Equestria. Lapras Lake. Balance of Day and Night.
A majority of the ground over at Lapras Lake had been shrivelled up, soon breaking apart and allowing the rest of the lake's water to show itself. This was all thanks to Shrivel who landed a sneak attack on Ash and the others. But right before they could crash into the lake, Bayleef's leaf went off once more. She took the risk even with the Sun and Moon being beside each other.
However, the leaf never touched Bayleef. Instead, the shrivelling sand would consume it. The Fate-Changing Leaf was consumed by the sand, cancelling out Bayleef's special ability. Shrivel planned this. She was well aware of Fluttershy's Bayleef thanks to Opal Vivacity, thus, she prepared for this. And that sneak attack certainly helped.
"Gen!" The only one who managed to avoid this was Gengar as he turned intangible to phase through the falling debris, floating upwards. "Gen-Gen?!"
"Gengar! Use Psy-" But before Ash could utter something, he fell into the lake with the debris hitting him on the way down. But Gengar understood Ash clearly. He wanted Gengar to use Psychic but Gengar already planned for that. With his eyes flashing blue, Gengar focused all of his mental might on Ash and everyone right as they fell into the lake. All of there were underwater, still being struck by the debris that would continuously drop on them as it looked like even the water was being affected by Shrivel's magic a bit.
Roseluck was hit in the head by the sand debris, becoming unconscious instantly. It was horrible for her to be unconscious at this time, especially since she was at risk of drowning. Roserade gasped after seeing Roseluck take a hard hit to the head but would soon feel herself receiving a hit since she opened her mouth. Roserade quickly closed it, trying to receive some air as soon as possible.
"Gar!" Gengar managed to find his focus. From Ash and Pikachu to even the Timberwolves that were already unconscious thanks to the previous altercation with Dimstar. And speaking of Dimstar, she was falling too. Shrivel did not consider Dimstar's own safety, choosing to let her drown as well after she gave herself up, knowing when she had lost.
Quickly, Gengar grabbed them all except for Delta Riolu, who was immune. This was the worst possible time to have an immunity but knowing this, Lucario would grab onto Delta Riolu, using all of his strength as his body was outlined in a Psychic Blue aura. The Shadow Pokemon carefully pulled them all out of the lake, avoiding the falling debris as well.
There was still some land left here at Lapras Lake. Shrivel's magic didn't take everything after all. She wasn't at full power thanks to the beating she received back at Ponyville but still recovered enough to cause this much damage and capture Fluttershy. Everyone would be gently placed on the land of sand that was still intact, away from the land that had been shrivelled and crumpled.
"Hah...Great save, Gengar..." Ash said, taking a deep breath while holding his chest. Some of the debris hit his chest rather hard. So hard that Ash felt the need to curl. He already took a heavy blow from Dimstar during their battle and this only added to it. His shirt was slightly ripped thanks to all this battling he's been doing, showing his injured spot.
Ash looked at his chest to see that there was a hard bruise there. It wasn't enough to make a wound but it was close. The rest of his body had other bruises that could be found across different parts of his body. Sceptile and the others took some hits from the debris too, unfortunately, needing the chance to heal up.
Thankfully, they had Audino here, who could heal them. However, Audino wasn't in the best mood right now. Audino was devastated, along with Raboot and Bayleef. Fluttershy had been captured. They feared that this would happen ever since Opal Vivacity planned to take her in, just to bring out the bat pony part within her which still existed even after the Vampire Fruit Bat problem had been solved.
"Audino...!" A saddened Audino cried out, getting on her knees. She yelled out Fluttershy's name as the trainer she formed a powerful bond with from the very first day they met was gone. And it had to be Magehold of all places. "Audino!" Audino cried once more. She was so distraught by this that she didn't even take the time to heal everyone else of their injuries. Not even her own.
"Fluttershy's gone...They got her! Dagnabbit!" A frustrated Applejack slammed her hooves on the ground but ended up harming herself. Her hooves were in pain so swinging them down so hard brought further pain to the earth pony. "Ngh! That Shrivel...She was waiting the whole time. I thought she left Ponyville and went back to Magehold but she's just been hiding from us."
"I'm afraid some vampires are capable of concealing their magic." Dimstar suddenly said, appearing the healthiest out of all of them but still full of bruises, tatters and scratchers. Her words gained the attention of Ash and everyone else. "We vampires learned how to lower our presence to the point where we might as well not even be there. Shrivel used that exact skill to get the better of you all."
"Well, it's not over yet!" Ash exclaimed, pushing himself by raising his voice. "We're gonna get Fluttershy back and that's final!"
"But it's not just Fluttershy...Fantina, Yveltal and now Cadence and Flurry Heart? We're gonna have to save 'em all." Applejack saw this growing out of control. It did not stop at the two alicorn princesses or even Yveltal and Fantina. Now Fluttershy was in Magehold.
"If you wish to have me take you there still, I can do that. The same that Shrivel pulled it off but-"
"No. Not yet." However, Ash didn't jump into it instantly. As much as he wanted to, he was aware of how dangerous that would be to suddenly show up in Magehold at this crucial moment. "Not until we have everyone helping out. If we've got everyone backing us up, then we can head there. Hear that, Audino?"
"A-Audi..." Audino sniffled, contemplating Fluttershy's disappearance as she looked over at Ash. Her tearful eyes met with his, seeing how they were filled with a fiery passion. Ash kept a serious yet hopeful look on his face. Even after everything that happened, he kept his hope up strong, not faltering for a moment. "Dino?"
"If we act fast, we can get her back before she turns into a vampire."
"That will take some time, thankfully. Those are some good news that you'd love to hear." Dimstar suddenly replied.
"You know how it works? How somepony becomes a vampire?"
"There's a process for it but it has never been done before. Your friend is the first ever Bat Pony that is not a full-on vampire at all. They will try and rearrange her cells and change her makeup and magic so that she becomes one of them. But that will take them days. Perhaps weeks to pull it off. You have time on your side, if you can get there in time.
"That's all I need to hear. Audino. Hang in there, okay? Heal up Roseluck as soon as possible."
"Dino! Audino!" The Hearing Pokemon wiped her tears away, nodding in understanding. That was what she needed. She needed someone to talk to her before the loss of Fluttershy could truly destroy her. Thankfully, Ash was the right person to speak to Audino, sparking up hope in her heart.
At this point, they had all decided on one thing. It was straight to Magehold. The land of the vampires was the final destination for them. Nowhere else but there. However, they would need the forces necessary to enter there before it was far too late to save Fluttershy. They knew they were bound to run into more vampires. The Black Crusade would make sure of that. But first, all of them needed healing from Audino.
Kanto. Pallet Town. Ketchum Household.
"So, you all came here to hide?" Delia spoke to the Ponyville residents. They had all entered Pallet Town by passing through the gateway, stopping over at the Ketchum Household. Some were inside and most were outside, taking the time to sit down. Being here at Pallet Town was just as soothing as Ponyville. It was a peaceful place without a doubt.
"Just to rest and be safe. At least, they wish to rest." Sombra explained everything that happened to Delia Ketchum, catching her up to speed. "All except for Ash, who is back at Equestria and the only reason I'm here is because Rift Magic is allowing me to be this far away from him, even surpassing the gateway.
"Well, if you're in one piece and looking healthy, that obviously means that Ash is okay! Thank Celestia!" Twilight could rest easy, knowing that Ash was fine since Sombra was still around.
"Right, right. Just one question..." Sombra's eyes twitched as noticeably, many of the ponies were shuddering at what they were witnessing. It was impossible to ignore since it was right next to Delia. So casually too. Or rather, she was right next to Delia.
Spectrum Shade the Vampire.
"Why is she here?" Sombra questioned, pointing out the obvious vampire in the room who was just there. Not much has gone on even with her presence here. Funnily enough, this was the safest anyone was around a vampire but they still felt greatly threatened and reasonably so.
"Oh, well she's only here to battle Ash but she might have to wait for a while."
"Oh yeah! I'll get my chance! Just you wait and see!" Spectrum Shade yelled, startling everyone else as they believed she was about to strike. And yet, she did no such thing. "By the way...aren't you King Sombra?"
"The one and only." Sombra proudly smiled. "It's wonderful to know that my name is still being brought up to this day. Obviously, those at Magehold know about me by now."
"So you're saying it's safe for her to be here, Mrs Ketchum?" Amethyst Star asked.
"Of course. I took her in myself and fed her since she was starving, travelling the world for many days." Delia said. "She's rather wonderful if you get to know her more."
"Gh! Don't say that!" Spectrum Shade bellowed as she didn't want her to be talked about in such a way.
"But it's true, isn't it? We had a lovely chat when you sat around here." Delia begged to differ. "You had quite a bit to share when we talked. You're not so bad after all, are you?"
"I should've left when I had the chance..." Spectrum grizzled her teeth while her face turned red. "But that food was so tempting and worth it at the same time."
"As far as things go, she's surprisingly okay right now," Twilight spoke, even deciding to back up Spectrum Shade. "I'm more worried about what's happening on the other side. You all came here but the Everfree Creatures?"
"They're staying behind. They actually chose to defend our town while we're gone, hiding elsewhere." Mayor Mare replied. "As for everyone else here, I want them to rest and heal. And next to Ponyville, this is the safest place I can think of."
"You're more than welcome to stay here and sleep for as much as you want. I'm positive everyone here in Kanto will give you a place to sleep. Most of us are awake because of the Sun and Moon."
"Love to hear it...now I can finally do this..." After hearing that, Amethyst Star would instantly fall asleep, wasting no time. She had this opportunity and she wasn't going to waste it. All of them did. Right now, they were safe here at Pallet Town since it hadn't been attacked yet, even though a vampire was present here.
Spectrum Shade sighed, waiting around a bit longer. She would take a seat back on the couch, having nothing else to do right now despite the Black Crusade being in full swing. Despite being in the Dread League, she was not that active.
"You're just going to sit around and wait until Ash shows up? Still?" Twilight approached her.
"Yeah. I've got the patience. I'm centuries old after all and I had to build up a lot of it." She crossed her hooves while speaking to Twilight.
"You said something about entertainment being blocked off by Opal or something like that? What do you mean by that exactly? Judging by what you were saying, it sounded like Pokemon was the only form of entertainment you managed to get."
"There used to be a lot of things to do over at Magehold. We had all kinds of entertainment to keep us happy in the past. I was born a few years after Magehold was getting its stride with what it could do. But right as I was born, that's when Opal changed everything. Because of her, entertainment's been sucked out of Magehold. Now it's just boring. It sucks that I was born after it had been taken away and I got to witness her destroy more of them."
"All of them?"
"Pokemon's the best thing to happen like I said. And it's been worth it so far. But I don't have anything else to say to you." Spectrum stopped there, simply waiting for Ash. But Twilight heard enough. She got quite a lot from Spectrum Shade now. Beyond just being a member of the Dread League, she seemed to have some good in her. Glaring good to be exact. It could be seen in her and a bit of it stuck out during the third Pokemon Festival.
Noticeably, Spectrum Shade never took part in the vampiric attack during the third Pokemon Festival in any way. She was there but did nothing the whole time. Even when she had the opportunity to attack everyone, she didn't.
Magehold.
"Well now...How are we going to do this?" Staring at Fluttershy in the tube was Sweet Fang. The pegasus appeared to be resting peacefully despite being unconscious, unaware of what was about to happen to her. And the one who would try and bring out the vampire within her would be Sweet Fang.
And already, she had objects around her that were being used on her. While in the tube, Fluttershy had these wires latched onto her, clasping the back of her neck. These wires had dark magic all around them while also connecting to the other tubes here. Noticeably, these tubes all had vampires in them who were also unconscious. Each of them were also being used as test subjects just to bring this one part of Fluttershy out.
The wires pulsated as Princess Cadence and the older Flurry Heart witnessed the process for themselves. They saw how Dark Magic from the other vampires was being sucked away from them and transferred into Fluttershy. Fluttershy was the main target, thus, she would receive what was taken from them.
Fluttershy did not feel this transference at all. She was still resting peacefully. Meanwhile, Cadence tried breaking out of the tube to come to Fluttershy's aid but alas, this was made for alicorns as well. The two alicorns failed to break free as they were still helpless prisoners.
"What are you doing to her!?" Flurry Heart shouted, banging her hooves on the tube.
"Changing her into one of us. This will take a while. A long while. But the payoff will be excellent, I know it." Sweet Fang replied, placing her hoof on Fluttershy's tube. "Dark Magic will help the process quicker but this is the first time anything like this has ever been done. And once I'm done with her, she'll lose her prettiness factor entirely. If I were to be honest, her beauty rivals Opal's and that can't slide here at Magehold."
"You've taken Fluttershy away and that's only going to lead to a disastrous downfall. Her friends will go to the greatest friends to save her!" Cadence warned Sweet Fang, essentially calling this a mistake on her part. But it was very much true that her friends will do the wildest things just for each other. A majority of the time, it was at the cost of their own lives.
"Hmph. Is that so?" Sweet Fang wasn't that bothered at all. "We'll just have to see. If they ever get here that is. I'm guessing by the time they show up, they'll be taken out immediately. There is no way they can handle a continuous onslaught from many, many vampires such as myself. You two should keep quiet when speaking about nonsense. After all, I believe it's time for you to be taken to her majesty once more. More of your lifespan shall be sucked away."
Cadence and Flurry Heart were still being used as tools to give Rosa Maledicta a longer lifespan, unfortunately. They were about to be sent back to her, unprepared to lose more of their strength and life. The tubes they were in were opened up, immediately freeing them. But even though they were free, they were still captured. Their bodies were weaker now thanks to what Rosa Maledicta had done.
The Alicorn Duo dropped to the floor, hitting it hard as they were almost like ragdolls the way they fell. Both of them grunted before witnessing Sweet Fang's hoof in front of them.
Magehold Contest Hall.
However, right now, at this moment, with the Pokemon Contest ongoing and many ponies having the chance to show off their skills and dazzle the crowd, the last coordinator was about to appear. And it was the one who would apparently help bring down the barrier.
Eccentrick.
After the previous coordinator finished up, she was up next. Alongside her was her partner Inkay who she gently held in her hooves. Once she heard her name being called out, she knew it was time.
"Fantina's counting on me. She wants me to really push my Reverse Magic and let all of Magehold feel it." She thought to herself. Since her current idol, Fantina put faith in her, Eccentrick did not wish to let her down at all. This was a moment she's been waiting for ever since entertainment in Magegold was ruined all those years ago.
Fantina looked over to see Eccentrick's appearance, putting on a smile. Fantina had full faith in the vampire, believing that she would pull off a great show. After all, she saw the potential in her when they had that conversation back at her home earlier. It was all a matter of how she pulled it off with Inkay.
Whatever she was about to do in the Pokemon Contest would change the course of the Black Crusade without many even knowing about it as the journey continues.
Chapter 161 End.