Alola. Vast Poni Canyon. Altar of the Sunne. Afternoon.
At Vast Poni Canyon, the one known as Twilight Moonlight had finally encountered Ash Ketchum here at the Altar of the Sunne. Sooner than expected as well. Here to capture him, she arrived here to also destroy the Altar of the Sunne. And by extension, the Altar of the Moone. Of course, Ash and Pikachu would not allow such an act. And at this very moment, heading to this part of Vast Poni Canyon was Twilight Sparkle who had the familiar face of Anabel with her.
"So you wanna capture me and destroy the Altar? What's up with that? The Altar's not something you can just destroy!"
"Pika-Pikachu!"
"Believe me, it is. This thing causes plenty of problems that you start. So many other things around you need to be destroyed as soon as possible." Twilight Moonlight said with an intimidating voice. She was not here to play around. This was crucially serious to her. "I know for a fact you won't make this easy for me. Prisma."
"If you wanna battle, that's fine by me! But I'm not gonna let you destroy the Altar!" Ash exclaimed. He would be battling for the sake of the Altar's safety. He couldn't let it be destroyed at all, especially due to what it stands for.
"Idiot! All I need to do is give it my all and that Altar will crumble. You're coming back with me. I'd like to get rid of you here and now, but that's not what I was sent here to do." Twilight Moonlight's horn would flash as she would quickly send out one of her Poke Balls. And emerging from it was none other than her Hisuian Samurott and Shiny Umbreon.
"Samurott!"
"Woah! Is that Samurott?!" Ash's eyes flared up, amazed by the new variant of Samurott he had just witnessed. "Awesome!"
"Don't be impressed by what your opponent has!" Twilight Moonlight grizzled her teeth, agitated that Ash wasn't taking this seriously. "Whatever! Samurrot, blow that Altar away with Ceaseless Edge! Umbreon, support him with Dark Pulse!"
"Samu!" By unsheathing its two scimitars, Samurott was ready to dash in, aiming to make this quick and easy for everyone as the altar was his biggest target. Umbreon could already be seen gathering the power of Darkness within him.
"Boy." At that moment, Sombra would speak to Ash, getting involved. "If you do battle, the chances of that Altar being destroyed will greatly elevate. You will have to find a way to avoid such destruction. I will assist in that."
"Thanks! Pikachu, use Iron Tail now!"
"Chu...Pika!" With a mighty swing by hardening his tail, Pikachu would clash with Samurott's Ceaseless Edge. His tail met with the weapons as a powerful clanging sound could be heard. Pikachu had to hold back just to keep the Altar of the Sunne safe and that would also mean pushing Samurott back.
"But you don't have a way to defend against Dark Pulse!" Twilight Moonlight shouted as the Dark Pulse travelled over Pikachu and Samurott as it looked like it would hit its mark, going straight for the Altar. But that is where Sombra came in. Just as he said, he would assist in helping Ash protect the Altar of the Sunne.
From Ash's body, a great veil of shadows would fly as Sombra took control for a moment. With this appearance, the veil would catch the Dark Pulse before it could even touch the Altar. Thanks to Sombra's mastery of the shadows, he instantly sucked up the darkness.
"W-What the?!" Even Twilight Moonlight was taken aback by this. She did not see this coming and it seemed that she wasn't aware of Sombra's existence within Ash. "Shadows? That wasn't reported by you. Then again, you would be the type to have the shadows within you."
"Hehe." Ash grinned before preparing to make his next move. "Pikachu, spin with Thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" Backflipping away from Samurott, Pikachu would then light up his body while moving through this air. By generating 100,000 volts of electricity, he would touch the ground by getting on his back and without losing any momentum, spinning around. The Countershield had been used in this battle, acting as an offensive and defensive tactic.
"S-Samu!" Hisuian Samurott would be struck by the frantic lightning bolts, taking super-effective damage. Umbreon would also take some damage from these electric sparks flying everywhere.
"A spinning Thunderbolt?! How ludicrous!" Twilight growled. "But that doesn't matter to me!" Suddenly, she would get involved in this battle without needing to say a command. By using her own magic, Twilight Moonlight would zap at the Countershield.
At that moment, Pikachu's Thunderbolt suddenly froze. All of those volts and the rapid movement came to an abrupt halt, surprising Ash. Twilight Moonlight was not afraid to battle the way she wanted. After all, this isn't her universe and she certainly wasn't going to follow its rules. After freezing the Thunderbolt, she would then take the opportunity to strike at Pikachu.
"Psychic!"
"Umbreon!" From his eyes, dark azure energy would emanate. He locked onto the Mouse Pokemon lifting him off the ground and getting him off his back.
"P-Pi? Pika!" Pikachu gasped after being raised. He was still stunned that his Thunderbolt had been frozen.
"Launch him into the Altar!" Twilight Moonlight was fully focused on multi-tasking, seeing this as an opportunity to have Pikachu damage the Altar of the Sunne while also taking damage. Umbreon would launch Pikachu as hard as he could, sending the Mouse Pokemon flying towards the Altar.
But shielding the Altar was none other than Sombra. Both sides were not afraid to use outside forces during this Pokemon Battle. One was for the sake of protecting the Altar and the other was for the sake of obliterating it. When Pikachu crashed into the shadows, the impact was cushioned. It made it feel like Pikachu took no damage at all as the shadows would calmly let him down. Sombra could be heard chuckling after defending the altar before finally showing his face.
"You're...Sombra!" Twilight Moonlight shuddered. Even she knew who King Sombra was.
"Glad to know my presence is still noticeable even by those from another Universe," Sombra smirked. "But whoever you Sombra may be, I can assure you that he and I are vastly different."
"Why do you wanna destroy the Altar? And why do you wanna capture me?!" Ash questioned.
"It's my mission to do so. You're going to be responsible for the revival of Prisma." Twilight Moonlight answered. "Someone like him can't return at all. And I can already see similarities between you and him."
"Similarities?" Ash repeated.
"Interesting." Sombra pondered. "Once again, there seems to be a connection between you and this Prisma character, boy. And I am assuming these other 9 Trainers she speaks of have a similar connection."
"As for the Altar, there is already history with it involving Prisma. And the sooner it's destroyed the better!" Twilight Moonlight shouted before using her magic once more. From her horn, she would suddenly summon what appeared to be magical butterflies. The way they appeared showed off their beautiful glow. They looked like they would appear better in the night. These butterflies would then surround Twilight Moonlight, suddenly giving her wings.
She was not an alicorn like her counterpart. So to make up for the lack of wings, she had this spell to count on as she now how beautiful butterfly wings on her back that had the symbol of the Moon as the patterns.
"As long as you're with us, we can stop that revival!" Twilight Moonlight bellowed before unleashing a strong blast of magic from her horn. In response, Sombra would do the same, releasing a black beam that would match Twilight Moonlight's attack. The two magical beams would make contact, creating a strong flash in the air along with a booming sound. "Umbreon! Samurott! Do what you can to destroy that Altar!"
"Samu!" Samurott would do just that as he would use Aqua Jet. By surrounding himself in an aura of water, the Formidable Pokemon would launch himself at the Altar, planning to knock Ash out of the way as well.
"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"
"Pika! Pika-Pika-Pika!" Rushing in at high speeds was Pikachu as he left an afterimage the second he took off. He would then crash his head against Samurott. Both Pokemon butted heads with their speedy moves, entering their own clash.
"Umbreon!" Umbreon would move past Pikachu and Samurott, deciding to get up close and personal with the Altar. The Moonlight Pokemon ran as fast as he could, even preparing to leap over Ash to reach the Altar.
"Oh, no you don't! Go, Lucario!" Ash already had another one of his Pokemon ready. As soon as Umbreon leapt into the air, out came the Aura Pokemon Lucario whose Poke Ball was also sent into the air.
"Lucario!" The second he emerged with that mighty roar, Lucario would smash his paw against Umbreon's face in midair. Umbreon was intercepted with a devastating blow, sending him back to the ground. As for the magical clash, Twilight Moonlight managed to edge out Sombra, surprising the former King of the Crystal Empire. Sombra would borrow a bit of Aura from Ash to even things out for himself. The result was a tie as both of these magical attacks would combust.
"Lucario, use Force Palm!"
"Ca!" Lucariou would stick a smooth landing before gaining enough momentum to run in at full speed, channelling energy into his palm.
"Ceaseless Edge!" Meeting him would be Hisuian Samurott. The two Pokemon encountered each other with an up-close exchange. Lucario's paws smashed against Samurott's blades as the two Pokemon gazed into each others eyes with intensity. Samurott managed to push Lucario back, going in for another swing with his scimitars. Dodging this by leaning his upper body back, Lucario saw the blades move over him as they cleaved the air itself After evading it, Lucario performed a backflip before thrusting his paw forward. He used the energy of Force Palm as a ranged weapon, sending an orange beam out.
"S-Samu!" Samurott would use his weapons to block the attack but was almost too late to do so. The impact of the Force Palm was staggeringly heavy, pushing Samurott back even when he blocked the attack. Once again, Twilight Moonlight and her Pokemon were forced away from getting closer to the Altar.
The battle could be seen in the distance with flashes of Lightning, magical butterflies and shadows flying everywhere under the Afternoon Alolan Sun. "What's happening over there?!" Naturally, this was noticed by Twilight and Anabel. They were making their way to the Altar of the Sunne and their eyes instantly witnessed the clash between Ash and Twilight Moonlight. And speaking of Twilight Moonlight, she could also be seen in the air with her butterfly wings. "Is that...me?!"
"It's Twilight Moonlight!" Anabel yelled. "I should've gone for the Altar of the Sunne instead. If she's over there, that means Ash has already confronted her."
"Not good...Her goal is to destroy Ash." Twilight shuddered before flying as fast as she could to Ash's location. She had to get to the Altar of the Sunne as soon as possible.
"Destroy Ash?" Even Anabel was not aware of this at all. Destroying Ash was a shocking notion. If anything, that didn't help Twilight Moonlight's case with the International Police. She would immediately take out her phone, ready to contact the International Police as soon as possible. At the same time, Anabel would be behind Twilight, running across Vast Poni Canyon.
When advancing towards the Altar of the Sunne, Twilight looked below her to see fainted Hakamo-o's. They had already been defeated in battle as a Totem Kommo-o could be seen kneeling, just on the verge of fainting. This was a clear indication that Twilight Moonlight had already been here and battled her way through the Totem Pokemon, reaching the Altar of the Sunne. Ash didn't have to go through it at all as he managed to show up at the Altar without going through a battle.
After all, he's already been here before so the Totem Kommo-o had no reason to attack him. But they had a lot of reasons to challenge Twilight Moonlight, who defeated all of them.
"This is Officer Anabel! Twilight Moonlight showed up at Alola! All other locations she's recently been at should be ignored!" Anabel informed. Twilight Moonlight has been reported in different locations with the International Police trying to track her down. Only one of them managed to find her, however.
Altar of the Sunne.
Dust filled the area thanks to this wild battle. Twilight Moonlight looked down on Ash with her graceful butterfly wings. At that moment, she felt her body tremble for a moment as that could only mean one thing. There was still one drawback to Twilight Moonlight being here.
"I don't have much time left in this world..." Twilight Moonlight was still on a time limit. She had limited time to be in this universe. Twilight Moonlight couldn't hope to stay here permanently and had to return to her universe. But she wasn't about to leave without doing what she came to do.
"I'm not one to leave a fun battle unfinished. We can stop now if you want! There's no reason for us to keep doing this." Ash suggested. Even though he was up for a battle, he did not wish to bring any harm to the Altar. And of course, there was a reason for Twilight Moonlight doing this.
"I don't want to hear that from you, Ash Ketchum." Twilight Moonlight was being rather stubborn. "The sooner I capture you, the better. After this, I'll go after Red and all those Boys in Red and Blue."
"I don't know about that." Ash smiled, finding that hard to believe. "It's gonna take a lot more than this to capture Red and the others."
"Are you underestimating my strength?"
"Nah. You're a strong Trainer, I can tell. You remind me a lot of my Twilight."
"It disgusts me that you're close to her. In reality, you should be as far away from her as possible. I should be defending her but I first have to get rid of everything involved with you."
"You wanna defend Twilight? Then we shouldn't be battling." Ash saw this as something the two of them could relate to.
"Pikachu!"
"I specifically said you! Didn't you hear me!" Twilight Moonlight groaned.
"I hear ya. Zecora laid everything out to me and I know a lot more about this. You're not really that bad of a gal, are you? You're just trying to avoid something bad from happening. And I'm guessing I'm the cause of it. But what exactly is it?"
"All the details aren't clear to me yet. Only what truly matters. I and many others are on a mission to stop Prisma's revival. And it's all because of your shenanigans. Because of your wish, you revived a dangerous being."
"Me?" Ash pulled back. "I only wished for both worlds to be connected. Jirachi just made it happen. I had nothing to do with anything else."
"So you say. But your actions will have colossal consequences, Ash Ketchum. And it's up to me and the Dimensional Task Force to rectify them before they get out of control."
"Dimensional Task Force?"
"Twilight Moonlight!" Screaming her name with an authoritative voice. "I have you now!" Ash inadvertently staled for enough time. Twilight Sparkle and Anabel arrived at the scene as this entire battle was paused.
"Twilight...!" Twilight Moonlight shuddered. She was too late as the two of them had encountered each other at last, here at the Altar of the Sunne.
"Wow...You really do look like me. And it's not even an Empress Twilight situation..." Twilight Sparkle gasped. Compared to Empress Twilight and all the other counterparts she's seen, next to Sci-Twi, Twilight Moonlight was the spitting image of her rather than just being a variation.
"This time, you won't escape!" Anabel held out a Poke Ball. "You're completely surrounded and occupied. For your crimes of vandalization, you will be coming with us."
"Anabel!" Ash smiled, glad to see Anabel once more. Granted, this isn't how he expected to reunite with her. He didn't even expect to see her so snazzy in that suit.
"Vandilization?" Twilight Sparkle repeated.
"Every location she's been at, she's been trying to destroy something specific every single time. We caught wind of her actions immediately when she targeted the Azoth Kingdom. She and her friends have been rather active and now her most recent target is the Altar of the Sunne."
"All places that he's been to!" Twilight Moonlight aimed her hoof at Ash. Indeed, Ash has been to the Azoth Kingdom before when he helped out Volcanion and Magearna. Twilight Moonlight was specifically targeting places that Ash has been to and has some connection with.
"But why?" Twilight Sparkle questioned. "You don't seem that bad compared to Empress Twilight. What gives?"
"I can't let you get involved in this, Twilight." She said to her counterpart. "It's best that you stay out of this." At that moment, her body was suddenly flashing as Rift Particles could be seen exuding from her body. Her time was now up. "Darn it! I wasted too much time!"
"You're not leaving again." Anabel wasn't about to let that happen. She actually wanted Twilight Moonlight to stick around. And she definitely had the means to make sure that would happen. From her hand, she had what appeared to be a microphone of some sort.
And inside of it was none other than Rift Energy. It was only natural that the International Police would have access to such items. If the Ranger Union could, why not them? However, it was not a microphone as Anabel didn't have to speak into it. All she had to do was hold it out and a pulse of Rift Energy would fly out.
Right as Twilight Moonlight would return Samurott and Umbreon to her Poke Balls, all those Rift Particles flying out of her body would be reversed. Her body would reform swiftly, keeping her where she was. The counterpart gasped in disbelief. She wasn't back in her respective world. Instead, she was still here even though her time was up.
"W-What the?! What did you just do?!"
"It's a Rift Disruptor. It completely disrupts anything Rift-related, such as transport. Even though there aren't many gateways left, you were obviously using it when we last saw you." Anabel explained. "This time, you won't be fleeing to your world."
"I wasn't even fleeing in the first place...I'd gladly finish things up here!"
"Are you sure?" Anabel still had her Poke Ball out. Twilight Moonlight had already returned Samurott and Umbreon so she had no Pokemon to assist her. Ash, Sombra, Pikachu, Lucario, Twilight Sparkle, Espeon and Anabel all surrounded her as retaliating would be foolish.
"Darn it..." The unicorn groaned, lowering her head. Thanks to Anabel's actions, she was rather powerless. "I'm not out of options yet. I don't need Rift Energy to vanish when I still have my magic!" Unicorn magic was still at her disposal. From her horn, she would teleport away, using the simplest method of magical transportation.
Anabel gasped before clutching her fist. "Teleportation...Of course. We still have nothing for that." Alas, Teleportation was the one thing that couldn't be dealt with. "It's fine though. She couldn't have gotten far. Anything Rift-Related has been disrupted for her so there is a good chance she'll stay around Alola. It'll last for only 40 minutes at best unless I use it again."
"Man...What was that all about?" Ash was a little bit perplexed by what just happened.
"Twilight..." She spoke her own name, referring to Twilight Moonlight, of course.
"She's a slippery one. And rather aggressive." Anabel sighed, holding her face as Twilight Moonlight was rather tricky for the International Police. "Anyway...On the bright side, it's good to see you again, Ash." Anabel would put on a smile.
"Hey, Anabel. Pretty new way to meet up huh?" Ash chuckled. "So uh...what's up with the suit?"
A lot had to be explained to Ash. And on top of that, Anabel had something to share. She has quite the knowledge of Twilight Moonlight. More than what Zecora received. Twilight Moonlight was currently out there, still fixated on her mission now that she was stuck here for a while.
But all this did was make Ash question things about where Twilight Moonlight comes from. And just as critical, this Prisma character and what his relation to him and these other 9 Trainers were as the journey continues.
Chapter 248 End.