Within the mysterious realm that housed the Cosmic Wall.
"Let's not waste any time! Pikachu! Lucario! Buy me all the time I need! Quick Attack! Force Palm and Double Team!" Ash was going all in. After knowing what was at stake, he would guarantee the freedom and safety of his friends by doing everything he could.
He held Sir Aaron's staff in his hand, already concentrating his Aura while Pikachu and Lucario would deal with the Rift-Dialga and guarantee that Ash would have enough time to expend his Aura.
"Pika!" Pikachu used Quick Attack, advancing towards the Rift-Dialga while Lucario used Double Team, duplicating himself and following Pikachu's lead. They were jumping from meteor to meteor to try and reach Rift-Dialga since they were away from the starlight path thanks to Rift-Palkia.
Rift-Dialga responded by using what looked to be Roar of Time once again, unleashing a blue beam that had the power to distort time itself. The beam was affected by the Rift's power, sending out mall time bubbles that would slow the clones of Lucario down, but not the real one as the real Lucario slipped y.
Pikachu managed to evade these bubbles with his lightning-fast movements. But now they were aware that this variation of Dialga had power over time. They couldn't afford to make mistakes otherwise their hard work would all be undone. Both figuratively and literally.
Pikachu then tackled Rift-Dialga's head while Lucario used Force Palm from the side. Since this was a combination of both Arceus' power and the RIft's power, mainly the Rift's, Rift-Dialga counted as a Pokemon and possessed the Steel-Typing. Thus, Lucario's Force Palm dealt super-effective damage, pushing Rift-Dialga away.
In response, Rift-Dialga used its sword, causing it to accelerate with more incredible speed. By using its time abilities on the sword, Dialga could swing it faster than usual. It had also extended the size of the sword just for extra efficiency. With one swing, the sword moved ahead of time by a few seconds, slashing Pikachu and Lucario at the same.
"Ca!"
"Pika!"
"Iron Tail and Aura Sphere!"
"Pika!" Pikachu and Lucario would retaliate as Rift-Dialga swung the sword down once more. Pikachu's tail clashed with the sword while Lucario unleashed Aura Sphere, only for it to be blocked by the shield. Pikachu had a fierce back-to-back clash with the sword while Lucario continued to throw Aura Spheres at the shield. His Aura was starting to affect the shield since t was made out of Rift-Energy as well.
"Pika!" Pikachu then jumped over the sword swing before lunging towards Rift-Dialga. He delivered an overhead smash with Iron Tail, striking Rift-Dialga's head at full force. Rift-Dialga staggered from that, allowing for some of Lucario's Aura Spheres to fly in and deliver some more super-effective damage.
Right then, not only did Rift-Dialga reverse any damage that had been done to it with its powers, it had then accelerated its own body, moving so fast that it did a tackle to both Pikachu and Lucario in one go despite them being apart from each other.
"Pi!" Pikachu groaned after receiving a split-second tackle which had sent him and Lucario. Rift-Dialga still had steel properties while also radiating two different energies so that impact certainly stung.
Afterwards, it extended its wings, wrapping them around Pikachu and Lucario before they could land back on one of the meteors. The wings then separated from Rift-Dialga's entire body as it slammed through some meteors.
"Hang in there you two!" Ash exclaimed as his Aura was building up, expanding in size. He then saw that his partners needed help. They couldn't do it by themselves. "I need you guys to help out. If you can hear me, please come out!"
Indeed, Ash's Pokemon could hear him even from within here. From his pockets, four Poke Balls came flying out, levitating and moving while Ash was still focused on building up his Aura.
Before Rift-Dialga could slam them into some more meteors, someone had interrupted it, blasting through its wings. Dragon Claw had been unleashed, slicing straight through the golden wings which made Rift-Dialga cry out. Dragonite was responsible for that as the rest of Ash's Pokemon had shown up, saving Pikachu and Lucario.
"Gen...gar!" Upon joining the battle, Gengar had used Night Shade, unleashing black and red beams from its eyes while Sirfetch'd and Dracovish assisted by using Night Slash and Water Gun.
Rift-Dialga was struck by these beams while also being blasted by the powerful stream of water. This would also give Ash some extra time as all of his Pokemon were here. However, Ash knew one thing. The Cosmic Wall could up the ante by sending more out and it could take forever. The only way to make sure that wouldn't happen was by getting his Aura to the right level.
"Just a bit more you guys..." Ash said before turning his head, thinking about how Twilight was doing against Rift-Palkia since they had been split up from the starlight pathway.
Twilight wasn't finding things easier. She, Espeon and Togekiss had to deal with Rift-Palkia warping space, sending smaller comets towards them. In a place like this, Rift-Palkia had a lot of advantages.
Espeon was on Togekiss's back, using her to get around easier as Togekiss was evading the incoming comets. Twilight simply obliterated these comets with her magic once they got close.
"Dazzling Gleam!"
"Espeon!" Together, Espeon and Togekiss had used Dazzling Gleam, unleashing a barrage of rainbow rays that were certain to deal super-effective damage to Rift-Palkia. Twilight chimed in by unleashing a blast of magic from her horn.
Once again, the entity had warped space, creating wormholes that absorbed the rays of Dazzling Gleam and even Twilight's magic. After absorbing them, Palkia redirected their own attacks back at them by repositioning the wormholes. Before they knew it, Twilight and her Pokemon were hit by their own attacks by these wormholes.
Speaking of wormholes, once Twilight and her Pokemon had been knocked over, Rift-Palkia used them to its advantage, duplicating them and placing its staff weapon and claw through them. Out of these wormholes, duplicates of Rift-Palkia's weapon and claw came flying out.
"Please help!" Twilight cried out for the rest of her Pokemon while also putting up a shield. Her Poke Balls were shot out with magic, summoning Ninetales, Absol and Cinccino.
Absol used his horn, intercepting Rift-Palkia's weapon by slashing with Night Slash. The other weapons and claws had been fended off by Hidden Power and Tri Attack. All of Twilight's Pokemon came to her assistance, standing before Rift-Palkia.
"Thank you all." Twilight sighed once they showed up and saved her. However, even with this extra assistance, Twilight would still struggle. And from what she's found out so far, Rift-Palkia and Rift-Dialga also have yet to show what they can really do. "With its power of space in this way, some of our attacks might not reach it. This might take forever. It's time to-"
But before she could do anything, such as go for her Twilightium Z, suddenly, she felt a massive increase in Aura. She gasped, looking over as Ash's Aura was starting to accelerate. Perfect timing as Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia had already accelerated their capabilities minutes ago.
"I can feel it!" Ash said as his eyes were flashing blue from all of this Aura. It was certainly something as it was so powerful that the pressure of Delayed Aura Ataxia had even reached here. Bits of Victini's power were still lurking within Ash, prompting his Aura to rise to new heights.
Ash groaned as naturally, his body was in pain once more. He dropped Sir Aaron's staff as his body trembled from all this overflow of Aura. Ash almost dropped to his knees as Twilight gasped upon seeing Ash in such a state. She wanted to over and help but Rift-Palkia had put up so many wormholes to block her way.
"I won't let it get to me like this...!" Ash uttered before taking it easy. He closed his eyes, letting the Aura come to him naturally instead of forcing it. And by doing so, the pain, while it was still there, decreased. Ash managed to power through it, allowing him to reach the current peak of his Aura. "Yeah! That's more like it! Thanks, Victini!"
Ash had done it. With all the time given to him by his friends, he could allow his Aura to flow freely. He didn't even need Sir Aaron's staff in this scenario. Ash allowed all the Aura to flow naturally, bringing out its true power. From his body, a large flow of Aura was emerging, causing everyone to stop what they were doing, especially Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia. The Rift energy within them could feel a dangerous force incoming. Something that could force them back or worse.
Everyone looked over to see Ash's massive burst of Aura.
He let out a roar that echoed throughout this universe while letting Aura reach everything. It moved at incredible speeds while also managing to avoid harming any of Ash's friends.
A massive gale of Aura had lit up this dark universe while also eradicating Rift-Palkia's wormholes as if they were never there. They had all been lost to the Aura. Rift-Dialga tried reversing this area of time so that the Aura Burst never happened. It summoned a bubble of Aura around Ash to reverse his actions, only for his Aura to break through the bubble with absolute ease.
Rift-Dialga gasped as it was enveloped by the azure light of the Aura. The same went for Rift-Palkia as they both let out cries once the Aura caught them. Ash made sure they were back inside the Cosmic Wall. The two entities were being carried back to the wall as Twilight and everyone watched Ash's Aura perform new things. Ash was physically controlling his Aura to do so.
The Cosmic Wall tried retaliating as quickly as it could, attempting to summon a third entity. From the Cosmic Wall, a third head was showing up. A head that resembled Giratina. However, that wouldn't happen as Ash's Aura moved too fast to the point where it pushed the head back in as well as the two entities.
The people within the wall smiled as they could feel their bodies being freed from their current positions. Ash's Aura couldn't fully break the Cosmic Wall at the moment but he set out to do what he aimed to do. The Cosmic Wall had a high level of durability but with the strength of Ash's Aura, he managed to large parts of it down. Not all of it but enough to free the people trapped in it. But Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia would be shoved back in as their bodies were absorbed by the energy of the wall.
Afterwards, everything was covered by the Aura to the point where this dimension was starting to break. Visible cracks were showing as Ash emanated so much power that he could free himself from this dimension. His Aura finally ended once he set out to do what he aimed to do. That was as far as he could go as he got to his knees.
"Ash!" Twilight flew over to Ash once he saw him get on his knees, exhausting himself. Ash managed to withstand all of that without falling victim to Delayed Aura Ataxia once more.
"I did it..." Ash breathed in and out before looking up at everyone who came to his side. "Did I?"
"You sure did. You pushed them back. And you even freed the people from the wall." Twilight nodded in confirmation. Ash's hard work had paid off once again.
"W-What about Hoopa? That's what I wanted to do the most?"
"You broke parts of the wall. That probably means some of the forcefield's presence has been weakened on the outside. Not sure how much, but you've pushed yourself far enough Ash. We're leaving."
Indeed. Ash broke this dimension so hard it would automatically force them out. Their bodies were disappearing into stardust, returning to the real world. The Cosmic Wall was still prominent with its colossal size. Ash managed to break a large chunk of it but it wasn't enough to get rid of the whole thing. This wouldn't be the last time they would come here.
But before they left, Twilight took the dance to drop a sparkle of Rift Energy on the starlight path. This one sparkle would be helpful in the future.
Kalos. Dahara City. Dahra Hotel. The Pokemon Festival. Late Afternoon.
"Oh, man..." Ash groaned as he finally recovered from Delayed Aura Ataxia. Upon waking up, he found himself within the Dahara City Hote, sitting up on the bed.
"You're finally awake," Bertha commented as she was still here along with Rainbow Dash and Sci-Twi, waiting for Ash to wake up. "It only took 2 hours."
"Yeah. Way more than we were expecting." Twilight held her head. "But...we did it. Well, a few things actually."
"How'd it go?! Did you find the problem with the forcefield?!" Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight.
"You still look hurt, Ash." Sci-Twi put her hand on Ash's shoulder, seeing him in a dazed condition. He broke out of Delayed Aura Ataxia but the effects were still there. "Do you want to take another rest?"
"I'm fine. Where's Hoopa and everyone else?" Ash asked, seeing that Hoopa wasn't around.
"They're outside, having a party at the Flower Garden," Bertha replied. "They're all doing fine and they seem to have attracted others to this massive party for Mew."
"Oh...I gotta get out there." Ash stood back up, ignoring the effects of Deleyad Aura Ataxia. That Aura Burst from before was certainly leaving an impact as Ash staggered when stepping forward.
"Hold on! You shouldn't go out there like that!" Twilight held Ash's back, preventing him from going any further.
"I just gotta see Hoopa, that's all." But Ash persisted, continuing to walk, even if the effects were there. "I wanna see if we can be together again."
"Pika-pi." Pikachu also got back up, walking beside Ash instead of getting on his shoulder, not wanting to risk harming his trainer.
"Well...I guess I'll tell you everything we saw there." Twilight, meanwhile, would share her and Ash's experience within that strange dimension and the things they encountered, starting with the Cosmic Wall.
Ash got outside, seeing that the afternoon Sun was slowly starting to set, showing off its deep orange glow over the horizon of Dahara City. Ash expected events such as this to take a while, especially when it came to the Rift.
When leaving the hotel, he approached the Flower Garden, which housed a large party orchestrated by Pinkie Pie's Mew and set up by Hoopa and every other Mew here. It was all for Mewie and her wish coming true thanks to Hoopa. Ash even saw the massive banner celebrating this event.
Pinkie Pie, Hilda and Hilbert were already there, having something to eat at the party. And naturally, this party attracted a crowd. However, since the people of Dahara City were so used to such rare Pokemon, the Mew had no reason to disguise themselves in this city. They would just be themselves.
Meloetta sang at this party for Mewie specifically, creating a wonderful melody while VIctini had used his V-Create to make some fireworks in the sky. Ash looked up, seeing these fireworks go off, appearing beautifully even in the orange sunset. They would only get better during nightfall.
"Ashkan! Pikan!" Hoopa spotted Ash and Pikachu, flying over to them. "Hoopa was waiting for you two to get up!"
"Yeah. We're up. And I'm hoping it worked." Ash stopped in front of Hoopa. "Something big happened in there and I want to make sure it paid off. So...can we get closer?"
"Hoopa will find out for himself!" Hoopa would test it out by going in for a hug. Ash held his hand out as Hoopa came flying in at full force. Ash saw that there were invisible pulses from different sides going off. The same pulses that were blocking him and Hoopa from getting closer.
But that was only from the sides. In the middle, Hoopa passed through no problem as he and Ash embraced each other with a full physical contact hug. "Yeah! It worked!"
"Pikachu!"
The plan worked. Not all the way but enough for Hoopa to find a pathway to reach Ash as they spun around. Hoopa excitedly got on Ash's head as the two of them laughed. Pikachu joined right afterwards as the reunion had been completed.
"Ashkan and Pikan did it! They did it!"
"Told ya. Doesn't matter if walls, mountains or planets block our way, we'll cut a road through them all and get to our friends." Ash replied, holding Hoopa up. "I'm glad I got to help, Hoopa."
"Ashkan and Pikan always help Hoopa. Hoopa's too grateful!" Hoopa twirled around. "Hoop's glad to have such amazing friends as you two!"
"No problem, Hoopa. Next, we're heading to Arche Valley, just cause I wanna see it for the first time. But can you find Jirachi though?" Ash asked, getting to the big questions.
"Hmm..." Hoopa dug his hand into one of his rings, searching through space to see if he could find Jirachi. Any Jirachi if there were potentially any that hadn't been locked away by the Rift. "Sorry. Hoopa can't find any."
"Man...that's a shame." Ash sighed.
"But!" However, Hoopa had some optimism. "Hoopa will keep searching until Hoopa finds something. One day, Hoopa will get to Jirachi. Count on it."
"Yeah. we will." Ash held his fist out for a fist bump as Hoopa responded accordingly. "I may be tired but I wanna enjoy this party too. Let's do this!"
"Pikachu!"
Now that he accomplished one of his major goals, Ash could party away with everyone else as Meloetta excitedly gasped once seeing Ash. She then realized she was still singing, keeping her melody up so as to not distract herself or put herself off melody.
"Took you long enough!" Hilbert said, stuffing his mouth with pastries. "You were gonna miss out on all of this while I ate it all, ya know!"
"Glad to see you're up!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof.
"Leave some for me!" Ash rushed over to the table of pastries before they could all potentially vanish tomorrow. He deserved this feast after what he did for his friend.
Right now, Hoopa was free yet again. And as for the people stuck in the wall, Ash hadn't seen them, but he knew they were free. The Champion of Alola was wondering if he would run into them relatively soon. But right now, all he could think about was the party while Mewie was dancing with the other Mews and socializing with them. Her shyness towards her fellow species had dropped all thanks to Pinkie Pie's Mew.
Ash and Mew did something of note here. Both went out of their way to help their friends. One was more dangerous than the other but still genuine nonetheless.
It also wouldn't be the last time they saw from the Cosmic Wall or even the Rift-Dialga and Palkia. Those two entities along with the third one that resembled Giratina were still there, hidden within the Cosmic Wall. This never-ending battle with the Rift seemed to be truly never-ending. But even Ash knew that all things must come to an end.
However, he decided that this beautiful union of worlds should never come to an end. And with how much hard work he puts in to make sure his friends are happy, he would put even greater work into making sure that this union remains.
Next up was Arche Valley. A sacred land that Hoopa would already accept them to enter. The second day of the Pokemon Festival was slowly coming to an end as the journey continues.
Chapter 855 End.