//------------------------------// // Imminent Infection // Story: My Little Pokémon: Grander World // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Equestria. The Everfree Forest. Nightfall. An unusual sight befell the eyes of Roseluck, who was joined by Daisy and Paradise. A sight that most, if not everypony would find to be unbelievable. The Creatures of the Everfree, some of the most feared out there, were slumped over and ill thanks to a Despair Plant that appeared here. A Hydra and Manticore found themselves afflicted by a disease that came in the form of black and dark green cracks across their bodies. "Yeesh. What kind of Pokemon are these?" Paradise, who was completely unbothered by this, mistook these two creatures for Pokemon. Her knowledge of Everfree was non-existent despite being around as a Paradise Flower for years. "These aren't Pokemon!" Roseluck exclaimed. "They're the creatures from our world way before Pokemon came into our lives. I almost forgot about them honestly..." Seeing the presence of ponies, the Hydra would attempt to raise one of its three heads, only to fail in doing so. Its eyes appeared dull and tired while the strength of one of its head moving was weak and frail. It felt as fragile as a noodle. It definitely felt like attacking the ponies that appeared before it but was too weak to do so. Roseluck shuffled her way past the Hydra, whose long neck was no longer strong enough to chase after her. Even the Manticore was sluggish, only whimpering instead of snarling, growling or roaring. The cracks around these creatures would pulsate violently each time they tried to do something. But these two fierce creatures weren't the only ones Roseluck, Daisy and Paradise would see in weakened states and neitehr was it just the creatures that lived here. The environment of the Everfree Forest had new parts to it that somehow fit into the mysterious nature of the forest, but were never here in the first place. Massive warts stuck out from the ground and trees, with a murky dark green colouring. Ominous bubbles would pop out of these warts, leaving behind a strange sound afterwards. And next to these warts, also afflicted, were the other creatures of the Everfree. More Manticores could be seen lying down, trying to stave off the illness as much as they could. But it was not used. This was beyond them. Beyond anything the Creatures of the Everfree Forest had to deal with. Even the fearsome Cockatrice found itself stunned and bewildered, sitting next to a tree with an unknown disease. "It's worse than I thought..." Roseluck uttered. "To think one Despair Plant did all of this against them. I can't see a single creature that hasn't been affected." "A-Are we going to be affected by it too?" Daisy stuttered as she feared that she could be afflicted by whatever Despair Plant caused this mess. "Not if we stop that thing. That's why we have you two and this elixir. If one fails, the other can maybe do something about it." Roseluck replied, looking over at the massive elixir that Roserade was carrying. "By the way...Where's that Despair Plant anyway?" Paradise questioned. And it seemed like her question would be answered fairly soon. A croak unlike any other moved through the atmosphere, catching the attention of the three ponies and Roserade. Their eyes widened, followed by their pupils shrinking. That croak lingered for a while, shaking some of the trees that were nearby thanks to its powerful vibrations. The elixir was even trembling with Roserade carefully holding onto it. That kind of croak was threatening and the one responsible for it wasn't even here just yet. It was merely a simple cry. Just then, a thick fog would close in on them, appearing in the distance. And within that fog, the silhouette of the Despair Plant who resembled a Bullfrog. The Despair Plant Bullfrog leapt into the air from a great distance, receiving a good amount of air time with the eyes of the ponies following it. Afterwards, it landed right in front of Roseluck, Daisy and Parisde, shaking the earth and making the rocks nearby fly up. The three ponies had their balance disrupted with Daisy falling flat on her face, Roseluch stumbling back and Paradise nearly falling over. The Despair Plant Bullfrog faced them at last. The size of this thing was half the size of Ponyville's Town Hall which was utterly frightening. It easily outclassed most of the creatures of the Everfree Forest. But it seemed to pack more of a devastating punch than all of them thanks to what it was capable of. "Sweet Celestia..." Roseluck shuddered, experiencing a Despair Plant for the very first time. And it definitely left an impression on her. The looming shadow of the Despair Plant completely engulfed them. "Rose...!" Roserade was already at the ready. Both with her thorns and the elixir she was holding. In case this did go very wrong, the Bouquet Pokemon would not hesitate to attack. There was a moment of silence here. The Bullfrog looked down on them with its abyss-like eyes, lacking any pupils or colour to them. Noticeably, the Despair Plant Bullfrog was gazing at Roseluck instead of the Flora Ponies. The appearance of Roseluck made the Despair Plant freeze on the spot. There was something rather familiar about her. It slowly leaned forward, unleashing a quieter yet still imposing croak that rustled the trees. "Well...What?" Roseluck whimpered while leaning back. "Oh, it's fine. I think it's interested in you." It took Daisy's words to confirm that the presence of the Flora Ponies was affecting this Despair Plant. It only made sense. A single Despair Plant could not compare to a Despair Plant Garden, which these two managed to calm down and befriend with their presence alone. "That's not what I want to hear." Roseluck sighed. She was safe but she still had this Despair Plant close to her. "I guess it was the right call to bring you two here. And there's no need for this elixir." "Rose?" Roserade looked at the elixir before gently putting it down. It was of no use right now. Or practically ever. With Daisy and Paradise, it seemed that the Despair Plants would cease their hostile attacks immediately. It almost seemed too good to be true, especially during the Black Crusade. But to Roseluck, it was so good that it was completely true and she'd prefer it to be this way. "What are you doing...?" However, it wasn't just Roseluck, Daisy and Paradise that ended up here. There was someone else. A raspy and rather weak voice echoed out. And that someone stood within the thick fog, having the silhouette of a pony. Appearing past the fog was a pony with a rather frail and weak body. Just as weak as the Everfree Forest Creatures that have been afflicted. Her face looked crooked as her hooves were trembling, covered in wrinkles. She wore a hood to try and disguise her crooked face but that failed as it was very much visible. And what was also visible were her fangs that were almost sharp, but not quite. This was a vampire. A member of the Dread League had ended up in the Everfree Forest, most likely at the same time the Despair Plant showed up. And speaking of those fangs, they were joined by a smile that was equal to that of a Gengar but with a rather meek expression that carried an ominous nature. "A Vampire?!" Roseluck gasped. "I knew this would happen...It's those Flora Ponies who'll ruin our beloved Despair Plants." She said in her weak tone, scraping the dirt off the ground. "But it's fine. Her majesty prepared for this..." "Are you the one who did this?" Paradise said, getting in front of the others. "What's the big idea making everyone so ill?! That thing's gonna spread to Ponyville too!" "It's the Black Crusade. It doesn't matter what they do as long as they can harm someone," said Roseluck. "You're probably the one who planted the Despair Plant here." "That's right...You must be her majesty's little sister. I can see the similarities between the two of you." The creepy vampire said, commenting on Roseluck's face. She easily saw a bit of Rosa Maledicta in Roseluck just by facial recognition alone. They were still sisters after all. "Sister? Who?" Daisy questioned, unaware of who Roseluck's sister was. "Bullfrog shouldn't be standing around. It's already done a great job infecting the Everfree Forest with these Life Warts. It can't stop now just because two ponies showed up." "Well, that's too bad," Paradise smirked with confidence, putting her hoof on the Bullfrog. "I guess we can just make friends with Despair Plants in a heartbeat. And you can't do anything about it. Hah!" "Oh, but I can. It's why her majesty trusts me with this. Bullfrog! Infect them!" The vampire exclaimed which then prompted a flare of magic to fly out of her eyes. This flare would soon appear in the eyes of the Despair Plant. This was followed up by a menacing croak that came from Bullfrog which soon prompted it to gaze directly at Paradise. Paradise's hoof trembled as she felt the vibrations of Bullfrog's croaking. The Flora Pony then looked up to see the Despair Plant gazing right at her, but it wasn't with friendly intentions. "Rade?!" Roserade, sensing the imminent danger, quickly used her thorns that hid within her bouquet hands before the worst could happen. Paradise looked up with a confused expression before having her body wrapped by thorns. The Flora Pony was pulled back by Roserade, escaping an incoming attack from Bullfrog which came in the form of a tongue strike. The tongue of this Despair Plant was so strong that it dug a hole into the ground, leaving a visible imprint behind. Paradise left behind a shocked expression on her face as her natural presence to calm and befriend a Despair Plant had been tossed aside thanks to this Wrinkled Vampire. "What?! But I thought...?!" Paradise's reaction expressed how she felt about this turn. "You Flora Ponies won't sully the legacy of the Despair Plants with your presence. I'll make sure Bullfrog gives you the worst possible diseases! So says I! Shrivel!" She revealed her name to them. With Shrivel's orders, the Despair Plant went on the attack. With a prolonged croak, it would suddenly summon a veil of magic that erupted from the ground itself. Appearing before Roseluck and the others were massive warts, similar to what was seen across the rest of the garden. "Not good! Let's run for it!" Roseluck could already guess that this was how the Bullfrog infected everyone else here. She definitely wasn't going to let that happen to her, Roserade or the two Flora Ponies. The warts unleashed a strange magic that filled the air and surrounding area, quickly replacing the thick fog that was previously here. Daisy would soon back away, following Roseluck, Roserade and Paradise who were already on the move. It was clear as day that they were no longer around friendly company. Thanks to Shrivel, the Despair Plant Bullfrog had something else in mind. "Go past Everfree Bullfrog. We've already infected most of Grogar's creations. Now let's go after Ponyville and bring peace to our majesty's heart by ridding of the ones who gave her so much trouble!" Shrivel cackled, ordering Bullfrog to target Ponyville. It was bound to happen eventually but Shrivel simply accelerated it, ignoring the remaining Everfree Forest creatures. Bullfrog would take a mighty leap, using it to travel across and performing it better than most frogs. Whether they be Pokemon or animals. Shrivel's cackle was followed by Bullfrog crashing into the ground, causing a rupturing sound to go off along with a powerful dust cloud rising which was wide enough to reach Roseluck and the others. Twilight's Castle. And of course, this was noticed by some of Ponyville's residents that were still awake. Including Fluttershy, who had just found out about where Mage Meadowbrook aka the Mystical Mask once was. But before she could do anything about that, the sound of Bullfrog crashing into the ground and kicking up a dust cloud grabbed her attention. "What was that?!" Starlight and Spike collectively exclaimed. "That must be the Despair Plant! I think it's starting to go on the move now!" Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, I really want to go to Hayseed Swamp right now but..." "Maybe that can wait!" Spike suggested. Now he was truly awake thanks to this development. "That Despair Plant could make all of Ponyville unwell if we don't do something!" "Roseluck went with Daisy and Paradise. Do you think they're okay?" Starlight wondered, worried if those three were already infected. "My Pokemon!" As for Fluttershy, all the Pokemon at the Pokemon House are what she was most worried about. The pegasus dismissed Hayseed Swamp just for this. She had to keep all of her Pokemon safe from the coming diseases. "Twilight's still not back yet. Where is she?" Spike had yet to be caught up with everything. "Fluttershy said something about her heading for the Crystal Empire. Since the Black Crusade has started, the Crystal Empire's the closest to Magehold, so they might go there first. Which means..." Starlight paused for a moment, processing her own words. It all came to Starlight which she wished she picked on sooner. "Sunburst!" She realized her childhood friend was likely in peril at this point. Fears for the Crystal Empire were certainly rising and for a good reason. Aside from Shalour City, it was one of the first targets. And for the benefit of the Lich Queen, the vampires aimed to grab the three alicorns there just so she can gain their lifespans. The Crystal Empire. Speaking of the Crystal Empire, it was still running amok with Sableye everywhere. The number of Sableye was just so abundant and overwhelming for Shining Armor and his guards, which were missing most of their allies thanks to the Dread League. Shining Armor struggled to keep all of these Sableye at bay. And so did his partner Aegislash. Aegislash swung as hard as he could, easily overpowering the crystal weapons that came at him. But everything else was a fierce struggle. The same went for the Golurks "There are so many of them..." Shining Armor panted, feeling exhausted. It was late at night too so his lack of sleep added to it. "Sucks that you've led a peaceful life for so long. Maybe you all wouldn't be so tired!" The vampires taunted Shining Armor and the Crystal Empire guards. They had a point. Since few issues come up in the Crystal Empire, the guards tend to get some rest here and there. Their sleep schedules were most definitely fixed and were being disrupted thanks to the Black Crusade. "Aegislash...!" Aegislash cried out before seeing the circle of Sableye that was closing in on him. And there were still more Sableye to deal with. They've barely scratched the surface of the number of Sablye that Sweet Fang controlled. This involved the ones outside of the Crystal Empire who lived in the snowy lands nearby As for Sweet Fang, she, other vampires and some Sableye were focused on Sunburst's home. The magical field that protected his home was boosted by the magic of Baby Flurry Heart. Naturally, this was a tough barrier to break. Multiple Sableye threw as many attacks as they could onto the barrier but to no avail. The vampires couldn't even break through it. "Accursed alicorn magic!" Sweet Fang yelled after releasing a fierce beam of magic onto the field, only to fail. The magic of a baby alicorn was truly spectacular considering it had room to grow in correlation with Flurry Heart's age. "What do we do now? We can't break through this thing no matter how hard we try?" A vampire asked. "It's fine. That Shining Armor is starting to tire out so that's one problem that'll be dealt with. It's just this barrier that's the main problem. None of our magic can shatter it at all. That baby's doing a good job keeping it up and steady." Sweet Fang groaned. "But we'll get them if it's the last thing we do." "If we don't hurry, we could miss out on all the fun of the Black Crusade. Plus, someone might show up here and ruin that fun for us." "Pssh. No, they're not." Sweet Fang shook her head. "Even if we run out of Sableye, we have our backup. We haven't destroyed everyone here for one reason. I'll just use them as extra soldiers." The controlling vampire then turned to face the residents of the Crystal Empire who were restrained. Some were still hiding but most had been captured because of the Sableye attack. Sweet Fang had the idea of making them all work under her. With a devious smile, she was already planning on it. She wasn't really getting anywhere with the barrier. Flurry Heart's magic was an issue and a lot of time was being wasted while the Black Crusade was ongoing. Extra help didn't sound like a bad idea, considering this also meant that Sweet Fang could gain control of other Pokemon. Not just the Sableye. Shining Armor sighed, putting his hoof on his face to try and keep his stamina strong. But he couldn't do it forever. He wished the other Crystal Empire guards were here right now. The Sableye would've still outnumbered them but perhaps it wouldn't be so overwhelming. There were few options facing him right now. He couldn't continue this forever and neither did he have a way to get out of this mess. At best, he had to just hope that he could push through somehow, but that seemed impossible. And watching her father struggle this match through the windows was Baby Flurry Heart. The baby alicorn had tears falling down her eyes and yet she didn't make loud sounds to express her sadness as babies usually do. Not this time. Things felt different for Flurry Heart. She did a great job at keeping the magical barrier up but that didn't matter since she wanted to see the rest of her family safe and awake. "We're at a stalemate here. But maybe we can still find a way to get out of this mess." Sunburst said. He didn't give up hope so easily. Not when he had all of these books at his disposal. "We can try another form of shield magic. Most shields are used to keep us and anything safe from harm. Sometimes they can repel. But there are other ways of handling it. Different effects for shields are a possibility, but I can't do that. Can you?" Baby Flurry Heart whimpered. She had the potential to do so, looking at the book Sunburst held out. It was about Advanced Shield Magic. She couldn't exactly read yet but she could make out the images that were drawn onto the book. One of the shields appeared to have fire around them. One drawing of a shield involved electricity, another had magical spikes, one had fangs coming out of it and so much more. Each of these shield variations could be used as a way to fight back instead of just defending. All of those seemed like good options, but Flurry Heart wanted something for her family instead. Her own shield was good enough and all that mattered was the safety of her father, who was being pressured at the moment. Flurry Heart dismissed the book before looking back at Shining Armor and Aegislash. "No good, huh...?" Sunburst sighed, doing his best to come up with something else. Then it hit him. He had something wild that came to mind. "I know! You kept your Manaphy safe by keeping it in a Poke Ball, didn't you?! You even took the time to put Sylveon into Princess Cadence's Poke Ball!" Flurry Heart turned to face him, wondering what Sunburst was getting at. It sounded like it had something to do with Pokemon, but there was seemingly no Pokemon that could handle this mess. At least, not right now. "Try using Manaphy's Heart Swap. If you do that, you can swap bodies with whoever. I'm not sure who's worth swapping with right now, but it could help." A smile graced the face of the baby alicorn. Sunburst had something. It wasn't a bad idea at all as Manaphy's Heartswap has proved to be quite an effective move. However, that smile soon faded when Flurry Heart realized the one major problem with that. And it was the same problem that befell her alternate universe counterpart, her mother and Sylveon. "Oh. Manaphy's unconscious too, isn't she?" Sunburst already figured it out by looking at Flurry Heart's frown. Suddenly, their conversation was broken apart by a tremor that passed through the building. The two of them gasped as the barrier should be shielding the building from any harm but something managed to shake it from the outside. "That can't be! The shield should be strong enough to protect us!" Sunburst exclaimed. However, it didn't come from just the outside, but it specifically came from below. Flying out of the ground was none other than a Golurk. Three of them. Three Golurks phased through the earth, rising through the floor. But they did more than just pass through it, the third Golurk broke a part of the floor apart, leaving a hole behind. The magical barrier didn't exactly protect the underground, unfortunately. The Golurk took full advantage of this and the one responsible for making them lash out like this was none other than Sweet Fang. She was seen on the backs of one of these Golurks, using them to enter Sunburt's home. And now with a hole in the ground, this left Sunburt's home vulnerable to the vampires. "Aha! Idiots!" Sweet Fang cackled after making her appearance. "This is a flaw that our glorious Lich Queen easily avoided long ago. Always make sure every angle is under protection! Domes aren't everything!" "T-They got in!" "There you are...!" Sweet Fang deviously spoke, eyeing down Baby Flurry Heart and the other two alicorns. "I'll be taking you three in right now. You'll make great fuel for the Lich Queen. And after that, the big wigs such as Celestia and Luna will be next." Unable to muster full sentences, Baby Flurry Heart wished she could say something to Sweet Fang right now. But one thing was certain. She wasn't afraid. Rather furious at the vampire. She and the other vampires were responsible for this mess and brought confusion to the Baby Alicorn. She flew in front of Sunburst, allowing her magic to flash from her horn. Meanwhile, Sunburst was worried about his floor as this would make it easier for others to enter. And already, it was happening. Thanks to the Golurk, the Sableye were starting to crawl upwards. They had experience with underground and dark areas so this wasn't an issue for them. And even though she was furious at Sweet Fang, a sense of fear still filled Flurry Heart's heart. She was a baby after all but she showed a bit more courage than most babies. Flurry Heart's eyes turned to see her father still struggling with all the Sableye outside, gradually losing steam. She wished she could help but now she had more large problems to take care of. And meanwhile, approaching the Crystal Empire on the back of Dragonite were none other than Ash and Twilight Sparkle. After solving one problem, they were heading for the next one. Dragonite moved at high speeds, going across various lands just to try and reach the Crystal Empire. At the speed Dragonite was going at, the Crystal Empire wasn't too far, but thanks to the Despair Plants from earlier, they've certainly missed out on some time and had to catch up as soon as possible. They couldn't afford to slow down for anything else when the Crystal Empire was potentially in peril. And their assumpts are most definitely correct. "Hurry, Ash! We might not have much time left!" Twilight exclaimed, praying that she could make it in time. "Yeah, I know! Even if we're late, we'll make it in time to help out...!" Ash said with full confidence, believing that help could still arrive at the Crystal Empire no matter what happens. Dragonite kept going, soon leaving the warmer areas of Equestria and entering the colder areas. That meant that the Crystal Empire and the Frozen North were near. But the amount of time they had left to try and save them was ambiguous judging by how things go. Will the Dread League snatch up the young alicorns and leave the Crystal Empire a dreary mess or will the Crystal Empire make a turnaround and stave off the Black Crusade? The answer has yet to be decided as the journey continues. Chapter 131 End.