A New World, a New Way: The Rogue Legendary

by Dolphy Blue Drake

Chapter 3: Undying Duty

Upon entering Jason’s dream, Eternia looked around her. He was apparently dreaming of Scarletstone Town, where his family lived. Eternia was about to smile at how sweet that was, when she noticed Jason running around, panicking.

“Hello?” he cried out, “Can anyone hear me? Where is everyone?”

It was then that Eternia noticed the streets were empty. Jason checked house after house, coming out of each one more worried than the last.

Eternia trailed her Trainer as he arrived at Professor Maple’s Pokémon lab and stepped inside. In her current ethereal state, Eternia simply phased through the wall to follow him.

“Professor? Are you here?” Jason called out, getting no answer but the hum of lab equipment.

“No, not the Professor too…” Jason whispered as he ran past Eternia, too panicked to even notice her.

Following him back outside, Eternia watched as he entered the house of Nancy Baker, his rival and best friend.

“Nancy? You here?” Jason called, sounding desperate for human interaction. “C’mon, Nancy! Please! You want to race? How about a battle? You love battling me!”

Once again, the only answer was dead silence.

Now looking frantic, Jason bolted from his rival’s house to the only house he hadn’t checked yet: his own.

Eternia watched in horror as Jason found his own home deserted.

“Mom? Dad?” he cried with a shaky voice, “Where are you? Audrey? It’s me! Jason! Your big brother! We can have a rematch for the Champion title, if that’s what’ll get you to stop hiding! If you win, you can even have the title back! Sis?”

Sobbing, Jason dashed back into the street, ignoring the sudden wind that was whipping his cowboy-style jacket around.

“No! Where is everyone?” Jason screamed.

“They were all deemed worthy,” an ancient voice called from the sky, and Jason looked up to see a being that perfectly matched the depictions of the Alpha Pokémon in old storybooks. “Unlike you, Jason Turner. Your defiance of me will not go unpunished!”

Then images of Jason’s family, friends and neighbors appeared in the sky, fast asleep.

“You’ll never see those you love again, human,” Arceus spat. “And you will pay the ultimate price!”

“I don’t think so—” Jason cut off when he realized his belt was gone. “My team! What have you done with them?”

“You will all suffer!” Arceus roared, the very ground starting to crack. “And the seven of you will never see each other again! But as you are their leader, I’ll let you see their fates firsthand!”

An image of Wanda appeared in the sky. The Floodrine was holding the shattered remains of her Pokéball in her paws, tears streaming down her face. Then Genesect suddenly appeared before her, plugged a Shock Drive into his cannon, and started pummelling her with an endless barrage of Electric Technoblasts and Bug Buzzes, causing her to scream in pain and beg for mercy.

Then an image of Flash appeared in the sky. The modest and gentle-hearted Errabush was crying his eyes out as he too looked at the remains of his own Pokéball. He reached for the pieces, only to be stopped by Cosmaraid appearing in front of him, the purple winged and armed snake with an Atomic/Poison typing immediately using a claw to pin him against a tree before using Radiostorm to give Flash radiation sickness, then began mercilessly pummeling him with Sludge Cannon while Flash begged the guardian of Pokémon to stop.

An image of Eternia appeared next, and the real Eternia watched in horror as her dream counterpart actually ran for the safety of her Pokéball, pushed the button to get inside, only for it to be smashed to bits by the foot of Giratina, who immediately started to strike her over and over with Shadow Force, eliciting shrill shrieks of pain from her.

Then an image of Burst appeared, revealing him crying tears of pure anguish as he cradled the remains of his Ultra Ball, only to be interrupted by Palkia and Dialga appearing before him and striking him with Spacial Rend and Roar of Time, respectively, causing him to cry out in agony as his greatest weakness was used against him.

Next to be shown was Adorakill, who was trying his best to escape from Jirachi, leaving the shattered remains of his Dive Ball behind while she pummeled him with Doom Desire and Psychic, provoking blood-curdling screams with every hit.

“And of course, the traitor herself!” Arceus’ voice announced as the final member of Jason’s team was displayed to him. Glitterwings was being punished by Arceus, himself, using the Stone Plate to make his Judgements hurt as much as possible as the guardian of humanity cried out in pain, whimpering as she tried to hold onto the remains of her Net Ball, the only thing left to give her any amount of Legendary power, and the power she had was small, indeed. Her wings had lost their luster, and were dull shades of gray instead of a brilliant rainbow of colors. She kept using her powers to repair her Ball to try to draw on it for more strength, but every time she did, just as color began to return to her wings, Arceus would blast it to pieces again before returning to striking her with Judgement. And every time her Stress Morph started to kick in, the Alpha Pokémon simply used his own Legendary powers to cancel it so it couldn’t copy Mountaineer, the ability unique to the Ice/Bug Frozer evolutionary line that made Rock moves heal them. Basically, he was preventing her from gaining the one ability that would allow her to endure his attacks.

“No!” Jason screamed, dropping to his knees and sobbing. “You’re heartless! My own team! My second family! You monster!”

“And now it’s time for your punishment, Jason Turner!” Arceus announced. “I shall banish you to the Distortion World, where you’ll wander aimlessly until you collapse and die!”

“Enough!” Eternia screamed, getting Jason’s attention. “I can’t watch any more of this play out!”

Jason looked at the image of Eternia in the sky, then back to the real Eternia, confused.

“Eternia, what’s going on?” Jason choked out. “You were just—”

“Jason, none of this is real!” Eternia told her Trainer. “This is all a nightmare!”

“What is this?” another voice asked as a pony larger than the one they had met earlier suddenly stepped out from behind a house. She was navy blue, had both wings and a horn like a Mega Rapidash, and was wearing a crown. “What is going on here?”

“Jason! Get back!” Eternia ordered. Jason immediately complied and ran back to his house before turning around to watch what was going on, confused.

“You have no right to be here,” Eternia growled as she glared at the pony. “No matter who you are, you should know better than to mess with an Obliveon’s Trainer while he or she has taken the protective stance. You were very foolish to ignore the warning of my body language. Leave now, and I’ll let you leave in peace, so long as you never return to my Trainer’s dreams.”

“Nay, thou shouldst leave the dreamscape this instant!” the intruder demanded. “The dreamscape is my domain! I sensed a nightmare and came to correct it!”

“And I already fixed that problem,” Eternia growled. “You have no reason to be here. Leave my Trainer’s dream and never return.”

“I cannot yield to thy demands,” the intruder said with a shake of her head. “Dreams are my domain, and mine alone!”

“Very well,” Eternia said, narrowing her eyes and brandishing her scythe. “It looks like I’ll have to expel you by force. Prepare yourself, invader!” Turning her head towards Jason, she called out to her Trainer. “Jason! This is your dream! As long as you remember that, your imagination becomes reality here! Let’s show her what for!”

Jason nodded, then prepared himself to imagine anything that would help Eternia win.

“Now, before I knock your sorry butt into next week,” Eternia said in an unfittingly sweet tone, “I’ll at least give you my name so you’ll know who showed you not to mess with my Trainer’s dreams ever again.” Putting a paw to her chest, she said, “My name is Eternia the Obliveon, member of the main team of Jason Turner, Champion of Salintra.”

“I am Luna,” the intruder responded. “Princess of the night, regent of the moon, and co-ruler of Equestria. Remember that well, for it is thou who shall be defeated!”

“Well then, Princess… let’s get this party started!” Eternia cackled shrilly as she gave her signature battle cry. “I’ll start things off with my favorite opening tactic! Wish!”

A shooting star materialized in the air and flew over Eternia, showering her with stardust before vanishing.

Luna’s horn lit up, and two swords of teal energy materialized, which swiped for Eternia of their own accord as Luna also fired teal balls of hard energy at the Ghost-type.

Though Obliveons are far from fast, Eternia was perfectly capable of sidestepping the swords and threw her scythe in front of her face to shield her from the energy bullets, her tail flaring up in pain from taking the full brunt of the attack.

“So, not playing by league rules, then?” Eternia cackled as she jumped back. “Big mistake! Removing turns from battle actually augments my fighting style! Take this! Curse!”

A massive nail materialized in front of Eternia, and Luna’s energy swords flew back and crossed themselves in front of her as if she was expecting the nail to launch itself at her. Her eyes grew huge when the nail instead impaled the one who summoned it, then evaporated.

“What couldst thou possibly gain from self harm?” Luna demanded, perplexed.

“Wait for it…” Eternia snickered as she panted from losing half her energy in one move. It would be well worth it, though.

“What?” Luna screamed as sinister energy exploded from Eternia’s body, engulfing the Princess before taking the forms of ghostly entities. “What is this? What hast thou done?”

“Oh, I placed a curse on you of course!” Eternia giggled. “It may have cost me half of my energy, but it was well worth the cost, as now your own energy will drain at a rapid rate! I may not even need Jason’s help for this fight, after all!

“And to top it all off…” Eternia chuckled as the stardust that covered the ground suddenly rose into the air and was absorbed into her body, restoring her lost energy. “That wish I made? It just cancelled out the price I paid to lay a curse on you! No other Ghost-type can pull off such a combo! And now that I’m done with my favorite tactic…” Eternia broke into an eerie grin. “You’ll regret turning this battle into a turnless bout! Shadow Sneak!”

Eternia phased into the ground as a shadow and shot straight for Luna at immense speed, then leapt out of the Princess’ shadow and struck her across the flank with her scythe.

Before Luna could retaliate, Eternia phased back into the ground and sped away to a safe distance.

“Did that hurt? I sure hope so!” Eternia taunted before lunging for her opponent. “Night Slash!”

Eternia whipped her body around to slash the Princess’ face with her tail, but it was blocked by an energy sword, resulting in her being thrown back by the other sword striking her in the side, eliciting a hiss of pain.

“Heh, I haven’t had a battle this intense in a while!” Eternia panted as she landed on all fours, skidding backwards a couple feet. “But I just have to wait for my curse to wear you out! And though an Obliveon’s best power is physical attacks, we’re also built to take quite the beating! Wish!”

The shooting star appeared again, spreading more stardust before disappearing.

“I hope you have some way to heal yourself, Princess,” Eternia giggled. “For this is a battle you can’t win without being able to heal quickly! Obliveons are slow, but we know how to take out foes swiftly!”

Suddenly, the scene of the dream started to change, the sun vanishing and being replaced by the moon, and Luna smirked through her pain before taking flight and charging for Eternia.

“The night gives me strength!” Luna declared as she slammed into Eternia, sending the Ghost-type flying. “It is more than enough to counter thy wretched curse!”

“Then I guess we’ll have to do something about that!” Eternia chuckled as she once again landed on all fours. “Jason, a change of scenery, if you please!”

Scarletstone Town vanished, being replaced by the orbiting city of Astropolis, which was also devoid of its residents.

“In space, it’s never night or day!” Eternia snickered as her Wish took effect and restored her health once again. “Now, I think I need a better move for this. I knew it once, but it’s not in my arsenal. But in a way, it is! Behold! The secret weapon of the Salintra Champion and his team! Memory Spiral!”

A copper-colored field surrounded Eternia, containing the knowledge of the last ten moves she knew that weren’t in her current arsenal. Every use of the move would add one of her choice back to her arsenal, and she could keep doing it until she had twice the amount of moves available to her than a Pokémon could normally know. She’d forget all extra moves after the battle, but it’d be worth it.

Deciding on a move, Eternia pulled the echo of the lost knowledge out of the field, returning it to her arsenal temporarily.

“Now, let’s take this old favorite for a spin, shall we?” Eternia chuckled. “X-Scissor!”

Lunging for Luna again, Eternia prepared to perform a swift double strike with her bladed tail, but she froze in midair, suspended by a teal aura.

“Hey! Leggo!” Eternia screamed at her opponent, who was grimacing from the continual barrage of sinister energy courtesy of Eternia’s curse.

“Nay!” the pony shouted. “Yield! Now!”

“No! This is my Trainer’s dream!” Eternia shot back. “You don’t know what you’re messing with! I died for Jason once already, and now that I’m a ghost, I’ll defend him until the end of time! My desire to stay with him summoned ghostly forces from the graveyard we were in, which helped me break the chains of death just to be by his side once more! I’ll never let you, or anyone mess around in Jason’s head! Not even Arceus, himself!”

“Thy devotion is praiseworthy,” Luna noted, “But regardless, the dreamscape is my domain!”

Suddenly, the light from Luna’s horn flickered and died, dispelling the two energy swords, as well as releasing Eternia from her telekinetic grip.

“What is going on?” Luna demanded. “My magic is gone!”

“Apparently, the dreamer doesn’t agree with your claim to his dreams,” Eternia chuckled as Jason walked towards them. “After all, in dreams, the dreamer is a god.”

Luna dropped to the ground as the curse continued to drain her energy.

“Very well,” the Princess said, visibly trying to hold back cries of pain. “I concede defeat.”

As soon as she said that, the effects of the curse faded away, and Eternia smiled, even though the knowledge of X-Scissor faded from her mind. “Good. Now get out and stay out.”

“Eternia can protect my dreams just fine,” Jason added. “Your services are not needed here. Unless you have other business here, you should leave right now.”

“There is one thing thou shouldst know,” Luna told them as she stood up. “Arceus himself is responsible for all the Pokémon and humans-turned-Pokémon being in this world. Thou art in Equestria, on the planet Equus, now. Arceus decided to move most of Earth’s Pokémon, as well as humans he deemed ‘worthy’ here to Equus so they could ‘live in peace’. My sister is trying to find a way to convince Arceus to take you all back, but for the time being—”

“Um, we actually know some of this already,” Jason cut in. “We’re actually trying to undo this ourselves. At least the transformation part. Thanks for letting us know the name of this place, though. We already knew Arceus was responsible, but not his reasoning. So thanks for that intel, too.”

“How—” Luna started to ask, but Eternia cut her off.

“I’m sorry, but there are some things that we really must keep secret,” the Obliveon said. “If we ever meet in the waking world, we can answer some of your questions then. But either way, don’t come back here, got it?”

“I understand,” Luna sighed. “I shall leave his dreams alone. And if I run across the presence of another… Obliveon?” Eternia nodded in the affirmative, “I shall pay attention to their stance in the waking world, for it would be most irritating to repeat this incident over and over. Farewell.”

And with that, Luna vanished, leaving Jason and Eternia alone in the dream.

“Thanks, Eternia,” Jason said as he dropped to one knee and scratched her behind the ears, causing her to wag her tail in delight. “That nightmare was horrible. And thanks for defending my right to privacy, too.”

“Don’t mention it,” Eternia replied nonchalantly. “It’s an Obliveon’s duty to protect his or her Trainer. If it weren’t for Trainers, Obliveons wouldn’t even exist. So, you’ll always have my full support. Sweet dreams, Jason.”

With a wink and a smile, Eternia left Jason’s dream, returning to her body in the waking world.

Once back, Eternia merged with the echo she left behind and resumed guarding her Trainer. Every time a Pokémon started to approach, one look at her was enough to convince them to take a different path. Even creatures that were most likely native to Equus gave her space, though she had to lift her scythe from the ground and growl at a few of them before they got the message.

But there was one exception. One very unwelcome exception: A Niteswift started to approach her, completely ignoring her stance.

The Phantom Horse Pokémon gave her one look with his ghostly white eyes and scoffed.

“What’s the point, Obliveon?” he chuckled, pawing the ground with a translucent hoof that clearly showed the bones within the leg. “There are no Trainers here. I already got the news while taking a nap. There’s nothing for you to protect anymore. Your ‘Trainer’ is a Pokémon now. Why continue to protect—”

He cut off when Eternia glared at him, her red eyes shining as brilliantly as the sun at high noon, removing all color from the area except for the red her own eyes produced.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Eternia snapped as the Ghost-type horse tried to shield his eyes. “Take one look behind me, and then tell me that my protection is pointless.”

The Niteswift squinted, then reared up in shock. “A h-human!” he gasped. “How?”

“Well, that’s our little secret,” Eternia giggled as the Niteswift began to back off. “But let’s just say, if any human turned into a Ditto, they theoretically could retake their human form. That may or may not be the case with my Trainer, but keep that in mind if you see another human. It could happen.”

Panicking, the Niteswift bolted deep into the forest, leaving Eternia cackling at the sight of such a feared Pokémon turning tail and fleeing. Such timidity could be expected from an Oberdart, but from its evolved form? It was just hilarious!

Sighing, Eternia settled back into her protective posture and let her mind rest in a state of half-sleep for the rest of the night. Thankfully there were no further incidents to require her to take action, granting them peace until dawn at the very least.

Author's Note:

Wow, I'm cranking out chapters a lot faster than I expected! Hope you enjoyed this one!

I'm still unsure about how long my swift chapter production will last, so for the time being, there's no schedule for the uploads of the chapters of this fic. If all goes well, though, chapter 4 should be here soon enough.

That's all I have to say for now! Later all!