Equestria. Las Pegasus. The Pokemon Festival. Afternoon.
After an amazing performance from all the coordinators here, this small contest was over. Lena was brought back down after being lifted up by Rising Voltage, of all things. All coordinators and their Pokemon did a great job making this stand out for something that lasted only 2 minutes at best.
Once they were done and they received cheers and applause from the crowd, they would depart from the large stage, heading back to the dressing room. But in Lena's case, she would be leaving the Contest Hall
"Well done, Clefairy." She said with her hair smoking from all the electricity. The Fire Spin didn't help at all.
"Clefairy!" Clefairy was glad to help. She would be returned to her Poke Ball where she would be placed back in the rental box until next time when she was needed.
"That was a bold play on your part, Lena. You might need to freshen up after this. You're a bit of a mess." May pointed out. Lena was previously struck by random moves from Metronome which carried over and was stacked on by new Metronome Moves.
"I really do." Lena chuckled. "This was worth the try in every possible way! I was missing out!"
"Wait! Lena!" Seeing Lena Ketchum, Sweetie Belle tried reaching her. This was Ash's ancestor and it would make Ash truly happy if he saw his many-great grandma. But she was lost in the crowd of coordinators plus the audience that was leaving the area. Lena was already long gone from here.
"Where'd they go...?" Meanwhile, Lena was searching for Team Rocket since they had left the Contest Hall by now. Now she had to find her group, unaware of what they had to go through.
Sweetie Belle lost sight of Lena Ketchum. She looked around, trying to spot the Time Traveller. But alas, no sign of her at all in this massive crowd.
"Sweetie Belle! Way to go!" Running over were her friends and family, here to congratulate Sweetie Belle for her performance. All the coordinators deserved praise after what they pulled off in such a small space after all.
"Oh, thanks. But did you see that? I know you had to, she was up in the air and everything.
"We saw her, alright, she certainly matched the appearance of the one in the book. And that Thunderbolt birthmark speaks volumes." Rarity replied, revealing that she and the others definitely saw Lena's face and how similar to looked to Ash. "To think she'd be here.
"I think so. That had to be her. But I missed her..." Sweetie Belle sighed. "I was gonna bring her to Ash and it would've been so great."
"Hmm...No way to track her scent with Slurpuff..." Rarity pondered. "And this place is far too occupied for Audino to hear her.
"Whaddya think she was here for?" Applejack asked. "Come to think of it, she ain't just running around the place for no reason. She got sent through time, didn't she?"
"Mmm?" Rarity had no clue since very little about Lena was revealed to the rest of the public. "What do Time Travelers do in their spare time anyway? You'd think Dialga would take notice of this though. It noticed Ash and tried to misplace his younger and older consciousness."
Lena Ketchum was still far from their reach. But not May's reach. Exiting the Contest Hall as well was Queen Novo who was relieved that things didn't turn out poorly. Her Primarina got to be up there with Lena Ketchum, but that was only because Lena saved Primarina from falling.
Looking back at the Contest Hall, Novo knew one thing. She had to improve and fast. Almost everyone there were able to pull off some impressive performances. Even Lena, who had zero experience with contests, had the benefit of being as wild as Ash. It seems to run in the bloodline. If she doesn't improve and gain her own style, she would be left in the dust by other upstart coordinators.
As for the outcome of this contest, as said by Marian, it would be the beginning of a new direction for the Pokemon Contests. At least for Equestria. The land of Equestria would have something else that separates it from the other regions which have Contests.
Once the coordinators and audience were gone Marian approached held in her hands a poster that was given to her by the people running this contest hall. Equestria was eventually going to be met with a Pokemon Contest Program meant for upcoming coordinators in the future, similar to what Gyms do. It wasn't revealed to the entire public just yet and the Grand Festival for Equestria was still on the horizon. But Marian was already thinking about the best time to reveal this.
As for where Team Rocket was, they ended up near the outskirts of Las Pegasus, essentially away from the public. In an attempt to escape from Sci-Twi and the Arceus Pendant, they went the distance and ended up at the outskirts of this Cloud City. They were lucky to be on something solid instead of having to deal with the clouds.
"What a waste..." Jessie sighed while lying on her back, slightly exhausted. "We've missed the Contest by now for sure. My money!"
"Counterpart or not, that Purple Twerpette loves to get in our way. From the Original to the New!" James bit his glove, weeping about this.
"At least we got away. And the shards are still in one piece." Meowth looked inside of the bag, seeing the shards in their mint condition. Their supposed special power has yet to be truly revealed even in small instances. "But ya think the twerp might come for 'em too?"
"He's with the Twerpette a lot. The pony and human version of her. There's no doubt he's onto us. And if he is, we'll surprise him with Lena. She still doesn't know we're in Team Rocket and these new disguises are the longest we've kept on." Jessie answered.
"She still knows us as Jessie and James though..." James pointed out. "Think it's time we chose different names? You're the one always changing it when it comes to contests."
"Hmm..." Jessie pondered for a moment. "Never had to do it all that much outside of Contests. I'll think of some new names for us. Only the best that I deserve. But right now...I was just want to lie down after coming a long way here and back." Jessie closed her eyes, taking in the soft and comfortable air of Las Pegasus.
But then, she remembered that there was a hotel here and she would much rather prefer that than sleeping on the ground. It wouldn't hurt to take a hotel and meet up with Lena there, who was still searching for them. Plus, Jessie had to know if Lena made any money after this. Unfortunately, no.
"That's about it, I think. That brings us to today!" Pinkie Pie had just finished speaking with Twilight Moonlight which went on for hours. "What do you think?"
"...You all passed away and came back to life?" Lo and behold, Twilight Moonlight was actually interested in what was being said. At first, she was annoyed and disinterested in whatever Pinkie Pie had to say. But after hearing about what she and her friends have done, been through and experienced, it caught her interest.
"Mhm. We didn't get to visit that Ambrosial Plane though..." Pinkie Pie sighed. "We came back too soon. What a bummer."
"Mew-Mew..."
"You don't sound that distraught by that." Moonlight narrowed her eyes, finding Pinkie Pie to be rather odd character. This whole conversation showed Twilight Moonlight who Pinkie Pie truly was.
"But enough about me! Tell me about yourself!" Pinkie Pie squeed, wanting to hear from Twilight Moonlight.
"I'd rather not. I already explained a lot about myself to Twilight Sparkle. Besides, I'm tired after hearing from your blabbering mouth." Moonlight closed her eyes, wishing to rest a bit. "It's all I can do inside of this bubble."
"Ah, it's fine. I heard what Twilight told me last night." Pinkie Pie was already caught up thanks to what Twilight Sparkle shared. She knew about Moonlight's past and her progress up until this point. "Doesn't sound too unfamiliar."
"Hm? Are you saying you already know of something similar to my past?"
"Well..." Pinkie rolled her eyes repeatedly, putting on a few shrugs. "Our Twilight was a little bit like that. She wasn't that fond of us from the start. I don't think she liked the Welcome Party I set up when she showed up at Ponyville. Sci-Twi was the same. She did a lot of things on her own until she met Ash, Sunset and our other selves. I guess all Twilights are like that. Well, maybe not Wish."
"I suppose. But we couldn't be any more different from each other. One of them resists me a lot and the other two have no idea what's really at stake. They think they can stop Prisma with their relaxed tactics. But I know better." Twilight Moonlight uttered, looking at the sky and thinking about Prisma. "I'm the only one out of the four that has memories from Twilight Luminaria and I've seen what Prisma can do. In both of my lives."
"I'm sure we've got it covered." Pinkie Pie begged to differ. "We promised to stop Prisma from ever showing up. And I mean...it got pretty close on the Ghost Train but we stopped it."
"Think that as much as you want. I know the truth. Everypony back at the Arcane Institute knows." However, Twilight Moonlight was so adamant in her words that they given away as fact. And she did have a strong source since she possessed memories of Twilight Luminaria.
"What are you gonna do when this is all over though?" Then, Pinkie Pie laid out a question that focused on the aftermath of the Prisma Situation. "I mean, when you stop Prisma from returning, then what? I bet everything will be totally fine back in your world."
"Afterwards...? I...Don't know." Surprisingly, Twilight Moonlight didn't have anything else planned in advance. She was always dedicated to her mission of defeating Prisma, even at birth. When she was born, she was given the memories of Twilight Luminaria which made her cry constantly since she didn't understand it as a baby. But after growing up, it's all that's been on her mind and nothing else.
Twilight Moonlight had nothing beyond defeating Prisma. Pinkie Pie hit her with something super effective that never crossed her mind.
The afternoon Sun continued to move as time went by. Ash and Lucas still had smoke coming out of their mouth after trying those spices but the heat subsided. This did not stop them from trying out some more since the spices were still wonderful and added that extra touch to the food. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash tried her luck with the games here at Las Pegasus.
Late Afternoon.
Hours of having fun brought the late afternoon Sun into play. And at the moment, Sci-Twi returned to Ash's side, finally deciding to ask for a new gateway. After what happened with the Arceus Pendant, she needed the help from Arche Valley immediately.
"Hey, Lucas. I might need another gateway right away." Sci-Twi requested. "If it's not too much of an issue for you right now."
"Mmm? Sure." Lucas responded with a full mouth. He would gladly make a new one for her. "Where do you wanna be?"
"Well...I'd like to head back to Arche Valley. This pendant was being pretty odd right now and honestly, I don't think I can understand it all that much. I need more help when it comes to Arceus and I can't think of a better place to be."
"Hm-hm." Lucas nodded in understanding. "I hear ya on that one. I mean, I know a lot about Arceus but I've never seen that pendant before. Arche Valley, you said?"
"If you're going to open up the gateway, it needs to be somewhere else." Twilight Sparkle said, laying out the rules for Lucas before he goes ahead and makes a new one. "Princess Celestia suggested that every gateway should connect to different individual locations. Plus, some of the more important locations need to be in certain areas for safety.
"Right, right. Uh...Where should I put it this time?" Lucas still wasn't caught up to Equestria's geography. On top of that, he had to think of the best place to put the gateway to Arche Valley since it was an important area.
"Mmm...How about?" Ash put his fingers on his head, trying to come up with something. "Got it! We can put it in your world, Twi!"
"My world?" Sci-Twi's world was chosen. For one reason. Ash trusted Sci-Twi with Arche Valley's gateway without a doubt and she would certainly need all the help when it comes to the mysteries of Arceus.
"Mhm. Lucas hasn't given your world a gateway yet so now's a good time to do that. How does your own home sound?"
"Well...I wouldn't mind that at all actually." Sci-Twi shook her head. "We'd have to go quite the distance to head back to my home but still. Having a gateway to Arche Valley would do wonders for me. Oh, but you won't be able to create a gateway immediately after making a new one, right? Maybe just start with the one to Arche Valley. It's over at Kalos after all and there's one to Courmarine City here."
"Then it's settled. It won't take too long to get to your home, right? How close is Canterlot to Las Pegasus?" Lucas asked.
"Not too far. We'll be there in no time. And while we're going for Arche Valley..." Ash had something else in mind instead of just opening a gateway to Arche Valley.
"Ash! Ash!" Rushing towards Ash before he could leave were the CMC. They just had to tell Ash about who they just saw at the Contest Hall. "You've gotta hear this!" Scootaloo jumped up and down frantically.
"What happened? Is something wrong?"
"Something did happen! It's your really great grandma!" Sweetie Belle cut right to the chase. "I saw her!"
"Really?!" Now Ash's attention was drawn to someone else entirely. Hearing about his grandma Lena was too important to ignore. But unfortunately for Ash, with how much time has gone by, while he heard about Lena, he would unfortunately miss her yet again.
Lena had already left Las Pegasus as she was currently moving through the air with Hisuian Braviary carrying her and Team Rocket. Their time at Las Pegasus was pleasant and also surprising. For better or for worse. But they had to continue their mission to find those missing shards.
"Thanks for telling me about this contest, Jessie. I almost missed out on something wonderful. Maybe stopping to do something else won't slow us down all that much." Lena thanked Jessie.
"Lucky you...You got to have fun." Jessie grumbled since she had to keep her distance from Sci-Twi the entire time. She didn't even get to try out all the activities here at Las Pegasus. "So...Where to next? Is your intuition kicking in?"
"I thought there were some shards at Las Pegasus. A strong part of me felt it. But I guess not. Let's try somewhere else this time. And I think we may have to go higher into the sky."
"Higher into the sky? Wouldn't that mean..." James paused before realizing where this would take them. "Are you thinking about Pegalysium?!"
"Oh, yes. That's the place I've heard about. That's where we should be." Lena grinned, revealing that the next location was none other than Pegalysium itself. The question was; Which Pegalysium was it? While it was rather exciting to head to the nation in the sky, thanks to Second Wind's actions, there were now Two Peegalysiums. The original and the new one made by Second Wind meddling with time, also known as Pinnaculum Pegalysium. Only time will tell when they get up there.
Universe 11. The Solar Empire. Late Afternoon.
Universe 11. The Home of Daybreaker and her Solar Empire. At the moment, the gateway to Universe 1 was still open with the ruler of this world still absent, stuck on that mysterious island. But her subjects and entire empire had no idea that their Queen stuck elsewhere. And there was no way for them to know.
"Daybreaker and her group haven't returned as of yet. They only have 3 days until they can make a return." Empress Twilight said. "And we haven't heard from them at al. What happened to communicating with us?" Gathered here was not only the Empress but also Nightmare Rarity, who stayed in the shadows away from the Sunlight.
"Mm...Something fishy is going on." Nightmare Rarity shook her head. "Daybreaker probably got herself into something she can't immediately burn her way through. I can bet. But I can also bet that she's completely stubborn when it comes to vanishing."
"She would've spoken to us eventually by now...Perhaps she did run into massive trouble." Empress Twilight thought to herself before putting on a smile. "That would make things harder for us, honestly. But it would also bring some benefits. Daybreaker's quite the problem."
"Mmm...Is she?" Nightmare Rarity pouted.
"Of course she is, Rarity. She may have started this alliance, but she's spearheading everything, practically taking the role of our boss. I used to be an all-powerful Empress and now look at me. Reduced to being one of her minions."
"I wouldn't say you're a minion but whatever. I'm rarely here anyway, darling." Nightmare Rarity shrugged. "But that could just be our similarities. Daybreaker's made out of the same magic as me when I emerged as a Nightmare.
"But I can't just forget about her now. I need to stick around her for a bit longer. Especially since she's the only way I can obtain power again." The Empress scowled. "And what's worse, I need to deal with that Poke Ball issue."
"Oh, right! You got caught by Colress!" Nightmare Rarity cackled, pointing her hoof at Empress Twilight, absolutely taunting her.
"Shut up! I was blindsided! And those new Pony-Capturing Poke Balls can work on you too even if you are a Nightmare!" She bared her fangs, barking at Nightmare Rarity. "Colress has been planning this from the start. And by extensionm Ghetsis. I just know it. They discovered a whole new world with a different species so why wouldn't they begin working on this? But they'll rue the day they caught me because once I reach a comfortable spot with my power, things will change."
"Really? So what are you going to do right now? If I were you, I'd rely on Team Plasma for help right about now."
"Not yet. I have something else in mind. Let's try and talk to Starlight for a while. There's something I need to experiment with." Empress Twilight wasn't slacking either. Her drive for vengeance was burning bright. She would not rest until Universe 1 was conquered since everyone there absolutely ruined her colossal empire.
Scheming as always, she didn't wish to answer to Daybreaker forever either or even be the Pokemon of Colress which was absolutely embarrassing for her. She was still technically human since she was originally Sci-Twi so this made it all the more irritating to her. Unaware of what Daybreaker was doing at the moment, Empress Twilight would take advantage of this at once. But not by taking control of Daybreaker's Solar Empire for a while. There was something else.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 340 End.