Equestria. Canterlot. Canterlot Castle. Afternoon.
"Ah, Ash. Heading to the Human World again?" Celestia spoke to Ash and Pikachu, who were currently making their way to the Human World, just to see Twilight. Or as Ash just now thought of, 'Sci-Twi'.
"Sure am." Ash turned to Celestia before putting his foot through the mirror. "We'll be back soon as always."
"Ah, perfect timing! I was thinking of doing the same."
"You're gonna go through too, Celestia?"
"Of course! For two major reasons. For one, I want to appear as a human and know what it feels like. The closest is when I become Celestial-Gardevoir. ANn two...it's the only way I can be taller than you without special rules."
"Gah!" Ash gasped, realizing that for the longest time, he had always been taller than Celestia by one inch, minus Celestial-Gardevoir. His days of being the tallest could come to n end once Celestia passes through that gateway.
"Hm-hm." Celestia playfully laughed. "We'll see who's large and powerful this time, Ash."
"Gardevoir." Passion rubbed her hands while standing next to Celestia as they both had that mischievous look on their faces. Although Passion was always taller than Ash.
"I'm not sure why you're laughing Passion. I'll be your height when we get there." Celestia added.
"Garde!" Gardevoir's laughter was cut off as she also came to that realization. This friend group had a great obsession with being large and in charge. Being taller than the other was surprisingly addicting to them.
"Darn it." Ash lowered his head before facing the portal. "Alright. Let's go."
"Pika-Pika."
"Splendid~!" Celestia playfully replied as she, Passion and Arcanine eventually passed through the portal along with Ash and Pikachu going first. It was off to the Human World and Ash already knew what to expect thanks to the existence of Principal Celestia.
The Human World. Canterlot High. Afternoon.
Entering this world yet again were Ash and Pikachu, here to see some friend of theirs. Since it was summer in this world as well, Summer Vacation had come up for the students of Canterlot High, making the school less populated. But they would still hang around here from time to time.
Entering here, Ash could hear the silence of the area. This was the quietest Canterlot High has been. But that wasn't on his mind. He knew what was coming next the moment Celestia passed through the gateway.
Once Celestia emerged, she wasted no time and started focusing on only herself and nothing else. There won't be anything close that can rival the curiosity she had about her human form.
"Ooh...Look at me!" Celestia admired her human form, gazing at her dainty fingers. She then noticed she was wearing a white jacket with yellow line patterns that were befitting of royalty. "And this outfit is wonderful! Not too shabby."
"You look so cool!" Ash, Pikachu, Passion and Arcanine admired Celestia's human getup. It helped that the Sun was focusing on her.
"Pika-Pika!"
"I certainly do." And Celestia was proud of it, making her jacket flow in the wind with some magic. It was just as surprising as Celestia was able to easily use magic despite coming here for the first time. "Alright then! Now that I'm here, I've been itching for some exploration. What kind of fun things can I find here?!"
"Do you wanna start with this school right here? Or, you're probably thinking of something bigger, right?"
"You know me so well, Ash. Come along then!" Celestia then pointed to the distance. "Take me to this world's Twilight Sparkle! Oh, that felt good to do with an arm!" She was also just having a good time, experiencing a new form. This human form certainly had more fingers than Celestial-Gardevoir. That was one bonus.
Ash led the way as Celestia and her Pokemon followed. Since there were still students hanging around here, they would notice Celestia easily and believe her to be their principal. Speaking of Principal Celestia, when walking out of the building, it was only inevitable for her to meet her counterpart one day.
Upon exiting the school, her eyes were fixated on the familiar figure. She gasped for a moment, seeing her counterpart walking alongside Ash, having a conversation. Celestia rubbed her eyes, wondering if this was real. It was. But to Principal Celestia, after knowing about the existence of two separate Twilight Sparkles and Sunset Shimmers, this wasn't too surprising. It was just that she wasn't expecting to see herself today.
"Woah...how'd you do that?" A student went up to the principal, believing that she pulled off a magic trick to make this happen when that was not the case.
But, getting to Twilight's Home wasn't instant. As the second Celestia went out into town, she recognized familiar faces right off the bat. This was Canterlot's counterpart after all. Canterlot Town. She saw so many familiar faces here. She's used to seeing alternate versions of her, Twilight, Luna and Cadence but not of everyone else.
She stopped by to see all these counterparts, greeting them and even seeing the parallels to certain stores back in her world. Naturally, some of them were students that went to Canterlot High but chose to stay home during their vacation. TO them, it was bizarre that their principal would come by with such enthusiasm. Even if she wasn't.
Canterlot Town was not just a parallel to Canterlot but Ponyville, making it a double parallel. This meant that she would recognize some Ponyville residents here.
"Hey, Ash!" One of this town's residents waved over at Ash. That being Fluttershy. She ran over, currently holding an egg in her arms. A Pokemon Egg.
"Hey, Fluttershy! How goes that egg?"
"Good so far. I've been feeling some wobbling from it, so whoever's in there is almost ready to come out one day." She looked at the egg as it was shaking within her grasp. "Oh, you're with Principal Celestia?"
"Ah, Fluttershy. Good to meet you in this world!" Celestia replied enthusiastically. "You see, I'm your Celestia's counterpart. Not actually from this world."
"Ooh...The majestic jacket would make sense then."
"It does, doesn't it?" Celestia flaunted her jacket some more. "So, since you have an egg, do you have a place for Pokemon too?"
"Uh...if you mean my home then sure. A lot of them flocked to my home. I tried taking them to the Animal Shelter but...they're not the same as animals. For the most part." Fluttershy chuckled. "But...what Pokemon are those two?"
"Meet Passion, who's a Gardevoir." Celestia wrapped her arm around Passion, who was now around her height as both of them gave thumbs up.
"Gardevoir!"
"And my lovely Arcanine." She then rubbed Arcanine's back, making him pant.
"Arca! Arcanine!" Arcanine seemed more elated by a back rub than ever before and Celestia would capitalize on this.
"Oh? What's this? Human hands are more effective, eh? In that case..." A sly look came to her face as she continued to rub Arcanine's back> "How's this?!"
"Canine!" Arca!" Arcanine was loving it as he then turned to lay on his back, wanting a belly rub. Celestia granted him that wish, giving him an advanced belly rub that greatly pleased the Legendary Pokemon.
"Who's a good boy?!"
"Lucky...You have such beautiful Pokemon. Like her." Fluttershy then looked at Gardevoir who was by far the tallest Pokemon she had met so far. "Uh, hello."
"Gardevoir." Gardevoir waved before putting her hand on Fluttershy's head.
"Oh, is this a special greeting for this species?" Fluttershy chuckled once Passion patted her head.
"Voir!"
"There are so many things I want to try as a human. Such as those stellar poses you do when you battle. I have my limitations as a pony but now..."
"Now, you can do it. Pose anyway you like." Ash encouraged. "Make it look cool!"
"Pikachu!"
"That's the plan, Ash."
"This Celestia's more excited than I ever would've thought." Fluttershy was genuinely surprised to see how enthusiastic this counterpart was. Her Celestia was already enthusiastic, but this was at a new level.
"Surprising, isn't it? Something similar must've happened to your world's Celestia." Celestia replied, continuing to give Arcanine belly rubs.
"Something similar?" Fluttershy repeated. "Not sure. I don't know her that well."
"Well, I'm a princess back in my world. The ruler of an entire country known as Equestria. And being a ruler, you have the power to do anything, but rarely do you get to experience everything. My royal duties would limit me to what I could do. I didn't get to experience many fun activities in my youth. I missed out on so much."
"Oh, I see..."
"But now, that's no longer the case. Pokemon coming into my life was the best thing that could've happened! I've never felt freer and live! I can do so much and experience whatever I can! These past 3 years have been some of the most entertaining moments in my life. And I'll take every opportunity I can."
"Wow! You're also a princess?!" Fluttershy gawked as she had a new admiration for this counterpart.
"Mhm. Oh, I may have wasted a bit of time now that I realize. I have to meet up with Twilight." Celestia stood up. "Lead the way again, Ash."
"Sure thing. We won't be far from here. Today might be another day we search for Alpha Pokemon. But that means you'll get to see Twilight's Alpha Pokemon too."
"Ah, right. Bigger than their usual species, correct? I also wish to see that Sunset Shimmer who's apparently in juvie."
"Are you sure you want to see her too?" Fluttershy questioned.
"My curiosity knows no bounds. Let's get rolling!" Celestia walked off with her hands high in the air, too elated and thrilled to even think about anything else but exploring this strange new world. Ash would still lead the way, but now Fluttershy's curiosity had been piqued as she decided to come along.
Equestria. Canterlot. Canterlot Castle. Afternoon.
Luna had just returned from another day of practice with her Pokemon. Her royal duties were mainly available during the night so she was free to train during the day and afternoon. Although, practice does tend to exhaust her.
"That's another day done. The Equestria League is so close. I wish everypony would catch up already. I just have to deal with the final gym and I'll be ready
"Y-You're highness..." Suddenly a voice spoke out to Luna, grabbing her attention. Luna turned to see a hoof poke out of the corner. It was the hoof of a guard as more of them showed up, dripping water on the ground. They all then showed themselves as they were currently wet and dizzy.
"Hm? Ah! What happened?!" Luna rushed over to them. She used her magic to bring over a couch, causing them to rest on it before they could hit the hard ground.
"It was bizarre, your highness..." A guard spoke, removing her helmet. "Just bizarre."
"It must be. You're all wet and dizzy. Was it at the Gorebyss Cove that you were sent to?"
"It was...we were supposed to open a gateway in between the seas of Gorebyss Cove and Hoenn so that the water would flow and renew."
"Well, it looks like you were all successful with all of this water around you. It must've been trickier than expected."
"No. This isn't the cause of that. Someone intervened and stopped us from doing so...He had a Pikachu he suddenly summoned from the skies...It used the water against us and..."
"I'm sorry what?" Now Luna was starting to learn the reason as to why they were like this.
"Some sort of costumed character working for the Rift..." The guards were so perplexed to the point where making it cohesive wasn't happening at the moment. "He had some nice poses and a way of speaking too."
"Hold on, hold. Let me try and understand all of this. Start from the beginning. What's this about the Rift and a Pikachu?" Luna questioned. The guards would all start from the beginning and make it clearer for the Princess of the Moon to understand.
The Human World. Twilight's Home. Afternoon.
"Ash! Pikachu!" You're here!" Finally, Ash and Pikachu had arrived, prompting Twilight to rush out of her home. Joining her were all of her Alpha Pokemon, minus Rapidash who was sitting outside as always.
"Luxio!" Luxio leapt at Ash, giving him a hug. Munchlax rushed to Ash, already sensing some food in his bag that he wanted personally. Hisuian Zorua sat on Twilight's shoulder, gently waving at Ash and Pikachu.
"Hey, Luxio! Everyone!"
"Great that you showed up now. You too Fluttershy and...P-Principal Celestia?"
"Hi-hi!" Celestia greeted this counterpart of Twilight. "Nice to meet you!"
"Oh, uh...I didn't expect you to be here. Especially during summer. But I guess since it's summer, it would make some sense. W-What are you doing here?"
"Ah, I'm not your Celestia. I come from the parallel world. But I'm a Celestia all the same." Celestia walked up to Twilight. "I've heard about you, Twilight. And everything in this world from my Twilight, Sunset Shimmer and Ash. You've had quite the experience in the world."
"It's an experience for sure." She laughed before shaking Celestial's hands. "And you have some interesting Pokemon with you. One of them is...very tall."
"I know. Passion is tall since she's a Gardevoir. But I doubt it compares to your Alpha Pokemon that I've heard about. And speaking of which., let me get a look at these little darlings." Celestia fixated on Munchlax and Luxio, who were the only Alpha Pokemonthat respected Twilight.
"Lux. Luxio!" Luxio stood tall in front of Celestia while Ash had passed Munchlax some food.
"Pokemon that are much bigger than their usual species...and I can certainly see that." Celestia kneeled to face Luxio. "This Luxio is around the same height as a Luxray. In my world, I'm bigger than both a Luxio and a Luxray. But Luxray is close to my height. I can only imagine how tall this one will become when it evolves."
"Lux!" Luxio couldn't wait either.
"And your Munchlax here could be a giant when it becomes a Snorlax. It's a lot to look forward to, isn't it?"
"It is. And you're a Celestia that knows a lot about Pokemon, don't you?"
"Oh, I do." She put on a grand grin before facing Twilight. "And more. Including magic. Equestrian Magic already exists here...but you've yet to really see the wonder that is Pokemon Magic."
"Pokemon Magic?! That exists?!"
"OF course it would. With how unique Pokemon are, why wouldn't they? Passion here has magic since she's a Fairy-Type. The more Alpha Pokemon you catch and the more about Pokemon you experience, the more you'll see. That's the beauty of Pokemon that I came to discover these past three years."
"And we're going through it together." Ash walked up to Twilight. "There's an adventure into the unknown waiting out there, Twilight. I'll show you sights in such a beautiful world, that's for sure."
"Pikachu."
"I'm looking forward to it all the same. Right, Spike? Zorua?"
"Arca! Arcanine!" But right now, Spike and Zorua were occupied with Arcanine and Fluttershy. Since they were both dogs, it was only natural for Spike and Arcanine to start playing, chasing each other while Fluttershy held Hisuian Zorua.
"Yeah, sure, Twi-" Spike was interrupted when Arcanine pounced on him. Being distracted was a big mistake. "Aw!"
"Arcanine!"
"So. You called about an Alpha Pokemon, right, Sci-Twi?" Ash asked.
"Huh? W-What did you just call me?"
"It's new. I made a nickname since I know two Twilights. Since you're so great at science, how does Sci-Twi sound?"
"It sounds...pretty catchy. Rolls off the tongue too. But maybe cal me that when there's more than one me around." Twilight squeed.
"Sure, thing, Twilight."
"Speaking of Alpha Pokemon...this must be your Rapidash I've heard about." Celestia then turned her attention to Alpha Rapidash. Rapidash for the most part was trying to ignore all of this ruckus until Celestia approached her. "Hello there~"
"Rapidash?" Rapidash opened her eyes before then spotting Celestia coming her way. The Fire Horse Pokemon stood up tall, showing her majestic height as she was currently Twilight's largest Pokemon.
"Oooh...You're a big and healthy girl, aren't you? Just as tall as they made you out to be." Celestia nodded in approval. "Wish I was that tall back home..."
"Oh, yeah! Ash! Professor Oak contacted me. He said there have been some new Alpha Pokemon sightings in Unova. It might be the same Pokemon that Carlita said she saw." Twilight uttered.
"Unova, huh? We already have a gateway that leads there. What are we waiting for? Let's do this!"
"Oooh!" Celestia slid in between the group. "We're going on a new adventure? How fun!"
"Do you wanna join, Celestia?" Ash asked.
"Hey. It's Principal...Or I guess Princess Celestia." Twilight replied. "Call her by that, Ash."
"It's fine. Ash always calls us by our normal names. Makes us feel like we're part of the ground. And indeed I'm coming along. I don't have any important duties today so I'm available. I want to see a new Alpha Pokemon for myself as well. Come on, the day is still young...but before that. There's one thing I want to try.
"What's that?" Fluttershy asked.
"This." Celestia then backed away as Passion knew what was coming. By digging into her hair, she revealed her Mega Stone. And thankfully, the crown fits her in this world as she used her magic to change the mould from a crystal to a stone.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked as she and Fluttershy were about to see something great happen.
"Here goes." Celestia then placed the stone in her crown before then beginning the process of Mega Evolution. Upon placing it there, a flash of yellow energy flared out, startling Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and the Pokemon while Ash and Pikachu watched casually.
The light had lit up the entire area, including Twilight's home as golden sparks were flying everywhere. A solar gold outline had also covered both Celestia and Passion to prevent fusion.
"Passion. Respond to my heart! Go even further beyond! Mega Evolve!" Celestia shouted, pointing to the skies as she felt a great sense of euphoria from doing this. She then aimed her hand forward, pulling off the poses that she wanted to do.
"Garde...Voir!" Mega Evolution was taking place as Passion's body began to alter. A flash of colours flew by, changing the Embrace Pokemon. For the first time, Twilight and Fluttershy would witness Mega Evolution. And bursting out of this overload of Infinity Energy was none other than Mega Gardevoir in all of her mystical glory.
"Gardevoir!"
"M-M-Mega...Evolve?" The two of them said in unison, stunned by what they saw and what they were seeing now. A new form for Gardevoir. A further evolution.
"Mega Evolution. That's what it is." Ash explained.
"Hahaha! That was exciting!" Celestia clapped her hands. "It'll be even better when I battle!"
"Gardevoir!" Passion flew over to Celestia as they both excitedly held hands, spinning around in unison. They were both the same height now so this was entirely possible.
"Now! Let's find ourselves an Alpha Pokemon!" Celestia then raised her arm, ready to set out there and explore the Pokemon World as a human. This day was getting better and better for her.
"Gardevoir!"
Equestria. Out in the mountains. Afternoon.
Galaxy Master.
Brought from Ash's old fan-made comic book and into reality by methods no one else but the Rift knew about, was standing on top of a mountain, alongside Pikachu he had summoned. However, despite being a superhero, he was working for someone that many would not see as heroic.
The Rift.
Galaxy Master had one goal in mind that he would fulfil for the Rift. Heal it. The Rift had been badly damaged by Ash's Aura and was lacking in power. Being absent for a while was the only way it could recover by itself, but now, it had Ash's own creation on its side.
"Alright...We have a lot of work to do, Pikachu. Across this world, many things that originated from the Rift are out there, being used in various ways. Whether that be gateways or whatever bizarre force that it might've formed. Our job is to retrieve them and heal the Rift, so that everything returns to normal."
"Pikachu."
"There will be great challenges along the way. The Rift has told us that much. This world is filled with great forces of evil that hold mystical powers that are enough to send shivers down one's spin!" He held his hand out as the wind had blown right on time.
"Pika...!"
"But! We'll emerge victorious!" He clenched his fist, looking to the skies as the sun beamed down on him. His cape flapped majestically as well. "For the sake of the future!"
"Pika-Pikachu!"
"Now! Let's head out! Our next destination...? Wherever our sense of justice takes us!" They were off. By becoming small bodies of light, which Pikachu being even smaller, they had left the mountaintop, flying off into the distance to fulfil the Rift's wishes.
Anything Rift-related or at least had an energy that relates to the Rift would be recovered. Just as the Rift planned. One big plan to ruin everything Ash loves.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 834 End.