Guzma shouted.
“Guys, check out Sam’s new Pokémon!” Pinkie Pie leapt out from her spot amongst her friends and pointed at the battle scene.
“New… Pokémon?” Shining Armor wondered.
The three humans and unicorn made their way to the front, the humans instantly recognizing Sam’s Salazzle.
“Oh… okay, I see now!” Guzma seemed as impressed with himself as he was with Sam.
“And it looks like the calvary’s here!” Alice shouted. “You’re finished, you creep!”
“NO*!(*!CH!**” The device made a final pop of sparks. “Just like you, I’ll keep fighting!”
Guzma hung his mouth open, suddenly able to recognize the slimy, higher-pitched voice of the man under the hood. “What the…”
“Raichu, take Salazzle out with Psychic!”
The Raichu tiltled its tail at Salazzle, covering it in pink energy and lifting it up. Salazzle gasped for air and cried out for help, trying to thrash itself free.
“Yes,” the hooded grunt said, “it will be over soon…”
“Not a chance!” Alice threw her ball out right at the Raichu. “Mudbray, hit it with High Horsepower!
The ball opened up above the Raichu, Mudbray falling down toward it. The Raichu and its trainer only had enough time to look up before Mudbray spun around and kicked its back hooves down into Raichu’s head, slamming it into the ground in a muddy, rocky explosion. Freed, Salazzle hopped back to the ground and managed to land.
“You okay, girl?” Salazzle let out an affirmative screech to ease Sam’s mind.
The hooded grunt hopped back, knowing for certain that his Pokémon did not outlast the attack. “Aiyee!”
“What, no! I knew it!” Guzma broke into a mad sprint, charging right at the hooded grunt. “Faba, you son of a bitch!”
“Wait, who?” The moment Alice asked, she suddenly felt herself twisted around and shot backwards towards the grunt known as Faba.
She was suddenly stopped by Faba’s arm locking around her neck, allowing only a minimal amount of oxygen for her to stay conscious. Guzma stopped as Faba put his Poké Ball back onto his belt, a Slowbro now standing beside him on his left.
Sam hissed through his clenched teeth as Faba put his now free hand back onto his sister’s head. “You absolute shithead. Let my sister go now or I will end you!”
“Now, now!” Faba gloatingly threatened. “You don’t want to end your sister in the process, do we?!”
Starlight and Shining Armor tried to charge their horns, only to produce small, dull auras that quickly tired them out, much to their dismay.
“See? You can’t do anything! Why don’t you ponies just come my way and I’ll spare the girl!”
“Yep!” Alice grunted. “Not happening. Hey, Guzma! Get a Pokémon ready!”
“Wha–” Guzma was mid-word when Alice crunched her abs in, bringing her legs up and her knees to her chest.
Kicking them upward, Alice forced Faba forward, and on her way down, she got low enough to pull Faba down with him and forced him to his knees. With his grip weak, Alice quickly pulled his arm off of her and spun around, keeping her right leg up. As he made a desperate reach for her, she leaned far enough away from his grasp while still having enough distance to kick the center of his face through his hood.
Guzma watched incredulously as Alice fell down into the snow and scrambled to get away as Faba grabbed his face and cried out to the sky, much to the Slowbro’s confusion. “Heh, nice. Golisopod, take Slowbro down with First impression.”
With a throw of his ball, Golisopod shot forth from the light that spilled from the ball, driving its claws into the Slowbro’s gut hard enough to send it flying back into the rock wall to the right of the lift track, the collision with the back of its head knocking it unconscious.
“Whoa!” Applejack shouted above her equine friends’ excited and impressed laughter. “That was incredible!”
Guzma resumed its charge at Faba as he continued holding on where his nose was. Guzma tackled him down and spun back around behind him. Pushing him to sit up, he tore the hood off, revealing a solid black cloth mask that covered his entire head.
Grabbing that by the top and pulling it off, Faba was revealed to the group as a middle-aged man with short blonde hair and a medium-length beard growing exclusively down from his chin, blood streamed down the bottom half of his face from his broken nose. A pair of green-framed glasses fell out from the mask as Guzma tossed it behind him.
“Here he is, kiddos.” Guzma then wrapped his legs around Faba’s waist and locked his arms around Guzma’s neck. “Team Prism’s best and brightest!”
“Oh, Guzma,” despite the snideness of his remark, there was palpable hatred coming from it. “Once a thug, always a thuUUUACCGH!”
Guzma tightened his grip. “Shut up, you human piece of garbage!”
Sam, Alice, and Salazzle approached the two, the Equestrians, Nanu, and Acerola doing the same with Lady hoisted on Starlight’s back, feeling safe and comfortable to approach with their enemy apprehended.
“Hold on!” Nanu approached the two as he pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket, Faba looking to him with slight amusement.
“Uh, Nanu?” he wondered. “Remind me, aren’t you retir–”
His words were silenced with a quick punch to the side of the head. “Guzma, get him on his back.”
“Yes, sir!” Guzma positioned himself so that Faba’s back was under his knee, and with Faba still disoriented, Nanu had little struggle putting his hands behind his back and locking the cuffs around his wrists.
“Consider it a citizen’s arrest. Someone get the lift, now!”
“Uh, yep! On it!” Guzma stood back off the ground, walking up the steps to the tram platform and pressing a green button with an upward arrow on its control panel.
“So, what now?” Starlight wondered. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“Leave him with me,” Nanu responded, hoisting Faba up by the handcuff’s chain. “I’m sure the Ula’ula Police will be happy as Shelders to see me bring him in.”
Shining Armor couldn’t help but notice the lift coming down from the track. “In that case,” he said, patting Nanu on the shoulder with his hooves, “thank you for all your help. Do you need help getting back down?”
“You just focus on replenishing your magic. I’ll be fine.”
“Then I wish you the best of luck.”
The rest of them gave their sincerest thanks to Nanu as they prepared to leave him behind. At that moment, the lift reached the platform, the metal gate sliding open to let everyone on. With Sam, Alice, and Salazzle leading, the rest stepped onto the lift, Guzma being the last to enter.
“So, um…” Rarity asked. “Who is that man?”
“I’ll tell you indoors when I’m not freezing my nuggins off.”
The lift began to take them up, the cold fog of the snowstorm quickly obscuring their view of Nanu and Faba. Sam looked to his Salazzle, and with the threat of attack now passed, he felt comfortable to give his newly evolved Pokémon a great big hug.
“So proud of you!” he squeaked, much to Salazzle’s delight.