//------------------------------// // The Shield and the Sword // Story: Mystery Dungeon: Equestrial Plains // by TheDeku //------------------------------// Twilight led her friends to the throne room. When a threat by a previously unmet electric type obviously shook Darkrai more than it admitted, she could tell that something was going on, more than what they had been told. The way that Blitzle and Raichu interacted bothered her more than whatever Darkrai had against it. As they approached the throne room, the pink cat-like creature that Darkrai called Mew floated up to them. "Hey there! What's got you feeling down, Sparkles?" It sat on Twilight's back and began eating an apple. "You're all okay! There's no need to feel sad." "First, don't call me 'Sparkles', that isn't my name." Twilight started. "How did you get so close to it? There's no way you could have heard my name." "I'm the most psychically powerful Pokemon. In short, I can read minds, and float, and transform, and use telekinesis, and warp reality around me, etc. Also, I talked to your princesses and saw some stained glass windows." Mew scratched its foot. "But I try not to pry into the privacy of minds. So I ask again, why are you so sad, Twilight?" "Well, that Raichu seemed to put Darkrai in a more violent mood than I've seen him be, and Blitzle and Raichu seemed to want to fight each other." Twilight started shouting. "Which means that they know each other! So Blitzle better explain how he knows the leader of a gang so well!" Mew considered this. "Calm down. He'll have time to explain, if he wants to, when you reach the throne room. Hey look, we're here!" Mew floated off of Twilight. "But seriously, cool it or I'll call you Rapidash." Ponyta wasn't amused. "Is that some kind of joke at my expense?" Mew transformed into a Gastly and stuck out its tongue. "No. Both have horns and hot heads, in one form or another." Mew floated through the door, which opened a second later, revealing the two princesses, Mew (having transformed back), and Darkrai rising through the floor. Having come face to face with four god-like beings, all six ponies, Spike, Sableye, and Ponyta bowed. Blitzle, however, did not. "Blitzle, bow!" Twilight told him. Blitzle scoffed. "No. I refuse." Twilight glared. "You have two legendary Pokemon, as you call them, and two of our princesses! It's polite!" Ponyta sighed. "Here we go. Twilight, please drop it." Mew giggled. "It's okay, Twilight. I can't have my fun if you bow." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Mew, what do you mean by your fun?" "Oh, nothing. It's just I can't play with someone who is bowing. That's no fun." Mew said, playing with a yo-yo. "Blitzle and his issues with authority are his to have and not ours to care about. What we should know is anything there is to know about the Thunderclaps. Blitzle, as a fellow electric type, would you know anything about them?" Blitzle chuckled. "Oh, I know them all right. they have a little over a hundred member, they terrorize rescue and explorer teams, are big-time criminals, and all but one member is an electric type or part-electric type. The non-electric is a Smeargle, and it has a huge variety of moves. Raichu is the leader and is very powerful, and he has this group called his inner circle, consisting of Electivire, Eelektross, Lanturn, Galvantula, which we saw, but also a Magnezone, Ampharos, Manectric, Luxray, and Heliolisk. The other members are pre-evolutions of these, or occasionally weaker pokemon of the same species. I was the only Blitzle or Zebstrika in his gang, and the only not fully evolved pokemon in the inner circle before I left. A few days after that I saved Ponyta from a couple of crabby Krabby, and we made our Rescue Team." The only ones who didn't react hugely were the Pokemon and the princesses. Ponyta even nodded a bit. "I guess that explains a few things." Blitzle looked at her as if she just breathed ice instead of fire. "So you don't hate me fore being a criminal?" Ponyta laughed. "Hate you? Why would I do that? We're a team now, and it explains why you're hesitant about going to mystery dungeons with electric types as very common and why you don't talk about your past." She pushes his shoulder with her hoof. "What we need to do now is train so we can fight them." Concerned, Luna spoke. "I would warn you. Mew seems to believe that due to the magic that Equestria contains, Pokemon here have a boost in a skill of theirs, effectively having invisible cutie marks of their own. Darkrai has provided evidence that this is occuring, citing his ability to dream walk, Blitzle's greatly enhanced speed, and Sableye's ability to just know where gems and similar materials are as proof that this is occurring. It must be considered that this has happened with these Pokemon as well." Darkrai considered this. "In that case, I would consider bringing the entire Wigglytuff Guild that is here to Canterlot to be able to help defeat these criminals. I would also consider getting some of the royal guard, if they are willing, to help. But no one else." "What? NO!" Twilight shouted, startling all present. "I'm going to help! They went too far, and I will not let them continue to do as they please. They have lots of Pokemon that could easily take out members of the guard, but I don't think they can stand up too well against my magic." "You making such a choice implies that I will allow such an option, Twilight Sparkle. I give you no such option, and I give none of you such an option." Darkrai said, floating towards them. "I will not allow untrained citizens to risk themselves. However, if you are persistent on your wish to fight, then follow me. Princesses, I will go to the field for training if you need me." "Mew, could you go with them? I have a bad feeling about how tempers may rise." Celestia requested. "Gotcha! I'll let the guard know of the fight they could join and get them to the field to train as well." ------------------------------------------- Darkrai led the group to a training field. Several of them sit on the side, but Darkrai goes to one end of the field and turns to face Twilight, Ponyta, Rainbow, Sableye, Spike, and Blitzle. "Twilight only. The rest of you to the sidelines." Confused, they go to the sidelines. "I can confirm the fighting ability of the Pokemon. But for those of you who are not Pokemon, you must fight me in a battle. Either beat me or impress me for me to allow you to fight. I do not want any of you to go into the fight if you cannot hold up." Twilight sighed. "If this is the only way to convince you I can take care of myself, then fine." She fires a bolt of magic that Darkrai dodges, and responds with Dark Pulse. This attack hits Twilight in the side, and knocks her back. She gets up and avoids the next pulse while returning her own attacks, hitting Darkrai hard. As they fight, Mew comes over with the members of the guard who will fight the gang. "See? Darkrai is easily keeping his advantage. He's using his superior agility and ability to predict how a battle goes to keep Twilight from really fighting back!" Mew is far more amused than concerned. After all, the battle is amusing and Twilight is learning how Darkrai's attacks work, which allow her to counter or dodge them. Darkrai, however holds his advantage, and pulls no punches. As the battle dies down, Darkrai is the definitive winner but doesn't stop his attacks. As he launches his Dark Void, it is met with a shield. "Now you're going too far, Darkrai." Shining Armor walks onto the field. "I push the guard pretty hard when training, but this is too much." "You don't know what you are getting in the middle of." Darkrai warned, using Shadow Ball to break the shield, which was replaced as quickly as it was destroyed. "The battle needs its conclusion." "Here's a conclusion: back off!" Shining shot a bolt of magic at Darkrai to force him back. "Your first mistake was disagreeing with a legendary. Your second was assuming that your attack would hit." A male voice made Shining turn around and immediately put up a shield in front of him. Sword met shield and a beige unicorn with red mane and blue tail came into focus, the sword being his horn. "Your third was that training was over after one fight. I need to keep up my skills or they'll be disappointed, and you can block what I do. I'm going to see just how to win!" "Keldeo, you were supposed to wait for Mew." Darkrai said, floating over to where Twilight's friends were. "Next time convince me with more than a little girl." Keldeo stepped back from Shining's shield. He studied it, then lunged forward. "Sacred Sword!" His sword extended, becoming flatter and longer. With a single slice, he shattered the shield, knocking Shining back. "What's wrong with you? Why are you helping him?" Shining asked, getting back up. "He doesn't mean to hurt anyone too badly, and he's healing up the purple one." Keldeo reasoned, scratching his head with his hoof, revealing a hole in the bottom of it. "That was fun. Who's next?" Darkrai sighed. "I believe that I was wrong about how to do this. Perhaps what we need is just hat Keldeo said: training, as opposed to only fighting. Pokemon, grab a pony and try to figure out how to turn their abilities into moves." Getting the idea, Mew flies down to Pinkie and turns into Shuckle, telling her to let loose on it to see what she can do. Blitzle and Rainbow retreat a distance to try some priority or flying moves. Sableye and Rarity decided to see what she could do with lots of gems to control. Ponyta takes Applejack away to try some powerful physical attacks, as well as bringing Spike along to try fire attacks. Twilight telekineticaly brings Keldeo along to talk about a few things, so Darkrai floats over to Fluttershy. "I assume you would not like to fight?" "Oh, no. I can't bring myself to." Fluttershy said. "That's okay. I didn't expect you to want to be in the fight. I would expect you to be far better at making sure any other Pokemon who arrive understand that this is a different place and they need to change their behaviors to follow the rules. Sound like your kind of fun?" Darkrai asked. Fluttershy grinned. "Yes." ------------------------------------------- "Are you going to put me down?" Keldeo asked for the fifth time, right before he was promptly dropped from the magic. "Oof!" "Yes, and we are going to talk. You act as if you have training masters, but they haven't been mentioned. You took a step back and with one slice of your horn-" Twilight began. "Sword. Not horn, sword." Keldeo interrupted. "Sorry, I'm a little sensitive about that." "Sorry. With one slice of your sword you destroy my brother's shield and that's pretty much impossible! You also mentioned disappointing some pony. Explain yourself." Twilight demanded. Keldeo laughed. "That's what your worried about? Okay. I looked at the shield and saw that there was a part of it that was weaker than the rest due to the construction of it. I just took a slice at it and it broke. As for how I could tell, I was put through much training by Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion, or the Swords of Justice. Cobalion is the leader, and taught me to both know how to fight and dodge any Pokemon, so I've learned every Pokemon's strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and move sets, as well as every move effect and power. Virizion taught me about using speed and misdirection with confusing movements to confuse foes and easily get to a position to hold the upper hand. Terrakion is the one who taught me to hit hard in any weak points I can. From that I've learned to always be on the lookout for any way to gain an advantage." Twilight looked amazed. "You know everything there is to know about Pokemon?" Keldeo shrugged. "I guess that's one way of saying it. I do want to know more about you creatures." Twilight smiled. "I can help with that. I think we are going to get along just fine, Keldeo."