The Crystal Empire.
Like everywhere else, the Crystal Empire is taking part in the Pokemon Festival. The second day is now reaching the afternoon, but it still felt as if time was moving slowly for a special event such as this. For 2 whole weeks.
Arriving at the Crystal Empire was the hyperactive duo of Ash and Barry who got off the train first.
"Made it!" They both said as they came to a screeching halt.
"Oh! This is the Crystal Empire?!" Barry gawked as he immediately started zipping around the place. "But why aren't they crystal like I heard? They just look like normal ponies to me." He observed the citizens.
"You gotta wait for the Crystalling for something awesome like that to happen." Ash walked by Barry.
"Hah? How long does that take?" Barry followed him.
"I cannot wait to meet them in physical form!" Sunlight squeed. "Especially little Flurry Heart!"
"Now that I think about it..." Twilight paused for a moment. "This is Flurry Heart's first Pokemon Festival. She must be ecstatic right now."
"That's what I'm fearing..." Eventide grumbled as he knew how destructive Flurry Heart can get out of nowhere.
"Oh. Almost forgot." Ash stopped walking as he took all of his Poke Balls out. "You all should explore this for yourself. Come out!"
Ash sent out all of his Pokemon to enjoy what the Crystal Empire has to offer. Seeing that prompted Twilight and the others to allow their Pokemon to run freely out in the open.
"Let's have a blast, you guys. We're gonna have just as much fun her like we did in Canterlot" Ash said to his Pokemon as they all nodded in understanding.
"Gen-Gen." Already, Gengar was up to no good as the Shadow Pokemon descended into the shadows, planning to cause as much mischief as it can.
"Garde." Passion decided to group up with her fellow Pocket Monsters as most of them were planning on exploring the Crystal Empire since they have yet to see the full scope of it.
"Nine. Ninetales!" Ninetales pointed his paw over at the castle, which was close to being repaired thankfully. All it needed were a few finishing touches and it would be back to normal. That seemed like a good place to venture.
"Sol..." Absol shuddered as he looked at the castle. He had a very bad feeling about this. Not because of the castle, but what was in the castle.
Or rather, who was in the castle.
"Esp." Eve knew what Absol was afraid of inside of that castle as she nudged the Dark-Type forward, telling him that there was absolutely no reason to be scared of her.
"Twilight!" The voice of Princess Cadence echoed through Twilight's ears. Along she came with her daughter on her back along with the semi-mischievous Manaphy.
"Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Glad you could make it and-" Cadence froze for a second for one reason. She had spotted Sunlight and Eventide in a heartbeat. Seeing these two new alicorns who were taller than even Celestia herself surprised her. "Uh...W-W-Who are they?"
"Cadence. These two are my mother and father." Celestia introduced. "I mentioned you to them. And now, here they are."
"It's wonderful to meet you in full physical form, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" Sunlight dashed over, shaking Cadence's hoof aggressively. "You're roughly the same height as my younger self when I was still a unicorn."
"Y-You're Sunlight?" Cadence stammered. "Oh. You really do look like Aunt Celestia. And I can see a lot of Luna in...Eventide right?"
"Correct!" Eventide bellowed. "It's wonderful to meet my niece in full form! And her...impulsive yet precious daughter." He shuddered at the sight of Flurry Heart.
"I didn't think I'd get to see you." Cadence shook her head. "My...you are taller than I expected." She laughed nervously, feeling very intimidated by the massive height difference.
"We're glad to be here." Sunlight grinned as she went up to Flurry Heart. "Look at this precious little angel."
"Don't get too close dear..." Eventide gulped.
Flurry Heart cooed at Sunlight as Manaphy latched on to the face fo the former Queen of Equestria. "Mana!" Sunlight was curious about Manaphy's Heart Swap as she wanted to experience what it would be like to swap bodies with somepony else.
"Sylv!" Sylveon spotted Absol, which is exactly what the Disaster Pokemon was fearing from the very start. This is why he shuddered at the mere fact of coming here.
"A-Absol..." Absol backed away as he saw Sylveon approach him. He let out a grimace while Sylveon had an enchanting smile on her face.
But to Absol, nothing was enchanting about that smile at all. His horn was shaking violently, indicating that this was a giant disaster.
Somehow.
"Melo. Meloetta." Meloetta held Ash's arm, deciding to go along with him instead of going along with Ninetales and the others. She knew that if she had gone with them, then Twilight would have Ash all to herself. And to Meloetta, that couldn't happen, no matter what.
"Meloetta? You're not gonna go with the others?"
"Etta." Meloetta quickly shook her head.
That alerted Twilight, who's eyes and head flashed over to face Meloetta. She saw how the Melody Pokemon had that same smug look on her face which was always effective in riling Twilight up.
"Hm?" Cadence took notice of this. Her eyes observed how Twilight and Meloetta were eyeing each other down. In just 5 seconds, she was able to assess the situation and understand what was going on. "Oh, I see." She nodded.
"What's that over there?" Rarity spotted something that caught her eye. An attraction that was focused around PokeStar Studios.
"Oh, that," Cadence spoke. "That's the PokeStar Studios attraction. Apparently, they brought a bit of it here but it's not the full thing."
"OH!" Cilan shot up. "Pokestar Studios?!" Cilan was an obvious fan of Pokestar Studios so he immediately dashed over to see this for himself.
Rarity decided to involve herself in this attraction since she was a fan of Pokestar Studios. She also knew that her Pheromosa would most likely enjoy this.
"Sylveon!" Sylveon managed to have Absol in her grasp as she had pinned the Disaster Pokemon down to the ground.
"A-Absol!" Absol writhed as he could feel the Fairy aura cover him. He looked up at Eve, pleading for help.
"...Esp." The Sun Pokemon let out a cheesy grin. She wanted some payback after Absol continuously kept on messing up Twilight's bed, so this was all that she needed for satisfaction.
"Sol!" Absol growled as he vowed to get his revenge on Eve one day.
Soon, everyone went their own separate ways with their own groups. But one of them went solo, that being Barry.
Barry had already reached the battle spot as he looked over at the sea of ponies who were participating in this combative attraction. Being the unstable walking battery that he was, he was already itching for a fight.
Sunlight and Eventide wanted to spend time with Cadence, Flurry Heart and very soon Shining Armor whilst Twilight chose to stick around Ash so that Meloetta doesn't get the chance of obtaining any form of victory.
Pokemon Battle Spot.
Barry, Ash and Spike chose to involve themselves in this one. Being the battle addicts that they are, they never hesitate to involve themselves in a battle.
However, they noticed that these battles were very calm and slow. The trainers here were most likely new to Pokemon battling and had just started. The Crystal Empire isn't too focused on battling but after the Darkest Day and the entire Eternatus debacle, they've decided to involve themselves in battling more often.
"Just new trainers?" Barry raised an eyebrow. "Come on! I wanna take on some skilled trainers!"
"That'd be a bit overwhelming, ya know." Ash laughed.
"You know I can-" Spike's sentence was suddenly interrupted when out of nowhere, something clamped onto his head without warning.
Or rather, someone.
A Gible.
"Gible!"
"A-Ah!" Spike screeched as Gible was gnawing on his head, causing the smaller dragon to freak out. "Get it off!"
"Pika?!"
"A Gible?!" Ash, Barry and Twilight gasped.
"Gible, no stop!" Just then, the trainer of Gible had come along, grabbing the Land Shark Pokemon and saving Spike from being eaten alive.
"Ow..." Spike held his head, feeling greatly relieved. But he could still feel Gible's fangs in his head. "Thanks for that." As Spike looked up, the trainer of Gible was quickly revealed to be none other than the current Dragon Lord of the Dragon Lands, Ember. "Oh! Ember?!" Spike sat up, spotting his fellow dragon.
"Hey. Sorry about Gible. No matter what I do I can't get him to stop."
"Gib!"
"It's fine." Spike stood up. "Ash's Gible does the same thing too. But it didn't hurt like that..."
"Sure does." Ash nodded.
"Ash?" Ember turned over to spot Ash involved with Spike's group. "You're Ash?!"
"Mhm," Ash replied. "You're Spike's friend, Ember? Right? Nice to meet ya."
"Pikachu."
"Hm?" Ember observed Ash, seeing if he was exactly what the rumours described him as. "Hm. I thought you would be taller. I mean you're taller than me, that's for sure."
"I'm still growing ya know." Ash grinned.
"So it's true? The dragons really are joining in on the festival?" Spike asked.
"As true as it looks." Ember nodded. "Well, most of them are kinda staying back at the Dragon Lands but they're still taking part. I thought I'd come to other parts of the festival."
"Well, we're glad to have you here," Twilight said. "And your Gible."
"Yeah. I was thinking of battling with Gible for the first time. But if I can just get him to stay still for one second."
"Gible!"
"Haven't you tried putting him back in his Poke Ball?" Barry asked.
"Oh, I tried. But he always comes back out no matter what. But it is pretty cool to have him by my side, so I'm not complaining."
"Hm...Ah!" Ash took his bag off, placing it on the ground. "I know what'll get him to stop biting." Ash dug into his bag, getting out some Pokemon Food. "This'll do the trick. Have these Gible."
"Gib?" The Land Shark Pokemon hopped out of Ember's claws, looking at the food in Ash's hands. "Gible..." He gave it a quick sniff before deciding to bite on Ash's entire hand. "GIBLE!"
"Oh! Ash!" Twilight gasped.
"Meloetta!"
"I-It's fine!" Ash winced as he powered through the pain. "You get used to it!"
"Gible!" The outcome was a success. Gible enjoyed the Pokemon Food as he scarfed the food down in one go. Gible fell on his back, patting his belly as he felt satisfied.
"There we go." Ash flailed his hand. "That always does the trick."
"That's it?" Ember's eyes widened. "It was that easy?"
"Didn't you feed him before?" Spike turned to her.
"I did. But he doesn't eat gemstones." Ember shook her head. "You ready to really battle now, Gible?" She picked Gible up.
"Gible!"
"Nice! Then how about we battle each other?" Spike slid over. "I don't know if you've noticed but...Salamence and I have gotten pretty strong lately. Right pal?"
"Sala!" Salamence licked Ember.
"G-Good to see you too, Salamence..." Ember shuddered. "But are you sure you wanna battle me? You've got a fully evolved Dragon after all."
"Don't worry. Salamence will go easy on you." Spike and Salamence both let out cheesy grins. Those grins were a bit suspicious since Ember knew that Spike himself knew he could easily win considering just how powerful Salamence is.
"...Y-You know. I think I'll battle someone else. Who won't demolish me."
"Aw." Spike slumped.
"But all of you look like pretty strong trainers." Ember thought for a moment. "I've been missing out on this whole Pokemon battling thing."
"No need to worry, Ember. We can work around this. How about you and Gible watch us battle?" Ash recommended.
"Yeah-wait." Spike paused for a moment as he turned to Ash. "You and I battle?"
"Oh yeah. We've never gone at it before so this'll be our first go."
"Pikachu!"
"I guess that kinda works." Ember nodded. "You're the expert here anyway."
"Dragonite. I'm gonna need you for this one, okay?" Ash turned to his own Dragon Pokemon.
"Dragonite!"
Inside the castle.
"Oh...So that's where you've been all these centuries." Cadence said. "But you've been overseeing all of us for so long?"
"Of course!" Eventide exclaimed. "However, even if we've been observing you all from the Ambrosial Plane, in truth, we have had our personal preferences."
"Eventide and I have our favourites. We tend to watch over Canterlot the most." Sunlight spoke.
"And all that aura coming out of your bodies? It's all your magic power leaking out?"
"More like its constantly showing itself." Sunlight held Flurry Heart in her hooves. "They can be beautiful to look at but a bit of an annoyance at times."
"Unfortunately, we're not capable of turning it off." Eventide sighed. "Perhaps if we just find a spell to fix that..."
"Or create a new one in the Ambrosial Plane." Sunlight turned to Eventide.
"Create a new one?" Both Celestia and Cadence said.
"Oh!" Eventide quickly covered Sunlight's mouth. "You're not yet ready to know about, young alicorns."
"No-no!" Celestia jolted up. "You have my curiosity right now. Are you saying that you can make new spells in the Ambrosial Plane?"
"Mhm!" Sunlight nodded whilst still having her mouth blocked.
"Ugh...I suppose there's no risk in telling you that. Yes. What you heard is true. In the Ambrosial Plane, you'll be able to create new spells that had never existed before."
"Really...?" Celestia and Cadence gawked as they nodded slowly.
"But that's all you two ever need to know! Besides. You are still young and have a long way to go. And it is far too complicated to understand."
"That reminds me of something. Mother. Father." Celestia was prepared to bring up a glaring phenomenon that was hard to ignore. "Do you know about this?"
She showed off the Boundless Cutie Mark. A Cutie Mark that has been on her ever since she finished battling Ghetsis that one time in Saddle-Arabia.
Indeed, Sunlight and Eventide do know about it. From seeing it pop up on their daughter after her battle with Ghetsis and the knowledge they had of it prior.
"Oh. We know of it. Even before we became alicorns." Eventide nodded.
"But unfortunately, our knowledge of it is fairly limited at best." Sunlight shrugged. "You're very lucky to have found Starswirl's short words on it in his Unfinished Spells book."
"I guess...So it's still a complete mystery." Celestia looked at the mark. "All I really know about it is that it automatically recovers any magic for me. Even when Cadence, Luna and I sacrificed our marks to keep them away from Tirek, mine regenerated."
"I saw it. That was bizarre my eyes lit up." Eventide pointed his hoof at his eyes.
"If it helps recover magic at all times then it might be a blessing. Although...why it has every Cutie Mark from the past present and even the future is what has me the most curious." Sunlight said.
"How does it all fit exactly?" Cadence squinted her eyes, trying to see how many Cutie Marks she could spot.
"I believe it somewhat rotates on a rare occasion," Celestia replied.
"Well!" Eventide raised his voice, startling everypony. "Never forget that mark at all! It might show promise one day! In the meantime, where is that husband of yours, Cadence?" He navigated his head around the room.
"Shining Armor? He's off with Honedge to try and better their relationship. I think you're already aware of how those two are." Cadence explained.
"Oh, but they've gotten better, haven't they? Before Shining Armor would have to constantly pray that Honedge wouldn't possess him. Now they're separate from each other more often." Sunlight squeed.
"Yes but...They're very mutual and at times Honedge has the urge to possess him. I just hope it's going well."
Pokestar Studios attraction.
Cilan was a massive fan of Pokestar Studios. So to have one here was a joy for the Pokemon Connoisseur as he had already grabbed a ton of props and costumes with a multitude of ideas filling his mind.
"Yes, yes!" Cilan held up a Tyranitar and Rillaboom costume. "These can work!"
"Somepony's a massive fan." Rarity said as she was looking for something that would fit her Pheromosa. But due to Pheromosa's unique build and tall stature, dressing the Lissome Pokemon up was nigh-impossible.
"Ampha." Rarity's Ampharos dug his head into a box of props as he found something that really piqued his interest as his body was vibrating a bit. "Ampharos!"
"Hm? What did you find, Ampharos?" Rarity went up to the box of props, spotting what Ampharos had spotted.
It seemed to be some sort of long necklace that had a ton of Mega Stones on them. One of them being the Ampharosite, which is why Ampharos's body was reacting oddly.
"What is this?" Rarity gasped as she used her magic to lift the necklace. She noticed how some of them were duplicates but most of them were for at least 10 different Pokemon.
She was able to tell that this necklace wasn't for show. She saw how Ampharos's body was twitching with sparks of electricity rushing through his fur.
The Ampharosite was also flashing a golden colour but it was very faint. These weren't props but real and legitimate Mega Stones.
"Ah!" One of the employees of the attraction rushed over to Rarity. "Please do not touch that!" She grabbed the necklace.
"Hm?" Rarity looked up.
"Oh thank goodness...I thought I'd never find them..." She let out a sigh of relief.
"Did you misplace these?" Rarity asked.
"Not me, but my boss did. Sorry about that. We lost it during our visit to Pokestar Studios 4 days ago. I suppose a prop box is one place we should've started. Thank you for finding them."
"Not a problem. What a shame though. It would've been nice to wear something like with all those Mega Stones. Does your boss have a Pokemon for all these stones?"
"Oh, no. He doesn't." She shook her head. "The only Pokemon that he has that can Mega Evolve are Beedrill and Swampert. The rest are for other trainers."
"Other trainers?"
"Ampha."
"Mhm." The employee safely placed the necklace on the table. "Only capable trainers who can prove themselves get to have these stones. We run a Mega Evolution camp all the way in Hoenn."
"Mega Evolution Camp? A camp all about Mega Evolution?" That got Rarity's attention.
"I can see you're curious. Maybe one day, you can come for a visit. It's just near Sootopolis City in Hoenn."
"Mega Evolution Camp..." Rarity began thinking for a second. Before she continued her Pokestar Studios plan, she asked one major question. "Just one quick question. Which Pokemon are capable of Mega Evolving?"
"Oh. There are quite a lot of them. But one of them is your Ampharos over here." The woman turned to Ampharos.
"Ampharos. Got it. Alright, thank you very much for that." Rarity gave her thanks as she had something new to reveal to her friends which could benefit them all in the future.
Pokemon Battle Spot.
Ash and Spike were already prepared with both of their Pokemon standing in front of them whilst Ember, Twilight, Meloetta and Barry spectated.
There was a single referee who would be overseeing this battle.
"The battle between the Challengers Ash and Spike will be a 1v1 battle. The battle will be over when one Pokemon from one side faints. You have 10 minutes in total."
"10 minutes is all we need." Ash tightened his gloves.
"Watch, Ember. Ash's battling style is one of a kind." Twilight spoke to her.
"I heard great things about him so I guess I'm gonna see it here. You watching closely, Gible?"
"Gible!"
"Battle start!"
"Okay, Salamence! Let's go with Hyper Beam!"
"Sala!" Salamence went first by opening its mouth as an orange ball appeared in front of its mouth, bursting out of his mouth.
"We'll counter that Hyper Beam with our own Hyper Beam!"
"Dra!" Dragonite's eyes flashed white with an orange ball forming in front of Dragonite's mouth. The ball then turned into a beam as it was fired.
Both Hyper Beams cancelled each other out due to their equal strength as the result was an explosion that was so loud that it alerted most of the ponies in the Crystal Empire.
Dragonite and Salamence both had to take a break after using Hyper Beam, so there was a slight pause as a large smoke cloud filled the area.
"The battle's just started and already they're this close to causing massive damage to the Crystal Empire." Twilight shuddered. "Dragon-Types are scary..."
"Hah!" Barry exclaimed. "Just you wait. Things are gonna get interesting."
Both Dragons had eventually regained energy after using Hyper Beam as the smoke had cleared from the area. Ash and Spike were both ready to let out their next commands.
"Dragon Claw!"
"Dragon Tail!"
At the same time, the two Dragons spread their wings, taking to the skies instead of continuing their battle on the ground level. With green draconic energy surrounding their arms and tail, Dragonite and Salamence could now be seen by everypony in the Crystal Empire.
They both began a back and forth clash of Dragon moves with Dragonite's claws connecting with Salamence's tail, creating green sparks of draconic energy that rained down from above.
Each time Dragonite would go in for an attack, Salamence would block with his tail. And each time Salamence went in for his own attack, Dragonite's claws would collide. It was like two swords clashing against each other with the sparks coming out.
"Hm?" Rarity looked up as she had a Weavile crown on her head. "Spike and Ash are battling against each other. This is a first. Go Salamence!" She cheered Salamence on.
"Sylveon..." Sylveon, who was still on top of Absol, looked up to see the two Dragons scrimmage in the sky along with Absol who just wanted to break free already.
"Dra!"
"Sala!"
Eventually, both Dragon-Flying-Types came to a deadlock. Their tail and claws were being pushed against each other as they were each trying to push through.
"Oooh..." Ember gawked as she was witnessing two full-on Dragons going at it but in a way Ember never thought she would ever see in her life. It was almost magical to look at.
"Gible..."
"Salamence is tough for the right reasons." Ash grinned. "Dragonite! Toss Salamence down!"
"Gonite!" Dragonite suddenly switched from pushing its claws on Salamence's tail to grabbing its fellow Dragon's tail instead.
"Mence?!"
"Dra!" With heavy force, Dragonite tossed Salamence down like a ragdoll, causing Salamence to spin around whilst falling.
"Flamethrower quick!"
"Salamence!" Salamence quickly recovered mid-air as he responded to Dragonite's attack by sending an orange stream of fire from his mouth.
"Gon?!" Dragonite gasped as it put its arms up, blocking the Flamethrower as it wasn't very effective on Dragonite at all.
Salamence landed on the ground as he stared up at Dragonite who had shrugged off the Flamethrower.
"Let's try another Hyper Beam, Salamence!"
"Sala...!" Salamence was ready to blast another Hyper Beam as he was charging up.
"Here it comes..." Ash grinned. "Dragonite! Spin with Dragon Dance."
"Gonite!" Instead of countering with its own Hyper Beam or just flying out of the way, Dragonite chose to increase its power and speed as its body became surrounded in orange energy as it spins around several times.
This was the same strategy used against Korinna's Mienshao and it was a means of powering through attacks while also increasing power and speed.
The Hyper Beam engulfed Dragonite who simply kept on spinning either way. The beam pierced through the clouds as a large explosion of energy followed afterwards.
From how powerful it was and how it was capable of blowing the clouds away along with any nearby Flying-Types or pegasi, most would've thought that Dragonite would be done after that.
"Dra!" But lo and behold, Dragonite blew the smoke away from its body by flapping its wings and roaring. Dragonite was now stronger and faster than ever.
"Oh!?" Spike jerked back.
"Sala!?"
"Okay, Dragonite! Dragon Claw!"
"Gonite!" Dragonite's speed had been increased, meaning it could fly faster than normal this time as it created a shockwave the moment it flew downwards.
And Salamence had to wait to recharge. He wasn't yet at that level where he could fire Hyper Beams repeatedly without rest. Not many Pokemon are anyway.
"Sal?!"
"Dragonite!" With increased strength now, Dragonite smashed both of its Dragon Claws onto Salamence's head as a sort of clapping attack.
"Sa!" Salamanece felt his head ring after being clapped by Dragon Claw. He actually ended up flinching from the attack as his head bobbled around. "S-S-Salamence!"
"Dra!" Dragonite let out one major Dragon Claw by smashing it onto Salamence's head, rocketing its opposing Dragon-Type to the ground.
Salamence hit the ground hard, causing a small tremor to occur as a large dust cloud emerged from the impact, causing ponies to back up and cover their eyes.
As the dust settled with the smoke clearing, Salamence had unfortunately fainted.
"Salamence..."
"Salamence is unable to battle! Dragonite wins! Thus the victor is Ash!"
"Great job, Dragonite!" Ash gave a thumbs up.
"Pikachu!"
"Gon? Dragon!" Dragonite, as always, enjoyed being praised by Ash. So it responded by flying over for yet another hug. "Dra!" The Dragon Pokemon grabbed Ash, holding him in its clutches.
"Ah! B-Bit too hard this time Dragonite!" Ash winced.
"Good work, Salamence." Spike helped Salamence up. "We need to learn some new moves ourselves."
"Mence."
"That...That was amazing!" Ember stood up with the largest grin on her face, before sitting back down, realizing she was more excited than usual. "Is that how it looks when two Dragon-Types battle?"
"Sure is!" Ash nodded. "It's a real shakeup of a battle every time."
"So like...Gible and I can battle like that one day?"
"Mhm." Spike slid over. "You're looking at a future Dragon Master right here too."
"Sounds good to me. We've got a lot to do, Gible." Ember looked down at the Land Shark Pokemon.
"Gib!"
"You look pretty motivated now, Ember," Twilight said to Ember.
"Sure do." Ember nodded. "I can't wait to see how far we go."
The arrival to the Crystal Empire showed much promise with new attractions that catered to everyone's personal taste.
There are still more attractions to be found here with lots more to do as the afternoon was still young with a good amount of days left. However, not all is fine. J is still somewhere out there. Whether they encounter J during the festival is unknown. But only time will tell as the journey continues.
Chapter 306 End.