Unova. The Arcane Sea. Afternoon.
"MILOTIC!" Appearing in front of Galaxy Master, Pikachu and Lapras was the Milotic that lived within these seas. An Equestrian Milotic whose entire body was pure water while possessing red glowing eyes. The size of this Rift-altered Pokemon was stupendous to boot.
Galaxy Master's obstacles were only ramping up from here. These seas had many surprises waiting for him after all. And a massive Milotic that was a full-on water entity while being the size of a tower was one of them. But that wasn't the only thing he had to worry about.
Darkrai, who had been knocked into the Arcane Sea, at first feared that he would be affected by the Rift Energy, receiving something unpredictable. However, remembering the words from Twilight, he had a way to prevent that. The Pitch Black Pokemon closed his eyes, allowing the Rift Energy to fill him up first.
And once that was done, he would empty it out. All of it. Darkrai stayed underwater for a while, expelling his Infinity Energy first as that was what powered him.
If he could get rid of the Infinity Energy first, then the Rift Energy within would follow. The Dark Infinity Energy within Darkrai was vast so emptying it all out would take a while. Darkrai could only have patience until he was ready to emerge out of the cosmic waters.
"LOTIC!" Meanwhile, Equestrian Milotic had immediately attacked Galaxy Master and his team, swinging its tail. Surfing out of the way, Lapras evaded the massive tail swing but the impact from that swing said otherwise. The shockwave from the tail swing was enough to rock Lapras, fumbling her momentum.
"L-La!"
"It's already hostile! Very well then! Pikachu! Unleash your electricity!
"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped off Galaxy Master's back, going for Thunderbolt. Milotic raised its head, locking onto the Mouse Pokemon once he took to the skies. Despite its massive size, Milotic was fairly swift, mainly for having a territorial advantage. To retaliate, Milotic charged up Dragon Pulse at the same time Pikachu charged up Thunderbolt.
100,000 volts and a dragon-shaped blast had met once released, creating a pulsating spark that lit up these cosmic waters. The result was an equalizer. Neither attack managed to get through.
"Lapras, unleash a stream of boiling water! Scald!"
"La...Pras!" But this gave Lapras the chance to attack. She used Scald, unleashing a stream of hot water. However, once the water reached Milotic, nothing happened. Specifically, the water had been absorbed by Rift Milotic's body, adding Scald to the mix. "La?!"
"It can absorb water and add it on as well?!" Galaxy Master and Lapras gasped. In retaliation, Milotic had used Aqua Tail, spinning the water on the back of its tail before swinging it. The momentum of this swing had also summoned a tsunami of great proportions, towering high over Galaxy Master's team.
Not only had the tsunami crashed into them but the tail even added to the impact, hitting them all. The massive tail of Milotic carried them along with the tsunami, resulting in an explosion of water. If Galaxy Master hadn't protected himself and his team with the light that they emit, the unpredictable nature of Rift Magic would certainly affect them.
A shame the light did nothing to shield the blow they received. Galaxy Master, Pikachu and Lapras went flying. Unable to recover, they fell into the Arcane Sea.
When crashing into the sea, Galaxy Master, Lapras and Pikachu were quick to recover, especially Lapras, who was also in her natural territory. Pikachu held his breath underwater, but that wouldn't last. However, Galaxy Master was a different case. He was already wearing a helmet, making his capability of staying underwater a mystery. Equestrian Milotic submerged, spotting the trio. It wasn't done with them yet, showing how ferocious and persistent it could be.
"Such persistence!" Suddenly, GalaxyMaster spoke. Even underwater, he could speak. In fact, he could breathe. "Very well then...further assistance is needed!"
In this instance, Galaxy Master would call for more help.
"Now, come to me! Swim through the seas and deliver justice!" He held his arm out, calling them from the seas instead of the skies themselves. With a dazzling flare of golden light, a spontaneous explosion shot out in different directions behind the fictional character.
"Osha!" Moving at great speeds towards the water were two more Water-Types. Oshawott and Buizel had both arrived with Aqua Jet, moving at great speeds with an aura of water.
Trailing next to them both were Glalie and Palpitoad. Milotic feared neither of them as Aqua Jet would just be absorbed into its liquid body. But, Galaxy Master, already seeing that water was ineffective against the Equestrian Milotic, improvised.
He improved in the same way Ash would, to be exact. "Glalie! Use Ice Beam on both Oshawott and Buizel!" He commanded, using a similar tactic to Ash. One that worked exceptionally well with Aqua Jet.
"Glalie!" Out of its mouth, Glalie unleashed a chilling beam that froze parts of the waters themselves. Due to being such a cold Pokemon with unbelievable temperatures, this was only natural. Thankfully, Glalie could control it as well as how much ice would cover its teammates.
"Bui!" Buizel and Oshawott had been covered by ice while still using Aqua Jet. Thus, they created Ice Aqua Jet, a tactic that was also utilized by Ash.
"MILO?!" MIlotic gasped after seeing this combination. This was something that could threaten it as both Oshawott and Buizel crashed into the Tender Pokemon with Ice Aqua Jet. The ice was the main catalyst as the impact knocked the Equestrian variant back. "LO!"
"Now, Palpitoad! Bellow as loud as you can!"
"Palpitoad!" By that, Galaxy Master meant Supersonic. Buizel, Oshawott and Glalie all played their part. Now it was Palpitoad's turn. By cocking its head back before then pushing it forward, the Water-Ground-Type released several sound waves from its mouth. Sizable ones too. Enough to encompass the sheer size of Equestrian Milotic.
"L-LOTIC!" Milotic received a full-body grab by Supersonic. Not only did it reverberate Milotic's liquid body enough to pulsate it, but of course, the main effect of Supersonic came through. With its entire body jittering, Milotic had been confused.
After being confused, Milotic decided to swing its tail around wildly in hopes of hitting someone.
"Let's finish it! Thunderbolt!" Galaxy Master bellowed.
"Pika...Chuuu!" And with the fourth and final follow-up, Pikachu used Thunderbolt, sending it past his teammates. Milotic received a heavy blow. Due to its entire body being water, Thunderbolt was more efficient than it's ever been,
With a devastating shock, Milotic had been defeated. Milotic let out a melodic cry before falling over. The Equestrian Variant couldn't continue any further. Now that Milotic was down, being a result of Rift energy affecting its body, this was Galaxy Master's chance. When floating over to the defeated Tender Pokemon, he was ready to have Lapras soak up the energy from Milotic's liquid body.
However, when he got close, something prevented him from going any further. Himself. Galaxy Master stopped in his tracks when getting close to Equestrian Milotic. His goal was to retrieve Rift Energy from wherever and send it all to the Rift. That involved those affected by Rift Magic.
But Galaxy Master didn't advance. He was being held back. Even when raising his arm, it trembled, unable to go forward at all. Galaxy Master felt that something was amiss.
"Strange...I need to achieve my goal but..why can't I go forward?" Galaxy Master wondered. Deep down, when looking at Equestrian Milotic and her defeated state, the fictional character couldn't bring himself to take the energy away from her.
At the end of the day, Galaxy Master was created to be a hero. And thus, something like this was right up his alley. The fictional character restrained himself from harming Milotic.
"Lotic..." Milotic let out a weaker melodic cry while squinting at Galaxy Master. Even Milotic was wondering why he was just standing there.
"Attacking back...when I should've just told you why I was here. Then again, it would've ended up the same way. I apologize. Here." Instead, he would heal the Tender Pokemon. By using that mystical light from his body, he sent a healing wave that coated the liquid body of Equestrian Milotic. This wave blended in beautifully with the water.
In fact, much like how the light resembled the one from the Sea Temple's crystals, it had those same light blue water streams around it due to being underwater. Milotic closed its eyes before feeling a new sensation coming through it. All that damage from before was being reversed by this soothing light.
Milotic felt like it was being elevated to a higher plane right now. After receiving a grand deal of healing, the Tender Pokemon was back to full strength.
"Milotic." After receiving its strength back, Equestrian Milotic made another melodic cry. This one was of thanks and happiness. Healing itself would've been a hassle and the one that defeated the Tender Pokemon was the one to remove that hassle.
"You're welcome." Galaxy Master replied. Just like that, the hostility between the two had been erased as Milotic swiftly swam away, no longer confronting Galaxy Master and his Pokemon.
However, this was unacceptable to the Rift.
Once again, Galaxy Master strayed away from the main goal. Previously, it was coming to an understanding with Pinkie Pie's group and now it was letting a source of Rift Magic leave. Despite influencing Galaxy Master a bit, it was clear that the good heart of this hero was still intact.
"Again...Why? This won't do. I need all of my power back at once!" The Rift bellowed, ready to influence Galaxy Master some more. And this time, the Rift yearned that he would never sway from the beating path.
But before the Rift could do anything, Darkrai had awoken.
A seaquake had occurred, trembling in Galaxy Master's general direction and even outside of the sea itself, startling the Rift. The Rift backed away from this Seaquake as it was still too weak to do too much.
"!" Alerted, Galaxy Master and his team faced the direction of the seaquake. Right ahead, a mass of darkness had burst out with the same display as a supernova.
And within that mass of darkness, Darkrai emerged. He had done it. He overcame the Rift Energy that was entering his body by emptying it out along with his Infinity Energy. To avoid refilling with Rift Energy, the Pitch Black Pokemon ascended from the waters, returning to the surface. There, he could recover all of his Infinity Energy without having to worry about Rift Energy re-entering him.
"I was waiting for him to show up again..." Galaxy Master said before swimming back up with his partners. There, Darkrai was waiting for them, exuding a continuous pulse of darkness. Lapras emerged with Galaxy Master and Pikachu whilst everyone else swam back up or in Glalie's case, floated back up.
"You could've taken all of that Rift Energy for yourself," Darkrai spoke. It was revealed that he had seen what Galaxy Master had done. Equestrian Milotic could've had all of its Rift Energy taken away and yet it still lives with it. "You had practically won. Why didn't you do it even though it's your goal to grab as much Rift Energy as possible?
"I'm not sure. This is confusing even for me! Hahaha!" Unable to give a proper answer, Galaxy Master simply laughed at this with his Pokemon joining in. "But, I suppose..seeing Milotic in that way was probably the main reason. Even though it has Rift Energy, I couldn't bring myself to harm it. Anyway. Shall we continue?"
"We will if you can get past the incoming Fire Tsunami," Darkrai commented before backing up slowly.
"Fire Tsunami?" Galaxy Master repeated as soon the rest of his Pokemon would discover what Darkrai meant by that. The source of fire from before had finally come into play. By turning around, a gigantic Fire Tsunami, one of the obstacles of the Arcane Sea came this way. There was something new for them to overcome.
Darkrai wouldn't involve himself with this Fire Tsunami. Or rather at all. Not yet at least. To Darkrai, he decided to wait around for a bit after witnessing Galaxy Master's act.
Hoenn. Mossdeep City. Battle Carnival. The Pokemon Festival. Afternoon.
"Ludi..." Back at the Battle Carnival, a Ludicolo and a Lairon had both fainted. This victory belonged to Bertha and Pinkie Pie, who managed to beat two employees of this carnival. Pinkie Pie had been lent Twilight's Togekiss while Bertha was lent Rainbow Dash's Luxray.
"That took a bit longer than expected," said Bertha. "You two almost had a powerful comeback there."
"Almost." The employee sighed. "Congratulations, anyway."
"Thanks for the battle!" Pinkie Pie walked away with Bertha while also having a cart of cotton candy behind her. This was the courtesy of the carnival and its benefits. To celebrate, Bertha, her and the Pokemon snagged a bite while leaving. But they were kind enough to give some to their opponents with Togekiss being the one to do so.
At least they could leave this battle with a sweet taste instead of a sour one. Meanwhile, Bertha had to wonder how those two managed to almost make a comeback. She was unaware of what the Witch had done.
The next location for these two trainers was yet to be seen. So far, they were walking down a colourful hallway and up ahead were some pathways. This carnival felt more like a maze than anything. But when approaching the end of the hallway, a familiar face walked by. Sci-Twi showed up as she had reached this hallway as well. Soon, both groups spotted each other from afar.
"Oh! Hi!" Sci-Twi waved before rushing to their side. "It's about time I found someone. It felt like I wasn't getting anywhere honestly."
"Hm? Didn't you battle anyone?" Bertha asked.
"Uh...n-no. Not really." Sci-Twi shook her head. "Truth is, I haven't run into anyone to have a battle with. I went on some rides so that was fun but nothing else happened."
"You haven't battled yet? Oh well. You're lucky then. We just finished our battle and it went from being pretty easy to almost terrifying at the end. All of a sudden our opponents got some second wind." Pinkie Pie explained.
"Did they? Oh, I don't know if I could handle that. Then again...I don't battle much, so maybe I'm lucky to not have run into anyone." Sci-Twi felt exceptionally lucky. Without anyone to challenge her, she was both the weakest and luckiest trainer here.
"Really now?" Until Bertha had something to say about it. "You ran into us. I believe that changes things."
"Yeah...wait, what?!" Immediately, she backed away, almost falling over. By that choice of words, Bertha was essentially challenging her. "I-I have to battle you?! Both of you?!"
"Well, I didn't say anything." Pinkie shrugged, puffing her face. "But I guess so."
"But you're both so much better at me at battling! Especially you, Miss Bertha! This doesn't sound fair, don't you think?" She gave an excuse, visibly not wanting to confront these two in any way. Pinkie Pie might not be as strong as Bertha but she had the power to back it up. "P-Pretty please?"
"Twilight. Avoiding opponents won't help you when searching for Alpha Pokemon." Bertha shook her head. "It's already been made clear how powerful they are, so what's stopping you from battling other powerful Pokemon here?"
"Well...I've never battled another trainer before. And everyone else is without a doubt better than me. I only managed to get the Alpha Pokemon because I had help from Ash and the others. It was mostly them."
"Are you sure?" Pinkie Pie was thought otherwise. "I don't know about that..."
"Doubting yourself too? They may have helped you, but undeniably, you earned the respect of these Pokemon for your skills as a trainer. Even if they may be new, a Pokemon could care less about how inexperienced one may be." Bertha continued.
"R-Really?"
"Mhm. You have to be confident in yourself as a trainer. It's how we grow from it. If not...then the stronger Alpha Pokemon will be impossible to catch, that much I can tell you."
"I guess so. I'm just a bit nervous about facing other trainers for the first time. That's all. Especially if it's you two. And Ash and everyone else are somewhere in here so that makes it scarier."
"That is true. I won't blame you for that. How about this then? You should face only one of us." Bertha gave her a choice. A choice that was less intimidating than facing both of them. "Just one. And after that, we'll be on our way."
"Just one of you? Oh, thank goodness!" Sci-Twi loved to hear it. "Then...I'd like to battle Pinkie Pie, please!"
"Great!" The earth pony got in front of Bertha, accepting this challenge. "No need to worry. I'll take it a bit easy if you want. I'm not a heavy battler myself so it'll be all good. Maybe."
"I dodged a bullet there...Hopefully, PInkie's not too strong." Sci-Twi spoke to herself. Despite Pinkie being weaker than Bertha, the threat of her strength was still there, especially since she's been taught by Ash. But judging by how she battles less than most of her friends, Sci-Twi felt like she could have a semblance of a chance.
Maybe.
Before that could happen, there was a mild rumble nearby that grabbed their attention. Pinkie Pie fell flat on her face from that rumbling as it was the result of a battle. A fierce one to be exact.
That would be Ash's battle with Cloudchaser and Flitter. His battle will them, even with the two of them inheriting some of his skills, had been decided.
A combination of Psychic and Shadow Ball from Victini and Hoopa was what decided it as their final two Pokemon had been defeated. Specifically a Carnivine and a Sealeo.
"That's that! Great work, you two!" With this battle over, Ash could finally leave this room as Pikachu, Meloetta and the Witch applauded his victory. After their first knockouts, the two Psychic-Types were feeling good about themselves.
"Tini!" Flying in, Victini hugged Ash, rather enjoying this form of praise. As for Cloudchaser and Flitter, though they had lost, it wasn't the end of the road for them.
"Well, at least we finally lost one since yesterday," Clouchaser commented. "Let's uh...not let that happen again, okay?"
"Yeah. We were batting Ash so it's fine if we lost. But I felt so confident there." Flitter sighed as deep down, she wanted to defeat Ash. Alas, that didn't come to fruition.
Once they lost, the skills that the Witch passed on to them had left. Much like how they previous entered them, the verdant lights flew out of these two hosts, returning to the Witch's staff.
"You're up next, Meloetta. Are you excited?" Next to battle would be Meloetta. Pikachu, Victini and Hoopa received their turns and managed to pull off a full victory by themselves.
"Melo!" She certainly was. If it was alongside Ash, Meloetta would bring her A-Game without hesitation. Battling wasn't usually her style but since she was teaming up with Ash, that was another story.
"Wanna come along, you two?" Ash asked them both now that they had been defeated.
"Eeh...sure. We want to see everything else about this place and all that. It's always a treat to see you battle, anyway." said Cloudchaser.
"We've been on the rides since yesterday and had two battles as well. Today, we'll watch you and take a break from battling. And go somewhere else, probably. Maybe somewhere with entertainment. Like that one movie place." Flitter added.
"PokeStar Studios was the place. We should be getting there by at least Friday. Everypony else will be waiting for us."
"Oh. Is something big happening there?" Ash asked.
"Mhm. Mayor Mare suggested that we should all make a big movie about Equestria. We don't have movies back in our world so having that be the first one for everypony to see would be great." The foalsitter explained. "We're obviously missing a few stars from it. Like...ya know, Princess Celestia. I doubt anyone can match her look."
"Ah, what about that one time Fluttershy dressed up as her?"
"Eeh...It was unique but not her." Cloudchaser shook her head in response to Flitter.
"A movie about Equestria?! Sweet! I gotta see it!" Ash's eyes lit up as he knew where he was going next fairly soon. And this kind of information intrigued Meloetta especially. A movie? Splendid news for the Melody Pokemon. "Thanks for telling me that. It's on Friday, right?"
"It should be if everyone else is there on time. But we have like three weeks, so there's no need to rush. Come on, let's keep moving." Flitter patted him on the back. They've spent enough time here after all.
"But uh...who's that?"Cloudchaser noticed the Witch who was sitting in the corner this entire time. "She kinda looks like...you-know-who."
"Who?" Flitter questioned making Cloudchaser facehoof.
"You know...the one who's got a dangerous name back home. He-who-must not-be-named. Ghetsis." Clouchaser spoke through her teeth, spotting the similarities between her and Ghetsis. Striking similarities from the eyes to the hair.
"You have a point. But you're overthinking it. She just looks like a sweet old lady."
"Old?" The Witch replied, narrowing her eyes as she made both Cloudchaser and Flitter shudder. The tone shift in her voice from sweet to serious was fairly intimidating and bone-chilling. Something about it reminded them of Ghetsis too. "Who are you calling old?"
"S-Sorry! You look good for your age!" Flitter tried fixing the tension. "Not old at all!"
"Hmph. I'm both young in my age and appearance, in my honest opinion." The Witch took pride in herself. Though she did in fact have the appearance of a middle-aged woman, she was somewhat young. Albeit devoid of proper age. If anything, despite appearing as a human, she could be considered another species.
Cloudchaser and Flitter felt like they dodged a bullet there. Having Ghetsis' appearance made them fear the worst. But they had nothing to fear now. Except for what Cloudchaser had said about her appearance. At least they could continue on without any fears and only awkwardness.
"So. What's the end goal for this place?" Ash asked.
"Well apparently, if we win, we get to battle the strongest trainer in this carnival. That would be the owner. So all you have to do is beat everyone else and win it." Flitter answered.
"Everyone else and soon the toughest here. Got it. I'm ready for this!" Ash rushed off, excited that there was an end goal to this carnival. At first, it seemed like he could battle as much as he wanted. But Ash always loves having something to strive towards.
Universe 11. An Unknown Dimension.
There existed a dimension somewhere in the cosmos of Universe 11. A dimension where time was exceedingly slow. 5 hours outside of this dimension was 5 years here.
And currently, the one to be brought here was Ghetsis. Here, the appearance of it appeared standard. A normal mountainscape is what Ghetsis was met with. It wasn't too impressive apart from the pink skies. But there was something u ahead that could be seen along with the mountainscape. A castle. Ghetsis' goal was to train here for 5 hours which would be 5 years in this dimension. 5 years to improve himself before his own magic destroys him.
"5 years in this place...I waited 30 years to make Team Plasma. I can handle this as well." Ghetsis was confident that he could make it through 5 years. To him, 5 years was nothing. And since it would be shorter back at Universe 11, he wouldn't have to worry about time.
But before Ghetsis could start practising, this dimension revealed that it wasn't just there for show, especially with the skies and the castle in the distance. The Team Plasma leader took a single step before feeling a tremor. Something was nearby.
"Hang on...there's life in this dimension!" Ghetsis said as he could feel some movement with his magic. There was something alive within this dimension. He wasn't alone.
Bursting out of the ground was a creature of large proportions. Veiled in shadows, this creature towered over Ghetsis, causing him to look up. It kept rising and rising before finally reaching a peak. A peak that was close to the height of these mountains.
A three-headed beast had emerged before Ghetsis. There was indeed life in this dimension. And judging by its appearance and entrance, not friendly life as a menacing growl could be heard. This three-headed beast that resembled his Hydreigon with those heads was fully enveloped in shadows before spotting Ghetsis. With crimson eyes of hostility, now that Ghetsis was here, he was a visible target.
Improving here for 5 years wouldn't be as straightforward as he thought as the journey continues.
Chapter 871 End.