//------------------------------// // Against the Rift // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Outer Space. Galaxy Tower. Destruction could only be seen in this once-clean tower. An array of Pokemon Attacks and Cosmic Attacks led to this destruction. Applejack ran along these halls, hopping over heaps of rubble whilst searching for any sign of life. Signs of her friends are all she wanted to see right now. "Twilight! Rarity! Anyone?!" Applejack called for her friends, passing through the many hallways. Following Applejack and her Sceptile was the assistance of Chrysalis and her Changeling Guards, King Paramount, Queen Luminary and their Pegalysium Guards, Canterlot Guards plus Pokemon Ranger Jackie. "What happened here? I'm surprised a hole wasn't blown in here to the outside earlier." Jackie said whilst observing the destruction. He immediately took pictures of the mess just for the Ranger Union to witness. Anything about Galaxy Master was valuable to know and especially anything about the Rift since it was greatly involved in this. Actually, it was the cause of it all. "Ash! Where's Ash?!" Chrysalis shouted out, peeking into other rooms. These rooms only showed her one thing. Destruction. The rooms and hallways were littered with elements of fire, water, rocks and many more. Grey and black are the new colours of what was once an immaculate and polished hallway, which has now become the stage of a fierce conflict. Eventually, they ran into someone. Apple Bloom noticed a familiar friend up ahead, bringing a smile to her face. A fellow Cutie Mark Crusader could be seen. " Ah! Scoota...Loo?" She slowed down before noticing that something was amiss. It looked to be Scootaloo up ahead. But there was one important factor. She looked older. "Hey, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo waved at her while appearing with Ponyta and Cyndaquil, who used to be Rapidash and Quilava. At the same time, somewhere around this vicinity, the roar of Rift-Dialga could be heard. But the first thing that needed to be answered by Scootaloo was her appearance. Among many other things. "Uh...about this?" Scootaloo laughed nervously before standing before her friend, looking down at her while also matching Applejack's height. The Very Top of the Tower. "Move!" Back at the top, Galaxy Master AKA the Rift was still battling against Ash, Twilight and Fluttershy, finally confronting them. He shoved Pikachu aside, who tried biting into him, only to be rejected. But this was soon met with Raboot jumping at his head from behind, holding onto the fictional character's head while igniting his body. The Rift growled before grabbing Raboot, tossing him away with a trail of fire being left behind. Their battle led them outside of this room from the destruction it was spreading, forcing Ash, Twilight and Fluttershy to back away. Hoopa would also back away the closer the Rift got just to keep himself safe for the time being. "Go, Pikachu! Iron Tail!" "Chu...Pika!" Pikachu jumped in, swinging his hardened tail that matched that of Iron, meeting with the fictional character. The Rift received a mean smack to the face by this tail as to be expected from a Steel-Type move. "Kh!" The Rift scoffed before then smacking Pikachu away with the power of its ring. The large ring on its back acted as an extra weapon, shooting away the Mouse Pokemon with nebulous waves. "Pika...!" Pikachu slid back to Ash's side before shaking his head. The rings would shoot out these nebuli some more in droves, only for Audino to step in. "Audino!" Protect had been used, shielding everyone from the nebula that the Rift brought along. The sound of the nebula raged in her ears, making her flinch a bit. But it wasn't enough to stop her. "Come here!" The Rift then flicked both its fingers before summoning an outline around both Twilight and Fluttershy. With this flick, it would attempt to drag them over for closer contact. "I...Don't think so!" But Twilight responded in kind to the Rift's actions. She used her magic to the same, combating its Cosmic Telekinesis. The Rift gasped as Twilight was starting to pull herself and Fluttershy back, resisting the Rift's hold. "Oh my!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she felt a powerful back and forth from this struggle. Neither side wanted to give up their telekinetic hold at all. It almost looked like two children fighting over a toy in this instance. "Head in there, Pikachu! Use Quick Attack! Lucario, you're up!" Ash took the chance to send out Lucario. At the same time, Pikachu would approach Galaxy Master, interrupting him. "Ough! N-Not again...!" The Rift growled before then losing focus. This gave Twilight the chance to win this exchange, successfully saving herself and Fluttershy from being pulled in. "Now, Aura Sphere!" "Lu...Cario!" And with the Rift losing the struggle, this gave Lucario, who had just showed up, the chance to use Aura Sphere. Forming that signature azure sphere in his paws, the Aura Pokemon would then launch it in the Rift's direction. "!" Naturally, this was a red alert for the Rift. The one thing that led the Rift to be in this situation was heading its way. In the nick of time, it managed to materialize its body into stardust, using that to evade the Aura Sphere. But barely. The sphere grazed its arm, dealing some damage in the process. But for the most part, the Rift managed to avoid the full attack of the sphere. "That was close...I feared Lucario would eventually show up." "Is everyone doing okay?" Ash asked the group. They all nodded in unison as they were still in one piece thankfully. But the same could be said about the Rift. "Alright then. I'm gonna need help keeping the Rift still. That way, Lucario's Aura Sphere can hit its mark." "We can do that for you, Ash," said Twilight. "Use the staff too as a backup. Just in case. That way, we can probably solve two problems. Getting the Rift out of its body and nullifying the Rift as well. Whichever one happens first." "I can continue healing you from afar. Just look out for any Hyper Beams, okay?" Fluttershy added. "Hmph! Are you done with your little scheming?" The Rift menacingly said while also emanating an equally menacing Cosmic Aura. With Galaxy Master's added strength, it summoned what looked to be miniature galaxies in its hands, stunning those who saw it. "Are those...?!" Twilight pulled back. "I wish they were as big as the original. But thanks to you Ash, this will have to do. Even so, they're as dangerous as they appear." The Rift chuckled. "Feel the turbulent storm of a galaxy!" It then launched both of these small galaxies as they started spinning as if they were discs. "Audi! Protect!" "A-Audino!" Audino stammered, running ahead of everyone else. Twilight would assist by chiming in her magic. In unison, Twilight and Audino formed a barrier against these Small Galaxies. These galaxies would then start spinning against their shields, having the intensity of a spinning top. Or worse. A razor. They started cutting through the barrier while producing heat that could only come from space. Twilight felt this heat as it was as if multiple tiny stars in these miniature galaxies were radiating out of them. "It's so...hot...!" Twilight groaned. "They may be small, but they have everything a galaxy needs!" The Rift then clenched its hand to make the galaxies explode. Naturally, this resulted in a combustion that many of them had never experienced before. This galactic explosion shattered the barrier completely while perplexing everyone's vision with this cosmic light. Hoopa closed his eyes too before this hallway and a majority of the top part of the tower. Ash and his friends were unfortunately pushed back by this galactic outburst. The heat of these galaxies got to them. Parts of the wall were torn apart, leading to other rooms that weren't as high up as this one, but fairly high up. "Ashkan!" Hoopa cried out before also being blown back. The Rift's hands were smoking thanks to what it had unleashed onto them. This flash of light radiated to the point where it even lit up the entire tower for a bit. Ash and everyone could be seen against the rubble of the ruined walls, groaning and sighing. Ash's hat nearly fell off, only for him to stand back up with it. The one who took this the best was Audino. Her amazing defence is what helped her the most. Such as the perks of being a healer. "A-Audino...!" But she would be lying if she didn't say it stung. Most of the damage was sent to her as smoke came out of her body, showing the heat of the galaxies affecting her. "That Audino...is she immortal or something?" The Rift uttered. "Audi!" Fluttershy flew over to the Hearing Pokemon. "Are you alright?!" "Audino." Audino could guarantee that she was at least hanging in there. But the Rift's Cosmic Attacks have proven to be dangerous enough to even put pressure on a durable Pokemon such as herself. But soon, she felt the smoke leave her body thanks to Twilight's magic. A soothing purple light covered her as she wasn't the only one who could heal. This was mainly thanks to the Rift Magic that Twilight also possessed. "Audino?" "The Rift's not the only one with this kind of ability on its side," Twilight said before healing herself. "I can still use the Rift Magic I gained a few months back. But...maybe not what it's doing." "Bah. Don't get too confident just because you have some of my power. Normally, I'd be fine with someone wielding my own magic, but now, I'm not in the mood for that. I'll be kind and let you keep that magic after all of this Twilight. But not after I strip you away from it!" The Rift then suddenly approached them by taking flight, holding its hand out with a vicious bone structure. "Ash! Get ready for an Aura Sphere! Eve, Dazzling Gleam!" "Raboot, High Jump Kick!" "Raboot!" Raboot and Espeon would give Lucario all the time he needed to prepare a direct Aura Sphere. They had to make sure this Aura Sphere would land successfully. "You two are in my way!" The Rift made a giant cosmic hand from Galaxy Master's regular hand, using it to smack them both away. Raboot would use his agile and acrobatic movements to flip over the hand swipe while Espeon simply shielded herself with the rainbow sphere. The rainbows pierced through parts of the hand, weakening it. Raboot came the closest to reaching the Rift and delivering a firm stomp to its fist. "Gouh!" "Raboot!" After that, Raboot used the Rift's face as a pedestal, jumping off it just to push the Cosmic Entity back. This always allowed Espeon to pelt her enemy with the remainder of Rainbows she could muster. Agitated, the Rift then used its ring, sending it in front of its body. This Rift acted as a shield as much as it did a weapon and a stylistic choice. The remaining rainbow rays soon met this ring, blocking all contact with Galaxy Master. In response, after blocking each of Espeon's rays, it retaliated by turning into the face of a dragon. A Cosmic Dragon was formed from the ring, only possessing the head. It somewhat resembled that of Dragon Pulse minus the arms as the dragon then rushed over, baring its Astral fangs. "Hold it steady Lucario!" Ash said as Lucario was currently building it up. The dragon tore through the area with great destructive force, burning away the rubble just from its mere presence. "Hyper Beam, Audi! Please!" "Eve, use Psychic!" "Espeon!" To meet with this Cosmic Dragon, an invisible wave of Psychic power along with a giant beam could clash head-on. The Dragon proved to be fairly resilient as it was currently holding back two attacks. It even started pushing them both back, forcing Espeon and Audino to try harder. This also forced the Rift to pour more of its strength into the ring, trying its best to overwhelm them. It wasn't until Twilight used her own beam against the Dragon that the Rift continued to struggle. Pikachu didn't even need to hear anything from Ash to use Thunderbolt, putting more pressure on the Cosmic Entity. "Now's our chance! Go Lucario!" "Lucario!" Lucario had an opening. The Rift was too occupied with Twilight and the others, leading to Aura Sphere being unleashed from his paws. The sphere of Aura travelled at great speeds, by passing Audino, Twilight and Espeon while also curving past the attacks. It managed to slip through the struggle, entering the mouth of the Cosmic Dragon. The Dragon was given an Aura Sphere as the attack then passed through it, reaching the Rift. Not only did it weaken the Dragon but it managed to finally hit its mark. The Rift gasped as Aura Sphere was unleashed directly at the Rift's chest, breaking its balance and allowing Twilight and the others to win the struggle. "N-No way...!" The Rift growled before then having Thunderbolt Hyper Beam, Psychic and Twilight's Magic consume it. This array of colours engulfed the entity. The Rift was finally struck by a hefty team attack. Ash even chimed in by using Sir Aaron's staff to exhibit more Aura, giving strength to Lucario's Aura Sphere. Afterwards, the Rift was then smacked all around by this combustion of Infinity Energy and Magic. The top of this tower was in a terrible state at this point. A state almost exposed it to outer space entirely. The blue dust blew violently from the explosion that came to pass. The Rift could be seen within the blue smoke, trembling. The attack did a number on it and yet, it was still standing. The ring around its back seemed to have vanished in that furious explosion, showing some progress had been made against the Rift. "It's still up?!" Twilight gasped. Despite how it took a direct Aura Sphere to the chest, the Rift hadn't left Galaxy Master's body at all. It still took control of it. "Heh...I...told you. I adjusted Galaxy Master's story with the time I had...I am truly, without a doubt, unbeatable now!" The Rift exclaimed. "So no matter what you do...no matter what you try or manage to pull off. I cannot lose!" "No matter what?" Fluttershy uttered with shrunken pupils. The Rift certainly isn't the type to bluff. Everything it says always has a weight of truth to it. "No matter what! Exactly how it should've been! But of course...with this fictional law being put in place...this also means I can change reality to my bidding!" The Rift unsurprisingly had more power in stock thanks to what it managed to absorb. With just a flare of its power, it altered reality just for this one instance. In this state, despite still standing, it did obviously take damage from all those attacks. But that wouldn't be the case for long. Before the eyes of Ash and his friends, they witnessed how the Rift suddenly recovered all that had been damaged. The cape from Galaxy Master had been repaired. All other damage to the suit had been reversed right afterwards. "Hahaha! It never happened looks like!" Galaxy Master laughed as all of that progress was thrown away. "Try something else! I'd love to see what you can come up with! Not that it will matter anyway! Because I'm going to win!" "That's a problem...A genuine major problem!" Twilight growled. "It already changed how the story will go...This is what Princess Luna feared. Someone who can't be beaten no matter what. "What do we do? If we keep attacking then something else will happen to change it right?" Fluttershy gulped. "Ash?" "Yeah. That's gonna be annoying." Ash narrowed his eyes as even he was stumped by this almighty power. "But, it's not time to panic yet. I've got an idea. The first one's pretty close to us but the second one's gonna be a backup plan. Making it so that he's always gonna win is a problem, but we've got someone who can change that." "Someone?" Twilight and Fluttershy both said before realizing who this was. Fluttershy held out one Poke Ball. The Poke Ball contained Bayleef, who was currently resting. "Ah, right. Bayleef." said the Rift. "The one Pokemon who got arguably the best power out of any Rift-Influenced Pokemon. Her power is similar to what I've formed. But that's the issue...thanks to that vampire, it's hard to tell if that leaf's going to be as effective as it used to be. You've been avoiding having Bayleef battle recently, right, Fluttershy?" "...Fluttershy stayed silent before holding Bayleef's Poke Ball close to her. "Well, I'd be scared to test it out. Don't want to put Bayleef in too much trouble. Otherwise...another shock to her system could come." "Fluttershy. It's up to you to decide." Ash said to the pegasus. "Don't worry. We've got Plan B that we can use if this doesn't work out." "It has to work," Fluttershy replied. "At least...I hope." "How pitiful." The Rift shrugged before thinking to itself. "Truth is...I've got a lot to worry about as well. I can't stay in this body for long unless I restore more of my energy...That Bayleef may or may not have some of it left...but I know who does." Suddenly, the Rift took a different action. Instead of continuing this battle, with a smack on the floor, it spread out the rest of its reserves while also shaking the tower. Ash and the others kept steady, wondering what the Rift was up to now. It didn't seem like an Earthquake-like attack. It was something else. "I'm going to be taking more from you two! Dialga! Palkia!" The Rift shouted, focusing on Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia. They both had energy for it to feed on perfectly. Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia were currently pursuing their current targets. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Scootaloo managed to lose Rift-Dialga but Rift-Palkia was high on Rainbow Dash's tail. Rainbow Dash was still in a predicament where she and her Pokemon had been split in half and currently had conjoined parts of each other in the wrong places. "Follow my lead, Braviary! One flap! Two flaps!" Despite how confusing this was, Rainbow Dash and Braviary worked together to make this work. They couldn't run since Rainbow Dash had two hooves on the side whilst Braviary only had one talon, creating an imbalance. But not with their wings. Since they both had one wing each, they could use this to their advantage. Currently, they soared through the hallways with their wings. Although, the downside was that one wing was bigger and heavier than the other. Mainly Braviary's wing. But they managed. The same couldn't be said for one half of Castform and the other half of Braviary connected together. Plus, there was also another half of Rainbow Dash that was stuck to Castform's other half. They had to roll on the floor to get anywhere. Rift-Palkia gained on them, moving far quicker than all three of them combined and uncombined. At this rate, they couldn't escape it. Rainbow Dash could only think about sending one of her Pokemon out in this instance if she had the balance to do so. But it looked like it would be too late. Right as Rift-Palkia went to use a Dragon Claw on Castform and Rainbow Dash, that's when it happened. Its body felt weaker, all thanks to the Rift. Power from Rift-Palkia was taken away just to fuel its creator some more. Dragon Pulse landed its mark, hitting the side of Rainbow Dash mainly. But it was certainly weaker. The combined body of Rainbow Dash and Castform fell over from this impact, unable to keep their balance. But what it did grant them was extra momentum while also bringing some pain along the way. "This is lame...someone help, please!" Pinnaculum Pegalysium. Second Wind's Throne Room. Late Afternoon. By this point, everything major was happening up in the stars. Many were aware of the events happening up there. Especially Second Wind, who was the closest to seeing the Rocketship. Due to the height of Pinnaculum Pegalysium compared to regular Pegalysium, she was the closest to the Sun and even space. The Queen already saw the tower for herself, wondering what to do with it. It wasn't before she was constant flashes of light from different sources going off. "Hm. I see now..." And by using the power of the Unown, Second Wind gained enhanced vision, witnessing what was the commotion happening around the tower. It was the best way to know what was going on aside from using a telescope. After witnessing enough, Secon Wind put on a conniving smile that only befitted her. "Oh, it must be so fun up there. I've always wondered what it would be like to go into space. But that will have to wait one day." Second Wind said. "Aside from that...the amount of Rift Energy coming from that tower is outstanding. I'd rather not continue sharing that power with Daybreaker and the others. As someone who lives at the very top of the world, I deserve to have all of it." Indeed. Second Wind saw this as an opportunity. An opportunity to gain more Rift Energy for herself. Thanks to the alliance she made with Ghetsis, Daybreaker, Empress Twilight and more, they all shared one giant orb of Rift Energy as a team. But Second Wind wanted more of it and this was certainly one way to find some. "Unown. Prepare yourself. We're going to strike that tower down." As the journey continues. Chapter 922 End.