//------------------------------// // At Night // Story: Celestia's Rocket Adventures // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// As the last of the sun’s light died away and a white quarter-moon rose to take its placed, Luna continued her journey through the disgusting bog. The lighting was never a problem – as befitted the princess of the night, Luna had never had difficulty dealing with even pitch black conditions. She had been pleased to discover that that power, at least, yet remained to her. It might have been her imagination, but Luna even felt a little stronger, a little less tired under the moon’s pale light. Just her luck, what she gained from the change of sky was more than made up for by the continuous irritations she was having to deal with. For the past several hours the going had been slower. The ground shifted under her hooves more easily, objects fell from the trees towards her head, and plenty of noise was being made, spoiling any hope of stealth. Luna knew who was behind this, of course. Every so often she caught a glimpse of Haunter from the corner of her eye, but whenever she turned her head the creature would vanish. Sometimes she even flashed the princess an insulting gesture beforehand. Luna growled irritably every time that she saw it. If only she had her magic! Then she could have given the horrible thing the treatment it deserved. Not one sighting passed without the princess making at least one attempt to cast a spell at Haunter, in the vague hope that her magic had returned. She had no such luck, of course. Without any effective means to ward off the creature, she simply had to press on and wait for an opportunity. But Luna was good at waiting, when she wanted to be – she’d had a thousand years of practice on the moon, after all. As the princess pressed on throughout the night, enduring all the environmental hazards that Haunter attempted to throw in her path, the stream she was following grew larger. As tributaries flowed in from all directions, the murky little trickle gradually became a flowing brown-green river. Luna took that for a positive sign. Surely this body must lead her out of the swamp, or at least to a beach, soon enough. It was during a moment that Luna was climbing down over the muddy roots of a particularly large riverside tree that things began to go seriously wrong. To begin, one of the slippery roots shifted abruptly the moment she put her weight on it. She overbalanced, and her hooves couldn’t maintain a grip. She fell forward, rolling rough down the tree’s side into a patch of reeds growing on the river bank. When the motion finally stopped, the princess found her face buried inside the yellow center of a truly gigantic red flower. Her sensitive ears could pick up the sound of all-too-familiar laughter on the wind. Luna bristled angrily, baring her teeth. And then the flower shot an enormous cloud of purple spores directly into her face. Luna reeled upwards and back, coughing madly. The spores were everywhere: in her mouth, in her throat, her face, in her mane, and in her lungs. They burned and choked her, her body struggling madly to expel the intruders. The world around her seemed to spin like she was riding a foal’s top. Her sense of balance badly distorted, she collapsed backwards into the mud. And then, to her shock, the flower popped up from the mud, revealing a short, dark blue body with stubby arms and legs beneath. “Alright!” the flower-creature declared. “Breakfast doesn’t usually come that easy!” “I am…” Luna managed, struggling to get back on her shaking hooves. “No one’s breakfast!” “Still alive?” it opened its mouth wide. “Let’s fix that!” The little creature sprayed a stream of purple liquid through the air at the princess. The moment it made contact, Luna screamed. The liquid was a burning acidic compound, which rapidly began eating through whatever it touched. It burned through patches of dirt and patches of fur, sizzling against the sensitive skin underneath. Unlike the Haunter’s strikes, it hurt. Quite a lot. “Nothing personal, lady,” the creature said, stubby arms on hips and smug expression on its face. “But a Vileplume’s gotta eat, and well, you’re there. And Acid just makes the digestion go so much better! Ha ha ha ha ha!” “You,” Luna’s legs were wobbling as she strained. “Little,” her anger drew her power, and she began to rise. “VERMIN!” The enraged alicorn princess towered over the Vileplume. Acid still burned away against her skin, causing visible streams of smoke to rise, but she seemed to be ignoring it. Overhead, the moonlight seemed to intensify, breaking through cloud and fog to shine down on her weary body. Where it touched, bruises vanished, wounds closed, and acid fizzled into nothingness. Luna’s wings extended in their full, majestic glory as her body shed its injuries like a snake shedding its skin. “You think I’m going to be impressed by a little trick like Moonlight?!” Vileplume growled. “I know Oddish that know that move! I’m not losing out on a meaty morsel because of that! Take this!” Vileplume leveled its flowery head cap at Luna and puffed it. A cloud of spores, this time green, wafted out. This time she beat her wings powerfully at the cloud, somehow whipping up a breeze that swept away the cloud and threatened to bowl Vileplume over. “I’m not giving up that easy!” Vileplume growled. “You’re my food and you’re not getting away!” It opened its mouth again and unleashed another spray of Acid. Once more, it struck the princess head on. Once more, it burned and ate into her flesh. But it also made her angry. Very, very angry. She had been in mild state of discontent since arriving on this benighted world, which had only grown worse over the past few hours. And now Vileplume was presenting a physical, tangible target upon which to unleash her wrath. That was a big mistake. As Princess Luna swung her hoof towards the offender, she noticed at the last second that it was glowing. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Vileplume went sailing through the night air, screaming its little lungs out as it went. It landed, some distance away, in the deep, murky river. When it saw where it was, it flailed even harder despite the fact that it was floating easily. The reason became evident a moment later. An enormous red claw reached out from the depths and seized the struggling Vileplume by the flowery top. It screamed one last time as it was dragged under, kicking and spitting acid. For a brief moment the river currents were disrupted by thrashing and a flood of rising bubbles. But then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the thrashing stopped. The murky water around that spot grew even murkier. From the bank, a weary, panting, and acid-burned Luna watched with mixed emotions. She didn’t think its fate unjust – on the contrary, she had always been less squeamish than her sister about dispensing capital punishment for murder, attempted or otherwise. Besides, there was nothing she could have done in those brief seconds save make herself another target for the clawed creature. At the same time, she chastised herself for not trying to capture it. This Vileplume could have been made to answer her questions in return for leniency. Now the opportunity was gone. It was as she was standing amongst the reeds, trying to recover her strength, that Luna spotted a familiar figure floating above one of the nearby tree branches. For once, when she turned to face it, it didn’t disappear. Instead, it grinned down at her with an expression of total triumph. “What are you so happy about, coward?” Luna snarled. “Finally decided to come and fight me face-to-face?” Haunter threw her head back and laughed. “Hahahahahahaha! You don’t understand what just happened at all, do you?” “I demonstrated what happens to those that try to prey on me.” “You took a face full of Vileplume’s Poison Powder,” Haunter clasped her hands together. “Even Moonlight won’t heal that. It will remain in your system, poisoning you, draining you of life and strength, until…” she grinned. “You become a weak, helpless mound of quivering flesh. And then, you become mine. Heheheheh! My plan worked perfectly. Now I don’t need to be able to hurt you myself. Enjoy your last few hours of life, dear little traveler.” With that, Haunter faded away into the night. Many miles away, Celestia was, once again, huddled around a campfire with Team Rocket, lost in thought. Her compatriots were watching a “horror” movie about a serial killing Wobbuffet, which seemed rather ridiculous considering that this one, like all its kind, couldn’t actually do anything until it was itself attacked. A villain that could be thwarted by standing there and doing nothing didn’t seem particularly intimidating to her. But Team Rocket was collectively shivering, hugging each other, and occasionally letting off little squeaky screams. Especially, for whatever reason, their actual Wobbuffet. The princess’ mind was elsewhere. After the incident at the restaurant, Alakazam had decided to go home and take a nap. For her own part, Celestia hadn’t been convinced, and had spent most of the remainder of the afternoon keeping her eye on Lysandre as he moved about the town. While she had certainly gotten a feel for the man’s personality – he enjoyed somewhat rambling speeches on his passion for making the world a beautiful place, followed by small gifts to thank listeners for their patience – she hadn’t actually found any evidence to suggest any wrongdoing on his part. On the contrary, he seemed polite, generous, and generally friendly with the city’s inhabitants. He made a few business transactions, paid in full, and was even a generous tipper. At no point did Celestia see the little black Poke Ball again, though she got a look at his belt on more than one occasion. All the balls there were the normal red and white. After Lysandre had bunkered down in a local hotel for the evening, Celestia had called it a day and returned to the library to await James’ return, only to find him already there and looking worried. That had gotten her a brief telling off, and to her own surprise she didn’t argue back. Partially because he couldn’t understand her, of course, but partially because she really did feel a little guilty for not telling him what she was up to. Even if he was unlikely to believe her. As Celestia reviewed her day, she began to wonder if Alakazam might not have been onto something after all. True, criminals didn’t spend every waking moment doing crime, and could in fact be quite affable at times, but this Lysandre didn’t give her so much of a villainous vibe as the first time. He seemed sincere, passionate about improving the world. And it was possible for her to make errors in judgement – her niece’s wedding came to mind. On the other hoof, what of that Poke Ball? Even after not finding it on him, Celestia was still sure that it couldn’t have been a Luxury Ball. It looked different than the picture Alakazam had shown her, and had radiated malevolence and pain. It couldn’t have just disappeared. Was it possible that Lysandre didn’t know what it was? But where would he have gotten it? And what had happened to it? Too many questions, not enough answers. Perhaps tomorrow would bring clarity. It was just as Celestia was getting up to request being returned to her Poke Ball for the night that her ears pricked up. It was faint, very faint, but she could a voice on the wind over the chirping Kricketot and Team Rocket’s horror movie. It was deep, confident, and familiar. The princess hardly needed to guess whom it might be, though she did wonder if any local gods or luck spirits were watching over her at that moment. Eyeing Team Rocket and finding them still thoroughly engrossed in their own movie, she made a quick decision. Her wings opened up and lifted her almost silently into the air and over the treetops. She found a spot where she could hear more clearly, though the thick forest cover prevented her from spying exactly where the human might be. “…you sure we should proceed?” a female voice was asking. “After the incident, wouldn’t it be better to shift dates or change target?” “We’ve waited too long already,” Lysandre’s voice replied. “The more we put it off the more likely that we will face greater opposition.” “But now that Giovanni’s minions are onto us…” “I’m sure he’s moving more in as we speak. Waiting will only give him more time to spirit them into Kalos under our collective nose.” “If they tip off the police?” “They have no proof save documents they could have easily written themselves.” “So, no changes?” “Proceed with the operation as planned. And keep your eyes open for Team Rocket.” “Yes sir.”