The Alpha and the Omega Pt. III - Delta (a)
Rainbow let out a groan as she ran a hoof across her brow to get rid of the sweat that had gathered there. “You know, I’m pretty used to sweating. I’ve had to push myself pretty hard to get into the Wonderbolts Academy. Rain or shine, hot or cold, windy or calm, I’ve worked out in plenty of weather conditions, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before!” she said. At the moment, she and the rest of the group were in a hallway in one of the destroyed buildings on Groudon’s side of the time-space split. They originally had Twilight teleport them over to that side to shake off the chill that had come with being soaked to the bone by Primal Kyogre’s rain, but now they were trying to stay out of the intense sunlight being created by Primal Groudon. A hole in the side of the building offered a good view of the two Legendaries, who, for the moment, were back to staring each other down.
Applejack let out a huff as she felt her forehead, “You think you’ve sweated up a storm before, Rainbow? Try doin’ my work at Sweet Apple Acres instead of sleepin’ in our trees all the time!” She lowered her hoof, “Still, can’t argue with ya too much. Ah ain’t never sweated this fierce before, not even in the summer!”
Tails said, “It’s one extreme or the other right now, guys. We either sweat or we get soaked, and right now this extreme seems more preferable since it’s less likely to be swallowed or break away due to sunlight.”
Suicune communicated, ~Hm. Desolate Land and Primordial Sea. They really are two extremes that few can tolerate.~
Shining looked at Sonic, who was sitting down with his back up against the cement under one of the windows, and asked, “Did you have any idea that this was going to happen, Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog replied, “Not a clue, Shining.” He pointed a thumb at Lucario and Pikachu, who were seated a little further down next to Suicune, who was currently looking out the hole, “They never mentioned anything about this Primal Reversion thing to us.”
Suicune glanced over at them, ~I didn’t think it would be possible for it to happen! The last time they underwent a Primal Reversion, it was because they had absorbed the power of nature, thus restoring their true forms.~ She looked back out at the two Legendaries, ~Both of these cities are very similar to the locations where they’re both normally found in our world, and that’s never been enough to cause Primal Reversion. For Iblis and Chaos to trigger it is nothing short of a miracle.~
Lucario spoke up, “Seems more like a nightmare from where I’m sitting.” Pikachu gave a slight nod at that.
“Oh, I would have to agree with that!” Rarity complained. She ran one hoof through her thoroughly disheveled mane and the other above her eyes, “All that rain was bad enough, but this heat has turned my hair into a nightmare and ruined my makeup! …And those two aren’t doing us any favor with all of their fighting.” She added the last part when she noticed some of the looks she was getting from the others.
Yoshi looked at Tails and asked, “Yoshi, yoshi yoshi? (Hey Tails, do you think you could supercharge Pikachu to knock out Kyogre again?)”
The two-tailed fox replied, “I don’t know, Yoshi. Everything I threw together for that, if it wasn’t washed away by a rush of water, it’s probably submerged by now. Plus, I know what Lucario said, but I don’t think two electrical overloads in one day would be good for Pikachu.”
Lucario said, “I wouldn’t recommend it anyway, not without a plan to deal with Groudon.”
Rainbow asked, “What do you mean? Can’t Suicune take over for Kyogre like we were planning for her to do before in case Groudon won?”
Suicune answered, ~That plan would have already been difficult before since I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be able to have the same impact on Groudon that Kyogre does, but now it would be extremely risky to perform. It’s the sunlight on this side that is the main problem.~
Twilight asked, “What if you jumped back and forth between the two sides? You know, attack Groudon for a little bit, then jump over to Kyogre’s side and cool down and regain your strength?”
Suicune replied, ~It’s a possibility, but I doubt Groudon would wait for me to get back to full strength. And I would be stuck using my Ice Type moves since I wouldn’t be able to use my Water Type moves against him. Desolate Land causes offensive Water Type moves to evaporate almost immediately while Primordial Sea quickly extinguishes offensive Fire Type moves.~
Cadance looked down, “So even if we were all in agreement with that plan, it would not work out so well…”
Sonic asked, “Is that why they’re locked in another staring contest?”
Suicune replied, ~Yes, they most likely are trying to figure out what to do next at the moment, but you know it’s not going to last.~ As if on cue, both Kyogre and Groudon let out a roar at the same time, their roars sounding like a mix of their own roars and those of Perfect Chaos and Iblis respectively, before they charged at each other, the two beginning to physically tussle at the split between the two cities.
Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail an even bigger mess of frizz after being soaked and exposed to the heat, said, “There they go! You totally called it, Suicune!”
Spike, who was the only one pacing up and down the hallway, walked over to Suicune and asked, “So now what do we do? Just sit around and wait for those two to tire themselves out and go to sleep like they did in the past, all the while hoping things don’t get any worse here?”
Suicune narrowed her eyes, ~No, because that is not how it played out in the past.~
Lucario leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling, a weary look on his face as he grunted, “Uh, right…”
Fluttershy asked, “What do you mean, Suicune?”
The Aurora Pokémon turned around to look at everyone, ~There is another.~
Sonic spoke, “Okay, first of all, you totally took that from a movie. A good movie I’ll grant you, but still taken. And second, another what?”
Suicune answered, despite her confusion at what Sonic said, ~Groudon and Kyogre are not the only Pokémon that have an effect on the weather. They are part of a trio; the third Pokémon is known as Rayquaza. Rayquaza is not mentioned as much in the myths that most ‘mons have heard as few have ever actually seen her, but she is the Pokémon that put an end to their fighting and made them go into deep slumber so long ago.~
Applejack asked, “Well, why didn’t ya bring this Rayquaza ‘mon with ya fer this? Or mention it until now fer that matter?”
Suicune answered, ~Because we didn’t know what we were going to find. We had no way of knowing if we would find Kyogre and Groudon fighting or if they had not been awakened by the disturbance. We couldn’t ask for Rayquaza’s aid without knowing for sure.~
Rainbow asked, “But you could’ve told it about this and it would’ve come to help just in case, right?”
Suicune shook her head, ~It’s not that simple. Rayquaza tends to be more reclusive than Groudon and Kyogre, and she’s not always… welcoming to those who breach her domain. That is rather difficult for many to do, but it has been done before and she has responded by showing her wrath to intruders.~
Spike asked, “You mean it’s hard to reach where she lives? Well, where does she live?”
Suicune said, ~Kyogre’s home is the sea, and Groudon’s home is the land.~ She turned her head to look up at the sky outside, ~That leaves only one place.~
Tails followed her gaze and asked, “She lives in the sky?”
Suicune looked over at him, ~Correct, very high up in the sky in fact. She sometimes goes beyond the sky, but rarely does she leave it.~
Tails asked, “So she lives in the ozone layer?”
Suicune replied, ~If that is what you call the boundary between the sky and the stars in your world, then yes. And she is constantly circling the world, very rarely needing to stop and rest.~
Twilight asked, “How do you find something like that?”
Lucario spoke up, “With a lot of patience and hope. Hope that when you do find her, she’s not in a bad mood that is.”
Twilight nodded, “Oh.”
Rainbow spoke, “Well, so we know where to look for her. Let’s go find her! Where did she end up in all this?”
Suicune replied, ~She was not reported to have gone missing, so I would assume she’s still back in our world, which we currently do not have the means to return to. Even if we had Entercards to create a Magnagate with, I do not know if they would be powerful enough to travel there or even if it would be able to hold up with all of the damage that has been done to time and space.~
Pikachu looked up at Lucario and asked, “Pika pika, Pikachu?”
The jackal replied, “Yes, I know, Pikachu. I would even put up with Giratina’s sense of humor at this point.”
Rainbow asked, “What are you guys talking about now?”
Lucario looked at her, “Dialga and Palkia, our keepers of time and space and the ones who sent us here, are also part of a trio. The third in their trio, Giratina, makes his home in another world we simply call the Reverse World. If he was here or we could get in contact with Dialga and Palkia, we could easily get back to our world.”
Suicune communicated, ~Time and space between worlds has been stretched rather thin. Perhaps there is a chance we could contact them from here.~
Sonic held a hand to his chin, “Or… maybe we don’t have to.” Everyone turned to look at him. He glanced over at Tails, “If time and space really are that weak right now, maybe we can just WARP to your world.”
Tails got what he was getting at and stood up. “It’s worth a try,” he said as he reached into his namesakes and pulled out the Warp Ring. He turned and threw it down the hallway, the ring stopping in midair after a few seconds and reorienting itself before expanding to its full size with a *PHVWOW*.
Link and Team Defenders were surprised by this, Lucario asking, “What is that?”
While walking over to the ring, Tails explained, “It’s a Warp Ring, a rare object from our world.” He stopped in front and off to the side of it and continued, “Most Warp Rings are passageways to the Special Zone, but some, like this one, can be used for personal travel. Because that monster messed up time and space between our worlds, we’ve been using this ring to travel back and forth between our world and Equestria. Maybe it’ll allow us to travel to your world too.”
Suicune stepped up to the ring and looked at it for a moment before turning to Tails, ~How does it work?~
Tails answered, “All you have to do is think of where you want to go and touch the ring. If it can’t reach the place you’re thinking of, then the portal will close, but if it can, you’ll be able to see your destination in the portal. Go ahead, try it.”
Suicune looked back at the ring. “It’s almost like a Hoopa ring,” she thought to herself. Pushing the thought aside, she thought about what would be a good location that she could think of to test the ring’s traveling capabilities. She soon had one and placed her left paw on the side of the ring. She then looked at the shimmering surface in the center of the ring and saw the image of a small town square appear on it. Curious, she stuck her head into the portal and pulled back out a second later saying, ~Yes, that is definitely it. That is definitely in our world.~ Everyone else began to get up as she said, ~This may work for the plan I have in mind.~
Lucario asked, “What plan, Suicune?”
The Aurora Pokémon turned to Tails and asked, ~Is it possible for you to keep this open?~
The fox replied, “Uh, sure.”
Suicune communicated, ~Then do so. I will not be gone long.~
Link opened his mouth to say something, but Pinkie Pie piped up, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take us with you!” Suicune ignored her as she thought of her new destination and then disappeared into the Warp Ring before anyone could get an idea of where she was going.
“What is she thinking?” Shining asked.
Cadance held out a wing to stop him before he could move, “Wait. Let’s give her a chance to come back on her own.” They all waited for several seconds, then a couple of more, and before they could get impatient waiting, Suicune came through the ring.
“Suicune!” Lucario said when she had her paws on the floor, but she didn’t acknowledge him. Instead, she turned around, placed her paw on the Warp Ring, and disappeared into it again. She continued to do this several more times, being gone for a short while each time, before finally returning through the ring and not going back to it. “What were you doing?” Lucario asked, feeling at least a little frustrated by her unexplainable behavior.
Suicune simply smiled at him, ~I was just making a few important visits.~
Sonic started, “You mean…”
Suicune said, ~Yes. I alerted Dialga and Palkia to what’s going on here and they’re going to call for aid to help contain this situation. Hopefully the word getting out will cause our missing team member to show up. I apologize for not saying anything, but I thought it would be best to get that out of the way first.~
Tails asked, “So where did you go the other times?”
Suicune answered, ~To visit my fellow Legendaries, ask them about Rayquaza, and call in a team of my own.~ She moved off to the side after she finished and moments later, two large Pokémon leapt from the Warp Ring, both landing further down the hall past the group and coming to a stop, both of them turning to look at everyone.
Like Suicune, they both stood on four legs, but their looked very different from her. One had brown fur all over its body except for its face. On the sides of its face were two red plates with three points that together formed a six-pointed star and on its forehead was a yellow crest with three points that went down between its orange eyes. It had a long winding mane coming off the back of its head that was gray-white in color and billowed like a cloud of smoke. It had two gray plates on the sides of its back that looked like wings as well as a gray plate under its mouth that came down from the yellow crest that looked like a mustache on both sides of its cream-colored mouth and another sticking out of the cream fur on its chest. On each leg was a black metal band that sat above each gray paw.
The other Pokémon had yellow fur with black markings on the sides of its torso and each leg and white fur on its underbelly that went about halfway down the inside of its legs. The white extended up its chest to its head, with the only part of its head that was yellow being the area around its red eyes. It had a black, face-shaped crest that jutted out from its forehead and went down between its eyes. It had a light blue X-shaped crest on the front of its face with two sharp teeth sticking out of its mouth. It had three white claws on each paw and a light blue lightning bolt-shaped tail that extended from the yellow and white fur on its rear.
“Entei, Raikou!” Lucario said.
Suicune nodded, ~Correct. Everyone, I would like you to meet the fellow members of my trio, my family so to speak.~
Sonic pointed at Entei and Raikou and looked back at Suicune, “Were they, uh…?”
Suicune finished for him, ~Resurrected by Ho-Oh as well? Yes.~
Entei looked at Suicune and communicated telepathically to her, ~Why did you tell him that, Suicune? What business is it of his or anyone else here?~
Raikou chimed in, ~He’s not a member of any team we’re allied with, and he does not appear to be a Pokémon. In fact, it seems that the only Pokémon here…~ His eyes fell on Link and, after a moment, his eyes widened slightly and he began to feel nervous. ~Is that a human?! As in one that was not transformed into a Pokémon?!~
Before anyone else could respond, Suicune walked towards her fellow ‘mons while saying, ~I am quite aware of the company we’re keeping. None of them have ever seen a Pokémon before, so some explaining was in order to quell any worries they had and to make sure they understood our situation.~ She stopped in front of the two, ~I had intended to only gather any information from them that could aid in Team Defenders’ search for Groudon and Kyogre, but they insisted on accompanying. I was skeptical at first, but they have proven to be dependable.~
Entei scoffed, ~Well, they can’t be as dependable as any of the ‘mons on the teams that call upon us. I already believed your words on how bad things have gotten, but now I can see it clearly from here! Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre! Did they know to anticipate this?~
Suicune countered, ~Entei, Primal Reversion occurs when Kyogre and Groudon absorb power from nature. Did you have any idea that there are other things that can cause it? Because I did not! So you do not have any reason to talk; either you did not know either or you knew and you did not share that knowledge with me.~ Entei did not respond to her words, but there was also no change in his expression.
Raikou chimed in, ~Well, I certainly did not know either, Suicune, and I like to think Entei and I communicate quite a bit. He never shared anything like that with me, so he couldn’t have known.~
Entei turned to him, ~What is that supposed to mean, Raikou?~
He replied, ~I’m just saying you in particular have spent time in Groudon’s preferred habitat while we tend to travel elsewhere. Knowing what sets Groudon off is kind of more your responsibility than ours.~
While the three continued to communicate, Sonic remarked to the others, “Well, I guess we now know what runs in this family.” This cracked a couple of smiles, including from Lucario and Pikachu.
“True. They’re very dedicated to Ho-Oh and what they do, and they all tend to come across as calm and collected. They still fight like siblings, but their fights never get as bad as those of Groudon and Kyogre,” Lucario said.
After a few more moments of talking, Suicune turned back to the others and took a few steps towards them before looking at Lucario and saying, ~There will be more Legendaries coming here to join us soon, but in the meantime, we’ll try to draw Kyogre and Groudon’s attention away from each other. That should hopefully lessen the amount of damage they’re doing.~
Lucario nodded, “Right. What about Rayquaza?”
Suicune answered, ~According to Zapdos, she was last seen in the vicinity of the Sky Tower. It’s a safe bet that’s where she’ll be.~ She looked around at the others before saying, ~It probably goes without saying, but I would assume you’ll all accompany Lucario and Pikachu in gaining Rayquaza’s aid.~ Everyone gave her a look that confirmed her thought. She nodded and said, ~Find Rayquaza. Convince her to help us put a stop to this.~ She then turned and followed after Raikou and Entei after they leapt out through the hole. Inside, everyone turned and nodded to each other, Lucario going over to the Warp Ring and thinking of the Sky Tower to set it before ushering everyone to go through it.
________________________________________
Sonic emerged from the Warp Ring, soaring through the air for a moment before landing on one knee with his right hand pressed against the ground, feeling it press in a little. As Spike and the ponies came through followed by Yoshi and Link, he looked around and realized that they were standing on top of a cloud. He gave it a squeeze with his right hand and felt that it was fluffy and soft like a cloud should be, yet it was somehow solid enough to allow them to stand on it.
Behind Sonic, Twilight realized what they were standing on and exclaimed, “A cloud?! …I haven’t cast my cloud-walking spell!”
Applejack spoke up, “Ah don’t think ya have ta worry about it here, Twilight. This one seems to be solid.”
Lucario, Pikachu, and Tails stepped out of the Warp Ring as Pinkie Pie spun a cartwheel past them, her mane and tail somehow back to normal. “Ooh! This is just as much fun as the clouds in Equestria!” she said as she continued to spin sideways. The three watched her for a moment before they heard a whooshing sound behind them like someone or something was there. They looked back, but saw only the Warp Ring, which shrunk down a moment later and landed in Tails’ right hand. The fox joined the others in looking around, but Lucario raised an eyebrow in confusion, closing his eyes and focusing his Aura to try to determine if someone did follow them through the ring.
While Shining tapped the cloud with his hooves and Spike took slow steps across it while looking down, Fluttershy looked ahead and noticed that there seemed to be more clouds that swirled straight up with an opening in the center. Tilting her head back, to look further, she saw that they made the shape of a large tower. She looked over at Lucario and Pikachu and asked while pointing at the opening with a hoof, causing the former to open his eyes and look at her, “Um… is that where we have to go?”
Lucario nodded while everyone else looked where Fluttershy was pointing, “That’s correct. This is one of the Mystery Dungeons located in the sky and one of the few places Rayquaza is known to stop and rest at. This is the Sky…”
Tails suddenly interrupted, “Sanctuary!” Everyone looked over at him and followed his gaze to see something that they hadn’t noticed before. Floating close to the Sky Tower was what appeared to be some sort of small city built atop floating stone. From where they were standing, they could see vegetation growing in places on the stone walkways as well as tall towers and other buildings. They could also see a large gray orb with lights on it that appeared to have Eggman’s eyes, nose, mustache, and grin on what was likely the front of it.
“What is that and where did it come from? That’s not supposed to be here!” Lucario said, surprised.
“That’s the Sky Sanctuary from our world! It must’ve been ended up here due to everything that’s going on right now!” Tails replied.
“Yeah, and from a point in time when it was still around. Pretty much the whole thing broke apart because of Eggman’s Death Egg over there,” Sonic added.
“So that’s what the Sky Sanctuary looked like,” Shining commented.
“It’s incredible,” Cadance added.
“Yeah… I guess it is pretty cool,” Rainbow admitted.
Lucario spoke, “Enough. We have to get going.” He and Pikachu started towards the tower opening, everyone else starting to follow them.
Well, almost everyone. “WAIT!” Rarity cried, causing everyone to stop and look at her. “My hair and makeup are a mess! I have to fix them!”
Sonic groaned as he held a hand to his forehead, lowering it as he said, “Can’t you wait until later to do that, Rarity? They’re just going to get messed up again when we go back to deal with Kyogre and Groudon.”
Lucario nodded, “He has a point, you know. Just make your hair decent for now and worry about being presentable later.” Rarity glared at both of them for a moment before sitting down with a huff and using her magic and hooves to push her mane down so it went down along the sides of her head. She then stood up and stiffly trotted forward with her eyes closed, walking past everyone into the Sky Tower. Lucario watched as Pikachu and everyone else filed in after her, but he noticed someone was missing. Looking back, he noticed Link standing off to the side, looking up at the Sky Sanctuary with an odd look on his face, like he was remembering something from long ago. “Link?” the jackal called, catching the boy’s attention. “Come on, let’s go,” he urged, Link nodding and following him in.
Inside, they found everyone standing in a rectangular room, the walls made of clouds and three passages in them that they could take. Twilight noticed Lucario and Link and asked the former, “Which way do we go, Lucario?”
Lucario looked towards the passage on his left as he said, “I’m not sure.”
Rainbow asked, “What do you mean you’re not sure? You’ve never been here before?”
Lucario replied, “That’s not it. As I said, this is a Mystery Dungeon.”
Cadance spoke, “I’ve heard you use that term several times now, Lucario, ‘Mystery Dungeon’. What does that mean?”
Lucario explained, “Mystery Dungeons are locations created by an unusual force that are different from ordinary caves and towers. While they may look normal on the outside, this force has an effect on the layout of the inside. To put it simply, a Mystery Dungeon’s layout is essentially never the exact same between two visits.”
Tails asked, “So… you’re saying there could only be minor differences between visits or the whole thing could seem completely different?”
Lucario replied, “Correct. Pikachu and I did come here once before, but this was not the room we ended up in when we entered. It was smaller.”
Shining let out a sigh and asked, “So we have to wander around until we can find a way up then?”
Lucario nodded, “Right. There are always stairs leading up or down depending on what kind of dungeon it is. Keep an eye out for them as we go.”
Tails looked at Sonic, “Maybe we’ll find the stairs faster if we split up. We can use the radios to stay in touch.”
Sonic nodded, “Right, good idea. The faster we can get to the top of this tower, the better.”
Lucario said, “I suppose that will work. Pikachu and I will take one group, you guys take the other.” After a minute of talking, Sonic headed into the right passage with Twilight, Cadance, Shining, Fluttershy, Spike, and Link while Lucario and Pikachu took Tails, Yoshi, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity.
As they were walking, Sonic noticed that Link and Twilight seemed to be hanging back. He looked back and noticed that Link was holding what looked like a notebook in his hands while Twilight walked next to him with a pencil and an eraser suspended in her magic. She seemed to be drawing lines in the notebook, occasionally using the eraser to erase something she’d drawn, causing Sonic to wonder if she was drawing a map.
They soon entered a small, square-shaped room that had the entrance to another passage across from them. They entered it and followed it, ending up in a slightly larger room that had two passage openings as well as a winding staircase of clouds near the middle of it. Shining was the first to see it and said, “Look, over there. Those must be the stairs Lucario was talking about.”
Spike looked up and saw that the stairs went straight up to a layer of clouds up above, undoubtedly the next floor. “Well, that was pretty easy. No problems at all,” he commented.
Sonic pulled out his radio and clicked it on. “Come in, Tails,” he said.
The fox’s voice soon responded, “I’m here, Sonic. We ran into a few Pokémon here, but Lucario and Pikachu were able to handle them. How are things on your end?”
Sonic answered, “We managed to find the stairs. There are two openings in the cloud walls across from us in this room. Maybe they’re connected to the way you went.”
Tails replied, “Okay, we’ll be right there.” Sonic’s group stayed where they were to wait for the others to catch up. After a minute, Lucario and Pikachu came out of the opening on the left, the opening on the right leading to a dead end. Reunited, they all made their way up the staircase, which put them in another small room.
They continued on like this, the two groups splitting up on each floor to search for the stairs that led to the next floor with Tails and Twilight making simplified maps to help guide the other group to the stairs when they were found. Along the way, they encountered various species of Pokémon roaming the passages of the tower that Lucario identified for the others. These included Forretress, Lunatone, Shuppet, and Masquerain among others, but while some proved to be sturdier than others, the group was able to deal with the ones they came across and keep moving, occasionally finding loose treasure as they made their way up the tower.
After a while, upon reaching another floor, Pinkie spotted something through a short passageway leading to another room. “Ooh, I see sparklies! Lots of sparklies!” she exclaimed as she started trotting towards the passageway.
Lucario blinked, “Lots of sparklies?” He had a thought and turned, running after Pinkie as he yelled, “Pinkie Pie, don’t go in that room!” Everyone hurried after him, the blue jackal making it to the end of the passageway and poking his head into the room to see Pinkie bouncing around the room, picking up Poké and the other treasures on the floor. “What? But I was sure…” he muttered as he glanced down.
Rainbow flew up behind him and asked, “What’s the matter, Luca’? There something about this room that we should know about?”
Lucario responded as he slowly began to move into the room, “I thought there might’ve been a trap in here. While lots of treasure in a room is not too unusual, in a place like this, it usually means there’s a…” He stopped short when, upon setting paw all the way into the room, a number of figures suddenly dropped down from the ceiling. “Monster House,” he finished with a groan.
Pinkie glanced around at all of the Pokémon that had come down around her while Rainbow stared in surprise. “Uh, wow. No wonder it’s called a Monster House,” she said.
Pinkie looked over at three Pokémon, a Koffing, a Ledian, and a Shuppet, and noticed that they appeared to unusually angry looks on their faces. She looked down at the Poké and berries in her forelegs and then back up at the Pokémon, asking in a nervous tone, “Do these treasures belong to you? If so, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to take them from you!” She held her forelegs out, “Here, you can have them back if you want.” The Koffing began to float towards her, seemingly willing to take her up on her offer despite the angry look on its face, but after a moment, it suddenly shot forward in a Tackle attack! Pinkie let out a yelp as she retracted her forelegs, unable to move as it shot towards her.
Rainbow suddenly shot into the room over Lucario’s head, calling, “Hang on, Pinkie!” She managed to reach the pink pony before the Koffing did and grabbed her with her forelegs, the treasures she was holding falling onto the floor as Koffing shot over them and Rainbow flew her over towards the passage on the other side of the room, landing next to it.
As they turned to face the room full of Pokémon, Lucario burst in from the passageway with a Force Palm, sending a Forretress flying into the wall on the right. Pikachu was right behind him followed by Sonic and the others. As far as numbers went, the group almost matched the wild Pokémon, but before a brawl could break out, the tower suddenly shook, throwing the group off and causing the hovering or flying Pokémon to look around in alarm. “What was that?!” Applejack cried.
“Felt like something hit us!” Sonic said.
Yoshi, being the closest one to the passageway the group had come from, looked towards the room they had started in and, a moment later, pointed with a cry, “Wah, yoshi! Yoshi! (Oh no, look! It’s a monster!)”
Tails spun his namesakes around to jet over to Yoshi’s side and looked. The far wall in the room had been broken somewhat and a large piece of stone was floating a short distance away from it. “That’s no monster, Yoshi! That’s part of the Sky Sanctuary! That must be what caused that tremor!” the fox said.
“The Sky Sanctuary hit the Sky Tower?! Does that mean the tower is going to collapse?!” Twilight asked.
“I sure hope not. Pikachu and I have climbed a tower in danger of collapsing before and it was not fun,” Lucario grunted. He then said, louder, “We have to get moving!”
Spike leapt back from a Shuppet diving towards him before looking at Lucario and asking, “How much farther to the top?”
Lucario answered after slashing a Lunatone with Metal Claw, “We’re not even at the summit yet. We’ve still got a ways to go.”
Sonic said, “Okay, this is gonna take way too long at the speed we’re going. I’ve got an idea. Let’s get back to the room we were in.” He heard Link grunt a moment later and turned to look. A Ledian was firing a multitude of stars from its mouth at him as he held up his shield to protect himself, trying to stand his ground. The last star that came out was bigger than the others and it sent him flying back with a scream, Link hitting the wall behind him hard. The Ledian tried to follow up with a Comet Punch, but Yoshi used his tongue to pull Link over to him and out of the way, leaving the Pokémon with only the wall to punch.
Shining moved out of the way of a Dragonbreath from an Altaria before saying, “We’re not going to be able to go anywhere as long as these guys are focused on us, Sonic. We need to do something about them first.”
Lucario reached his right paw into the Treasure Bag as he said, “I believe I can help with that.” He pulled a small orb out of the bag a moment later and held it up before throwing it down at the ground, a small glow appearing as it broke against the ground.
Tails noticed the Masquerain he had been dodging froze in midair suddenly. Even its wings had stopped fluttering. “Huh?” he voiced before looking around and noticing that the other Pokémon in the room, save for Lucario and Pikachu, had similarly frozen up. “They all stopped moving?” he asked.
“That was a Petrify Orb. It stops Pokémon from moving for a short while,” Lucario explained. As he looked at a shaking Solrock, he thought, “Why can’t we ever find Petrify Orbs like this back home?”
Cadance spoke, “Well, now’s our chance to move. Let’s get back to that room and see what your idea is, Sonic!” The blue hedgehog nodded and everyone began to move back to passageway, Yoshi carrying Link on his back.
As she ran, Pinkie scooped up the treasure she had found, left undisturbed during all the fighting, and looked at the Koffing from earlier and stuck out her tongue as she said, “You’re a meanie! And you should really be careful with all that gas!” She then hurried after the others, running and hopping somewhat awkwardly on two legs.
Once they were all back in the first room, Pinkie passed her treasure to Lucario for safekeeping while Shining took a headcount. After a few seconds, the stallion said, “Looks like we all made it out of there.” He looked at Lucario, “I’m not sure how that orb did what it did, but it was a good choice to use it back there.”
The blue jackal replied, “Thanks. It really was a lucky find.” He then looked for Sonic and saw the blue hedgehog over by the hole that had been created in the tower wall, peering out. “So what did you have in mind, Sonic?” he asked.
Sonic looked up the side of the tower, trying to see how much higher they had to go to reach the top. He then looked over at the Sky Sanctuary and, after a few moments, nodded, “Yeah, I think this’ll work.” He looked back at the others, “It looks like we’re pretty high up. I’m thinking we might be able to take advantage of the Sky Sanctuary’s appearance and use it to get to the top of the tower. It’s bound to be faster than wandering around this tower looking for stairs.”
Everyone else thought it sounded like a good idea, with Lucario saying, “Not a bad idea. The part of it that hit the tower isn’t that far away either. A little time and energy should be all it takes to get over there.”
Sonic said, “Or we could do this.” He leapt out of the hole and started falling to everyone’s surprise, but a second later, he came back up flipping end over end. There had been a small white cloud below the hole that Sonic had landed on and had used to bounce on, his momentum carrying him to another cloud and then to another. He soon reached the Sky Sanctuary piece and called back to the others, “Use the clouds! They’re like trampolines here!”
Despite the surprise, Link soon ran towards the hole with Yoshi close behind, the boy turning a somersault as he jumped while the green dinosaur simply leapt out of the hole. Link bounced off the cloud and spun a cartwheel as he went back up and Yoshi followed behind him. It didn’t take them long to join Sonic and the others quickly followed, Tails, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Cadance simply flying over while everyone else used the clouds to bounce their way over to the Sky Sanctuary. They then began making their way into the floating ruins.
They hadn’t gotten very far when they heard a screech ring through the air. They glanced back and saw the Altaria and the other Pokémon from the Monster House coming out through the hole. “Looks like the effects of the Petrify Orb have worn off,” Lucario grunted.
Tails had his radar out and was fiddling with the buttons and dual screens as he ran. “Looks like there’s a fork in the road up ahead. One path goes low and the other goes high, but from the looks of it, they both have teleporters that go up,” he reported.
Sonic looked over at Lucario and asked, “Think we should split up and make it harder for those Pokémon to follow us?”
The blue jackal nodded, “Sounds like a plan. We should be able to regroup at the top.” When the group hit the fork, Sonic, Tails, Link, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack took the low path to the left, sliding down a railing going down from the top of one of the floating towers, while Lucario, Pikachu, Yoshi, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Cadance, and Shining started up the high path on the right.
Lucario’s group continued to follow the stone path they were climbing up until they reached a tower that housed a spring. It bounced them up to the tower’s roof, allowing them to move onto another path that was covered with moss growing on it, the group passing a fountain spraying water at one point. As they ran, Shining looked up at the Sky Tower and noticed more figures flying down from further up. “Look! Looks like more than just the Pokémon in that Monster House are after us now,” he said.
“The Sky Sanctuary’s collision with the tower must’ve angered them,” Lucario guessed. Two large Pokémon, one blue with red wings and the other mostly green, suddenly swooped down in front of the group and growled at them, forcing them to stop. “A Salamence and a Flygon,” Lucario said.
“From the sound of those growls, I’m going to guess they’re not going to let us pass,” Shining grunted. His suspicion was confirmed a few moments later when the Salamence reared back and unleashed a Dragonbreath at them, everyone leaping out of the way to avoid the green flames.
Before they could attempt to retaliate, the Flygon let out a cry and flew up, flapping its wings as it hovered in the air and whipped up a Sandstorm. Yoshi, Spike, the ponies, and Team Defenders shielded their eyes as the bits of sand flew at them, the wind making it hard to move. Lucario was able to shrug it off after a moment due to his Steel Type characteristics and brought his paws close together, letting out a yell of “Aura Sphere!” as he formed an orb between them and threw it at Flygon, the attack hitting its mark and knocking the Pokémon out of the air, causing the wind to subside.
Once the wind had died down completely, everyone looked to see the Salamence still hanging in the air, an orange ball of energy beginning to form in front of its mouth. “What attack is that?” Twilight asked as it began to get bigger.
“It’s a Hyper Beam!” Lucario grunted. Suddenly, Pikachu leapt in front of the group and, with a cry, unleashed a powerful Thunder attack at the Salamence. This caused it to unleash the attack nowhere near the group, instead hitting the side of one of the towers in the Sky Sanctuary. Sparks could be seen coming off of the dragon’s body after the attack had subsided, indicating that it had been paralyzed. As it began to drop down, Lucario began gathering light blue energy in front of his mouth after saying, “Dragon Pulse!” At the same time, the Flygon flew up, ready to fight again. Seeing this, Pikachu leapt onto the Treasure Bag and quickly dug into it, pulling out a blue spike, an Iron Thorn, and throwing it at the Flygon.
Both attacks hit their targets, Lucario’s Dragon Pulse knocking the Salamence down onto its back while Pikachu’s Iron Thorn hit one of the Flygon’s wings, causing it to stop its ascent and begin to lose altitude. In a flash, Yoshi dashed towards it and extended his tongue, latching onto the end of its tail and performing a Ground Pound to drag it down with him. It didn’t try to get back up right away when it hit, prompting Cadance to say a moment later, “I think they’re down.”
Spike said, “Then let’s get moving before they get back up!” Lucario nodded and began leading the way again.
Elsewhere in the Sky Sanctuary, Sonic’s group had their own Pokémon blockade to deal with. Their biggest problem at the moment was an Aerodactyl, but they were also being stopped by a Forretress, an Altaria, a Ledian, and a Tropius. Rainbow had the Tropius and Altaria following behind her, flying around, over, and through the floating structures trying to lose them, while the others were stuck taking care of the other Pokémon.
As she flew towards one of the floating buildings that didn’t have a path leading to it, Rainbow looked back to see if she could see the others. She noticed them running while trying to keep their balance, the path underneath them shaking due to an Earthquake attack from the Aerodactyl, the large prehistoric Pokémon flying around trying to attack them from the sides and above while the Ledian and the Forretress, the latter of which was carrying some damage from the Earthquake attack, pursued them from behind. She saw them duck into the building at the end of their path before she turned her attention forward again, beginning to fly around the outside of the building to lose the Pokémon on her tail.
A minute later, a beam of red light shot above the building that Sonic, Tails, Applejack, Pinkie, and Link had ducked into, each of them dropping down on top of the teleporter that had brought them there. As soon as they touched down, they all began moving again and for a short while, it seemed like they were in the clear. As they reached a path leading downwards, however, Aerodactyl suddenly swooped up alongside them and swung a wing at them, missing Applejack, Sonic, and Tails but smacking Link and Pinkie clean off. “Pinkie, Link!” Tails cried as he got up and moved to the edge with Sonic and Applejack at his sides.
Peering over, they saw that the two had landed on a small floating platform off to the side with a large vase of flowers on it. The three waved down at the two and they waved back, both sides relieved that they hadn’t fallen far. Hearing a cry from the Aerodactyl, Sonic, Tails, and Applejack turned back to it, knowing they would have to deal with it before they could help Pinkie and Link. “All right, that was just plain uncalled for! Ah’m gonna knock some sense into ya, ya overgrown flyin’ lizard!” Applejack yelled as she got into a fighting position, Sonic and Tails doing the same.
While they began fighting with the Aerodactyl, down below, Pinkie and Link heard a buzzing sound and turned to their right to see the Ledian flying up to the edge of the platform. When it reached them, it shot forward with a Comet Punch, prompting Pinkie to jump behind Link as he held up his shield. The boy tried to stand his ground as the Pokémon punched his shield repeatedly several times, pushing him and Pinkie back into the flowerpot. Once the punching stopped, he thrust his shield forward to push the Ledian back and, as he noticed it readying another attack, grabbed a small nut from his pouch and threw it at the ground with a shout, the nut exploding with a flash of bright light. The Ledian let out a cry at this, temporarily blinded by the flash.
“Ooh, ninja skills!” Pinkie said as she peered out from behind Link, but he didn’t respond. The Deku Nut had given him an idea, the boy looking up at the pathway he and Pinkie had fallen off for a moment before looking back at the flowerpot behind him. While he was in thought, the Ledian recovered from its disorientation and glared at him and Pinkie, readying a Swift attack. As it sent the stars flying at them, Pinkie leapt in front of Link and pulled out a full-length mirror, holding it up in front of her as she called her own attack, “Reflect!”
When the stars came into contact with the reflective surface, she imitated Link’s shield thrust and sent the stars that didn’t break back at the Ledian. She managed to bounce back a couple of stars, each one breaking apart when they hit. When the last star hit, the Ledian let out a groan as it slumped to the ground, for the moment, fainted. As she banished the mirror, Pinkie said, “You know, you just gave yourself a ton of bad luck if you broke that mirror!” She then turned around to check on Link but didn’t see him, instead seeing part of a long, floppy green cap disappear into the flowerpot. A second later, a green-clad wooden figure shot up out of the pot and into the air, Pinkie watching in surprise as it, while holding onto a pair of large spinning pink flowers, began to fly to another floating platform.
Meanwhile, the others were still dealing with the Aerodactyl when the Forretress from before showed up to aid it, the Bug/Steel Type showing up by crashing into Applejack’s side with a Tackle attack. As the three steadied themselves to face the angry Pokémon, a Deku Nut suddenly fell from above, landing in front of the Forretress. It let out a grunt, stunned by the flash, while Sonic, Tails, and Applejack were surprised by what had happened. They turned to the Aerodactyl when they heard it let out a cry due to a Deku Nut dropping right in front of its eyes. As they looked up, they saw the wooden figure flying away, aiming for another floating platform.
Seeing an opportunity, Sonic ran over to the Forretress, getting behind it and crouching down on one knee. He then called, “Hey, AJ! Think you can bank it?” The orange earth pony looked over at him for a moment before she got what he was getting at and turned around, getting her hind legs ready. Sonic then began to charge up a Spin Dash and, a second later, shot into the still stunned Forretress, sending it flying towards Applejack, who kicked out and up with her legs when it came close to her, managing to redirect it up into the Aerodactyl’s chest, pushing it backwards.
The Fossil Pokémon let out an alarmed cry as it reached the edge and stopped, trying to keep its balance and allowing the Forretress to fall to the ground. It lost its balance when, a moment later, Pinkie came rocketing up over the opposite edge while somersaulting. She landed on its nose, staring into its still unfocused eyes as it teetered on the edge. As they were about to move to help her, several water shurikens suddenly flew over everyone’s heads, hitting the Aerodactyl in the chest and giving it the push to make it fall off, its head falling back fast enough to make Pinkie slip out from under it, landing on the pathway instead of following it over.
After Pinkie landed, there was a moment of silence as she recovered from landing on her flank a bit hard and everyone else wondered who had thrown the shurikens, but then she whined, “Aww! I’ve tried it three times, but I can’t get any flying flowers!”
Tails, Sonic, and Applejack turned and walked over to her, Tails asking, “Pinkie, what are you talking about? What do you mean by ‘flying flowers’, and how did you get back up here?”
Sonic added, “And where’s Link?”
Pinkie perked up a bit, “Oh, he flew on ahead with those spinning flowers of his. I was trying to do the same thing, but I couldn’t get any flowers to fly with even though I jumped into a flower like he did.” Although they were a bit confused, they didn’t see Link anywhere when they went to check where he and Pinkie had fallen, so they decided to keep moving, hoping she was right about what she’d said.
As they began following the paths again, they all kept an eye out for Link, hoping to find him. It didn’t take long for them to reach the entrance to another tower, the inside looking like it was smaller than the last building they’d been in. As they stood looking around outside, Rainbow flew in from the side and landed next to them. “Hey guys! You have any trouble with that flying lizard?” she asked.
“Well, a little bit, but we got some help from above. Was that you, Rainbow?” Tails asked.
Pinkie was about to say something, but Rainbow spoke first, “Me? No, I was busy dealing with those two things that were after me. They were pretty persistent, but I left ‘em eating my smoke.” She looked around and asked, “Hey, where’s that kid? You know, the one in green who’s just tagging along?”
Sonic said, “His name’s Link, Rainbow. And Pinkie said she saw him fly on ahead of us.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “How could he fly? He doesn’t have any wings.”
Applejack said, “Ah don’t know, Rainbow, but Ah’m sure Pinkie ain’t just whistlin’ nothin’. If she said she saw him flyin’, then…” She stopped short when they all heard a grunt come from inside the tower. Looking towards the entrance, they saw Link jumping down a series of small ledges, the boy running over to the group when he reached the bottom.
“Wha…? How…?” Rainbow stammered, surprised by his sudden appearance.
“Link, how long have you been here?” Tails asked.
Before Link could answer, Pinkie rushed up to him and stood up on her hind legs, putting her hooves on his shoulders as she demanded, “How did you do that?! I saw you flying with those flowers and looking all different! I want to do that! Tell me how you did it!” He was once again unable to answer as they all heard the sound of something firing followed by the sound of an explosion. Everyone looked back and saw green lasers being fired at the path they had been on, which were coming from the Death Egg’s eyes.
“The Death Egg’s destroying the Sky Sanctuary!” Tails realized. As they looked, they noticed a number of Pokémon, including the Aerodactyl from earlier, flying towards the Death Egg, presumably to try to stop it from destroying them as well.
“We gotta get outta here before there ain’t nothin’ ta stand on!” Applejack said.
Sonic looked towards the Sky Tower and saw that they weren’t far from the top, but they were also a fair distance away from it. “Let’s get to the top of this tower! We might still be able to get to the top of the Sky Tower from here if we’re quick!” he said. They hurried inside, using the ledges Link had climbed down to reach another floor of the tower, which was beginning to collapse as the tower shook from the Death Egg’s shots. They were able to get to the other side despite the holes forming in the floor and went out through an opening, which led out to a walkway that went up and around the tower to the top.
With the shaking becoming stronger, they all began running up the walkway, Link putting on his Bunny Hood to get a speed boost in order to keep up with everyone, especially as the walkway began to break apart behind them. They managed to stay ahead of the collapsing walkway and reached the top of the tower, which was close to one final stone pathway that went straight towards the Sky Tower. They were able to jump to it and, as they landed, they saw Lucario’s group heading towards them. They started running again and the other group soon caught up with them.
“Looks like we met up at the top after all,” Lucario remarked as he and Pikachu ran alongside Sonic.
“Yeah, lucky us, huh? Now let’s get back to that tower and find Rayquaza!” Sonic replied. As they ran, the Death Egg, despite the Pokémon swarming it and being confounded by its interior, tilted upwards to aim for the pathway they were all on. It fired several shots at it, the lasers breaking through the stone and getting the rest of it to start collapsing as well.
As they ran, it began to become apparent that the walkway come as close to the Sky Tower as they were hoping. “It’s too far away! How are we going to reach it?!” Twilight asked.
“Easy, Twilight, we can fly to it!” Rainbow said.
Cadance looked back, “We’re going to have to grab as many as we can carry, then! There really isn’t time to leave anyone waiting!”
Sonic looked over at Lucario, “Maybe we’ll have to use up a little extra energy after all.”
Lucario glanced at him, “You want to jump for it?” The blue hedgehog nodded in reply. Lucario looked ahead at the Sky Tower for a moment before saying, “Well… it’ll give the others a chance to get the top at least.” As they got closer to the end of the pathway, Sonic grabbed and pulled Pinkie Pie over to him, the pink pony holding onto his back, while Lucario let Pikachu onto his shoulder and grabbed Yoshi, the green dinosaur doing the same as Pinkie. The two jumped towards the tower when they reached the end while Tails took Twilight and Applejack, Fluttershy carried Link, Rainbow grabbed Rarity, and Cadance picked up Shining with her magic while allowing Spike to sit on her back, all of them flying towards the top of the Sky Tower.
Sonic and Lucario flew through the air until they reached the side of the Sky Tower a little ways down from the top, Lucario using Metal Claw to get a better hold on the side while Sonic held on tight with his fingers. “Now what?” Lucario grunted as he tried to keep his extended claws where they were. Sonic didn’t answer with words; instead, he looked up the side of the tower and, a second later, pushed himself up with his hands and shot into a Boost, Pinkie cheering as they shot up towards the top. Lucario got the message and focused for a moment before saying, “ExtremeSpeed!” He then did the same after pulling himself up and pulling his claws out, shooting up after Sonic. It didn’t take him long to reach the top, grabbing the edge with a paw and vaulting over onto the solid clouds, Pikachu leaping off of his shoulder as he landed and rolled on his side, Yoshi doing the same after he let go.
They ended up near Sonic and Pinkie, who were both sitting on the clouds. “WOW! That was so much fun! Can we do it again?” Pinkie asked.
Before anyone else could say anything, Shining asked, “Where’s Rayquaza?” Everyone else looked around at that, quickly noticing that they seemed to be the only ones on top of the Sky Tower. They all began to look up at the sky around them, seeing if they could spot the Legendary Pokémon.
While he was looking close to the edge of the clouds, Sonic simultaneously felt something fly past his back and grab him! He let out a yell to alert the others and they all turned to see a large, snake-like dragon flying along the edge of the clouds with the blue hedgehog in one of its claws. It was mostly green in color with yellow lines running along its back as well as small areas of red, especially around its mouth. “That’s Rayquaza!” Lucario exclaimed.
Rayquaza flew around the tower for a moment before flying up and away from it, still holding Sonic in her claw. Seeing this, Rainbow spread her wings and shot up after the dragon, yelling, “Hey, come back here!” They began flying around each other for several moments before Rayquaza became annoyed and brought her tail up, twisting around to swing it at Rainbow. The cyan pegasus was hit by the end of it and got knocked back down to Sky Tower, bouncing backwards once and sliding afterwards, managing to grab onto the edge of the tower with her hooves, gasping a bit. Sonic, meanwhile, looked up at Rayquaza’s face and noticed her eyes were glowing completely red. She growled at him a moment later and opened her mouth, blue energy beginning to gather in it.
Seeing this, Pikachu quickly charged up and unleashed a Thunder attack, the electricity reaching Rayquaza and electrocuting both her and Sonic, both of them letting out a cry. The shock was powerful enough to get Rayquaza to let go of Sonic, the blue hedgehog falling limply through the air. Tails began spinning his namesakes and Rainbow spread her wings when she saw him falling, both of them flying up towards him. They both managed to grab him and flew him back down to the top of the Sky Tower, both noticing sparks of electricity coming off of him. They got underneath his arms to support him as they landed, Tails asking, “Sonic, are you okay?”
Sonic shook his head slightly before saying, “Uh… That was some jolt. Very refreshing.” The others began to move over to him, but they didn’t get far when they heard Rayquaza let out a roar. Everyone looked up to see her coming down, stopping when her long body was above the surface of the clouds. She seemed to be glaring at everyone as she showed off her sharp teeth, making it clear she wasn’t happy to see them.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Maybe dragon-to-dragon negotiation could work?
7976106 I think she'd eat him. Probably. Most likely. Probably not. Not likely.
7976106 Dude, don't you know? What we consider mindless fighting IS dragon-to-dragon negotiations...
7976555 I don't think Rayquaza is the 'eating other dragons' type, killing them, yeah, that's more accurate...
Very awesome first part GreenSonic21, I'm already looking forward to what comes after...
Well, if you get my meaning...?
Wait...Rayquaza normally has yellow eyes. Calling it, there's some mind-control shenanigans happening!
Also, those references! Suicune's "There is another" line references what Yoda said in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
And Pinkie Pie's "It's dangerous to go alone! Take us with you!" is a reference to what the old man in the cave says in the original The Legend of Zelda when giving Link the Wooden Sword.
Wow love the reference of the Jedi says if, "there is another" really well done. I also love the part where pinkie wants to fly like link. Lol that was funny
If Sonic and Co manage to snap Rayquaza out of her current state without the help of one of the other legendaries, it'll definetly take some pretty good improvising to defeat what's essentially a demigod.
7981259 Tell that to every character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl fighting Rayquaza in Boss Battles.