//------------------------------// // Short: Stuck in Equestria // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Equestria. Canterlot. Afternoon. After the Canterlot Tag Battle Competition ended with Ash and Fluttershy emerging as the winners, some food was in store for a job well done. For every trainer. Ash and Barry were eating away at what Celestia had given them. But more importantly, Celestia had something to ask Ash. "Mmm-mm! Worth it all..." Ash said before patting his stomach along with Barry, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. "Yeah." The three of them agreed. "Worth it." "Shame I missed out on some battles," Luna spoke. "Some of my Pokemon would've enjoyed it, honestly. Congratulations on you two winning, by the way," "There's always the Equestria League. At least I'll get to use all my Pokemon there." Rainbow Dash uttered. "Ah, well anyway!" Barry stood up. "Thanks for the food, Princess." He then bowed, showing his respects. "I'm heading off now, Big road ahead. See ya when I see ya, Ash." "Same to you, Barry. Good luck out there." Ash also stood up as he and Barry have handshakes of respect, vowing to see each other again somewhere out there. Whether in this world or the Pokemon World. "Peace!" Barry immediately dipped, off to do what he does best. Whatever that is. Barry immediately waltzed his way out of here, but the guards of Canterlot would help him. They had a Travel Sphere out for those who wished to exit to the Pokemon World. But as a guard opened a gateway, something happened. The Travel Sphere blew up. "Ah!" The guard gasped as he backed away along with Barry. "Yikes!" Barry squealed as the sphere had tiny mechanical bits fall to the floor. "That was close!" "Are you two okay?!" Ash asked as everyone had witnessed the destruction of the Travel Sphere. They thought it was a malfunction with just that one sphere, but with a guard showing up and Audino hearing the sounds of humans outside, it was clear something was off. "Your majesty!" A guard rushed in. "We have a problem! It's the Travel Spheres!" "I noticed." Celestia nodded before looking at the broken bits of machinery. "What exactly is happening with them?" "Well, when we went to use them to send some of the humans back to the Pokemon World, they suddenly blew up on us without warning. It was instant as well." "The same happened here. You don't suppose it could be related to the various gateways being altered?" Luna looked at her big sister. "I'm afraid it is. Ghetsis." Celestia said Ghetsis' name as it sent shivers down everyone's spine. His name just made the atmosphere cold and nearly dead. "Much like how I recognized his Dark Aura on that day, it must have also affected anything related to gateways." "So all of the Travel Spheres have Dark Aura in them now?!" Luna gasped. "What exactly did he do?! Ash! You were in the human world that day. Could you inform us of what occurred there?" "Yeah. You said Ghetsis showed up and caused trouble?" Rainbow Dash turned to Ash. "RIght. But I didn't know what he did." Ash scratches his hair before thinking back to the gateway in the Human World that led to Eindoak Town. He also remembered how Ghetsis said this during their encounter. "Haven't you noticed something from our previous encounters? Our battle at Saddle Arabia and over at the castle. Our Auras. When they clash at their peak, I've noticed that some form of Rift Energy forms from it. I couldn't ignore this. Not at all. That's when I figured out how both our Auras can do so much more when it comes to a separate form of power." "Oh wait!" Ash finally realized what Ghetsis was after. The appearance of gateways that led to alternate universes where Red, Blue, Gold and Silver existed and how the gateways had been mixed up during the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. It all added up. "That's what he was aiming for!" "So does this mean the Travel Spheres are useless now?" Twilight gulped. "Hold on! How am I gonna get home?!" Barry screeched. "Don't tell me I gotta take the long way back? Any close gateways to Sinnoh?" "Sadly, the Sinnoh gateways have also been mixed up. We're struggling to find them." Celestia apologised with her eyes closing. "Sorry, Barry." "Grr...That Ghetsis...!" A flaming aura appeared around Barry. He was not too happy about this as he grizzled his teeth with a red vein appearing. "When I see him, he's getting a fine!" "For once we agree on something," said Rarity. "What now, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked. "It'll be hard for some of them to get back home at this rate." "I know. The Travel Spheres weren't acting up like this when we first used them. The second usage of them is probably what allowed Ghetsis' influence to sabotage them." A sweatdrop appeared on Celestia's head. "That means the Ranger Union could suffer the same issue. And unfortunately, I have yet to learn how to use Planewalking like the Empress. "She lowered her head. "So, most of them are stuck here now?" Fluttershy said as Celestia nodded in confirmation. "Bummer." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Just when we were all getting back from a good competition and all that." "It's not all lost." Rarity shook her head. "The alternative is the gateways that are still available and unchanged. And the gateways back to other regions still exist. Albeit it far away." "We've yet to locate all of them, but it would not hurt to try and get every single one of them back home," Luna suggested to her big sister. "All we need to do is find every last one. And that way, we'll have the capability to teleport in and out of those locations afterwards." "Is that how their teleportation stuff works?" Barry asked Twilight. "We can't teleport a place we've never been to before." Twilight explained. "For the spell to work, you need to have been there before and inject it in your memory. Teleportation's easy but it's complicated too." "We'll get to searching. Send every troop across Equestria and find all of the missing gateways. As for everyone else, I suggest taking the gateway in Ponyville to Kanto and the one in Manehattan that connects to Castelia City. That's the only way for now." "Yes, your majesty!" The guards saluted before heading off. "Come with me, Barry," said Luna. "I'll take you to Manehattan and Castelia's gateway." "Thanks a bunch." Barry gave a thumbs-up of appreciation as he stood near Luna. After being near the Moon Princess, Luna instantly sent herself and Barry out of Canterlot and to Manehattan. Luna would take things from here. For all of one second, she returned via teleportation again. "That's one down at least." Luna sighed. "A hundred or...thousand to go." But after she sighed, Ash got a call from his Rotomphone. Barry was calling as he promptly picked it up. "Yeah? What's up Barry?" Ash asked. "WHAT GIVES?! I CAN'T PASS THROUGH!" His voice boomed through the Rotomphone as Audino's ears got the worst of it. Everyone gasped afterwards. "What do you mean you can't pass through?!" Ash asked as Luna quickly returned to Manehattan to see the issue. Indeed, back at Manehattan, Barry could not pass through. He tried moving through the gateway, only for his body to be repulsed by a pulse of cosmic energy and Aura. "Ow!" He fell to the ground as he got back up. "Let me through!" Barry rushed at the gateway, bashing his body against it. But he was pushed back once more. Luna appeared to see Barry trying to push through as everypony here watched. Barry truly could not push through the gateway at all. "Unbelievable..." Luna gawked. "How much did Ghetsis affect everything...?" "Geez." Barry groaned. "This blows!" As he exclaimed, Luna instantly brought him back to Canterlot. "Manehattan's gateway is blocked off as well?!" Celestia bit her hoof. "Who knows how many gateways have been blocked off as well?!" "Can't we just go one month without something like this happening?" Spike sighed. With the gateways being suddenly blocked off, the humans were reasonably upset about this as they demanded answers as to why this was happening. And they directed those answers to Celestia, but first, the guards were being questioned as they were being bombarded by questions. "How come we can't leave here at all?" A man asked. "I need to head back home to Hoenn as soon as I can!" A woman pleaded. "Why haven't the rest of the gateways been found yet?" And more questions just kept flooding in. The guards were unable to keep up with all of them as Celestia looked outside her window. Just when they had a great competition, somehow, without him being there, Ghetsis had ruined it for everyone. No one was able to head home right now. In fact, every human that had shown up to see this competition were stuck here with little hope of returning. A shame. At least, for now, that is. Celestia knew one of one solution and it involved Cold Colt. "Cold." Celestia sighed. "Can you get Emerald Aura, please?" "Uh, I'll get on it, princess." Emerald Aura was the ace in the hole. Hopefully, she could fix this predicament. But right now, other important matters were on her mind. "By the way, Ash. I should've brought this up earlier. But tell me. You've been on adventures throughout the Pokemon World for years now. Do you know about a Sea Temple?" Celestia asked. "Yeah! Totally." Without thinking for another second, Ash nodded in confirmation. "Samiya. I told a small story about it to the Cutie Mark Crusaders when I was foalsitting them." "Excellent!" Celestia exclaimed as some relief had come through. Finally, some good news. "Oh. That's wonderful to hear!" "So, what's up? Do you wanna know about Samiaya?" "Well, actually, it's more along the lines of getting there. You see, during the competition, yesterday and before, Luna had spotted what was apparently the Empress' and Daybreaker's forces in the Pokemon World. They were present there during the afternoon, nightfall and a bit of the day. And they were all searching for one thing. The Sea Temple." "So they know about it too..." Ash gawked. "Pikachu..." "SO far, none of them have found it. Neither have us. But, since you've been there, you should know how we can reach it even if it moves with the sea currents? Is there a secret password to chant?" Celestia looked around. "A hidden entrance? A special item? Perhaps we can get in by-" "Well, the special item's true but there's an easier way." Ash chuckled as all ears were on him. "All we need is Manaphy." "Manaphy?" They all repeated. "That's it?" "Yeah. You see, every Manaphy knows how to find the Sea Temple. They're connected to it. All Manaphy have homing instincts that guide them to the temple's location even though it has a cloaking device. How neat is that?" "Very neat." Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie said. "Oh...That's surprisingly easy." A relieved Celestia laughed a bit. "And we have a Manaphy as our friend. Baby Flurry Heart's Manaphy," said Luna. "How simple and right on time. I believe we know what we should do next." "This Sea Temple stuff's pretty interesting." Barry slid in with his usual smug face, nudging Ash. "Spill it, Ash. What else do you know about it?" "Huh? Well..." Ash scratched his face. "I've only been there once and I was kinda running for my life when I was in the temple so..." "Pikachu." "Alright. I spoke to Emerald." Cold said. "She used her magic to find every gateway's location." "Good," Celestia replied. "W-Why doesn't she just fix their positions exactly?" "It's the same way Ghetsis' Dark Aura could mess with our Rift Magic. Or even Discord's Chaos Magic when I was captured that one time." Cold shrugged. "It's like he planned for me to do something like this. I don't think he knew about Emerald being on our side." "Can she at least send every human to the set locations that she's found?" Luna asked. "Oh yeah. She can do that." Cold nodded as he quickly informed this information to Emerald via some telepathy. That was at least one problem taken care of for a bit. But the other issue remained. Getting the humans through the gateway. "Now how exactly can we have them pass through if Ghetsis has blocked everything off? The humans are essentially stuck here until we find a way." Luna wondered. She sat in a corner, digging deep. "Wait. Why do they wanna reach the Sea Temple?" questioned Ash. "Unless they're going for the Sea Crown or the crystals!" "Pikachu?" "Whatever form of power they need." Celestia turned around. "I'll call for the Crystal Empire and see if we can get in touch with Flurry Heart's Manaphy. We'll also find a way to pass through the gateway." Truly a troublesome day. Because of this inconvenience, the humans were stuck in Equestria until the problem could be solved. At least they would know where each gateway would be. Aside from that, another problem was hovering above the horizon. Samiya. But at least that one had an easy solution. Manaphy. Speaking of Manaphy, Celestia immediately got in touch with the Crystal Empire. Specifically Cadence. Questions about Manaphy's assistance were due. As for the gateway issue, Ash wondered something. "Maybe I could try." Ash looked at his hands before summoning Sir Aaron's staff. "My Aura works against Ghetsis' Aura. Think I could fix this somehow?" "If it's much like the first time your Auras interacted, some of your own is in those gateways," said Twilight. "Will it work? W-Won't you get Delayed Aura Ataxia again?" "We can't know unless we try." Ash gripped the staff. "Pikachu." Manehattan. Afternoon. The obvious first place to try it was Manehattan and the gateway that led to Castelia City. Luna brought Ash here as he stood in front of the gateway. With the assistance of Sir Aaron's staff, he had good faith that his Aura would work. Even if his own Aura was mixed in due to Ghetsis forcing this mixture. "Come on, Ash. Use some of that Aura magic and get me out of here." Barry patted Ash on the back. "But this place actually looks pretty nice." "Rooting for ya, Ash!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "Come on and fix those gateways!" "I got it." Ash gave his approving and signature smile before facing the gateway in front of him. He then looked at the staff, feeling Sir Aaron granting him some strength from the afterlife. He then put one hand forward, heading for the gateway. The residents of Manehattan took a little peek to see what Ash was up to. They were curious as to why everyone was giving so much attention to this one gateway. Ash allowed his Aura to flow through and exude out of him. His hand connected with the gateway to Castelia City with his Aura surrounding it. What followed was a dazzling pulse of Aura stardust that started flowing out. The gateway started rippling from Ash's reaction as everyone gawked. With his influence, the gateway was starting to change properties. Twilight and the others looked close to see that Ash's hand managed to travel through the gateway. A great sign as they all had smiles grace their faces. Ash could indeed reverse what Ghetsis did. Until something shocking happened. While Ash managed to make the gateway passable, as soon as he pulled his hand away, a devious and instant black aura emerged, latching onto his arm. It made a hissing and roaring sound once it had emerged startling everyone that heard and witnessed it. "Oh!" Ash gasped as he moved back. The black aura suddenly wrapped around his arm like a leech as he fell to the ground. It came straight from the gateway as everything around the area was starting to lose its light. The howling of the black aura increased as it started consuming the rest of Ash. "PikaPi!" "Ash!" They all cried out. Celestia acted quickly, using her magic from her Boundless Cutie Mark. She was also one of the few who could interact with something like this. By using her magic, she made a golden light that had blown away the black aura, disintegrating it. It had also disintegrated the black aura that came from the gateway, obliterating it from existence. Ash and the gateway were free. "Ugh...!" Ash's arm twitched as he still sat on the ground. "Ash! Are you alright?!" Celesti asked Ash. But Ash didn't immediately get back up. Instead, he sat there. Looking drained. And after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly fell to the ground on his back with his eyes closed. Delayed Aura Ataxia had happened. But not in its usual way. This time, a separate Aura managed to affect Ash instead of his own. An Aura belonging to Ghetsis. "Ash!" His friends all gasped, running to his side. He had fainted for sure. Unknown of how long it may be. Celestia knew this was Ghetsis' doing as she could feel it with her own magic. Everyone in Manehattan started chatting, wondering what could've happened to Ash all of a sudden. Panic and worry filled the streets as Celestia uttered something. "Ghetsis. What are you up to?" As the journey continues. Chapter 578 End.