//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: World Tour Part 2 // Story: Light and Darkness // by FandomPlays1234 //------------------------------// After freeing the Chun-Li and Blanka spirits from their puppet fighters, Starlight and her party continued to their next destination which was, to her surprise, Ponyville. After landing in the main plaza, Tails led them to Rarity's boutique. Standing in front was a large cat with red and white fur standing on it's hind legs. It's torso was covered in black fur and a belt of fire was wrapped around it's waist. "Well that's new," said Starlight. "Incineroar eh?" asked Falcon. "Who?" asked Spike. "There's not much known about him, considering he just joined the roster this year," said Falcon. "But what I do know is he's uses fire and most of his attacks are based on moves used by pro wrestlers," "I don't know what that means, but if he can manipulate fire, then we should be careful," said Starlight. Incineroar noticed the four standing in front of them and walked over to them with a huge smirk. He stopped several feet away from them and began to flex. "Looks like he's challenging you," said Tails. "Actually if he can use fire, maybe I should take this one," boasted Spike. "Are you sure, he's pretty dangerous," said Falcon. "Nah I got this," said Spike. He walked up to Incineroar and puffed out his chest. "Ok cat, let's see what you got," Incineroar smirked as he extracted his claws and did a back flip. He thrusted his claws towards Spike. "Actually, can we talk about this instead?" Spike asked nervously. Incineroar lunged at Spike and attempted to slash him with his claws. Spike yelped and ran away screaming. Incineroar growled as he began chasing Spike. "Spike, don't run, fight!" Starlight told him. "I change my mind, I can't fight him!" screamed Spike. Just then Incineroar jumped in front of him, causing Spike to fall backwards. Incineroar reaches over and picks Spike up while grinning madly. "Spike!" Starlight gasps. Spike looks up at Incineroar wearing a nervous expression. He opened it's mouth revealing rows of sharp teeth. Spike yelped as he sank his teeth into Incineroar's hand causing him to let go. Spike fell on the ground and scrambled to get on his feet. Incineroar raised one of his paws and slammed it down to crush Spike, but he quickly moved out of the way. "You can do it Spike!" Skystar cheered. Spike looked back at them then back at Incineroar. Incineroar glared at him with his glowing red eyes as he raised his paw for another strike. Spike took a step back when he heard a voice coming from inside his head. "How are you supposed to protect your friend if you can't fight?" asked the voice. "What?" asked Spike. "You want to protect those you care about do you not?" asked the voice. "I do, but..." Spike stuttered. "Then you have to fight," said the voice. "I know you're scared, but think about you're friends who protected you all this time," Spike froze. He recalled the times, that he saw his friends fight. They had that look of determination, but was that how they really felt on the inside? They acted so confident, but there's no way that was how they truly felt on the inside. They must've felt scared at one point, and they still fought. It's not because they wanted to fight, but because they had no choice. This wasn't Equestria, not anymore. The only way to survive was to fight. "Seems like you understand now," said the voice. "Yeah, I do," said Spike. "If your friends can fight, then so can you," said the voice. "I know," said Spike. He looked up as Incineroar attempted to slash him once more. This time Spike jumped onto his arm and ran up to meet his eyes. Spike extracted his claws and jabbed Incineroar in the eye causing him to yelp and cover his face in pain. Spike quickly jumped off and ran behind him. He jumped up and bit into his tail causing Incineroar to scream in pain. Growling, Incineroar brought his paw down, to try and crush Spike. However Spike was too fast and began drilling Incineroar's paw into the ground with his tail. "Whoa," said Skystar. "Ha too slow for me kitty," boasted Spike. Incineroar swiped at Spike but gave him a chance to run up his arm and onto his head where he began drilling down with his tail. Incineroar swiped at him with his claws but missed every time. He jumped onto his snout snickering. "Come and get me," Spike jumped off just as Incineroar attempted to grab him only to slap himself in the face. As Incineroar held his own face in pain, Spike bit into his leg making Incineroar yelp. As Incineroar clutched his feet and jumped up and down, he ran behind him and got down on al fours so that his spines were sticking out. As Incineroar went to put his feet down, he accidentally stepped onto Spike's spine and screamed in pain. "He's winning somehow?" asked Starlight. "I gotta admit, in all the times I've been in Smash, this is the most creative fighting style I've seen," said Falcon. "Starlight!" Spike ran up to them leaving Incineroar on the ground clutching his foot. "Spike you're not finished," said Starlight. "I know, that's why I came back," said Spike. "What do you mean?" asked Skystar. "I want Starlight to throw me," said Spike. "Excuse me, you want me to do what!?" asked Starlight. "I want you to throw me," repeated Spike. "At Incineroar?" asked Falcon. "Yeah," answered Spike. "But why?" asked Skystar. "Don't worry why, just do it," said Spike. Starlight looked behind him to see Incineroar getting back up. He was looking in their direction with an annoyed look on his face. "Hurry Starlight!" exclaimed Spike. "Whatever you say," said Starlight. She picked up Spike with her magic. "Aim at his face," said Spike. "You can't be serious," said Starlight. "Starlight there's no time," said Spike. "If you get hurt, you're explaining to Twilight why you got hurt," said Starlight. "Don't worry I know what I'm doing," said Spike. Starlight raised Spike and took aim as Incineroar came bounding towards them. "I hope I don't regret this," said Starlight. She didn't say anything else as she hurled Spike at Incineroar. As Incineroar came closer, Spike flipped so that his tail was pointing towards his face. Incineroar slid to a stop when he realized what was happening, but didn't react quick enough and was jabbed in the eye by Spike's tail. Starlight, Skystar, and Captain Falcon stared in awe as Spike knocked Incineroar down to the ground using only his tail. "Bullseye!" Spike proclaimed. Incineroar screamed as he fell on his back. Spike bounced off his face and landed behind him as light burst out of his body. All the while Spike struck a pose with his back facing the limp puppet. "Heh, cool people don't look at explosions," snickered Spike. He turned around and walked back to the group who was still in the state of shock. "See I told you I knew what I was doing," bragged Spike. "I've never seen Spike fight like that," said Starlight. "I almost felt the pain in my own eyes," said Falcon. Spike grabbed the album and opened it as the spirit emerged from the puppet's body. "Alright come here,' said Spike. "I appreciate you freeing me from Galeem's control, but I'm afraid I can't come with you," said the spirit. "What why?" asked Skystar. "Cause I've got a business to run," said the spirit. "Nobody ain't training themselves now are they?" asked the spirit. "So you're a master," said Falcon. "You're sharp pal," said the spirit. "That's right, I'm a Master Spirit, as for my name" He hovered in front of the boutique. "I am Zangief,"