Universe 28. Gravity Dimension.
Celestia, Passion and Arcanine were still dealing with the clones of Empress Twilight and the gravity of this dimension. Celestia was pursuing her Mega Stone which she had dropped within the crevices of the many cubes here. All because the gravity started moving sideways instead of up or down.
She had currently put herself between these crevices, searching for the Mega Stone. All the while, the clone was chasing her down with those gravity cubes by her side.
"Where is it...?!" She wondered as multiple smaller yet powerful gravity cubes came flying through the crevices, threatening to break every bone in Celestia's body.
"Keep running, Celestia! That'll just prolong all the time in the world, preventing you from reaching your goal!" The clone exclaimed.
"You'll see. I refuse to let Premium down." Celestia replied before avoiding an incoming array of cubes. She allowed her magic to glow as bright as it could. This meant that it would make her more visible, but it would help in the dark crevices. "If I can just have gravity cater to my side, I would make it fall to my side..."
Just then, Celestia had a breakthrough. She couldn't use gravity herself, but she could use a makeshift version of it. Controlling the area with her magic of course. If she wanted something to fall in her direction, then using her magic was potentially the way to go.
If she was strong enough.
"Alright. Here goes!" Celestia then aimed to control the cubes around the area as if she was lifting them. And with her level of magic, she was able to show that she could.
Celestia started lifting the heavier cubes with her magic, trying to make them all fall sideways to reveal her Mega Stone. She started ripping the cubes out of the ground with all her might. They were incredibly heavy so high amounts of effort were needed for this.
"What are you even trying to do?" The clone came in, sending heavy cubes down on Celestia's back while she was trying to control the land itself.
"Ugh!" Celestia cried out after having heavy cubes rain down on her back while she attempted to flip the land sideways. However, despite this array of falling cubes punishing her, the Ruler of Equestria maintained herself. She wouldn't allow herself to fall or lose here. For the sake of a pony that she promised to protect.
Celestia dug deep as her Boundless Cutie Mark started flashing, rapidly cycling through a multitude of Cutie Marks in a second with Celestia's always staying in the middle. With that, Celestia's eyes flashed as she not only managed to rip the cubes out of the ground, hitting the clone away on accident, but she also managed to twist them.
"Agh!" The clone cried out after being struck by the cubes, flying back. She then witnessed how Celestia had rotated the land itself without using Gravity at all. And by rotating everything, she saw the Mega Stone fall.
"Gotcha!" Celestia used her ethereal mane to catch the Mega Stone, manipulating in a somewhat similar way to the Empress. That large mane wasn't just there for show. "Passion!"
"Garde?!" Passion turned around while being in a beam struggle with one of the clones.
"It's time!" Celestia smiled before activating the power of the Mega Stone. Once she did so, Passion's keystone reacted to it. The clone flew over to Celestia, extending her mane while also sending heavier blocks to crush the Princess of the Sun.
However, it was too late. Once the Mega Evolution process began, Celestia body turned into light, dashing off towards Passion. Passion herself started winning the struggle after having her body glow. She gave off a grin, pushing the cubes and mane back before having her body become consumed in a radiant golden light.
And bursting out of that light was Celestial-Gardevoir.
"Surprise!" Celestial-Gardevoir exclaimed before blowing the clone away. The clone Empress crashed into the other clone as they both fell on the side of some heavy cubes. "Arcanine!"
"Canine!" Arcanine and the third clone took notice of this. The Legendary Pokemon used Extreme Speed, tackling the clone with confounding speeds before heading over to his fused friend.
"Keep them occupied while I break us out of here," said Celestial-Gardevoir as she took the skies. Arcanine nodded in understanding. Even if he struggled with one, he would try his best. And for this, he tried one of Ash's many tricks.
The Counter Shield.
Arcanine had used Flare Blitz, utilizing the gigantic aura of fire to his advantage. Instead of charging forward, Arcanine started spinning rapidly, forming a gigantic and ferocious vortex of frantic flames that moved in erratic and unpredictable directions.
"Don't let them escape!" The clone cried out before mashing together multiple gravity cubes to make a collage of them. The two clones tried to advance, only for an incoming flame from Counter Shield to knock them back.
The cube was shot towards the sky, however, Counter Shield intervened once more. Due to it moving everywhere with no consistency, the destructive flames had got in the way of the cube, causing it to hit the fire instead.
"Here goes...!" Celestial-Gardevoir was now high enough as she put her hands out. With all of this magic and power residing within her, she was able to conjure up a Black Hole in a flash.
She held the Black Hole together as it was already pulling in the cubes due to its powerful gravitational pull. Something that could rival and surpass the gravity in this world. The clones each saw how big a problem was. They couldn't afford to have them escape.
"No!" A clone bellowed before unleashing a violent thunderstorm with her magic. Gigantic bolts of lightning came crashing down towards Celestial-Gardevoir, shocking her.
"A-Aaah!" Celestial-Gardevoir cried out as her focus on the Black Hole had been diminished. More thunderbolts came crashing down, however, Celestial-Gardevoir would not take her eyes off the Black Hole. Despite her being constantly shocked, she persisted.
The clones found an easy way around Counter Shield as one of them summoned a violent tsunami with her magic, sending it towards the Legendary Pokemon. Arcanine had been struck by this tsunami as his flames had been put out, forcing him out of Flare Blitz.
"A-Arca!"
With Arcanine being taken away, the clones could now freely attack Celestial-Gardevoir with the cubes without vicious flames getting in the way. Millions of heavy gravity cubes were sent towards Celestial-Gardevoir while she was charging up the Black Hole. "A-Almost...there!"
"A-Arca...Arcanine!" To make sure his friend would succeed, Arcanine wouldn't allow any harm done to Celestial-Gardevoir. So, he immediately recovered from the tsunami, jumping on a cube before combining Extreme Speed with Flare Blitz.
By merging those two moves, Arcanine moved faster than he's ever moved, blitzing through the sky and appearing like a comet flying upwards instead of downwards. With that speed, Arcanine used himself as a shield, taking all those million cubes for Celestial-Gardevoir.
"Ah! Arcanine!" Celestial-Gardevoir gasped as her friend had taken all the hits. Arcanine gave a smile as he had successfully given Celestial-Gardevoir enough time. He fell, leaving the rest to the Alicorn-Pony-Hybrid.
With that motivation and rescue, Celestial-Gardevoir expanded her Black Hole so much that not only was everything within this dimension being pulled in, the magic keeping this dimension itself was being distorted.
The clones noticed that the sky was cracking along with the ground. Celestial-Gardevoir's Black Hole was doing its job and more as the clones started panicking.
Arcanine was about to hit the ground, but right before he could, Celestial-Gardevoir had successfully shattered the Gravity Dimension and the orb containing her.
Reality. The Empress' spare palace. One of the many laboratories. Nightfall.
Within this lab, the orb Celestia, Passion and Arcanine had been trapped in was being kept and encased inside of a titanium orb. They were being blocked via two layers. One that was magical and one that was titanium. However, that wouldn't matter.
The force of Celestial-Gardevoir shattering the Gravity Dimension was so great that it even broke the titanium orb and even blew away inventions, tables and the scientists within the lab.
"Arcanine!" And right as they broke free, Arcanine's impact was less painful now. Celestial-Gardevoir groaned as she got on her knees. That was a lot of magic to exhibit from her body as she immediately defused.
"Gardevoir..." Passion stood up along with Celestia and Arcanine, as she held her head.
"Ugh...!" As Celestia stood, her eyes flash golden whilst staring at the scientists. "Where's Premium?!"
"Oh! They've escaped!" Immediately, the scientists went into a panic frenzy. They scattered, running for their lives as they feared Celestia, Passion and Acanine would obliterate them. Luckily for them, they would never do such a thing. However, Celestia is certainly furious at everyone here, that's for sure.
Every scientist left the lab with the alert going off. Celestia soon realized that she wasn't in the hallways anymore. In fact, by looking out the window, she also saw that something was not right with the palace. The layout looked and felt different from what she previously saw.
As she and her Pokemon rushed outside, they saw the layout alteration. Everything was different now. Locations had been swapped and scattered due to the Reshape Function.
"W-What happened here?" Celestia's jaw dropped.
"Gardevoir?"
"Arcanine."
"No. We can't stop and wonder any further. We have to find Premium. At least we know where she is now. But which lab, exactly? Arcanine. Sniffing everything out.
"Canine!" Arcanine got to work, sniffing the area to try and find Premium Polish. He was waiting to do this but without o enemies nearby. Speaking of which, Celestia's forces and the Empress' forces were currently going at it despite the reshape of the palace.
Another Laboratory. With the Empress.
Meanwhile, the Empress approached the machine where Premium was being held. Her plans were being accelerated due to how things were turning out for her.
"Empress." Skyblue Shine spoke as she had stayed by her daughter's side. "What's going-"
"Change of plans. Those 6 days for the Magical Unite to fully go through won't do with the meddling of Celestia and her forces." The Empress interrupted before approaching Premium Polish. "We're accelerating the process."
"Of the Magical Unite? But how?"
"Normally, Zekrom's lightning would be enough to grant my wish. But we know what happened with that possibility." She stomped her hoof. "But...we have other uses. I thought about it for a bit on how to speed it up. There are two possibilities. The item that is meant to replicate the Magic Siphoning Jar is close to being completed. But I don't want to waste any time. So the second-best option is much quicker."
"And...that would be?"
"Infinity Energy. Bring them in!" The Empress order as entering the room were the Pokemon that the Umbrage Thieves had captured for the empire. They were all being restrained in specialized prisons based on their Types and their natural talents.
"Infinity Energy?!" Skyblue Shine gasped.
"Precisely. But not just that. I still have some leftovers from the Mega Rocks I used on Zekrom. Both that and Infinity Energy could change everything."
"W-Will it work?"
"That's why we're going to test it out." The Empress grinned as she surrounded all of the Pokemon with her magic. After doing so, the Empress stood in front of Premium Polish, taking aim.
She started extracting Infinity Energy from the Pokemon for the first time. And for her first attempt, the process was unsettling for the Pokemon. Each of them started wincing in pain or even screaming out with bellowing cries as they had their life force ripped out of their bodies and challenged through a single alicorn horn.
The Empress started gathering the power of multiple types. Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Flying, Ghost, Normal and more. The only ones exempt were Dragon, Poison and Dark. After channelling these types, she growled, trying to withstand them as the force of it was surprisingly heavy.
"Grr..! This Infinity Energy is harder to control than I thought...!" She groaned with her hooves quaking. The Pokemon had fainted after having their Infinity Energy absorbed while the Empress was sustaining it." But...this should be strong enough!"
She then fired the collective Infinity Energy in the form of a multi-coloured beam straight towards the little unicorn. The beam had struck Premium Polish, promptly making her aware of the current feeling. And it was an unpleasant one.
"A-Aaaaaaaah! AAAAH!" Premium cried out as her android body was not only taking Equestrian Magic but also Infinity Energy for the first time. And the pain was shocking and hard for the little pony to hold as she gained some extra consciousness due to this.
Skyblue Shine watched as her daughter cried out in pain from receiving all the Infinity Energy. This was clearly an overwhelming force of power that was not meant for somepony so small. At least, not to this extent. Mega Evolution and Z-Rings are safe for everypony in Equestria due to how they are able to connect to both Trainer and Pokemon. Even the Bond Phenomenon, despite how risky it can be, involves the Pokemon Trainer in some way.
But not this kind of Infinity Energy.
It is a power only meant for Pokemon and the moves they can perform. And it showed as Premium's eyes widened with her android body heating up.
"E-Empress! She's going to overload and combust!" Skyblue Shine cried out, prompting the Empress to stop firing. The last thing she wanted was for Premium Polish to explode.
"Hah..." The Empress took a deep breath as she noticed how much power the machine was building up after that. Premium's consciousness was weakened once more as her body was heating up, showing signs of smoke coming out as the pain had ended.
"Empress. The process has been sped up." A scientist spoke, showing Empress Twilight the progress. Approximately 12
hours of magical conversion have passed by."
"12 hours you say? Excellent. Then that's a sign this Infinity Energy can work. Another one should do, but with more power and Pokemon behind it."
"Empress, wait!" Skyblue Shine then ran in front of the Empress before further action could be done. "If you unleash another blast, her body may not survive. It's already showing signs of overheating with all of that smoke. Premium Polish is still a filly, so she is fragile. Please. Give her a break at least."
"Hm. You're right." Empress Twilight nodded. "While we could repair her, we can't afford to slow down. We'll postpone. Give her 3 hours. But after seeing all of that Infinity Energy, more Pokemon may be needed. Perhaps, Celestia's Gardevoir could finish the process." Now she had a new idea in mind.
Passion. An incredibly powerful and special Pokemon. Stronger than the average Gardevoir when she was just a Kirlia and has the unbridled potential to continuously get stronger each time she breaks her boundaries and limits. Essentially, having no end to how powerful she can become.
The perfect candidate for a ton of Infinity Energy. And luckily for the Empress, Passion was within this palace. However, not imprisoned as she expected her to be.
"Thank goodness..." Skyblue Shine sighed. In truth, she was just relieved that her daughter wouldn't be obliterated on the spot. However, that could still be the case with more Infinity Energy potentially coming soon. Especially from Passion, who holds a plethora of it.
And speaking of Celestia, one of the scientists' burst into the door, breathing in and out. "Empress! Celestia and her Pokemon have escaped!"
"Are you...kidding me?!" The Empress growled. "Curse that Celestia! Everyone from that universe is so persistent and stubborn it's just frustrating!" She then took a moment for a deep breath. "It's fine...We can finish the Magical Unite sooner than expected. In fact, how about we skip Passion and go for the Legendaries."
"L-Legendaries, Empress?" Skyblue Shine stuttered. That didn't sound good at all. For Premium's sake.
"That's right. Specifically the ones our alliance owns. Zekrom is out of the question...but not the rest. Get Daybreaker here as soon as you can. Get to it."
"Y-Yes, Empress!" Skyblue Shine nodded but showing reluctance in her movements. She was fearing the worst now. And the worst was potentially closing in.
Pegalysium. Far East. Nightfall.
Meanwhile, Second Wind and the other Indigo Alliance Members who had promptly escaped had all rendezvoused to another secret hideout in Pegalysium.
That being one of the temples in Pegalysium. Made by the pegasi of the past. Centuries ago. The outside looked to be a rundown temple like the rest, but in truth, a special magical illusion spell made it seem that way.
The Indigo Alliance had polished it up to fit their grandiose look and style. Within the temple, they decided to hide here for a while with Jade still in their possession. However, Second Wind knew this wouldn't last and was aiming for other plans.
"Because of you and your meddling friends, everything that we've been building and planned for is being turned upside down...!" Second Wind growled at Jade who kept a stoic face whilst being restrained.
"Tough. But then again, it's only natural for this to happen." Jade replied with a hint of sarcasm in her words. She wanted to crack a smile for extra points but it just wasn't happening.
"Oh...but we the alliance are known for changing the tides. We've been doing it for centuries ever since this secret society was founded. And we'll continue to do so without end." Second Wind smirked.
"But...what do we do now, Grand Judge? We are no longer a secret or myth anymore." A member asked as all of them were stumped.
"Cease your whining. There are ways around this. The first is to deal with that Royal Family. Or better yet...wipe the capital off the map."
"Off the map?" Everypony gasped before discussing.
"The news will travel towards the rest of Pegalysium by tomorrow. Then, everypony will truly know of our existence as reality instead of myth. Unless...we wipe out of the capital and everything in it so that the news never travels in the first place. The Royal Family and every other noble will suddenly vanish without a trace. As if nothing happened. Plus...once they vanish, we can build a new society in the erased capital. One for us. And perhaps...I would look good as a Queen."
Hearing that, the members saw where the Grand Judge was coming from. They agreed with this approach by collectively nodding.
"No way you're gonna go unnoticed. If you destroy it, everypony's gonna notice." Jade said. "You're dumber each time I listen to you."
"Foolish child!" Second Wind then slapped Jade in the face, only for Jade to be unphased. "I said to wipe it off the map, not destroy it. That means utilizing the one thing that can do so without leaving a trace. Rift Magic. And don't worry. I'll make sure to deal with your meddling friends too."
With a devious cackle, Second Wind started extracting Rift Magic from Jade's body once more, giving it all to herself. The goal was simple. Destroy the capital to the point where nothing no longer exists. And with no one left to tell the tale or spread the news.
But of course, Second Wind would need a weapon for this. And by using the Rift Magic within her, she used it to amplify an already existing weapon. The temple itself.
The layout of the temple was starting to change under the control of Second Wind. She wasn't actually using Rift Magic for this. Just her natural magic. But not for long.
With some rearrangements, identical to the Reshape Function from the Empress' forces, the temple had turned into a gigantic pegasus. This has always been a part of the temple. Just for use for whoever could discover. Jade witnessed the appearance change as she was now inside of a building shaped like a pegasus.
"Impressive isn't it?!" Second Wind chuckled. "The pegasi of old built some amazing traps within their temples! But the greatest one without a doubt is this one! The Gallant Pegasus!"
"...That's actually a pretty cool name." Jade couldn't help but complement it. Second Wind then used Rift Magic onto this giant, giving it improvements. Originally, the entire thing was made out of cobblestone. Ordinary Temple materials.
But with Rift Magic, that changed. She had swapped the cobblestone for something better. Dynasite. With this, the giant was practically indestructible. And with pegasus magic already powering it as a form of ammo, Second Wind added one more form of power.
The Magma Stones. Everything that the Indigo Alliance had used against Ash and the others was being combined into this absolute juggernaut of a weapon.
Ultimate defence in the form of Dynasite and grand power in the form of the Magma Stones, Pegasi Magic in the form of every Indigo Alliance member inside and a pinch of Rift Magic.
"Now...Let's erase the capital, shall we?"
Pegalysium. In the middle of the west and east.
Meanwhile, Ash and the others were following the trail where Second Wind and the rest of the alliance had taken Jade too. With Pheromosa's great speed, they moved from island to island in little time. However, it still felt as if they were getting farther away from them.
"Mosa..." Pheromosa looked around, wondering where to go next. Emerald noticed that the hoofsteps stopped abruptly, making her magic useless at the moment.
"Nothing. They must've flown afterwards," said Emerald. "I'm getting pretty tired of this stupid game of tag right now..."
"Ash! Twilight! Guys!" Just then, a voice bellowed from the distance, alerting Ash's group. Arriving at the scene as they were also tracking down Jade was Pinkie Pie's group. They had arrived and met up with their friends after Slurpuff tracked down the scent of Jade.
"Awesome! You guys are okay!" Ash turned to them. "Did you find, Jade?"
"No! We thought you did!" Pinkie came to a screeching halt along with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "Did you?"
"Sorry. But we were close to finding her." Starlight shook her head. "On the bright side, at least everypony knows about the Indigo Alliance being real so..."
"Still no good. It's already nightfall and we're being delayed every time we're close." Twilight looked at the moon. "At this rate, we could be on an endless chase. And with Rift Magic on their side, it'll be even harder."
"They should pass out from using too much Rift Magic," Emerald spoke. "But since there's so many of them and one's dangerous enough, that's a problem alright."
"So...What do we do now?" Cold asked.
"We can-" Just as Ash was about to give an idea, bursting through the clouds with a loud stomp that shook the many islands, rustling the trees and booming through the skies.
Everyone turned in the direction of this potent sound as they had witnessed something unexpected. Something that reminded them of the Storm Behemoth and Tree Behemoth. But this time in the form of a pony.
The Gallant Pegasus.
"OMG! What is that?!" Pinkie Pie gasped as everyone was stunned by this gigantic moving pegasus. It towered above them. Not quite the size of the Storm Behemoth but more along the size of the Tree Behemoth at best.
"Good evening, brats!" Second Wind's voice echoed throughout the area. "You like what you see?! Feast your eyes on the Gallant Pegasus! The thing that's going to wipe you and the capital off the map! Not without help from your friend, of course. This is what you get for your meddling!"
"Jade!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Second Wind! You wanna destroy the city just because of that?!" Ash questioned.
"Pikachu?!"
"I wouldn't expect you kids to understand! The Indigo Alliance is the real reason Pegalysium has been as stable as it currently is! But now that stability is breaking apart! If anything...the alliance rules Pegalysium! Wiping that city and the Royal Family out of existence without anyone left to know how is just what we're used to! And you'll be first!"
With another cackle, Second Wind began attacking Ash and the others with the Gallant Pegasus. At least, they're closer to Jade now. However, not in the scenario they were expecting. But at the moment, the time for the Magical Unite had been decreased to 12 hours during nightfall. Now, it was closer to being completed as the journey continues.
Chapter 543 End.