//------------------------------// // Rumble in the Woods (II) // Story: Celestia's Rocket Adventures // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// “Alright Rhyperior, you’re on!” Mable leveled a finger at Celestia. “Take her out with Rock Wrecker!” The massive Pokémon extended both hands, revealing holes in its palms. Gravel flowed from them, rapidly coalescing into twin boulders coated in a deep red energy. Rhyperior roared and launched both projectiles at white alicorn, one after the other. “Celestia, use Protect!” James ordered. Twilight flinched as both boulders slammed into the turquoise bubble enveloping her teacher and exploded with tremendous force, but breathed a sigh of relief when the smoke cleared and Celestia stood unharmed. Her relief was short-lived, because Houndoom and Weavile darted forwards at the same instant Mable gave her next orders. “Don’t let up! Toxicroak, Poison Jab! Barbaracle, Razor Shell! Nidoking, Sludge Wave! Swampert, Hydro Pump!” The blue aquatic Pokémon and towering purple opened their jaws at the same instant, unleashing torrents of water and purple-black sludge respectively. Yellow energy formed into crystal blue blades at the end of Barbaracle’s claws, while the spikes emerging from Toxicroak’s hands became sickly purple. Both empty-eyed monsters leapt directly forwards as one. “Inkay, fight back with Psybeam on Nidoking!” James shouted. “Pumpkaboo, Leech Seed on Swampert now!” Jessie commanded. Jessie’s Pokemon spat several seeds from her mouth, while James’ turned upside down and unleashed a multicolored beam of psychic energy from a white spot on his forehead. Toxic sludge and a torrential downpour smashed into the straining alicorn’s defense even while both of Team Rocket’s attacks struck home. Nidoking was consumed in an explosion, while thick vines exploded from Pumpkaboo’s seeds and wrapped tightly about Swampert, sucking greedily at its energies. Twilight didn’t have any time to process any of this, because at the same moment Houndoom and Weavile had gone wide around either side of Celestia and the other Pokémon. Houndoom immediately rounded on the prone Ash, Serena, and Clemont, opening her jaws wide. Flames began licking the back of her throat, but the black Pokémon was thrown aside as the purple alicorn blindsided her with a full-body tackle. On the other side, Weavile leapt for the prone form of Clemont, razor-sharp claws aglow with silvery energy. She was so intent on her target she almost missed the yellow blur flying towards her from the right. Almost, but not quite. Weavile hurled herself downwards at the last second, ducking beneath Pikachu’s Quick Attack. But the lightweight yellow Pokémon caught himself quickly, and the moment Weavile whirled to face him she caught an Iron Tail directly in the face. As all that was happening, Celestia was struggling against the combined deluge of sludge and water. She had precious little time to react as both Toxicroak and Barbaracle appeared on either side of her. Claws and spikes alike punched into the side of her barrier, and it was more than it could take. Protect shattered, and both Pokémon went instantly for the kill. Celestia’s wings beat frantically, carrying her from the earth an instant before both physical attacks slammed into the spot she’d been standing, gouging deep furrows into the earth. “Don’t let her get away!” Mable called. “Wobbuffet, get in there with Counter!” Jessie commanded. Toxicroak and Barbaracle leapt after the retreating princess, only to get a blobby blue Pokémon in their faces instead. Claws and spikes slammed into the red aura enveloping his body, then both were hurdled backwards by the reflected energies of their own attacks. Both hit the ground with painful-looking thud – but both immediately rose again. Behind them, Celestia’s eyes widened as Swampert tore Pumpkaboo’s vines from its body with a single mighty flex. The smoke about Nidoking cleared, revealing a snarling and scorched but unhindered purple biped. “Rhyperior, Stone Edge!” The massive Pokémon pointed one hand at Celestia, and a veritable barrage of sharp, glowing rocks tore through the air like bullets. The alicorn rose into the air as fast as she could, but not fast enough. Several sharp stones caught her in the side, and she screamed and careened into a tree branch. “That’s the way!” Mable clenched her fist. “Horn Drill, now!” “Wobbuffet, use Counter!” Rhyperior’s drill-like horn started spinning on its face, picking up speed as the massive Pokemon charged. It barreled through the forest like a wrecking ball, smashing aside branches and trampling brush under its massive feet. Wobbuffet leapt into its path, red aura enveloping his body, but Rhyperior never even slowed. It stabbed Jessie’s Pokémon full on with its horn, and for a moment the two were deadlocked. The next instant Wobbuffet was hurled back like a child’s toy, smacking into the ground face-first and skidding into the dirt all the way back to Team Rocket’s feet. “Wobbuffet, no!” Jessie cried, rushing to his side. “Are you alright?” “Wobb…” he managed, painfully. “You’ve earned a good rest,” Jessie pulled out a Poke Ball. “Now return.” Even while the blue Pokemon disappeared back into his ball, Twilight was rolling on the ground in a frantic wrestling match with Houndoom. As they rolled, the devil-dog snapped at the princess’ face with vicious-looking fangs. Twilight flinched back, then smashed her head into the Pokémon’s face, horn first. Houndoom yelped, then unleashed a point-blank Flamethrower that sent the princess scrambling to get off her. Houndoom leapt to her feet, snarling – only to immediately be struck by lightning. “Got your back,” Twilight heard Pikachu’s voice. Wobbuffet’s move had given Celestia time to recover, and she was back in the air again, Pumpkaboo and Inkay at her side. Barbaracle and Toxicroak had already leapt into the tree branches in pursuit, while Nidoking and Swampert were storming forwards to join them. “Concentrate your attacks on the princess!” Mable ordered. “Use Poison Jab and Razor Shell!” “Inkay, Foul Play! Celestia, Flamethrower on Toxicroak!” “Pumpkaboo, Shadow Ball on Barbaracle!” Jessie’s orange Pokémon formed a dark ball of energy around her mouth, launching it straight into the massive shellfish’s face and sending it plummeting from the trees. Toxicroak leapt for Celestia with spikes alight, but Inkay caught the much larger Pokemon in the face with his tentacles. Surprisingly strong, he flipped the poisonous frog around in the air and flung it back towards the ground. The moment it struck the earth, a cone of yellow-orange flames enveloped it. “So that’s how it is? Fine, Nidoking, Sludge Wave on Pumpkaboo. Swampert, Hydro Pump on Inkay.” “Dodge it!” The three scattered as both attacks rose to meet them, flying in separate directions through the forest. As Nidoking mindlessly tracked Pumpkaboo with its toxin, Celestia turned and unleashed Flamethrower on it. The massive purple creature staggered back under the assault and its attack ceased. Behind the princess’ back, Inkay was not so lucky. Swampert caught him with a torrent of water, tossing him roughly into a tree branch. He fell to the ground, and before he had a chance to recover Barbaracle was on him. It rained down vicious blows with the blue blades extending from its claws, pummeling poor Inkay mercilessly again and again before he could so much as move. “Inkay!” James cried in alarm, thrusting his ball forwards. “Return now!” Inkay vanished in red light before his pitiless foe was completely done with him, but it was a close thing. “Two down,” Mable grinned. “And two to go.” Weavile leapt nimbly from branch to branch, dodging lightning high above Pikachu’s head. Her longer legs and experience gave her the edge, while the yellow Pokémon was compelled to stay close to his trainer and friends. After leaping past one Thunderbolt, she whirled in midair and hurled shards of razor-sharp ice down at her foe. Pikachu dodged himself and most buried themselves in the soil, but one struck him the forehead. He hit the ground on his back, several yards away. Weavile landed agilely on another tree branch and raised her arms. Another Ice Shard rapidly coalesced into being, but before it could be unleashed a multicolored beam of psychic energy erupted from behind her. Twilight watched with satisfaction as Psybeam shattered the branch at its base, sending a startled Weavile plummeting. Another Thunderbolt struck home on the way down, rendering her skeleton briefly visible. She had no time to recover before Pikachu had leapt into the air and brought another Iron Tail down on her with all the force of a meteor strike. Twilight saw Weavile feebly struggle for just a moment, before at last slumping back into unconsciousness. That was when Houndoom’s Flamethrower took her in the side. “Rhyperior, Stone Edge once more!” “Nidoking, help out with Sludge Wave!” a Flare grunt added. “Celestia, counter with Protect!” “Pumpkaboo, Dark Pulse!” Rhyperior and Nidoking looked up, dead eyes locking onto the alicorn. The former unleashed another hail of sharp stones from its palms, the latter more purple-black toxic sludge. Turquoise energy enveloped Celestia protectively as both attacks slammed home in another explosion. The smoke engulfed her, obscuring her sight. From another angle, Pumpkaboo opened her mouth again, this time unleashing a beam of her own black-purple energy directly at Nidoking. It caught the purple Pokémon in the side of its head, knocking it backwards several steps and ending its own attack. “Strike while the iron is hot!” James ordered. “Use Hyper Voice on Nidoking!” Celestia abruptly stopped flapping her wings and released Protect, dropping like a stone while Rhyperior’s shards embedded themselves in the tree where she had just been. The princess hit the ground on all four legs but didn’t hesitate in opening her mouth as wide as possible. In the crucial second between when Rhyperior noticed her and when it shifted aim, she let out an incoherent scream of outrage as a massive sonic blast. Rhyperior was forced backwards as it was struck, digging its claws deep into the earth to halt its progress after a few feet. The already weakened Nidoking, on the other hand, was blasted from his feet altogether and flung straight through a pair of trees before finally coming to an abrupt stop against the third. He collapsed in a limp heap, leaving a massive indent in the wood, sap leaking everywhere. Celestia barely had time to give a slight snort before she caught movement in the corner of her eye. She whipped her head about. “Pumpkaboo, watch out!” the princess cried. “Wha-” The little orange Pokémon barely had a split second to look around before Toxicroak leapt from a tree branch behind her. Poison Jab slammed home, a toxic spike delivered cleanly into Pumpkaboo’s back. She crashed roughly into the underbrush, skidding a good distance across the forest floor. Barbaracle flexed its claws and started towards her, but she vanished back into Jessie’s Poke Ball before it could finish the job. “One little princess, left all alone.” Twilight screamed as she burned under the white-hot flames of Houndoom. She beat her wings desperately, rising frantically from the forest floor, but the heat of Flamethrower followed her. Eyes screwed up against agony and fire alike, she hit her head on a branch as she tried to fly away. The sharp crack only added to the pain of it all. Then, without warning, the pain stopped and there was a sharp howl. Twilight opened her eyes just in time to see Houndoom getting electrocuted by an incredibly angry yellow Pokémon. The devil dog turned and opened her jaws again, this time firing a beam of dark energy. Pikachu all but vanished as he dodged, charging straight at the much larger Pokémon to slam straight into her horned skull with Quick Attack. She staggered back several steps, shaking her injured head heavily. All at once, Twilight saw her chance. Gathering multicolored energy about her horn, in just a fraction of a second the alicorn unleashed a Psybeam attack, but not at Houndoom. Instead of uselessly glancing off the Dark-type Pokémon, it sliced through the trunk of the nearest tree. Pikachu darted out of the way, but Houndoom was too dazed to do more than look up in confusion when a fifty-year-old oak up and toppled over on top of her. There was a great crash and a rustle of leaves, the earth itself bearing a faint tremor. Only Houndoom’s head and front paw were left visible, lying limp and pinned by several thousand pounds of solid wood. Twilight couldn’t help but give her downed foe a spiteful glare. Pikachu looked up at the alicorn, then gave an encouraging nod. “Come on!” she shouted down at him. “We’ve got to help Princess Celestia!” “Right,” he nodded again. “Rhyperior, let’s finish this! Use Rock Wrecker once more!” “Dodge it!” James ordered. Stones began emerging from the grey giant’s palms once again, forming up rapidly into fresh boulders coated with deep red energy. Celestia beat her wings hard, rising higher and higher until she punched through the forest canopy altogether. The princess disappeared through the hole into the open sky, leaving the enemy to stare awkwardly at the space she had just occupied. “Target Team Rocket!” Mable pointed without missing a beat. “Obliterate them now!” Rhyperior whirled around, roared, and then launched both boulders straight at the trio. Now defenseless and without any Pokémon, all Jessie, James, and Meowth could do was scream and hold one another as the attack closed in. At the last second, there was a flash of white followed by a flash of turquoise, and then finally an explosion. “There she is!” one of the slower grunts pointed out as the smoke cleared. Mable grinned. “I knew that’d get her.” Protect faded away with the smoke, leaving Celestia to stand between Team Rocket and Rhyperior, Toxicroak, Swampert, and Barbaracle with wings flared and a defiant look on her face. But it escaped no one’s notice that the white alicorn was beginning to breath harder. “Alright Celestia, we can still win this!” James insisted. “Solar Beam, let’s go!” “Geez, are you really that stupid? Rhyperior, Protect.” Celestia drew again on the warm sun’s power as more golden light appeared around her horn. She lowered her head at her massive grey-orange adversary, which promptly folded both arms about its chest and encased itself in yet another protective bubble. The princess kept her horn leveled at it as the charge built over what couldn’t have been more than a second or two but felt like a lifetime. James smiled and gave her a slight nod. At the last possible second, Celestia whipped her head around and unleashed the full golden fury of her Solar Beam. The brilliant energy tore through the forest and struck not Rhyperior, but Barbaracle. The startled Pokémon had no time to dodge the golden light, taking the full force of the impact. When the smoke cleared, it lay at the end of a shallow trench twenty yards long, totally inert. “You’re only delaying the inevitable,” Mable sounded annoyed as she extracted another Dark Ball from her pouch. “Go, Fearow!” This time it was an enormous bird that materialized in the dark energy. It was a deep brown, with a long beak, red crest, and soulless eyes. It shrieked an incoherent war cry. “Attack Team Rocket all together! Swampert, Hammer Arm! Toxicroak, Poison Jab! Fearow, Drill Peak!” The three Pokémon charged all together, fist and claws and beak all alight with energy. “Celestia, counter with Hyper Voice!” The alicorn princess stood her ground, head held high despite the sweat running down her neck. As her foes closed the distance she cleared her throat, opened her mouth, and took in a deep breath. Then, with all the disgust and moral indignation that she could muster, Celestia released a scream of pure, incandescent rage. The massive shockwave ripped branches from tree, tore out bushes by the roots, and tossed all three adversaries about like leaves in a hurricane. Unfortunately, the tremendous noise also drowned out all sound of Mable’s voice in her ears. This time, Celestia barely got a second’s warning before an enormous boulder, easily twice the size of her head, tore through the air. Rhyperior’s Rock Wrecker at last struck home, and its effect on a Fire-type was utterly devastating. Team Rocket cried out in horror as the princess went soaring through the sky like a baseball in a home run. She struck the earth like a meteor, kicking up dust and driving a crater straight into the ground. “Celestia!” James cried, extending a Poke Ball. “Retu-” “Now there’ll be none of that!” Mable leveled a finger. “Stone Edge!” Team Rocket screamed and scattered as sharp chunks of jagged rocks embedded themselves in the ground all around them. Dual streams of rock chased Jessie, James, and Meowth as they frantically scampered for the faint cover of the trees. Stone Edge punched holes straight through the wood, leaving trees to totter and fall. “Swampert, take Jessie. Toxicroak, eliminate James. Fearow, get Meowth.” The three Pokémon set off in hot pursuit, leaping through the branches and bounding across the forest floor with claws and fists shining bright. Team Rocket scattered even further as they desperately ran for their lives. There was no one left who could watch as Celestia struggled to her hooves, eyes scrunched up against the pain, then collapsed back to her knees at the lip of the crater. “Let’s finish this now. Rhyperior,” Mable folded her arms, “kill Celestia with Rock Wrecker.” Rhyperior let out a triumphant roar as yet more rocky debris flowed from its palms. Twin boulders took shape rapidly, their red sheen giving the brainwashed Pokemon and even more sinister aspect. It leveled both hands at the struggling white alicorn. Mable gave a faint grin. “Do it.” Rhyperior roared, and in its roar, it neglected to pay any attention to its flanks. It didn’t notice a yellow blur racing through the underbrush, didn’t see a little yellow Pokémon take a leap. At the last possible instant it caught movement in the corner of it eye, but by then it was much too late. Pikachu’s Iron Tail came down like a thunderclap, taking Rhyperior straight between the eyes. The towering Pokémon staggered back against the pain of the hammer blow to its skull, launching its twin projectiles in completely random directions by pure reflex. They reduced two trees to mere splinters, but did nothing to prevent the beam of multicolored psychic energy that swept across its chest a fraction of a second later. The explosion drove the grey beast further onto its back foot. Rhyperior tripped over a massive tangle of roots, crashing backwards onto the forest floor with the force of an avalanche. “What?!” Mable’s head whirled around, visor rapidly sifting through visual data. It quickly picked up on Pikachu and, above him, a purple alicorn baring an expression of such pure, incandescent rage that even the Team Flare Scientist felt a faint sheen of sweat forming. Pikachu leapt atop the stricken Rhyperior before it could recover and began pounding on it with Iron Tail after Iron Tail, but the snarling princess ignored the huge Pokémon entirely. She leveled her horn at Team Flare and unleashed another Psybeam. The multicolored energy raked across the ground and towards the humans, who scattered and ducked. Mable dodged beneath the attack, but two of her grunts were caught and flung in different directions into tree and bushes. A Dark Ball fell from one of their belts, and Psybeam streaked across it as well. The black and grey orb sparked, then exploded in a surge of dark energy. At that same instant, the forest rang out with a piercing howl. Toxicroak, about to leap at James with poisonous spikes glowing, suddenly threw back its head and let out a piercing, unnatural wail. Dark energies crackled about it for a few seconds, then stopped just as suddenly as they had begun. The smoking Pokémon tottered in the breeze for just a moment, then toppled over like a felled tree and lay still. There was a moment of silence as all eyes stared at the downed Pokémon. Team Rocket looked shocked, James breathed a sigh of relief. The Team Flare grunts that weren’t already slumped across the ground cringed back. Twilight’s head turned ever so slowly back towards the red-suited humans, a knowing gleam in her eye and a disturbingly malicious grin painted across her face. Mable threw herself to the side as more Psybeams cut a swathe through the forest floor. She rolled nimbly, dodging one, but her subordinates were less lucky. First one then the other of her two standing grunts were caught by the multicolored energy. They screamed, and a Dark Ball one had on his waist was zeroed in on and destroyed. Swampert, still pursuing Jessie, let out another unnatural wail as more dark energy enveloped it, before likewise collapsing in a limp heap. “Rhyperior!” Mable screamed. “Get up! Stone Edge on the purple one now!” The massive grey Pokémon, despite the beating it had received, shoved itself to its feet with a single massive push. Pikachu was thrown free of it and landed on his feet, but was ignored as Rhyperior immediately rounded on Twilight. It fired yet another hailstorm of rock shards up at her. Psybeam rushed to meet it and the two deadlocked for just a moment before the enhanced Pokémon’s attack pushed through the alicorn’s. Twilight was blasted from the air in another explosion. “That’s the way!” Mable cheered. “Pikachu!” James’ voice rang out. “Oh I’ve always want to say this – use Thunderbolt!” “I don’t take orders from you!” Pikachu snapped, then flinched as Rhyperior rounded on him. “Ah whatever.” Pikachu turned, ran up the side of a tree, and leapt into the air over Rhyperior’s head. Cheeks sparking he unleashed a truly titanic bolt of lightning that soared right over the Pokémon to descend directly on Mable’s head. The Flare scientist screamed, skeleton flashing in and out, as she received the single most potent electrocution of her life. Dark Balls at her waist cracked and then, overwhelmed by sheer voltage, shorted out. Rhyperior and Fearow cried out as well, dark energies enveloping them. Then, like a set of dominoes, all three of them toppled over into the bush and lay still. Pikachu landed, and the forest was quiet.