Kalos. Outside Anistar City. A Balance of Day and Night.
With the clash of Princess Celestia and Lich Queen Rosa Maledicta still going on, there was a mixture of Day and Night. The skies were greatly confused, showing both sides. The Bright Sunny Sky and Dark Night Sky.
Meanwhile, Opal Vivacity and her group of vampires have been anticipated. By none other than Olympia of Anistar City. She foresaw this before Opal even had the idea of coming here. Thus, preparations for the citizens were made in advance. There was already a dark cloud over Anistar City but the city seemed rather silent. No sounds of the people and Pokemon living there could be heard at all. Only the rumbling above.
"If you're so confident that you've prepared for us, specifically me, then prove it." A cocky Opal Vivacity said to Olympia. Already, Olympia and her Psychic students prepared themselves by having their Pokemon out in the open. Of course, this consisted of Psychic-Type Pokemon with Olympia counting on her dual Mewostic. They were all at the ready, staying calm in the face of the Dread League.
Opal suddenly took a few steps, deciding to approach her next victims. However, as soon as she stepped forward, something triggered underneath her. Olympia's eyes glimmered as a screen of light suddenly appeared beneath Opal Vivacity, flying out of the ground.
These screens appeared rapidly, not just beneath Opal Vvacity but also the other vampires behind her. Their eyes widened when exposed to these screens and the light coming from them was of course, unsavoury. Their main weakness was exploited once more as their hooves were hit with light energy. Painful hisses came from the vampires once exposed to the light. And there was only one answer to something like this. Light Screen.
"W-What is this?! What have you done?!" Opal roared out in pain. And to top it all off, the screens all formed boxes around the vampire ponies, trapping them immediately. They tried backing out, only for their bodies to hit solid screens of light, preventing them from going anywhere.
"We've set up Light Screen traps in advance. It will box you in and keep you exposed to your main weakness." Olympia explained. "My students did a fantastic job setting this up.
"Kh...Why you...! Do you think this box can contain me?!" Opal Vicaity bellowed out with fury. Her skin could be seen burning up as well as her mane. Opal gasped, realizing that her mane was also being burned by the Light Screen.
"I'm aware of your Fate Changing Mane by now. Which is why we will not give you the opportunity to use it ever again once it's been burned away. Everyone! Close the boxes in!" Olympia ordered. In unison, all of the Psychic-Types would focus their mental might on the Light Screen Boxes they formed.
The boxes were beginning to shrink. Their size would diminish, attempting to truly box them in and prevent them from escaping. Opal bared her fangs, pressing her hooves against the box to try and overpower it. But even a vampire's strength isn't enough to destroy a Light Screen, not when multiple Pokemon have set it up.
They were perfectly hidden since they caught the vampires off guard. When it comes to Psychic-Types, no Type knows how to truly confuse and fool their opponents apart from maybe Ghost-Types.
Appearing on the scene was Princess Luna. She arrived just in time to see what was becoming of Opal Vivacity and her group. They were boxed in by the Light Screens. Luna was expecting to intercept them. Not this. Someone beat her to it and it was the calculated Psychic-Type Specialist Olympia and her students.
"Amazing! They manipulated the Light Screens in such a way!"
"Oh, Princess Luna?!" Olympia instantly recognized the Princess of the Moon above.
"Don't mess with me, you insignificant creatures!" However, despite her condition, Opal Vivacity refused to let herself be defeated by something was unexpected and instant as this. Her mane could be seen burning up. Holes were appearing within them along with plenty of smoke. All of this light was extremely volatile to the vampires. Most of them could be seen curling up, struggling to resist. The light truly had them stunned. The fact that so much of it was incredibly close to them was enough to do the trick.
However, despite the fact that Opal's mane was starting to burn, it wasn't all gone. It was far too big. And with this size, Opal still had the opportunity to use her Fate-Changing Mane. Her hoof trembled as she showed a greater resilience than the other vampires. With her hoof touching her mane, she ripped a piece of it off, ready to place it anywhere on her body.
"Not good!" Olympia gasped as she did not expect Opal to still have the strength to get a piece of her mane out. "Close in faster!"
But it was too late. All it took was her dropping it on her hoof to immediately change fate. A red flash went off, expanding in and out of the Light Screen Box that held Opal Vivacity. Olympia and her students squinted their eyes at the face of this crimson flash which altered fate itself, changing how things turned out in an instant.
She was out of the box. Opal freed herself from the Light Screen Box that held her captive, breathing in and out as her body was still smoking. Even though she changed fate, the damage was still present around her body. That goes for the other vampires who had been freed thanks to the crimson flash. It took Opal grabbing a large chunk of her mane to make this one possible.
"A good attempt, but it doesn't work on me!" Opal sneered, showing her grimacing smile to her victims. "You won't get me a second time, understand!?"
"Drat. And it seemed like such an effective plan as well. All those Light Screen Boxes were efficient. But that mane of hers..." Luna commented, seeing Olympia's plan as brilliant but the Fate-Changing Mane ignored it, unfortunately.
"That's fine. We had other things in mind." Olympia uttered.
"As if I'd give you the chance to pull more of your tricks off!" Opal refused to let them have a second shot at catching her by surprise. "Get them!" With her command, she ordered the vampires to take action while at the same time holding both of her hooves out.
Magic flew out of her hooves, packed with darkness and some fire as well. This was thanks to the abilities she has stolen thanks to the Parasite Demon. Her Dark Magic came with extra additions.
"We'll need time to execute that next plan of ours if we want to stop them for good! Get ready!" Olympia ordered as her students all nodded in understanding. But before they could make their next move, the magic that Opal sent out touched the ground instead of Olympia and her group.
After touching the ground, they would form Dark Magic Pillars with fire around them in different spots. These pillars would fly out of the ground violently, tearing up the beautiful grass. Luna flew back, almost finding herself struck by one of these pillars. They were like geysers or even a volcano, randomly appearing out of the ground with high intensity, making a rather startling sound.
"Reuniclus! Use Shock Wave!"
"Exeggutor, Leaf Storm!"
"Medicham, use Thunder Punch!"
Olympia's Students said as their Pokemon took action. Each of them used different moves. Electric energy flew out of the hands of a Reuniclus, shocking some vampires and exposing them to light even further. Some other Reuniclus would do the same but instead of sending the Shock Wave out, they would clap their massive hands together, letting out flashes of lightning to try and stun the Dread League.
Some of the vampires ascended into the air, grabbing the clouds instead of engaging their victims on the ground. By interacting with the clouds in the same way pegasi do, they were planning to strike them down with lightning of their own.
"Meowstic! Light Screen and Psychic!" Olympia eyed down the vampires that went to the skies. The Male Meowstic would use Light Screen, forming screens of light in the air. Not just one screen, but two. A second one was formed above the first one while the FEmale Meowstic used Psychic on herself and her Male Counterpart. This immediately allowed them to levitate and land on the Light Screen.
"Meow!" After landing on the screen, the Male Meowstic would make more of them as fast as he could, prompting him and the Female Meowstic to start jumping. They leapt from screen to screen each time one of them was formed over the other. A stairway of Light Screens rapidly formed.
And once they got high enough, the Female Meowstic, along with other Pokemon that went up the Light Screen Stairway, would try and interrupt the vampires. Lightning crashed down from above, hitting the Light Screen stairway and prompting the Pokemon to leap to the side, narrowly evading the magical lightning.
Meowstic ended up using Dark Pulse, shooting a beam of darkness in midair while the Medicham deflected the rest of the lightning with Thunder Punch. As for the Light Screen Stairway, only some of it had been destroyed. The Male Meowstic would just make another after evading the strike, keeping the stairway active and plentiful.
However, this was soon ruined by Opal Vivacity's magic. Those pillars snuck up on them once more, erupting from the ground and going straight for the Light Screen Stairway. The steps were struck by the magic, breaking and shattering into pieces while also engulfing the Pokemon that were on it.
The Medicham above would drop along with the Male Meowstic, taking some damage in the process. Thankfully, Meowstic landed on his feet as did some of the Medicham. The Female Meowstic would also descend, landing right next to her trusty teammate.
The lightning from above would crash down once more, this time, attempting to hit Olympia and the Pokemon Trainers, ignoring the Pokemon entirely. Olympia's eyes widened once she saw the Dark Lightning coming her way, targeting her head. However, this attack was intercepted by none other than Princess Luna. A bolt of magic crashed into the lightning, stopping it in its tracks. It was expected for Luna to interfere now that she was here.
"Forget about them! I want to cause enough destruction so that Xerneas has to show up!" Opal bellowed, focusing on why she showed up here. "But I suppose that'll be difficult with you all in the way."
"As long as we remain, your destruction won't go any further, Dread League," Olympia replied. "That goes for all those who aim to protect the home they love."
"You underestimate just what we can be capable of when we want something done." Opal scoffed. "Even you can't stop what's coming. If Zekrom couldn't what makes you think you can do anything about this?"
"It's only because of that mane of yours." Luna descended, landing next to Olympia. "That massive mane is the only reason why you are still around. You stole that power from Bayleef and made it your own. Mostly everything is not your own. You even had assistance from the Pony of Shadows when dealing with Zekrom. You couldn't have defeated him with just the Dread League.
"Your point?" Opal flipped her elegant mane.
"That was our approach from the beginning. The Light Screen was meant to burn away her massive mane but that failed, unfortunately." Olympia said. Even she was focused on the mane more than anything. It was the crux of Opal's lucky moments. "However, we've devised other ways to erase her mane. It's all a matter of executing it."
"I already have many Pokemon with me that can stop that mane in its tracks entirely. But unfortunately, it's not that easy. Opal Vivacity is as slippery as a mouse. She does do a great job keeping her mane fully intact I'll admit. It's all a matter of destroying that mane."
"Go on, Princess. I need to take you to Magehold either way so this works out for me." Opal cackled. "Allow me to show something else I managed to snag with the Parasite Demon. I've only been showing you the basics but there is so much more in store."
"I'd rather skip out on it! Come forth, Aurorus! Manectric Florges!" Three Poke Balls were thrown out by Luna with her magic. Out of it came Aurorus, Florges and Manectric. And with Manectric out here, the amount of light would certainly improve.
"Princess Luna." Olympia spoke to Luna, using telepathy of her own. "I'm still banking on that Light Screen plan of mine. I've devised multiple ways to use the move just for Opal Vivacity and the vampires. I just need them to interact with that mane but it'll be hard since she can change fate constantly."
"I understand. Whatever you need me to do, I can grant it. My Pokemon and I will make sure your Light Screens stick."
"Brilliant. What I need to do is to have the Light Screens be thrown at Opal Vivacity. The other vampires aren't too worrying to me. It's Opal that is the problem. She can regenerate her mane by polishing and taking care of it. We need to make sure that there is no time for her to repair it. Burn, cut or destroy it until there is nothing left."
"Done scheming?" Suddenly, Opal Vivacity surprised them by using telepathy of her own. Olympia and Luna gasped as they did not expect Opal Vivacity to join in. "Telepathy is something the Lich Queen gives us all. But for me, I made sure to steal the Telepathy of a Pokemon. Truly convenient for planning. Including this plan!"
She already devised a plan by speaking to the other vampire ponies. Opal Vivacity used this momentary break to share the plan as the vampires executed it without anyone being able to hear what they were talking about. But they would certainly see how it would happen. They slammed their hooves into the ground spreading their Dark Magic. This time, they would try and give Olympia's group a taste of their own medicine.
Sharp shadows would fly out of the earth, forming a cage in seconds as they were attempting to box Olympia and the others in as well. The shadows connected against each other, rapidly forming this Shadow Cage around them. But the sharp shadows did more than just form a cage. They also went in for the attack. The shadows targeted the group, sneaking up on them as they whipped one of the Medicham and some of the students. They flinched after being struck by these shadow whips while the cage was forming.
Luna switched her attention to the whips instead of the cage, seeing one of them come straight for her. The Princess of the Night flew back, narrowly evading the sharp shadow as it ended up whipping the ground instead. But more of them were starting to arise, using the shadows of everyone else as a way to sneak up on them. The Psychic-Type specialists were surprised by the emergence of the Shadow Whips as they were too focused on them to even do something about the cage that was forming over them.
"A-Aurorus!" Aurorus was hit by one of these while trying to freeze them over. Manectric zipped from side to side, evading these sharp shadows as they nearly touched his large mane each time. Other Pokemon were trying to evade them but some took hits here and there, being whipped and slapped by the shadows which knocked them back.
The Shadow Cage had already been formed, unable to be stopped in time. Meanwhile, attempting to pierce one of Olympia's students was a Sharp Shadow, going in for a fatal attack. The student was unaware that it was about to attack her from behind and she was far too late to see it coming. That is until Darkrai appeared. Emerging from the shadows was the Pitch Black Pokemon, finally showing himself.
"Darkrai?!" The students cried out after they laid their eyes on the Mythical Pokemon from Sinnoh.
"That guy again...!" Opal grizzled after Darkrai made his appearance. With Darkrai showing up, he instantly grabbed the incoming shadows with his bare claws. The shadows that targeted everyone else were held back by the Pitch Black Pokemon.
In his claws, Darkrai would turn the tides on them. By controlling the shadows themselves, he reflected the attacks of the Dread League right back at them. The Dread League gasped as their own attacks were coming for them. That is until Opal Vivacity interfered.
She took a part of her mane off, placing it on her hoof as she changed fate once more. In a twist, she reversed Darkrai's reversal, instead making the shadows return to where they were originally meant to strike. Darkrai's eyes widened as he saw the shadows coming back for him. Putting his arms up, Darkrai managed to block these sharp shadows which blew up as well. The Dark-Type was pushed back by the explosion while also feeling some pain in his arms after blocking the piercing attack from the shadows.
"Are you alright, Darkrai?!"
"I'm fine." Darkrai would be alright. This was nothing to him. "But it looks like we're trapped in this Shadow Cage now while they're all outside there."
"That's some payback for trapping us. And we'll return the pain you gave us twice as hard! And I know just how to make it happen." Opal smirked, referring to her Curse Magic. Luna, Olympia and the others were all trapped within this Shadow Cage but they weren't finished just yet. They still had a chance even in this predicament. It was all a matter of what they did next.
Opal Vivacity and all the vampires cackled at them, eager to terrorize their victims while also staying focused on bringing about a mass wave of destruction. But in the meantime, Anistar City was safe.
Equestria. Magehold.
"You want me to do what?!" Eccentrick shouted. Her ears had been graced with something shocking. And it came from Fantina's mouth.
"Mhm. That's right. I want you to use your magic on the entirety of Magehold's population. The biggest reverse possible." Fantina asked Eccentrick for the usage of her Reverse Magic. This was involved with the incoming Pokemon Contest and after learning how far Eccentrick's magic can go when it comes to what she can reverse, this was a stupendous opportunity.
"Tha means everypony will become regular ponies though...And I don't know what you'll become Fantina. I'm not sure I can even do that to every single pony here." Eccentrick doubted herself.
"Oh, you can. You very much can. Fractured Note did speak about some potential in you and I hope to see it bloom. When your time on stage comes, you will do your best performance and it will shine as much as possible with all the light in the area dazzling flying out."
"Shine? But we're vulnerable to light. Isn't that dangerous, Ms Fantina?"
"Not to regular ponies." Fantina winked. When winking, Eccentrick soon gasped, realizing what she was getting at. The vampire was amazed by what Fantina was suggesting before putting on a smile.
"Ooooh! That's what you mean...Everypony else will become a regular pony in reverse except for..."
"I see you've caught on," Fantina spoke before Eccentrick could finish her sentence. "This is your opportunity to dazzle everyone there. Bringing entertainment back to Magehold is a big goal for us. You shouldn't have to miss out on it at all. And no one will get hurt once the beauty of this entertainment shines for what it can truly be. Well, I suppose someone might get hurt."
"Okay! I got it, Ms Fantina! If you have faith in my magic, then I'll do my very best! And not only that, I won't let anyone beat me at this. I'll be the winning coordinator in this and win that Magehold Ribon!" Eccentrick bellowed with enthusiasm. "Not even those kids are gonna best me!"
"That's the spirit." Fantina applauded. "Now then...let's go. It's time for us to begin the Pokemon Contest. It will be a long night so get ready."
The time had come for Fantina's Pokemon Contest. The goal was simple. The contest would be a way to help break the barrier that was around Magehold by interfering with the Lich Queen in some way. The Contest Stadium and Hall had been completed. And just as Fantina intended, it was somewhere near the Lich Queen's castle, being a rather large structure. Many ponies had lined up outside, entering the Contest Hall and ready for some entertainment while the Black Crusade was ongoing.
Fantina had everything laid out. Now, it was all a matter of how it was pulled off and she would have the assistance of Fractured Note, Eccentrick and all the vampires participating in this contest. A majority were the children from Fantina's class who have grown a bond with her but some other vampires of older ages appeared. The stage was about to be set as the journey continues.
Chapter 150 End.