Hau leapt across the rooftops of Iki Town, providing him with as similar of a bird’s eye view as Tapu Koko had as they carefully examined the homes and buildings, ensuring that each and every soul in the town was safe within them. With Necrozma shining brighter in the sky than before, it was more imperative than ever that Hau and Tapu Koko not miss so much as a Rattata. When it appeared that no other creature was stirring, Hau spotted Tapu Koko flying up to him.
“Everyone inside?” With a single nod of its head, Tapu Koko assured the Kahuna that that part of the mission had been completed. “Good! Check the north for others and then meet me in Hau’oli City!”
With another affirmative nod, Tapu Koko whizzed around the mountain from the west, keeping its watchful eyes out for any people it could find. From the roof that he stood on, Hau looked almost straight up at Necrozma. As if sensing their motions, Necrozma glanced right back down on him, the Kahuna not appearing daunted by its looming presence.
Hau pointed up at it, his steadfast expression never changing. “I’m coming for you next.”
Necrozma scoffed, Hau managing to see a brighter outline of the shape of its mouth past its sharp teeth. With a thrust of its head, two even-brighter lights flashed from its eyes. Hau failed to react as a blue-ringed portal spread itself open behind him. Just as he turned around, an Oranguru hybrid sprung out from it, tackling Hau off the building and sending each other to the ground below.
Sam tackled his sister to the side, allowing both to avoid the Dexio hybrid’s fist before it could pulverize either of them, Mina and Hau gasping at its unsuccessful attempt on their lives.
Kaj screamed at her friends’ extremely close call. “Guys!”
Spinning into a kneel, Sam bared a furious scowl at their friend-turned-enemy and flung a Poké Ball straight out from his belt. “Aegislash, Shadow Claw!”
Sam’s Pokémon charged out from the Poké Ball, its blade glowing purple. With a wide, circular swing and slash, the Dexio hybrid was flung off of its Metagross legs and slid off down the street before tumbling off into the beach from the ledge.
Sam sprung up to his feet and pulled his sister up to hers. “Are you alright?”
“You certainly look to be,” Alice replied with a nod.
Kaj, Mina, and Hapu ran to the edge of the sidewalk. Overlooking the ledge to see the damage that had been done to the Dexio hybrid, Alice, Sam, and Aegislash looked up at Necrozma overlooking Iki Town. With the same precognition that he had demonstrated to Hau, Necrozma turned its head to look at him and his Pokémon.
“What have you done to him, you monster?!” he shouted.
Its chest then jumped up and down, delivering a silent chuckle that seemed no less conceited and mocking without its sound. Facing the shores of the beach, it spread its wings out wide, covering itself in yet another bright, self-obscuring glow.
A tiny prick of blue light appeared a hundred feet from the shore that immediately drew the eyes of Aegislash and the five trainers toward it. As it quickly opened up, a torrent of water was flushed out from it, more and more coming out endlessly as it grew wider and taller by the moment.
Rotomjet yowled in shock and hovered away from the beach. “Yo, careful with the goodzz zz-zzt!”
The roar of the ocean and the revving of Rotomjet’s engines drew the attentions of Pinkie Pie, Skystar, Celaeno, Kahili, Mallow, and Lana, who were spread out along and near the docks. As well, Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash rose over the tops of the buildings to spot the commotion going on themselves. Hardly any could contain their amazement at the amount of water pouring in from the portal.
“Just finding a silver lining is all,” Pinkie Pie commented, “but I might get used to an interdimensional water park!”
As seawater swamped nearly half of the beachfront over, it soon became clear to everyone present in front of it what Necrozma was summoning. On the portal’s other side, the Aether Foundation yacht, rising up on the crest of the unstill ocean caused by the Aether Paradise’s sinking, was soon to dip over and ride down the trough and in through the portal it would soon fit inside.
“Holy mother of god…” Alice whispered.
The Dexio hybrid finally got itself upright once again, shielding its face as the jets of water from the portal splashed salty sea and drops of muddy sand into its face. Upon scurrying up the steps and away to the east, Kaj chased after it, seeing it run at Trixie and her three changeling allies.
“Guys!” she called. “Don’t let it get away!”
Upon turning around, the four Equestrians found themselves paralyzed by instant fear upon the horrendous monster running at them with an expression of both fear and intense bloodlust. Trixie’s shriek brought Chrysalis back to attention, and with as much agility as her magic could muster, she threw a Poké Ball out at the hybrid.
“Claydol, Earthquake!” Chrysalis’s black wide-headed creature appeared from its ball, wasting no time in driving the pointed ends of its arms into the surface of the street.
The Dexio hybrid attempted to stop, but it was far too heavy and massive to either slow down quickly or veer away from the oncoming attack. With a psychic charge, Claydol coursed seismic energy into the ground and exploded it beneath the hybrid, blasting it up along with pieces of the asphalt and the earth beneath it. Upon landing on the ground back on its side, Chrysalis whipped her mane back behind her head.
“Not so tough now,” she purred.
“Chrysalis, Cocoon! Look!” Thorax pointed at the beach and the waters almost washing it all away.
As the ship tilted down and began to descend the wave, Hapu began to step off to the left. “Guys… run!”
She and Mina broke into a sprint toward Trixie and the changelings, leaving Alice, Sam, and Aegislash to break off to their right. With a final push of water from the oncoming ship, the yacht sailed through the portal and skidded into the sand.
Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash felt their bodies nearly seize up to witness such a sight. “Holy crap!”
With its speed and mass, it only continued to run onto the beach and threatened to crash into the side of the street. Sam glanced back to see the boat’s speed hardly let up, bringing him and Aegislash to come to a stop.
Alice took two more running steps until she realized her brother was no longer with her. “Sam, what are you–”
“King’s Shield!” Sam pointed at the front of a building opposite the beach, sending Aegislash over.
Alice looked over as Aegislash slipped into its Shield Forme, suddenly noticing through the windows of the lobby all of the people that had sheltered themselves inside who were now running away before any debris or the yacht could crash into them. The yacht hit the back wall, significantly slowing it down before it started to slide up below the bow. As Sam anticipated, large chunks of rock, concrete and asphalt were blasted off and were launched at the first couple of stories of the building.
With Aegislash floating between them, it held its stance strong as dozens of projectiles crashed into its barrier, which lit up bright around each spot that was struck. Cocoon and Chrysalis formed their own individual barriers to protect themselves along with Claydol, Thorax, Trixie, Kaj, Mina, and Hapu. The Dexio hybrid, also under the changelings’ inadvertent protection, nearly finished standing back up on its four legs.
Several pieces also began to fly out at Sam, who could only gasp and block his face with his forearms in response.
“SAM!” Alice took a step out at him, only for Fizzlepop and Grubber to appear beside him, the former’s broken, sparking horn charged with energy.
With a shout, a web of magic spanned outward, vaporizing the debris headed their way into dust that blew hard, but otherwise harmlessly into them. As the air quickly cleared, Sam, Alice, Fizzlepop, and Grubber looked to the building that Aegislash had protected, finding that save a couple broken windows wider out, every person inside the lobby was completely unharmed. From up in the air, Spike fainted on Twilight’s back, prompting her and Rainbow Dash to send him back down to revive him.
Observing from the docks, Celaeno let out all the breath she had been holding up until that point. “Nice job, you two.”
Fizzlepop breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Sam. “Are you alright?”
“Came real close to peeing myself,” Sam tried to giggle off, “but yeah, I’m alright.”
“Haha, gross,” Grubber laughed back.
“Sam!” Hearing his sister, Sam turned around just as Alice punched him hard in the bottom of the chest. “You could have gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking?”
Grubber glanced back at the wrecked yacht, suddenly pointing at it with a trembling hand. “Uh, guys? Maybe you should save your fight until after our lives aren’t in danger?”
Sam and Fizzlepop turned around as Alice looked over Sam’s shoulder, watching as several hybrids began to hop down from the sides of the boat and approach them. Back in its Blade Forme, Aegislash slipped back and around Sam and Alice’s group and returned to his side, ready to protect its trainer to the death. As Alice detached a Poké Ball and held her spear out, Fizzlepop reared back and charged her horn as a final warning for them to back off. Grubber put up his fists, ready to fight.
On the other side, a few hybrids made their way to Kaj, Mina, Hapu, Trixie, and the Changelings, Claydol already tensing up in preparedness to fight. The Dexio hybrid began to walk with them, ready to join its new brethren. As Thorax and Trixie stood behind the two changeling queens, the three humans detached their Luxury Balls and Ultra Balls from their respective belts.
“Go, Krookodile!” Hapu shouted.
“You’re on, Mohuku!” called Kaj.
“Let’s do this, Ribombee!” Mina exclaimed.
All three of their Pokémon appeared from their balls at once, Claydol quickly floating over beside Hapu’s Krookodile to join them. As the hybrids refused to yield in the face of their new challengers, Kaj and her large lizard Pokémon stepped forward together.
“Hold your horses, you sons of bitches!” Kaj held the palm of her hand out to them, surprising her allies behind her as the hybrids actually came to a stop. “I’ve still gotta’ give my Mohuku his big boost! Ready?”
The others behind her stood confused at her peculiar performance while the hybrids waited for her to show her hand. Holding her left wrist up, she brandished a pearl-coated bracelet with smaller twisted bands holding a Key Stone inside of it. Upon placing her fingers upon the gem of her bracelet, both it and the green-and-red marble hanging from the necklace around Mohuku’s neck began to glow brightly.
“Respond to my heart, Key Stone!” she forcefully commanded. “Beyond evolution! Mega Evolve!”
“No way!” Thorax gasped. “She can do it too?”
DNA-shaped bands of light shot out of Kaj’s bracelet and latched themselves to the corners of Mohuku’s back, flaring the rest of its body with a thick, fiery energy. As it grew about half a foot taller, the blades on its arms elongated, and its back grew four new bulbs below the original ones. As well, the base of its tail stretched out, and the tree-like growth on its end thickened up with a pointed end sprouting out the tip. As a thick X-shaped brush grew on its chest and back like a breastplate, the energy shattered off of Mohuku, revealing a similar, but stronger looking Pokémon in its stead.
“What is that thing?” Cocoon asked in a hushed tone.
Kaj couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’d ask if you’ve never seen a Sceptile before, but then it just dawned on me that you probably haven’t! Now he’s evolved into Mega Sceptile!”
A Bruxish and a Slowking hybrid both let out a roar of anger as they both charged Kaj’s Pokémon together.
“Mohuku, hit the Bruxish man with Leaf Blade!”
Stepping back once, Mega Mohuku dug its claws into a crack in the street and pushed off, running at the two Pokémon at speeds neither of them could fully comprehend. With a punch of its arm, Mega Mohuku dragged its glowing arm-blade into the Bruxish hybrid’s ribs, the strength and speed of the hit flinging and spinning it off its feet and crashing into the hull of the boat.
As an Oranguru hybrid rushed Sam and Aegislash, Alice threw her Poké Ball out at it. “Lycanroc, get ‘em with Crunch!”
Alice’s wolf Pokémon shot out from the energy that burst out of its ball, reaching the Oranguru hybrid before it could reach her brother, clamping down on its neck and tackling it to the ground.
The Slowking hybrid turned to Mega Mohuku and began to charge its mouth with frigid energy for an Ice Beam attack.
“Ribombee, hurry!” Mina shouted. “Hit the Slowking thing with Pollen Puff!”
“And then hit ‘em with Crunch!” Hapu added.
Ribombee whipped up a cloudy ball of fluffy golden powder in in its arms before chucking it out like a softball, striking the Slowking hybrid in the side of the face, disorienting it. Krookodile took the opportunity to slam into the hybrid, locking its powerful jaws around its entire head before knocking it down.
Three more hybrids charged at Sam, Alice, Fizzlepop, and Grubber as Lycanroc continued to wrestle with the Oranguru hybrid. Sam and Aegislash ran out first, meeting a Kadabra hybrid between his spot and the crashed boat. With a thrust of its arm, the Kadabra hybrid attacked the duo with a lightning strike conjured from the ends of its fingers. With Sam holding his arm up to his forehead, Aegislash rose its shield up to deflect the attack away. With its blade charging purple, Aegislash drove the tip of its blade into the hybrid’s gut, knocking it away.
From both sides of him, a Starmie hybrid and an Oricorio hybrid came at Sam and Oricorio. Before Sam could block the Starmie hybrid’s advance, Fizzlepop teleported beside the Oricorio grunt in midair, delivering a magic-charged kick in the head with its back hoof and blasting the Starmie hybrid with bolts of energy from its horn. With the hybrid disoriented, Sam was free to swing another Shadow Claw attack into the Starmie hybrid’s head.
The Oranguru hybrid finally began to overpower Lycanroc, wrapping its massive hands around its muzzle, muffling its frightened, pain-riddled whimpers. With a wide overhead swing, Lycanroc was catapulted over Sam, Alice, and Fizzlepop, flipping about before it landed on its head and tumbled over to a shocked Grubber.
“Hey!” Alice was already too close for the Oranguru hybrid to react fast enough, and with a series of twirls of her spear, she swung the obsidian head square in the center of the hybrid’s face.
She, her brother, Aegislash, and Fizzlepop hopped back and away to rejoin Grubber, who helped push Lycanroc back up to its paws. Looking on at the three hybrids getting back up, Alice was midly sated to see a black oily substance dribbling out of the nostrils of the Oranguru, blocking as much as it could with the palm of its hand.
The Dexio hybrid let out a roar at Mega Mohuku, the two charging one another. Before Mega Mohuku could get its next attack in, the hybrid sprung at Kaj’s Pokémon far too fast for it to avoid, slamming the ends of one of its Metagross arms into its face to send it flying into the air. With the gem in its Slowking crown glowing, it blasted Mega Mohuku with an ice beam that left the Pokémon bellowing in agony.
“Mohuku, no!” Kaj screamed.
“Stop, monster!” Cocoon charged her magic, slipping the Alicorn Amulet around her neck, much to Trixie’s surprise.
With her aura now turning a dark red, Cocoon fired a strong beam into the Dexio hybrid’s face with a forced shout. Even as the Dexio hybrid put its arms up to block it, it was swept away by the magical onslaught, crashing into the side of the boat again, this time hard enough to throw and tip it over to the left. Even as Mega Mohuku landed hard on the ground and weakly stood to its feet, its trainer, her allies, and their Pokémon were left staggered by what Cocoon had accomplished.
“Can I borrow that after you?” Cocoon caressed the amulet defensively, Trixie scoffing over her failed request.
As the yacht continued falling over, the hybrids standing on the starboard side began to slip off onto the side of the cabin or joined the hybrids on the port, many of whom spilled onto the street beside the three hybrids attacking Sam, Alice, and Fizzlepop. Up above, Necrozma scowled as its minions tumbled onto the ground like fish, its aura beginning to flare up once again. Sam, Alice, their Pokémon, Fizzlepop, and Grubber tensed up as many of the hybrids began standing to their feet, Necrozma’s amber aura igniting on each of them.
“Alright,” Sam huffed, “now it’s on.”
Then, to their surprise, several of the hybrids began to glow a bright yellow, and then, one after another, they teleported in a small pulse of light until the Starmie, Oricorio, and Oranguru hybrids were left. Gasping, Fizzlepop looked behind her, spotting Lana and Mallow at the docks where a Metang hybrid and an Oricorio hybrid appeared before them. As they called out their Pokémon to fight them, a Kadabra hybrid and a Hypno hybrid appeared by Pinkie Pie and Skystar, both of them recoiling in fright.
Teleporting between Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Capper down the road from the pier were an Espeon hybrid and a Slowbro hybrid. Rainbow Dash stood beside Applejack as a Metang hybrid, an Oranguru hybrid, and a Slowking hybrid appeared from thin air to face them.
“Yo!” The two ponies looked past their foes as the Metang and Oranguru hybrids turned to spot Acerola and Nanu, each with an Ultra Ball in hand. “Looks like you could use a little help!”
A Hypno and a Kadabra hybrid were zapped onto the street before Guzma, Plumeria, and Ilima, who stood guard of an impressive white mansion overlooking the western sea. As the two approached, Zeraora teleported in a pulse of electric power, pushing the hybrids back.
“You’ll have to get through me first, villains!” With a stretch of its paws, sparks ran up the Pokémon’s arm.
Luna stood behind Olivia as she called out her own Lycanroc, frowning vengefully as a Kadabra hybrid appeared to face them.
With Molayne, Sophocles, Starlight, and Fluttershy standing near each other, a Hypno hybrid, a Kadabra hybrid, and an Espeon hybrid burst into existence, facing them. Lady and Comfey were quick to stand guard of their trainers while Molayne and Sophocles prepped an Ultra Ball from their belts.
Sam and Alice faced the east side of the city with mouths agape as the last of the bright flashes of light shone over the rooftops. “It just sent them all over the city!” Alice breathed.
“Mom… Dad…” Sam felt his hands tremble as he looked down the street to where their apartment would be.
“If our friends did their jobs, they’re safe and indoors!” Fizzlepop shouted. “Grubber and I need you here right now!”
Sam let out a worried breath. “Right.”
“Alright, fellas!” Alice and Lycanroc took their first steps toward the three hybrids standing before them, leaving them immediately agitated. “Let’s go!”
Fizzlepop and Grubber let out their own battle cries, followed by Sam and Aegislash before the six of them charged the hybrids at once. In their state of adrenaline, they could hardly hear the sounds of hybrids, Pokémon, and Equestrians clashing around them. Instead, they mustered all their focus on the three hybrids that Necrozma left them to fight.
Lillie and Gladion ran down the opposite hallways of the trainer’s school, meeting in the middle at the front entrance, the only noises echoing throughout the building being their footsteps and their exhausted panting.
“How’s your wing?” Gladion puffed.
“Wing’s clear.” Lillie took a small break to breathe and wipe her brow. “Custodians and security’s been locked down.”
“Same on my end. Let’s go find Sun so we can get back to–”
A pair of blinding flashes shone through the windows of the front doors. Right as Gladion and Lillie covered their faces with their arms, an explosion of wood splinters and glass shards blew inward. With them, a Metang hybrid and a Kadabra hybrid leapt in, using their psychic powers to push the two humans back, throwing them into the wall.
Before he could get up, Gladion reached back for a Poké Ball. Before he could grasp one, the Metang hybrid scooped up his wrist in its claws and pulled up, Gladion screaming as he struggled to keep the metallic humanoid from twisting and dislocating his shoulder. In an even quicker motion, the Metang hybrid folded his arm behind his back and pressed it to the small of his back, restraining him further against the wall as it pinned his other arm there too.
“Gladion!” Lillie was about to grab a Poké Ball of her own, only for her to be yanked off the floor, the tops of her wrists and the backs of her ankles pressed to the wall.
Lillie looked down to see the Kadabra hybrid holding its magenta-glowing hands up at her, keeping her stuck and trapped. With no amount of strength in her limbs to even pull them off, she could only look over at her equally helpless brother as the Metang hybrid moved its face to the back of its head, its drill-nose prodding tauntingly through his hair.
“BROTHER!”
A feather arrow pierced the wall between Lillie’s legs before her scream’s echo could die in the hallway. With a loud groan, the Kadabra hybrid clutched its stomach, letting its hold on her go. Pulling herself to the left, her left ankle fell upon the bar of the arrow, throwing her down to the floor. As the Metang hybrid turned around to see who attacked its ally, an Incineroar leapt at it, slashing it in the face with a fiery burst of its claws.
Gladion and Lillie looked to the doorway, finding Decidueye and its trainer standing there. “Sun!” they both cried.
As the Kadabra hybrid attempted to yank the arrow out from the wall, Sun pointed his hand at it. “U-Turn, now!”
Decidueye ran into the school, leaping up with its legs tucked in. With a hard push, Decidueye dug its claws into the hybrid’s back and pushed it harder into the wall, its face slamming against it and knocking it unconscious. In the same push, Decidueye flew back at Sun, who returned it into its Poké Ball before it could crash into him.
Sun then glanced over to his Incineroar and the Metang hybrid as it quickly thrashed about to get back up. “Darkest Lariat!”
Pulling its legs together and holding its arms out, Incineroar spun like a top at the Metang hybrid, its paws torched with a dark, red flame. As it got closer, Incineroar swung around to the hybrid’s right, and with a widening of its stance, it followed through on its momentum to blast the back of its head into the wall, leaving a large, deep divot that was charred black.
With the Metang hybrid also left unconscious, Sun returned his fiery cat into its ball too. “Excellent work.”
“Sun!” Gladion and Lillie ran over to him. “What happened? How’s your mother?”
“She’s fine. Her house wasn’t hit by Ten Karat Hill’s destruction, but it’s covered in dust. She has all the windows closed and her doors are stopped with wet towels to keep as much of the air clean as possible.”
“That’s good,” Lillie breathed out in relief. “Thank you again. Now let’s get back to Hau’oli City before–”
“Not yet! We’re still missing someone.”
“Who’s that?” Gladion wondered.
Sun detached another Poké Ball, and upon lobbing it in front of him, it opened up to let Wicke’s Kadabra outside.
“Kadabra.” The Pokémon looked up to its new guardian. “Do you know where Iki Town is?”
Pangoro was socked in the gut by the Oranguru hybrid, sending it flying back onto the battle platform at the top of the town. A Hypno hybrid charged at Hau as he wiped a trickle of blood off the corner of his mouth. With the hybrid ready to punch him, Hau’s shadow sprung up from the ground and formed into Marshadow, reeling its own fist back. Both creatures drove their knuckles into each others, the strength creating a blast of wind that spread out in a short radius. Hau ran forward at the Hypno hybrid, Marshadow receding back inside of him. As he raised his leg, his calf and foot went awash with spectral purple energy, and upon following through on his kick, a ghastly explosion collided into the hybrid, knocking him back several feet.
With the distance now between them, Hau ran back to his Pangoro, who pushed the Oranguru grunt off of it with its feet and sent it to the other side of the platform. Pangoro got back up onto its feet and kept its angry eyes upon its prey. Hau leapt onto the platform and faced the Hypno hybrid, his back against his Pokémon’s. Despite their solidarity, both hybrids fearlessly closed in on Hau and Pangoro, both of them tensing their clenched fists as they prepared to trade blows with Necrozma’s minions once again. A flash of light to Hau’s right distracted him, his Pokémon, and the two hybrids, all of whom were surprised to see a Kadabra there along with Sun, Lillie, and Gladion.
“Guys!” Hau shouted. “What are you doing–”
“Hold that thought!” Gladion smugly yelled. “Silvally, Multi-Attack!”
“Rapidash, Megahorn!” Lillie threw out her Poké Ball at the same time as her brother.
Upon their balls opening up and shooting its white energy out, Silvally and Rapidash rushed the hybrids their trainers summoned them near. With the black spines on its head and membrane of its fin-tail glowing, its right claw also began to light up with black. With a hard sideways slash, Hypno was spun about until it limply fell onto its side.
Rapidash’s horn began to glow a yellowish-green, a spiral of aura swirling around it as it pointed it forward at the Oranguru hybrid’s chest. With a whinny, the flaming unicorn made its mark, thrusting its head even further out to strengthen the strike. Oranguru was sent rolling into the side of a rocky ledge, the side of its head colliding with it before it rolled further up to hit its face and slid back down, disoriented.
“Guys!” Hau and Pangoro ran to his three friends. “What are you doing here?”
“We had to make sure the school was safe,” Gladion explained, “and Sun went to check on his mother.”
“I see. Good thinking…”
Sun glanced left and right, seeing both hybrids getting back up onto their feet. “We need to get out of here! Our friends are in Hau’oli trying to help the citizens stay indoors! Kadabra, Tele–”
“Wait!” Hau’s shout compelled Wicke’s Kadabra to relinquish its charge on its spoon. “We can’t leave those monsters to run amok through Iki Town! Kadabra, hold it until I say so!”
Sun groaned uncomfortably as he could nearly feel the stares of the Oranguru hybrid and the Hypno hybrid on him. Gladion and Lillie called their Pokémon back, and with nothing left to defend them, the two hybrids charged.
“Now!” Hau bellowed. “Pangoro, catch!”
Kadabra’s spoons charged up, and with the hybrids just inches away, Pangoro held both of its arms out in their direction. At that moment, the entire group was covered in a bright, blinding light.
A flash appeared on the upturned side of the yacht, their friends fighting on both sides looking up to see Sun and his friends now standing atop of it. As well, Pangoro had both the Hypno hybrid and Oranguru hybrid clutched tightly in its claws.
“Hau!” Trixie happily exclaimed. “You’re alive!”
Hau looked behind himself and grinned. “Kind of hard to protect my island if I wasn’t! Now, Pangoro! Take ‘em to the beach with Brutal Swing!”
Pangoro squeezed its grip a bit tighter, getting both hybrids to black out. Throwing their limp bodies up into the air, the bear then wound its right arm in, and at the right moment, it thrashed its arm into both of them, sending them flying off at the beach, where they crashed into the flooded rut the yacht had left.
“Hau!” The Kahuna then down to Sam as he pushed back the Starmie hybrid with another powerful Shadow Claw. “We could really use your help!”
Despite the trouble the hybrids were giving Sam, Alice, and the unicorn and porcupine he didn’t recognize, he couldn’t help but feel a wide smile stretch across his face. “Sam, Alice! Ho... How did you–?!”
“We realize!” Alice yelped as she swung the head of her spear into the head of the Oricorio hybrid. “And we brought more friends.”
Hau leapt off the side of the yacht with a small purple flash bursting underneath his shoes. Fizzlepop and Grubber were both astounded by his inhuman strength as he leapt over the hybrids and landed beside them with only a small recoil in his stance.
“What’s up?” he asked non-chalantly.
“These Prism-Pokémon hybrids are overrunning the city!” Sam took a break to jab at the Oranguru hybrid with Iron Head before delivering another Shadow Claw at the Kadabra hybrid. “Alice and I need to get home and make sure our parents are safe!”
“Yeah.” Hau nodded, understanding quickly and completely. “Go then! I’ll help your friends!”
“Wait!” Fizzlepop nervously objected. “Who are you?!”
“Name’s Hau!” With a shout and a flex of his arms and legs, he summoned Marshadow before him, surprising the two Equestrians even more. “This guy is Marshadow!” Pangoro leapt off the yacht and landed with the same strength that Hau had exhibited. “This is Pangoro.” Finally, Tapu Koko zipped around from the north side of the city, floating between Hau and Fizzlepop, the latter of whom felt oddly humbled by its presence. “And this is Tapu Koko. I’m pretty popular as you can see. What’s your name?”
“I’m…” Fizzlepop was very overwhelmed. “Fizzlepop, but please call me Fizz.”
“Alright, Fizz, you think I can sub in for these kids?”
Despite the mystery he presented at such a precarious time, Fizzlepop indeed felt incredibly safe by him. With a frown of determination and a nod, she accepted Hau’s help.
“Okay,” he said to the siblings, “looks like you got her blessing. Hurry now, save your folks!”
“Please don’t get hurt!” Grubber whined with much concern.
Fizzlepop appeared braver. “Good luck, you two.”
Alice smiled, grateful above all else that they had such caring, protective friends. “Thank you.”
She and Lycanroc ran off west with Sam and Aegislash down the street, Hau, Fizzlepop, and Grubber watching them go.
“Hau!” Marshadow cried over the grinding shriek of the Starmie hybrid.
Hau and his two new allies spun around and watched as Marshadow leapt out at the Starmie hybrid, sending it back with its other three comrades with a single forceful punch.
“They’ve done their jobs!” Marshadow shouted back to them. “Now we must do ours!”
With the four hybrids before them prepared to attack, Hau, the three Pokémon near him, and the two Equestrians also reared back, set to meet them in the center. As they watched over the battle on the other side of the yacht, Gladion and Lillie appeared terrified by the appearance of the Dexio hybrid, who continued to clash with Mega Mohuku, Ribombee, Krookodile, and Claydol.
“What on earth is…” Lillie then recognized the twin Raichu tails, the Metagross legs, and the back of its Alakazam head. As the realization slowly dawned on her, her lips quivered and her breathing quickened. “No… it can’t be.”
“Can’t be what?” Sun looked around. “Where’s Dexio? He was with you guys.”
“Sun…” Gladion’s grim croak and trembling point gave Sun his first noticeable hint. “That is Dexio.”
Sun’s eyes and mouth widened, unable to unsee it himself. As he looked around at the other hybrids swarming the city, he suddenly felt the need to clasp his left wrist.
“All of Team Prism…” Sun’s hands refused to stop trembling. “It transformed them… and their Pokémon into an army of mindless minions…”
With Ribombee and Mega Mohuku keeping the Claydol pushing the Slowking hybrid and the Bruxish hybrid at bay, Hapu and Chrysalis’s paths to the Dexio hybrid were clear.
“Krookodile!” she shouted.
“Claydol!” Chrysalis commanded.
“Earthquake!”
Cladol placed the ends of its arms onto the ground as Krookodile reeled its arm back to punch, its fist vibrating intensely as it charged up with a terrestrial energy. Claydol’s arms also glowed brightly, and with every ounce of the energy it built up shooting into the ground, the ground began to rumble up beneath it. Krookodile slammed its punch down into the ground, the tremors increasing in strength.
At once a wave of broken sidewalk, street, and earth showered upwards into the air, traveling right at the Dexio hybrid and the two hybrids standing there. With a scowl, the bottoms of the hybrid’s Metagross legs began to warm up, turning a bright orange. Lillie and Gladion gasped, realizing it had already formulated its counterattack while Sun could not stop staring at the abomination his friend had become.
“Sun!” Gladion barked, snapping him out of his trance. “We need to help!”
Just as the three humans were about to pull a Poké Ball off their belts and leap down, they could see that the dual Earthquake Hapu and Chrysalis had created was about to engulf them and quite possibly Hau, Fizzlepop, and Grubber behind them. They then watched as the Dexio hybrid leapt forward, using the bottoms of its Metagross legs’ as rockets to propel itself at an incredible speed.
Mega Mohuku and Ribombee were forced to watch as the Dexio hybrid broke through the immense attack, shielded by a dome of psychic energy that it conjured in front of itself. Seeing that Kaj and Mina’s Pokémon were soon to get caught up in the blast, Gladion and Lillie hopped down from the boat and plucked a different Poké Ball off of their belts, running to an individual Pokémon.
“Lucario, Psychic!” Throwing his ball onto the ground in front of him, Lucario shot out from the ball with its stance already defensively wide.
“Starmie, use Psychic too!” Holding her ball out, it opened up and let her Starmie out to float before her and Mega Mohuku.
With a shout, Lucario formed a magenta barrier from the pads of its outstretched paws, covering itself, its trainer, and Mina’s Ribombee. Starmie spun around, generating its own shield to protect itself and the creatures behind it.
Sun hissed as the Earthquake wave got near him and Wicke’s Kadabra. “Send it away with Psychic!”
Charging its spoon with energy, Kadabra threw its arms to its right, sending all the pieces that would hit them away toward the beach. The Oranguru hybrid and the Hypno hybrid, having just come to, began to wake up on the beach, only to look up and see the debris from Claydol and Krookodile’s joint attack raining down right above them. Covering their heads, they could only stay perfectly still as asphalt, concrete, and rock showered around and atop of them. Looking back out, Sun watched as the Dexio hybrid made his way on the other side of the Earthquake, landing in front of Kaj, Mina, and Hapu.
Cocoon bared her teeth as she charged her superpowered red-aura. “You leave them alone!”
Blasting a powerful beam at it, the Dexio hybrid quickly leapt high above the attack and watched briefly as it passed over it and headed toward the beached yacht. Sun could only have time to shield his face as the beam crashed into the bottom of the hull, splitting it in two and blowing it up in a fireball that engulfed it entirely.
Hau and his line, along with Gladion, Lillie, and their Pokémon on the other side were slammed by the shockwave, getting sent tens of feet down the road. The windows to the buildings facing the yacht all shattered into millions of pieces at once, the people inside screaming at the sudden burst of intense heat. Meanwhile, the Dexio hybrid landed behind the three trainers and faced the four Equestrians behind them, gazing at Chrysalis in particular.
Without so much as a curious stare, the Dexio hybrid reached forward at Chrysalis’s neck, pulling her forward with its telekinesis and clutched on. With its hand still glowing, the hybrid’s bright blue eyes began to glow even brighter as it began to prod into Chrysalis’s memories.
_____________________________________________________
A cavernous, holey hive where hundreds of unreformed changelings–
–attacking a seemingly unreformed Thorax, whose wings were glittering–
–cavern exploded as her reformed hive expelled their love out at her–
_____________________________________________________
The Dexio hybrid’s vision was assaulted by a blinding flash as Trixie, having hopped up from its legs in its distraction, smiled as it let Chrysalis go to rub the spots out of its eyes. Trixie caught the suddenly exhausted Chrysalis onto her back as Thorax flew at the Dexio hybrid. With a green flame conjured by its horn wrapping around him, he transformed into a Pangoro with its arm reeled back, punching Dexio’s face hard enough to send it flying over the three human trainers and back onto the broken street.
Though the Dexio hybrid was only a few feet away from her, Lillie turned back to see no sign of her dear friend atop the blazing wreck. “Sun, no!”
It was then that she noticed what she thought was smoke pouring out from the windows of the building directly in front of the yacht, only to find that it was steam. Looking closer, she then noticed as Sun, Wicke’s Kadabra, and Primarina stood near the window, the latter blasting a continuous Ice Beam that slowly, but sufficiently began to extinguish the flames threatening to roast the inhabitants inside.
Spotting him as well, Gladion couldn’t withhold an impressed smirk. “Son of a bitch…”
Thorax transformed back into his normal self as he helped Trixie roll Chrysalis off her back, Cocoon rushing over to also help in any way she could.
“Are you okay?” Thorax whined.
Chrysalis put her hoof onto her head, feeling violated. “It was like… I could feel it reading my mind… back when you, Starlight, and Discord…”
“Huh?” Trixie was doubly confused now. “Why would it do something like that?”
As Hau, Fizzlepop, Grubber, and the three Pokémon weakly stood or floated up, the entire fronts of their bodies sore and stinging, they looked into the fires of the yacht that still remained, unsure if the changelings that had been standing there survived or not.
“Are they dead?” Fizzlepop questioned to anyone near her.
As if to answer her, the Starmie hybrid leapt out from the fire, its body a comet with a steam tail soaring right at Fizzlepop. Hau and the others couldn’t react fast enough as the hybrid stopped immediately before FIzzlepop with its hands squeezing on her head. Despite the searing pain she felt from its touch, Fizzlepop suddenly felt herself transported as the Starmie hybrid’s gem center began to turn bright red.
_____________________________________________________
Fizzlepop stepped down off of an airship before a crowd of frightened ponies in the middle of a–
–slid along the ground as she kicked an obsidian orb in the direction of Celestia, smiling viciously upon seeing–
–blown away by the Storm King’s kingdom-spanning tornado, only to be caught at the last minute by–
–watching with a new sense of pride at the gorgeous fireworks she created with her broken horn, a once-constant scourge that was now her greatest–
_____________________________________________________
Fizzlepop now saw blackness and felt a fuzzy tingle tickle her muzzle. With a tensing of Pangoro’s claw, she was shot fully awake once again upon hearing the sickening crunch of the Starmie hybrid’s face as it caved under the pressure of Hau’s Pokémon’s grip. With a purely forward swing, Pangoro threw the injured hybrid back toward the yacht. Its broken head twitched as it tried to get up, but before it could get up on all feet, Tapu Koko rammed into it with a powerful Wild Charge, throwing it back into the inferno. Along with its skin turning bright red as it absorbed the heat, the sparks covering its body chiseled it away until it crumbled into powder to be further incinerated to ash.
“Yeah,” Grubber spoke with a shrug, “I think they’re dead now.”
Fizzlepop buckled onto her front shins, her lips quivering. Even with the burning feeling still raging the sides of her head, it was clear that what the hybrid had done to her did far more damage.
Grubber was the first to notice this, running to her side. “Fizz! Hau, she’s hurt! I don’t know what to do!”
“Alright, hold on!” Hau swung his bag around, slipping his hand through the top and pulling a Full Restore out. “Okay, where does it hurt?”
“I… it must have squeezed her head too hard!”
Hau nodded, wasting no more time in spraying Fizzlepop on both sides of her head, her ear instinctively flopping in reaction to the cold misty medicine pelting them. Despite the patches of red skin beneath her fur turning to a normal hue once again, she still couldn’t get back onto her front hooves.
“Fizz, come on, talk to me!” Hau snapped his fingers in front of her face. “What else he do to you?”
“I was back…” The sensation was so quick and foreign, it was hard to fully comprehend. “…in Canterlot, when we invaded.”
“What are you talking about?” Grubber spat.
“I don’t know. I experienced it almost exactly as if I was doing it all over again, but then… I kept getting thrown forward… until your Pokémon stopped him.”
“Come here…” Hau knelt down to her and hugged her head over his shoulder, giving her at least enough comfort to stop her shaking. “And up we go.”
Hau gently stood back up, bringing Fizzlepop with her. After stroking his hand through the back of her mane, he looked out to the west part of the town, anxiously certain that other hybrids were doing the same things to the others.
Around the corner from the piers, Capper drew its bow as Shining Armor gave it the spark to ignite the bomb-head. He let it loose at an Espeon hybrid, who caught it by the shaft with one hand. With only a second’s delay and more than half the fuse gone, it chucked the bomb back at Capper and his group.
Spike’s Buzzwole leapt in and clasped its hands around the entire arrow. The following explosion threw Buzzwole’s arms open and sent it sliding back near Twilight and Rarity, Capper diving out of the way to avoid it. As it fell over on its sides, the blast knocking it unconscious, the Espeon hybrid leapt over its body and lunged down onto Rarity. It quickly grabbed her head as the gem in its forehead went alight. Rarity screamed as her consciousness was torn into the past.
_____________________________________________________
Rarity lovingly stitched up a technicolor gown for her friend Rainbow–
–massive dragon resembling a more feral version of Spike rampaged through–
_____________________________________________________
Rarity yelped again as the end of Capper’s bow whizzed by her face mid-swing, the Espeon grunt getting flung away from her as well. With his back to it, the Slowbro hybrid shot a Flamethrower into Capper’s back, knocking him to the ground.
Though traumatized by her forced memories, Rarity could not ignore her dear friend as the back of his coat and the ends of his arrows caught fire. “Capper!”
Running to him, she tore the quiver off his back and tossed it away before flopping onto the flaming spots. As she rolled over him, she quickly began to smother the fires out. Twilight looked over and spotted several wisps of smoke escape the slot of the quiver, realizing immediately what was about to happen.
“Mismagius,” she shouted, bringing her Pokémon to attention, “send the arrows away with Power Gem, hurry!”
Swinging its bottom half forward, a shower of bright stones shot out and collided into the quiver in rapid succession. By the time it was forty or so feet away, it finally exploded in a concentrated mushroom of flame and smoke. Once Rarity helped Capper up, her adrenaline began to wear off and her shock began to return. Capper reached behind him and felt the charred holes of his coat, sighing discontentedly.
“Worry about your jacket later!” Shining Armor exclaimed. “We still have them to deal with.”
The Espeon hybrid had managed to get back up and go back beside the Slowbro hybrid, its movements slightly dizzy. Angered, Twilight and Mismagius stood front and center as Spike tossed out another Beast Ball, sending out his Blacephalon.
Capper gently whacked the top end of his bow against the palm of his paw. “I may be out of arrows, but I still have plenty of bow!”
Further down, Rainbow Dash, Kartana, and Xurikitree fought with the Slowking hybrid and the Metang hybrid while Applejack worked on attacking and evading the Oranguru hybrid. After trying to slip underneath its legs, Applejack found herself sliding into the hand of the hybrid as it reached behind itself. As she tried to squirm and thrash free, Rainbow Dash noticed her friend in dire trouble.
“Applejack, hold on!” Just before Rainbow Dash and Kartana could reach her, they were both blasted into the ground by the Slowking hybrid’s Ice Beam.
As their frigid bodies struggled to quickly stand back up, the Metang hybrid rushed them, scooping Rainbow Dash up and holding her by her jawline. The eyes of both Pokémon began to glow as they peered into the ponies’ minds, each one letting out a final scream before they could no longer resist.
_____________________________________________________
Applejack stood beside a large-bodied red stallion as she bucked a tree, dozens of apples falling from the branches and into his buckets–
–of her family members raising up the frame to the renovated barn that she oversaw–
–fillies playing around in a small treehouse deeper within the orchard–
_____________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash plummeted downward as fast as she could, Rarity and the suited pegasi she inadvertanly knocked unconcious–
–walked along the streets of a bustling metropolis with her friends, Rarity leading the–
_____________________________________________________
With a strong Sacred Sword attack, Kartana knocked the Metang hybrid away, quickly soaring over to Applejack and slicing into the Oranguru hybrid with X-Scissor. Before the Slowking could retaliate, Xukitree struck it with a Power Whip attack, disorienting it greatly.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran to each other, both incredibly worried over what they had experienced. “What did they do to us?”
“I dunno,” Applejack moaned nervously, “but I reckon it can’t be for anything good…”
High up, Necrozma watched as more of its hybrid army managed to get a hold of at least one Equestrian they were teleported near. Though they were promptly saved by another one of their friends, it was getting what it needed. Closing its eyes, it suddenly began to experience what its hybrids had seen from their victims.
_____________________________________________________
–attacking a seemingly unreformed Thorax–
–King’s kingdom-spanning tornado–
–feral version of–
–treehouse–
–pegasi–
_____________________________________________________
Necrozma could see and feel the world of Equestria as vividly and lucidly as he had when he first attacked it those many centuries ago. With its vision and purpose clear, it spread its wings out and shone bright like a small sun, its shrill, metallic roar spanning all four islands.