//------------------------------// // The One Counter against the Unbeatable // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Outer Space. Galaxy Tower. "This blows..." Rainbow Dash currently found herself in a compromising position. Rather, half of herself. One-half of her body was still attached to one-half of Castform, making it hard for them to move. And it certainly made the easier targets for Rift-Palkia, who put them in this mess in the first place. A Hyper Beam came crashing in, ready to engulf them both, but there was one Pokemon who stood in its way. Altaria. She was the only one that still had both her halves separate and unattached to anyone. If anything, Altaria still had one advantage despite having her body split. Her fluffy wings acted as springs, bouncing the Humming Pokemon around with no fear of angles. But there was one issue. She did manage to piece herself back together but in the wrong direction. One side of Altaria was facing up while the other was facing down, creating an odd symmetry. Thus, Altaria could not properly fly and had to resort to this bouncing tactic. This disorganized Altaria got in the way of the Hyper Beam, taking the hit for her friends. "A-Altaria!" "No time to be lying around!" The Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Braviary flew over, pulling the other combined duo away once Altaria saved them. "Thanks for the save, Altaria!" "But we aren't getting anywhere with this!" The Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Altaria groaned as Rift-Palkia would take the time to recharge, giving them the chance to find a new place to hide. The main goal was to try and find a way to piece themselves back together. The only ones they thought of counting on were Princess Celestia, Luna and Twilight due to how experienced they were with magic. They hoped that there was a spell for this kind of predicament. But at this rate, with how Rift-Palkia could easily catch up to them and their only saving grace was their random and haphazard movements, they might not reach someone else in time as Rift-Palkia warped space to redirect the angle of the room, forming a slope-like angle. Each half of Rainbow Dash popped their eyes out in shock before falling in a different direction. The only one who could resist this was the Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Braviary with their unified flight. The others, not so much as they screamed whilst sliding in Rift-Palkia's direction. The Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Braviary couldn't fly as fast as they could despite them being speedy aerial experts. A majority of their speed had been halved as they tried reaching the other two combined individuals. Rift-Palkia prepared a Spacial Rend, raising its claws while eyeing two targets down. This next Spacial Rend could potentially cause even greater confusion depending on how it's used. "Hydreigon! Dragon Pulse!" Interrupting Palkia's next attack was Dragon Pulse. Spacial Rend was interrupted as this super-effective attack crashed into the Rift Variant, resulting in a staggering outburst that sent Rift-Palkia back. Rift-Palkia crashed through the already-ruined walls and rubble, falling on its back and even sliding down on the slope that it made as a way of dishing out karma. The one responsible for this was a Hydreigon. Not just any Hydreigon, but Hilbert's Hydreigon. He appeared, walking through the dust and smoke, bringing some slither of hope to Rainbow Dash. "Protege! It's alright now! Because I am here!" Hilbert boasted as always, making himself seem larger than life while standing there with his arms crossed. "It had to be you who showed up..." Rainbow Dash wasn't too gleeful to see Hilbert. But it was better than no one showing up. "And I'm not your protege..." "This is a cool way to make an entrance right? When you're Number One, you've gotta always show up with style!" Hilbert chuckled before walking over. He just now realized that something was amiss. Not when he first showed up here to save them but only when he approached Rainbow Dash's group. "H-Hold on...What happened?!" Hilbert blared out with his hat even falling off from absolute shock. He wasn't sure to be amazed or terrified. "I thought it'd be easy for you to figure out already..." Both halves of Rainbow Dash groaned. "Just help me up, please! Both of us! All of us!" "Right, right! Guess it's a good thing Hydreigon's got three heads." Hilbert joked before picking up the Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Braviary. Hydreigon would handle the rest via his headarms. But, as to be expected, Rift-Palkia was still present and active. The Rift Creation lay there for a bit, taking in the damage. It certainly felt the pain to be in such a state before then standing back up. Noticeably, its chest received a mark thanks to Dragon Pulse, giving the first sign of major damage that would be visible. Prior to this, Rift-Palkia didn't even show any scratches anywhere. "It's still up?!" Both halves of Rainbow Dash gasped, stunned that Rift-Palkia was still able to continue at this point. "Looks like it lacks all of Palkia's strength but it makes up for all that crazy durability," Hilbert observed. "But no one's indestructible. So this'll be over quickly." The Trainer from another world in the Unova Region stepped forward, adjusting his hat before then taking out another Poke Ball. "Hydreigon. Take 'em to safety. Pinkie Pie and the others are close by." "Pinkie and the others?" Rainbow Dash repeated. "Are they safe?!" "Safe and sound. A little tired but they're fine. I tried chasing Galaxy Master down, only to end up finding everyone else along the way. If you're looking for someone who can fix this, some awesome magic users are waiting in that room too. So, don't get too worried, okay?" He gave her a confident smile, tossing aside all that boasting for this one moment of reassurance. "Oh...thanks, Hilbert! You're not all that bad, actually." Rainbow Dash could see it. Despite how larger-than-life Hilbert presents himself, he meant well. Very well and when it comes down to it, he was certainly a powerful enough trainer to guarantee high safety. Hydreigon would carry the Combined Half of Rainbow Dash and Braviary, taking them both off Hilbert's hands before then departing from this area. "Now! You're so tough, you could practically be immortal, right?" Hilbert said to Rift-Palkia after it stood up. "If I beat you, then I'll be known as a Cosmic Slayer! Definitely worthy of the title of Number One! And I know you'll be the one to do it! Emboar!" "Emboar!" Emboar was chosen to finish things off here. Each of Hilbert's Pokemon were eligible to do so as they were still healthy and had yet to do anything else. It was safe to say that Hilbert was the perfect candidate to handle Rift-Palkia at the moment. West of this tower, Hydreigon brought Rainbow Dash's group to another room that of course, fell prey to the conflict. This room was more spacious than the others, mainly due to how the surrounding walls had been destroyed, leading to other rooms, essentially making this whole area one big room. And in this room, Pinkie Pie and a few others could be seen. They were still safe and sound but most of them were actually fleeing from the opposing Pokemon instead of confronting them. And just like what Hilbert mentioned, experts in magic could be found here. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, to be exact. "You're all okay! That's great!" Rainbow Dash cried out with joy in her voice. "Oh! Hey, Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssh?!" Naturally, upon trying to greet her, Pinkie Pie and many others in this room couldn't help but be jump scared by the amalgamation in front of them. "Yeah yeah...I know." Rainbow Dash lowered half of her head. This was the expected reaction as these amalgamations made a few ponies faint on the spot. "I thought it was cool at first but...geez! It's hard to move like this!" "Oh my goodness..." Lyra and many more fainted on the spot while Luna simply shrugged it off. In reality, she's seen nightmares worse than this. "C-Can anyone fix this?" Rainbow Dash's two halves whimpered. "If you can..." "It seems that your dimensions have been split apart, Rainbow Dash. You and your Pokemon." Celestia observed. "Which is uh...new, to say the least. At least, to this level." "But that means you can fix it right? That Rift-Palkia did this to men and it's definitely not gonna reverse it at all. Please tell me you've got a spell that can fix this, Princess Celestia." "I have something. I can try and put your dimensions back together. If Rift-Palkia split them with the power of Space, then I too can control space to do the same. Just like how I do with the Sun." Celestia readied herself, lowering her head as her signature golden glow arrived on her horn. Each half of Rainbow Dash's team got together in one spot just to get it over with. They feared one thing. Rift-Palkia's attack which ended up splitting them didn't hurt. Would Princess Celestia's magic be the same or a different story. They had to stay put to find out. Celestia knew that she had to detach them each to make this work. They already attached to each other accidentally, unable to free themselves at all. The eyes of the Sun Princess flashed as she spotted one consistent factor. Despite being split apart, none of their insides could be seen. If they could, then that would only add to the horror, making everyone truly pass out at first glance, even Luna. Thus, Celestia discovered something in between each of these halves. Familiar purple particles. The particles of Rift-Palkia's power. "There." Celestia then coated them all in her golden light before then using her magic to carefully seep in a golden flow in between these split halves. As if she was a surgeon, she used these golden flows in a thin appearance just to try and reach these impossible areas. The spatial particles met with the flow before being weeded out. But Celestia wasn't aiming to get rid of all of them. Only a few to the point where she could place their real halves back. Some ponies were lucky that this didn't feature any organs otherwise this would truly be unpleasant. Though, there was still something settling about seeing these bodies being split in half. Which is exactly what happened as Celestia successfully split all of them. "There! Now...to get it right. It'll be like doing a jigsaw!" "Oooh, good one, princess!" Pinkie Pie applauded. "Now's not the best time for jokes..." Roseluck groaned, feeling sick from watching this. Altaria was the easiest to solve. She was the only one who had her halves together but each in the wrong direction. With just a quick rotation and careful positioning for perfect symmetry, Celestia used the remainder of Rift-Palkia's particles to place Altaria back to normal. "Altaria!" Thrilled, Altaria hummed with joy as everything felt natural now. Now, she was no longer looking at everything from two different angles. "Tari! Taria!" Celestia seemed like a miracle worker here with what she was doing. First, she quelled the destructive anger of Passion and now this. The residents of Equestria expected nothing less from their Ruler but were still amazed. "There you go..." And once again, being as careful as she can be, Celestia placed everyone's halves back to their true and original positions, restoring all of them. No harm had been done. All were aligned as the way it originally was as the golden flow would soon get rid of all of Rift-Palkia's power. It served its purpose. "Done. Good as new." "Yes! Finally!" Rainbow Dash flew around in the air with joy. Each of her airborne Pokemon would do the same, flying around each other, giggling and rejoicing in their restoration. "Everything seems to be coming together nicely now," said Luna. "Most of us are here and that problem has been sorted out. But...it's not truly over yet." "Right. The Rift is still somewhere here. I suspect that Ash has already encountered it at this point." Celestia added. "Cynthia and a few others aren't with us either. And frankly, I'm not sure this ship can take much more punishment. Luna, we have to at least find a way to send everyone home. Hoopa is our ace in the hole for this one but..." "CHATOT!" Suddenly, a disgustingly loud sound boomed across the hallways, interrupting everyone's sentence and tormenting their eardrums. Those who had fainted were immediately awoken by this booming sound as it came from a Chatot. More specifically, a Boomburst Chatot. The volume of that cry could only come from that kind of move from that kind of Pokemon. But instead of grimacing like everyone else, Celestia put on a smile, knowing whose Chatot this was. "About time he showed up." Top of the tower. Back at the very top, Galaxy Master AKA the Rift had gathered as much as cosmic power from Rift-Dialga and Rift-Palkia to gain extra time in this fictional body. A blazing flare of cosmic energy forced Ash and the others to step back from the heat while Galaxy Master recovers some power. "Yes! That's better!" Galaxy Master crossed his arms. "Now, I'm starting to feel like an unstoppable force with this adrenaline rush in me! I can go on a bit longer now!" "He's really getting into it now, huh?" Ash said with his arms over his eyes. "But...we're gonna shut down that unbeatable part once and for all. Bayleef's the only one who can make it happen." "I know." Fluttershy nodded before gazing at Bayleef's Poke Ball. "I hope you don't push yourself too far. Please be safe, Bayleef!" Choosing to let Bayleef come out, Fluttershy threw the Poke Ball and out emerged the Leaf Pokemon. "Bayleef!" "Oh, you're going through with it, are you?" The Rift said. "Look at you, Fluttershy. Taking risks. But even in the original timeline, you gradually keep stepping up to the plate. But maybe for this one, it could be your biggest mistake, especially since you're not so sure about Bayleef's power right about now." "I have to have faith in her. That's all I can do." Fluttershy replied. "All we have to do is get one leaf on you. At least, I hope we can." "You hope you can." The Rift tapped its head, repeating Fluttershy's words in a somewhat mocking tone. "Twilight..." Ash looked at Twilight, gazing into her eyes. The two of them looked at each other for a while before nodding in understanding. They both knew what needed to be done. "Let's see if you have the chance to even get her involved!" The Rif then took the next course of action via finger lasers. Out of its fingers, cosmic lasers were unleashed. It started with just one that travelled rapidly, approaching Bayleef. Lucario would swiftly step in the way to defend her, putting his arms up. "Lu!" But this resulted in the laser showing its surprising strength. Lucario felt a piercing kind of feeling once the lasers hit his arms, making him grimace and flinch. These cosmic lasers were hotter than what was exuded previously. "Take this and that!" The Rift could continue with these lasers, pointing its fingers back and forth to unleash a swift array of them. "Pikachu, Iron Tail!" "Eve! Psychic!" "Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu would try and hit these lasers away via the power of Iron Tail. He lunged at the finger lasers, swinging at one of them with a successful knockback. However, the rest of them were equally as fast, instantly putting pressure on Pikachu. The constant barrage forced him to continue reflecting as much as he could whilst Espeon would use her mental powers to try and hold these lasers. But with how many of them were coming this way, it also forced Espeon to increase her mental hold on these lasers. The Rift's arms weren't tiring at all. Not when it had the body of a powerful fictional character who was well beyond the average human or even a pony. "Bay...!" Bayleef tried getting her leaf out, wanting to change the fate of this scenario at once. The first place to start was the leaf on her head as there was indeed a cosmic glow there. The Rift Energy within Bayleef never left her at all. It was still lurking within her but the light was faint, not as vibrant as it used to be as seen by Twilight. But this only confirmed one thing in Twilight's eyes. "I see! So Pokemon affected by Rift Magic also keep the energy inside of them! No matter what...it'll never fizzle out unless something dissolves it." Twilight uttered. This meant that any Pokemon who gets drained of Rift Magic much like Bayleef would still have some inside. Just like how Second Wind and a few others still possessed astral power. It was an infinite pool that would only refill once it is drained. The only downside was that it can turn weak and frail. And this was seen by Bayleef's faint light as the leaf was struggling to leave her head. "You can do it, Bayleef!" Fluttershy cheered her on. "Seems like she can't!" The Rift taunted before continuing to assault them all with finger lasers. Pikachu was struggling to keep up as some of these lasers ended up striking him. "P-Pika!" "Espeon!" Unable to hold them all, Espeon was struck by these finger lasers as well, unfortunately. The lasers soon combusted around the opposing Pokemon. They were only truly fully protected by Audino's Protect, shielding everyone else from the explosions. "Now's your chance! Get out there, you two!" Once the smoke cleared out, the hoof of Twilight would be seen flying through it along with a Poke Ball. Two Poke Balls, actually. The second one was launched via magic. The first one sent Absol out while the second unleashed Ninetales into the fray. "Hm?!" The Rift gasped, looking up to see these two furry and canine-like Pokemon appear before it. The intense gaze of Absol and the mystical glare of Ninetales captivated and intimidated the Rift before it was then delivered a Night Slash to the head. Twilight already knew that Absol will use his own attacks without commands. That was natural. Ninetales, not so much. "Ough!" "Sol!" A nice hard knock to the head by Absol's Night Slash made the Rift hunch over. Absol was already ready for a scuffle no matter how early he shows up. "Wrap your tails around him, Ninetales!" "Ninetales!" Right after Absol gave the Rift a good smack on the head, Ninetales followed up by using his nine tales to keep the Cosmic Being restrained. All nine tales wrapped around each part of the body with a mighty grip to boot, keeping the Rift in place. "D-Don't think you can keep me still for a second!" The Rift then intensified its cosmic aura, attempting to blow Ninetales away from it. However, when trying to use the cosmic heat from this aura, Ninetales did not move. Neither did he flinch or grimace. "Ninetales!" Ninetales instead took it. In fact, he seemed to smile in the face of this astral heat. Mainly because he loved it, seeing as he was a Fire-Type. "What?!" "Too bad for you! Ninetales already got a taste of otherworldly flames!" Twilight smirked, referring to how Ninetales absorbed not just the destructive flames from Celesteela but also Cosmos' malicious flames. This wasn't his first rodeo with flames that came from higher beings. "Go, Ninetales! Extrasensory!" "Tales!" To keep the Rift further restrained, Ninetales added Extrasensory to its grip. This only made things worse for the Rift, keeping the restraints reinforced. "Now's our chance! Aura Sphere! Let's weaken it!" "Luca!" With the Rift completely restrained, the Aura Pokemon would use Aura Sphere while he had the chance. And this time, he was going for the head. Granted, it wouldn't defeat Galaxy Master but it would still deal considerable damage considering how effective Aura is. "Cario!" Out of his paws, the sphere was unleashed with Galaxy Master having seemingly no way to escape. "Kh...! Not again!" The Rift wasn't looking forward to a second Aura Sphere at all. Refusing to let them get the upper hand, it then transformed its Cosmic Aura. It went from blazing cosmic heat to something equally destructive. The Cosmic waves then transformed while expanding. Absol backed away as they formed into energy hands, quickly grabbing some of Ninetales' tails. Ninetales found four tails pulled off by these cosmic hands, giving the Fictional Character the chance to turn parts of its body into stardust, slipping through the gaps that it made. A narrow escape from the Rift's part as it used the stardust to narrowly evade the sphere of Aura, allowing it to hit Ninetales instead. The Rift saved itself once more, proving to be as slippery as it was destructive. "You failed again! Fate is on my side!" The Rift bellowed with a vicious cackle right afterwards. "Not for long!" Just then, as the Rift laughed, Ash replied while having someone in his hands. That would be Bayleef. Bayleef was thrown by Ash with all his might, sending the Leaf Pokemon flying. "Bay...!" Bayleef was all for it. If it meant getting close to the Rift. That faint light was still on her horn. It was dim but the power was still present. It just needed something to touch. And right now, with the trajectory Bayleef was moving at, that looked to be the case. "!" The Rift was naturally stunned once Bayleef came this way. Everything looked to slow down for a bit once the two of them were close. Bayleef closed her eyes, ready for the hardest impact she'll ever have. "Fool!" But the Rift had another trick up its sleeve. A moment of teleportation. Once Bayleef got close, it only took the Rift to teleport its body to the other side, completely shutting down Ash's plan to launch the Grass-Type directly. But alas, even the Rift was juked out as well. Right after it teleported to the other side, something was waiting for it. Hoopa's ring. The Rift was tricked as well as Hoopa certainly didn't want to stay out of this. Not when his friends were in danger and working hard. "Were you surprised?" Hoopa chuckled, having his signature laugh as always. The Rift passed through the hoop before ending up at Bayleef's position, making no progress. "The only way for this to work is if Bayleef touches it at the moment when fate decides to favour Galaxy aster. But maybe this can do...!" Twilight thought to herself, hoping that direct contact with the Rift along with Bayleef's weak Rift Power would be enough to do something. Everyone was hoping the same as once Bayleef's leaf touched Galaxy Master's chest, a synergy of cosmic energy flared out of them. It didn't make a fierce sound at all. There wasn't an explosion or anything traditionally destructive. It was only a giant expanse of cosmic energy that made everyone close their eyes from this intensity. Clearly, something major happened upon this striking contact. But was it for the better or worse? Everything in this area fell silent in the eclipsing cosmic light as the journey continues. Chapter 923 End.