Kanto Region. Pallet Town. Ketchum Household. Nightfall.
Asleep and silent was the Ketchum family. Ash, Delia, Pikachu and Mr Mime were sleeping peacefully. One of the few times this family isn't energetic and all over the place.
The only one not asleep was Sombra. But then again, he wasn't a part of the family. The shadow of King Sombra was currently thinking of the best way to leave Ash for good. There hasn't been a clear solution or answer to this body attachment and the only possible way to do so was flawed. Cold Colt's Rift Magic was the one with a major flaw. He had his limits and separating two individuals was one of them.
"There has to be something...I will not spend another second with this brat." He said to himself, using his shadowy body to move across the room. His actions and movement range were limited. Ash was at the helm mainly. The most Sombra could do was move a few inches and slightly pull Ash. But that was about it.
He growled, trying to reach even further with his shadow, but it was of no use. "Curses. This would be easier if I had more shadows to work it. That brat is too pure-hearted for anything I can draw on. That new princess better have the solution at once..." Sombra sighed, mentioning Twilight before deciding to rest until morning makes its way to reality.
Equestria. Out in the mountains. Nightfall.
All was calm even in the mountains. Nightfall was the perfect example of peace no matter the world. And speaking of Twilight, she and her Pokemon were currently out here in the mountains this late at night.
Most notably, they were pursuing something. Twilight and Togekiss flew through the air whilst Absol, Cinccino, Espeon and Ninetales went on foot. Naturally. And the objective that they were pursuing was a dark purple wisp. More specifically, a Desire.
Rushing through the mountains, they had found themselves a Desire that had yet to enter its intended target. Twilight and her Pokemon were determined to stop it before that could happen.
"Absol!" Absol appeared in front of the Desire with a growl. The Disaster Pokemon had then used Night Slash, causing his horn to glow as he also swung it at the Desire Wisp. The wisp promptly ascended above Absol to dodge the slash. However, the Dark-Type was one step ahead. He quickly switched the variation of Night Slash, sending cutting waves of darkness by swinging his horn. The waves had then struck the Desire Wisp, throwing it off guard.
The wisp fumbled for a bit from that attack before regaining its momentum. Immediately, it dashed off in a spurt of speed, continuing to escape and reach its target.
"It's going through that river! MInccy, Thunder!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Ccino! Cinccino..!" Cinccino leapt into the air, gathering the power of lighting within her. Right as the wisp neared the lake, the Scarf Pokemon unleashed a mighty number of volts immediately, striking the water. Once the wisp touched the river, it was met with the horrifying combination of water and electricity. That was always a dangerous combo as the Desire Wisp was shocked in place.
"Excellent! Now, Eve! Quick Attack!"
"Espeon!" Once the wisp was paralyzed, Espeon could move in with lightning-fast movements. With the speed she gained, she crashed right into the Desire Wisp at full force.
The Desire Wisp went hurtling with a great knockback. And in response, it let out a horrifying and unknowing screech that could not be described. Truly otherworldly. The Desire Wisp had paused for a moment after the knockback.
"Okay. We've made it this far." Twilight grinned. "Princess Celestia entrusted us to take down this Desire and we're going to see it through. As her best student and her friend." Twilight then thought back to earlier today. A discussion between her and Celestia had taken place.
20 hours ago. Canterlot Castle. Day.
"Twilight. I've realized that all of the Desires out there are plentiful for even Gardevoir and I to handle." Celestia spoke to her. "And so far, from what I can tell, these Desires exist in almost everyone. Perhaps even our closest friends depending on how far they've gotten since you had one as well. Passion and I can't keep all of it up by ourselves. We need assistance. That's where you come in."
"Me? B-But I don't have the ability to get rid of Desires like you do." She stammered.
"You do now. I realized that it wasn't just Passion who could interact with them. While she can do it with mental capabilities, I believe some of your Pokemon can. Togekiss having access to Aura Sphere and Aura being another way to interact with the Desires is already a good sign. And there is your Espeon. Eve. If I'm correct, her Psychic abilities could allow her to perform the same action that Passion can. At least to an extent."
"So it's not some exclusive ability then. Just a matter of power?" Huh." Twilight thought about it for a moment. It did make sense to her.
"But if that can't be solved. Then there's the second-best option. Defeating the Desire before it can reach its next target. Most Desires have already entered others. But there are some still searching far and wide. I'm entrusting you and my guards to intercept those."
"Oh! I can do that!" Twilight nodded aggressively. "If I come across one, I'll make sure to stop it before anything goes south immediately! But...how am I going to sense it? Only Passion can."
"I will let you know when Passion senses some. Until then. Good luck."
Currently.
That all led up to today. Twilight and her Pokemon found a Desire that had yet to reach its target and unleash all the potent Rift abilities that could affect reality itself.
"Now's our chance! Togekiss, Aura Sphere! Ninetales, make sure it doesn't go anywhere with Extrasensory! And Eve, help Ninetales hold it down with Psychic!"
"Ninetales!" Ninetales and Espeon's eyes both illuminated dazzling colours. And from their eyes, a telekinetic hold had been formed around the Desire, holding it in place. Two psychokinetic holds were more than enough.
"Toge...Kiss!" And in came Togekiss, summoning Aura Sphere from her mouth. She charged it up to make sure that it had the right amount of force onto it. Once it was fully charged, she unleashed the sphere of highly concentrated Aura. Moving at high speeds, the mighty sphere had struck the Desire.
The Aura interacted with the Rift Energy, causing an erratic reaction. That reaction then ended up obliterating the Desire Wisp, causing it to implode on itself with tiny purple sparkles flowing out. It had been successfully stopped from reaching its target.
"Yes!" Twilight cheered along with her Pokemon. "Success! I knew we could get it off the first time!" She twirled around as Ninetales pounced on her out of excitement. "Oof!"
"Ninetales!" The Fox Pokemon cried out, licking Twilight's face and making her giggle.
"N-Ninetales! Knock it off!"
"Espeon!" Espeon went up to Absol, raising her paw. Absol smiled back at her, raising his paw as well as they touched, performing the equivalent of a high five. Cinccino held Togekiss' wings as they danced around.
And as they were cheering, watching from the clouds above as always was the ever-lurking presence of one of the Rift Humans. In this case, it was Sienna. The creator of the Desires. She watched as Twilight and her Pokemon had defeated one of her creations quickly without the real tension and possession occurring.
"Mrrgh..." She grumbled, showing to be displeased with this. "Another Desire taken out so easily. That one didn't even reach anyone. This isn't any fun." She balled her hand into a fist, placing it on her cheek, sighing afterwards. Her enjoyment was starting to be sapped away. And appearing at the right moment when Sienna has having a sulking moment was Lucien.
"Your idea's not panning out, is it?" He had a smug grin on his face.
"That goes for you too. You're the one who helped make some adjustments to it after all." Sienna scoffed at her brother, turning away from him. "Besides...the Desires aren't what they used to be."
"More like they're not reaching their full potential." Lucien shrugged. "But you can work on that anytime. Me. I'm just watching things play out right now."
"Hmph. That just proves you're lagging behind. You've got nothing to show." Sienna chuckled, taunting him. "At least I'm thinking ahead of things. I've already got something brewing up in here."
"I've got stuff! It just takes time to come to me!" Lucien growled, crossing his arms and leaning his head on another cloud. "I don't wanna just go around shooting stuff and making random things happen, like; POW!" Lucien then pointed his fingers, shooting Rift wisps into clouds. They didn't do anything random at all as he was constantly shooting them around. But they did light up the clouds.
"Sol?" And this got Absol's attention. The Disaster Pokemon raised his head to see the flashing lights within the clouds. Those weren't thunderstorms brewing. He recognized those colours as Rift-based. "Absol...!" Absol took action immediately. He stomped on the ground, building up energy for Giga Impact. A golden aura started erupting from his body as the ground was shaking.
"Hm? Abol? What are you-" Cut off the moment she noticed this build-up, Absol had taken off with a booming sound, leaving a shockwave behind that knocked Cinccino and Espeon over. "Woah!" Twilight closed her eyes as her mane blew in her face. "Absol?!"
"Absol!" Absol roared as he was heading straight for the clouds that Lucien and Sienna were on, aiming to expose them at last.
"Hm? Do you hear something?" Sienna heard the sound of a shockwave and a scream as well. Both at the same time while also picking up on another sound that resembled a rocket taking off.
"Hear wh-" And just like Twilight, Lucien had also been cut off as Absol had already reached the clouds. The moment he arrived, he caused a massive explosion of Infinity Energy. It caught Lucien and Sienna both off guard and due to this surprise attack, both of them had been knocked out swiftly.
Twilight and the rest of her Pokemon gawked with open mouths as the clouds had been separated and parted from Absol's Giga Impact. They were less surprised with how brash Absol acted. That's how he was. Once the explosion settled down and faded, jumping out of the smoke was Absol. But soon, Twilight and her friends would see Lucien and Sienna, falling whilst unconscious.
"Oh!" Twilight gasped, quickly flying towards them. Togekiss promptly followed her. Twilight Sparkle had used her magic, performing telekinesis onto Sienna and saving her from a horrifying crash landing. Togekiss had swooped in, carrying Lucien on her back. Both had been saved, thankfully. "That was close..Uh...nice find, Absol?"
"Absol." Absol sat down, acting casually as if he didn't almost doom the two of them and part the clouds at the same time. Twilight and Togekiss, with care, placed the two Rift Humans on the ground whilst descending. Ninetales and Espeon went up to Lucien and Sienna, sniffing them.
"Whew...This night took a rapid turn." Twilight sighed. "But it's also a major moment. We have them both here. Lucien and Sienna have caused problems for us, much like Obsidian and Emerald Aura did back then. Finding them was never easy but it looks like tonight's that moment."
"Esp. Espeon." Espeon nudged Twilight's hoof. She then aimed her paw over at the south, right where Canterlot Castle could be seen in the far distance, shrouded by the night sky fog.
"You're right, Eve. Off to Canterlot, it is."
Canterlot. Nightfall.
"Mmm..." Currently, Celestia was sleeping peacefully. She and her Pokemon were sleeping in their exclusive beds. Fittingly, Arcanine's bed resembled a dog house. The trio were having splendid dreams at the moment. But appearing now of all times was Twilight via teleportation magic. She appeared outside of Celestia's room, just next to her door.
Afterwards, she gave a good knocking to it. "Princess Celestia?"
"Hm...Cobalion, you're such a charmer...I already have the perfect name for our child..." She didn't hear the first knock at all, speaking in her dreams. Another knock came through with Twilight saying her name once more, but slightly louder. "Huh?" Celestia woke up from that. "Oh..." She wasn't too fond of waking up right now, considering she was having such a wonderful dream.
Nevertheless, she went up to the door, opening it with her magic. There stood Twilight Sparkle and her Pokemon, along with Lucien and Sienna who were still out cold. "Twilight? It's late...What is it?" Celestia grumbled with her mane over her face, shaggy and rugged.
"Sorry. But I just had to show you this. Look." She showed the Ruler of Equestria some of the most wanted individuals currently. The Rift Humans.
"Oh." Celestia blinked for a moment, still trying to get her energy back after being woken up. "Oh!" Realization then kicked in for her. Now she was fully awake. "T-That easily?! You caught them both?!"
"Well, it was mainly Absol. He must've sensed them up in the clouds. His Giga Impact knocked them both out in one go. I knew Absol was strong, but not that strong."
"Well done, Absol. Someone's getting a medal for that." Celestia smiled at the Disaster Pokemon as Passion and Arcanine awoke after Celestia's bellow.
"Sol."
"I wasn't sure to give them to the guards since...ya know...they have Rift Magic. At any moment, they could wake up and turn everything upside-down on us. I was hoping you could do something."
"Hm..." Celestia pondered. It was true. Unlike Obsidian, whose magic was restrained by the Rift, Lucien and Sienna's restraints were non-existent. They still had a massive amount of Rift Energy within them. "Our magic restraints will be pointless on them. There's nothing here that can hold them back..."
"Gardevoir?" Passion rubbed her eyes, arriving next to Celestia. "Voir?"
"Ah!" Something came up in Celestia's mind. "My magic and Aura can interact with Rift Magic. I suppose we could make a substitute prison with those combined. I have access to that magic and your Togekiss' Aura Sphere could do the trick."
"Would it work? And how would we do it?"
"We have to try. Come along before they wake up." A plan had been hatched. One that was up in the air. Hard to say if it could succeed. A new type of prison could be made. Hopefully, one that could contain them considering how potent their Rift Magic was.
And watching from above was the Rift. It had witnessed how easily Absol had taken out Lucien and Sienna with Giga Impact. Even it was impressed by Absol's unbridled strength.
"That's a surprise to be sure. But Lucien and Sienna have yet to go the distance. I can see great things coming from them." The Rift wasn't ready to give up on the two of them at all. Lucien and Sienna certainly had ideas that had kept the Rift entertained.
From meddling the 18 Realms, swapping Ash and Ghetsis' bodies along with a few Desires here and there. The Rift was feeling pleased but it wanted to see more. More of what they could do. So, for the first time, the Rift decided to not only move around, appearing a massive hole that was floating across the skies and land but it was starting to take shape.
However, the moment it decided to take shape, it stopped promptly. The Rift sensed someone nearby. It was nothing of great caution to it considering how much omnipotence it had over seemingly everything. "I can see you there. Discord."
"Yes?" Appearing from the darkness out of thin air was the Spirit of Chaos, Discord. "Why did you stop? I'm curious to see what you were going to look like."
"Why are you here? And of all times, it had to be this moment."
"Well, I didn't care too much about you in the beginning. Even when they brought me back just to deal with your shenanigans. Which are above average by the way. But the moment I saw you moving, deciding to bring some Divine Intervention, how could I ignore it?"
"That's right. It's been a considerable amount of time ever since all of this took place. I've mainly seen my creations go along, causing certain events to occur or influencing them. From the Dynamax Crisis to those 18 Realms previously. Now, I feel as if I should have a swing at things."
"And what can you do? You're the one being entertained, aren't you?" Discord made multiple pointing arrows appear around the Rift. "I'd imagine that not being the entertainer means that there's nothing interesting brewing in there."
"You have a point. I've barely done much ever since my arrival here. I should pick up the pace. Perhaps I could start with you, Spirit of Chaos."
"Oh, no. I'm perfectly fine. You can change what's ever-changing." Discord shook his head, putting his arms behind his back and making a halo appear.
"I'd prefer to have things play out normally. Such as that predicament with King Sombra and a few things brewing in the other worlds at the moment. Even you, Discord. You are far too erratic and unpredictable for even me."
"Oh, you flatter me." Discord chuckled for a bit.
"I won't bother with you. Instead, there's already someone else out there that could do it. Another member of that alliance Empress Twilight made."
"And who would that be?" Discord made some tea to pass the time.
"Cosmos."
"!!" That got Discord's attention as he spat out of the tea, causing it to fly out in reverse and drench him in the liquid instead. He then blinked for a second before stammering in his words. "I-I-I-I-B-Beg your pardon? No, no. You're most certainly trying to get a scare out of me, aren't you? Cosmos is long gone."
"Not the Cosmos from another universe. She's still out there. And there is a high guarantee that she will eventually make her move in the alliance. You will be the first major target of her, no doubt."
"Pssh. Balderdash. Even so, I feel perfectly safe. The Pokemon will protect me. Mainly my friends' Pokemon more than anything so hah!"
"That much faith in those Strange and Wonderful Creatures, eh? Positive that even they can stop Cosmos? That is some optimism. Very well. I'm certainly eager for when that day comes. Even you know that another attack on this world is due aside from the invasion. I will be watching with open eyes and especially paying attention to you two Draconequui when it all plays out. But, I should be going now. I'm expecting Lucien and Sienna's reactions shortly."
The Rift left, leaving the Spirit of Chaos in a frozen state. Discord had his face scrunched as he was sweating so much that it made the area rain immediately. This was the most intimidated Discord had ever felt. Fearful of the potential horror that could come his way, Discord also left the area, deciding to head somewhere else.
Kanto. Pallet Town. Ketchum Household. Nightfall.
And that place was the Ketchum Household. Discord appeared there as soon as he could, going for the one individual that he could call a good friend. Ash.
"Ash!" He opened the door, causing Ash to wake up with a gasp. "Ash, my boy. I don't want to alarm you, but we have an encroaching issue on our hands here!"
"Hm...What? What happened?" Ash groaned. "Is something wrong?"
"Very wrong and-"
"Hey!" Interrupting this short conversation was Delia. She burst the door open, startling everyone inside. Even King Sombra as Pikachu had woken up. "It's late! 3:50 in the morning! What are you doing here, Discord?!"
"Apologies, Mrs Ketchum!" Discord laughed nervously before making a second head appear out of the back of his neck. That second head then went over to Ash, whispering at him. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Meet me at the Pokemon House, if you please."
And just like that, he left as quickly as he arrived. Ash was still a bit perplexed by that. It all happened so fast. He looked at Delia, then at Pikachu. Pikachu just went back to bed, ignoring everything that had just happened. "W-What just happened...?"
"Nevermind, dear. Go to sleep." Delia closed the scenario by also closing the door. Ash and Sombra looked at each other, not saying a word. It was best to just let tomorrow come by and everything would make sense afterwards.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 667 End.