Hoenn. Mossdeep City. Battle Carnival. The Pokemon Festival. Afternoon.
The Battle Carnival. Currently stationed at Mossdeep City, Ash and his party would enter this special carnival that had one special rule. All trainers were allowed to use Pokemon that weren't their own. One Pokemon would belong to them officially while the rest would be borrowed, spicing up how they would all battle.
And once they entered the carnival, they were ready to swing into action and see what battle awaits them. As to be expected, it looked like a carnival but with some extra flair. Since this was battle oriented, there were many pathways with different doors to be taken in every direction. And the unique place about this would be how there was a pendulum that could be seen.
A sizable pendulum but right now it wasn't swinging. Instead, it was smack-dab in the middle of the carnival, immobile with a hint of movement. Naturally, the usual carnival attractions were here. From food to various rides, etc. But the battles were where it was at there were already people here, enjoying themselves in the usual way a carnival is meant to be enjoyed.
"You can enjoy yourself with all our rides but the rest of you are here to battle. Or both. Here's something to get you all in the mood." One of the employees here commented while passing a fun dip bag to PInkie Pie, just for entertainment. But the real entertainment was about to come soon. "Hopefully it's for a while since this looks better during the night."
"I would imagine so. So how does this work? Aside from using Pokemon that aren't ours?" Hilda asked.
"Well, enter those doors and you'll be met with a crowd of people waiting to watch your battle. There'll be a trainer waiting for you there, mainly us employees and make sure you wow the crowd. This is a carnival after all." The employee explained.
"It doesn't matter how many of us you beat, you can go on and battle as much as you want. With a 20-minute time limit of course." Another one explained the rules. "And if you feel you're getting a bit overwhelmed, you're free to grab a snack r swap battles with someone else."
"Can there be double battles?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"IF you want. It's a carnival, so there are no limits. Go crazy. Just be careful because we know this place better than you do and we won't hesitate to take advantage of that."
"Fine with me. I'll go ahead!" Ash went first, going for one of the doors on the right. He was followed by Victini, Meloetta and Hoopa, who were all teaming up with him. Ash also had Alpha Rapidash's Poke Ball along with Absol's Poke Ball while keeping his Pikachu.
"Don't bump into anyone too overwhelming! There are three trainers here who are just that!" The employees gave out one final warning.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine!" Hilbert replied as he, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie followed suit, heading to different doors of their choice.
"Just give me a moment to buy something before I start. I want to enjoy this nostalgia while it lasts." Bertha would take it slow, heading to the vendors for something to eat. Twilight, Sci-Twi and Hilda would also take it slow before departing.
This room that was located in the middle seemed to be a court. A massive court that made up most of this area with the room being completely dark too. Twilight only managed to generate light around herself and Espeon by using her magic to do so.
Twilight entered one of the rooms and the moment she did, she found herself changing her appearance. In a flash, something had placed clothes on her that only took her and Espeon and few moments to process.
"Hm?" She blinked as this hyperfast feeling made her look at herself. Mainly her hoof as she saw that there were stars printed on them. Twilight then looked at Espeon's gem for a better view as it had reflective properties. Perfectly convenient and useful in every way. Granted, the gem was tiny so squinting was very necessary.
But thanks to the usage of Rift Magic, Twilight managed to increase her eyesight, seeing exactly what happened. She was wearing an outfit identical to the ones that the employees were wearing. A full carnival-themed getup but tailored towards a pony's build. There was a star on her face to match that as Twilight pulled back. By pulling back, she just now noticed that Espeon was also wearing a carnival-themed outfit for her body.
"That was fast. When did this happen?" Twilight wondered, amazed by how fast she and Espeon were dressed up. She looked at Espeon's hat, seeing that she appeared adorable in it. And the entire getup as well. "Not complaining though. It has a nice charm to it."
"Espeon." Espeon could do without the hat, using Psychic to remove it. But as endearing as these outfits were, Twilight and Espeon decided to appear as their normal selves. Twilight used her magic to clean them up and reappear how they always do but it was endearing to see themselves in such a colourful light. Well, more colourful than how they usually appear.
"So. Who am I facing? Someone has to be in this court, right?" Twilight wondered and as soon as she did, the lights for this court had been turned on, revealing the full scope of it. Twilight was blindsided by the emergence of light as she got what she pondered about.
Much like what the employees said earlier, there was a crowd waiting for them. Lo and behold, it was indeed a big crowd as they were here this entire time, waiting for the battle to begin. Except, they weren't sitting in the usual crowd seats. For this carnival, they were all sitting on bumper cars of all things. Functional bumper cars too that were already turned on.
The court itself was checkered with purple, blue and pink. And that would be completely fitting considering who Twilight was facing. Apart from admiring this court, she looked ahead to see two individuals standing before her. Most definitely the employees that would battle them.
Except, these were ponies, shocking Twilight. From what she could observe, they consisted of one stallion and another was a mare, wearing colourful checkered costumes but with their own unique styles and accessories. The stallion wore a stylized carpet as his cape to stand out while one of the mares held pompoms. Noticeably the smaller one. The taller one was using magic to levitate a staff that had a music note on the top.
"We were waiting for someone new to arrive." The mare with the music note staff spoke, having a deep voice that sounded fake. "Welcome, challenger."
"Cadence. Is that you?" But immediately, Twilight discovered that it was Cadence, making her and the other two ponies gasp in shock.
"G-Gaha!" The mare who was presumed to be Cadence coughed. "N-No idea what you're talking about, Twilight."
"It's you." By saying her name casually, Twilight could confirm that it was Cadence. "Shining Armor. You too?"
"Mmm..." The stallion scrunched, lowering his face before the top hat dropped. He gasped, quickly using his magic to grab it, but it was too late. The hat fell close to his hooves and his hair and face had already been exposed. Plus, Twilight figured it out just by looking at their magical auras. "Ah, it's no use. I told you she'd figure it out too quickly."
"To be fair, the eye enhancement spell is still active on me." Twilight shrugged before turning the spell off. "Your voice change gave it away though, Cadence. But what are out two doing here? Are you employees?"
"Employees? No-no." Cadence removed her hat. "We just enjoy these outfits too much. We decided to come here for the Pokemon Festival first and were instantly attracted to this carnival."
"They gave us these outfits when we entered and we already had our fair share of battles. So we decided to stick around and enjoy ourselves some more here. Including the food or all the rides here." Shining Armor continued, putting his top hat back on. "We've just been offered to challenge new trainers. And it's too much fun."
"Ooh. But wait!" That's when Twilight came to a shocking realization. "D-Does that mean...I have to battle you two?!"
"That's right." Cadence and Shining Armor said in unison. Twilight's first opponents would be her older brother and old foalsitter. This wasn't what she expected at all. Popping out of the checkered walls, which also acted as boxes were none other than their ace Pokemon. Sylveon and Aegislash. They were also stylish too.
"Sylveon!" Sylveon sports a sort of cheerleading getup, having a pompom on her tail and some on her hooves which made silly noises when pressed on the ground.
"Aegislash!" Aegisalsh came flying in, wearing a nice spotted bowtie while also designing his blade with a piano key pattern. And much like his trainer, he too spotted a fancy top hat.
"We wanted Flurry Heart to join but she's doing her own thing. So our own Flurry Heart will just be watching from afar." Cadence aimed her hoof at the crowd stands as baby Flurry Heart was being protected by Flash Sentry over at one of the bumper cars.
"Well, this'll be different. I've only had one battle with you Shining. Not you though, Cadence. But both of you at the same time?"
"Ah, it'll be fine. You get to use five Pokemon that aren't yours except for one that is yours. The same goes for us obviously so it'll be fine." Shining Armor shrugged. "That is if you're used to them already."
"We'll see. Let's not keep this crowd waiting any longer though." Twilight held out a Poke Ball, ready to begin this battle at the carnival. The crowd cheered, excited to see how this would go. Essentially, this would be a battle against royalty.
"Espeon!" Eve was ready for this. She looked Sylveon in the eyes as the two Eevelutions were more than eager to go up against each other.
Sylveon especially. Due to her attraction to Absol, the Intertwining Pokemon couldn't help but feel bothered that Espeon spends more time with Absol than her. Even though she is Twilight's Pokemon.
"Oh, sorry, Eve. I want to give someone else a try first. But you'll get your turn later." Twilight halted Espeon, making her lower head little head.
"Esp..."
"I'll battle at my best with the Pokemon Ash gave me! Let's go, Dragonite!" Twilight revealed one of the Pokemon she had been given by her friends. In this case, it was Ash's Dragonite as a substitute for her Togekiss.
"Dragonite!"
"Ash's Dragonite...? Oooh, that might be a problem actually." Shining Armor backed up.
"Not for Sylveon. Just count on her and we'll be smooth sailing." Cadence reassured that Sylveon would be the one to help them through this. After all, she was immune to Dragonite's attacks which the majority were Dragon-Type attacks.
"Oh! And just to take care of Syvleon!" That is until Twilight revealed that she was going to unleash a second Pokemon, causing Cadence's pupils to shrink. "Go! Serperior!"
"Serperior!" Serperior was the newest Pokemon. In this case, it was Hilda's Serperior that Twilight had been given.
"Dra!" Happy to be battling alongside Twilight, Dragonite flew over, giving Twilight her signature hug as always.
"O-Okay, Dragonite! Happy to be by your side too!" Twilight's eyes widened before melting in Dragonite's warm embrace. After years of receiving hugs from her, Twilight was beginning to warm up to Dragonite's hugs. Both figuratively and literally.
"Serperior? Is that one of the Pokemon from PokePark?" Cadence asked.
"Nope. It belongs to one of my friends. But in this case, I guess you could see this as a way for me to practice for when I battle with Queen Serperior. The one back at PokePark's still available so I've yet to battle with her until that day comes."
"Fair enough. Alright then, we'll go first! Aegislash! Use Sacred Sword!" Shining Armor would start them off, giving the first command to his Aegislash.
"Aegislash!" Covering his entire bladed body in an orange light, the Royal Sword Pokemon focused on Serperior first, ascending to the skies and lunging at the Grass-Type.
"Okay, Sylveon! Use Moonblast!"
"Sylveon!" Sylveon would assist Aegislash, gathering power from the moon itself which then formed into a pink sphere. Sylveon had then unleashed this beautiful sphere by hitting it with her pompoms of all things, sending it toward Dragonite.
"Here they come! Dragonite, Dragon Claw! Serperior, use...uh.." It was just now that Twilight realized she hadn't checked Serperior's moves at all. Meaning, that she had no idea what attacks Serperior could use at the moment. Improvisation was needed right now.
"Ser!" Serperior would do his own thing for this brief moment. He saw that Twilight was stunned, unable to use any of his moves. So to help her, Serperior slithered forward, using Iron Tail to intercept Sylveon's Moonblast, smashing his tail against it. That would leave Dragonite with Aegislash as Serperior helped Dragonite to avoid a super-effective blow, prompting the Dragon Pokemon to clash his claws with Aegislash's body.
"Ooh...T-Thanks, Serperior." Twilight was grateful as she almost ruined it had it not been for Serperior's quick thinking. But instead of being disappointed in Twilight, Serperior looked back, putting a smile on as he couldn't blame Twilight. It was an honest mistake.
"Serperior!" Serperior then faced Moonblast, using his strength to launch the ball away with incredible might. Moonblast flew past Sylveon, startling her before crashing into the checkered walls. Dragonite and Aegislash separated, halting their clash for the meanwhile.
"That was my mistake not learning any of your moves when we got here. Even when I was taking it slow. I won't make that same mistake again." Learning from that slip-up, Twilight pulled out her Pokedex during the battle, just to check Serperior's moveset. And thanks to her fast reading skills, just one glance was enough to get her up to speed.
She only had to learn four moves thankfully so it was brief. And each of these were already familiar to the Princess of Friendship. And of course, her opponents would wait for her. But it didn't take long. Only a total of 5 seconds and Twilight knew what to do.
"Okay. That'll do." She passed the Pokedex over to Espeon, leaving her to put it back. "I'm ready now, Serperior."
"Serp."
As for the crowd, they could understand. After all, this challenge required a trainer to use Pokemon they've never used before. Not knowing any of the borrowed Pokemon's moves was a natural thing that happened here at the carnival. But it didn't stop them from chuckling at it every time the realization kicks in for the trainers that were battling.
"Ah, that takes me back." Shining Armor chuckled. "Something like this happened before. I remember when you were at-"
"Let's not talk about that!" However, Twilight stopped him before he could spill anything. "Get in there and use Dragon Claw, Dragonite! Serperior, Iron Tail!"
"Dra!" Dragonite and Serperior would go on the offensive next. Twilight was aiming to take full control of this battle even if she was battling with a new Pokemon from a different trainer. However, this would work in her favour. Serperior has plenty of experience with Hilda and Twilight's experience has grown exponentially.
"Sacred Sword!"
"Psyshock, Sylveon!"
"Aegis!" Aegislash and Dragonite clashed once more, this time without any breaks. Aegislash's bladed body met with Dragonite's claws for a second time, resulting in a back and forth clash between the two of them. As for Sylveon, three thick masses were sent out by her before being intercepted by Serpiero's hardened tail.
Iron Tail held back the three thick masses as Serperior was trying to break right through them, only for Sylveon to add more pressure to these beams. Eventually, Dragonite and Aegislash had a back and forth exchange with both Pokemon managing to hit each other. Dragonite slapped Aegislash away, only for Aegislash to block the next incoming hit with a swift recovery, delivering an upwards slash that pushed the Dragon Pokemon back.
Serperior showcased his impressive strength once more, slashing the three thick masses of energy in half with Iron Tail, resulting in a triple explosion of colours.
"Now, Leaf Storm! Dragonite, fly up and use Hurricane!"
"King's Shield! Protect Sylveon!"
"Aegis!" Aegislash would be Sylveon's guardian, holding out his shield as Dragonite ascended, flapping her wings to kick up a storm. Meanwhile, Serperior manipulated his own tail with enough friction to generate a turbulent whirlwind of leaves. Two different tornadoes had been unleashed.
A normal tornado and a grass tornado as they both crossed streams, almost merging in the process. But Dragonite and Serperior didn't have that kind of synergy yet so the tornadoes would go solo.
Only for Aegislash to block them both. Once the tornadoes came close, Aegislash's shield created an energy screen that blocked the incoming storms. However, the pressure from these dual tornadoes forced Aegislash to put more effort into his defence. He managed to successfully block them, but at the cost of his shield being blown away.
"Aegislash?!" Aegislash gasped as his shield went flying, leaving his sight and crashing into the floor. But that had its own major effect. Once the shield hit the ground, one of the checkered tiles had been triggered. It was soon revealed that these weren't just here for decoration.
The boxes that Sylveon and Aegislash appeared out of were already good indicators of that. And once that tile had been pressed, that's when the pendulum from outside began swinging at last. It responded to this tile, swinging one way instead of another way. But it wasn't just the massive pendulum beginning to swing thanks to this tile.
Right below Shining Armor and Twilight, two large holes had opened up. Shining Armor looked below him to see this square hole before then immediately dropping through it. "Gah!" He screamed as his voice drowned out the second he entered the hole.
Twilight managed to save herself by flapping her wings out of pure instinct. But the same couldn't be said for Espeon and Serperior, who had dropped through the holes as well.
"Ah! Eve! Serperior!" Twilight gasped once they fell.
"Ooops. We can never figure out which one opens those holes." Cadence said, revealing that this has happened before, so it wasn't too surprising for her. "Oh well. Let's move the battle elsewhere then. In we go!" Without hesitating, Cadence and e even Sylveon had jumped in. Of course, Cadence brought Aegislash's shield along.
"Sylveon!"
"Oh, is it time to move already?" Even the people here were aware of it. And they were all the more interested in it as they couldn't afford to miss out on this battle. That's where those bumper cars came in. They started moving, leaving this part of the carnival just to follow where the battle would go.
Not only were they there for entertainment and potential bumper car battles but they were also a convenient way to get around. Twilight looked around, shrugging as she couldn't try and question this. It spoke for itself.
"This isn't how I imagined a battle between them would go but...oh well. Come on, Dragonite!" Twilight jumped into the hole, seeing where it could lead to.
"Drago!"
When entering the hole, Twilight was met with a large slide that she was immediately dropped into. She started sliding as there was even some water involved just for extra fun. This water slide was her ticket to getting back into the battle as the surprises of the Battle Carnival were only ramping up from here.
Espeon clung onto Serperior while sliding downwards as all of the bumper cars could be heard above, moving rapidly to catch up. As for Cadence and Shining Armor, they were spotted on another water slide nearby that led to the same direction as Twilight's water slide.
"You know, Twilight! We can even battle from here!" Cadence bellowed to Twilight from the other side of another water slide.
"We can?!"
"Right! Like so! Moonblast, Sylveon!"
"Sylveon!" Sylveon managed to gain a stable momentum and stance on the slide, even when wearing pompoms. Even from this distance, she could still gather power from the moon and harness it. Moonblast had been unleashed naturally as if she was still on solid ground.
"Dra!" Dragonite had been sniped by Sylveon's Moonblast from a great distance, showing exceptional aim. Dragonite fell after receiving super-effective damage, falling on top of Twilight who was on the slide.
"Gouh!" Twilight was now lying flat on her face on the water slide after the Dragon Pokemon was dropped on her. She ended up gaining some velocity from this while having her face messed up by water. What's worse was that Dragonite was a relatively heavy Pokemon so this certainly wasn't comfortable.
"D-Dragonite?!"
"Mrmprgh!" Twilight spoke while having her face in the water. It was hard to tell what she was trying to say, but it was easy to see what she was doing. With her magic, she managed to take out Dragonite's Poke Ball.
Dragonite would be needed later on as Twilight, even in a comprising position, was able to return Dragonite to her Poke Ball successfully, freeing herself from further torture. "Gah! You'll pay for that Cadence! Sylveon!" Visible fangs could be seen from Twilight as her eyes were set ablaze with a fiery spirit.
"Oopsie!" Cadence simply giggled as seeing Twilight like this was rare. At least for Cadence. For others, it could be considered common. Sylveon joined in Cadence's cheeky giggle as they were having a laugh.
"Esp!" Espeon wouldn't allow Twilight to be embarrassed. She wanted to join in next if Twilight would let her. This water slide was fairly extensive, having a long layout as more directions could be seen up ahead.
As for the people in the bumper cars, they would eventually return to witness this battle. The bumper cars went down a downwards pathway, leading to the room where the water slides were located. Except, they weren't on the water slides, but rather, the bumper cars would be on the side, far from the slides but enough for everyone to watch.
Soon, this water slide area was filled with bumper cars but the momentum wouldn't stop. Twilight, Cadence and the bumper cars would be constantly moving. Thanks to the water slide, it was a moving battle instead of a stationery battle and those bumper cars would help the crowd keep up no matter what.
Twilight would have to adjust herself to this new way of battling. Right now, it was all about her environment, albeit playful and erratic. She briefly thought about the rest of her friends and how their battles could be going but after that, she would only focus on her battle and how she'll overcome this.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 867 End.