The Demon Within

by DOOT_Slayer

Chapter 8: Retaliation

Rarity charged up and flew at Omega, not bothering to use the kaioken. Omega fired a Nova Strike directly at Rarity; it was larger than all the previous ones she fired, but Rarity flew straight at it. The Nova Strike engulfed her fully. Omega smiled, thinking her opponent was no doubt dead. Her victory was extremely short-lived, as Rarity's top half appeared out of the beam, and she wasn't playing around. Omega was dumbfounded that Rarity had even survived, let alone taken effectively no damage whatsoever. Rarity punched her in the face, then hit her with a kick, sending her flying. She vanished above Omega and smashed her down toward the ground. She landed hard, attempting to comprehend how Rarity had become so strong in such a short amount of time. She couldn't figure it out, so she just had to ask.

"How?!" The veins in her eyes were a deep, solid red from increased blood flow.

"HOW DID YOU GET THIS STRONG?!!!" Rarity said nothing, instead she vanished and reappeared right in Omega's face.

"That doesn't matter now." Rarity released 100% of her power and created a multi form copy of herself.

"But know that I will defeat you." Her copy began fighting Omega, as she went over to her friends. She began healing all of them and increasing their power simultaneously using the zenkai spell. Only Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remained. All their injuries began to heal as they regained their energy. Rarity's copy powered up to kaioken X2, giving her the edge. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

"Holy crap, am I glad to see you." She smiled softly.

"Save your strength dear. But thank you. I'm delighted to see you're all ok - mostly." She turned to Applejack, and she wasn't impressed.

"What ever were you thinking, Applejack!? You as well Pinkie Pie. What on Equis were you both thinking? We’re you trying to hand your lives to Omega on a silver platter?!" She sighed from relief.

"You know what? No, it doesn't matter; I'm just happy you’re still alive." Omega was fighting a losing battle against Rarity's copy. She threw a ki enhanced punch at her, which she caught easily. Rarity elbowed Omega in the kidney and pulled her back in. She elbowed her three or four more times, causing her excruciating pain; Rarity's copy let Omega's hand go and then spun and kicked her in the chest, sending her backwards. She was slowly becoming more and more aggravated.
Rarity was done healing her friends - they were all back to full strength - so she flew up to Omega, and dispersed her copy as its kaioken depleted. She was in base form, but Omega could tell her power had remained exactly the same. Rarity hadn't said much to Omega yet. She decided to put a little salt on the wound.

"What's wrong darling? What happened to 'watching the world burn'?" Omega was clenching her jaws so hard, her gums began to bleed. She couldn't believe that Rarity had the sheer audacity to turn her own words against her.

"Well? Are you not entertained?!" She realised what Rarity was getting at, and forced herself to calm down.

"It's clear that my current power isn't sufficient to beat you; I wanted to save what I’ve accumulated so far, but you’re not leaving me much of a choice. I’ll have to use it all if I wanna have a chance of beat you." She raised her hands up to her sides, and began powering up. Her mane and tail grew slightly and became more rigid and spiked. Her power hadn’t quite doubled, but it wasn’t far off. She smiled menacingly, showing her bloodied, pointed teeth.

"Let's start the real fight!" Rarity and Omega resumed their battle.

They were more evenly matched now, and Rarity began needing to use the kaioken to overpower her opponent. She thanked Zecora in her head. The power increase really had given her enough strength to beat Omega, and thankfully it hadn't stopped her from using the kaioken; Rarity was partly surprised that she had even needed to. The two had been fighting for nearly ten minutes now, but neither particularly showed any signs of tiring out. Omega flew at Rarity as fast as she could and threw a kick at her opponent's head. Rarity caught Omega's foot in her hand, and smiled arrogantly.

"Is that really the best you can do, darling?" The mockery enraged Omega, and she fired a strong ki blast straight at Rarity's face. Luckily she powered up to kaioken and blocked the blast before it hit. In response, she spun Omega around numerous times before letting go, throwing her down to the ground, then powered up to kaioken X2 and followed her opponent. Rarity flew below Omega and kicked her in the kidney then the spine, sending her flying. She smashed Omega into the ground, kicking up dust and making a crater; as her opponent bounced back up, Rarity hit Omega with an uppercut to the torso, before grabbing her leg and slamming her back into the ground. Everypony watching was amazed and in firm belief that Rarity could surpass, and defeat Omega, so long as she played it carefully.

Only now did Omega realise the full power of the mare she was facing; she had been mocked, taunted, man-handled and toyed with... and she'd had enough of it all. She focused an immense amount of ki and fired countless volleys of Death Beams above her at Rarity from point blank range. Rarity was barely able to react in time; she jumped up, then vanished and reappeared a few hundred metres high. Then she had to dodge and block Omega's volley until it was completely over. Rarity focused some ki in her hand - and released it as an invisible wave when she punched down at Omega. The wave hit Omega precisely in the stomach, causing her to cough up blood and bile. Rarity flew back down to the ground at blazing speed. She landed, grabbed Omega by the leg, and threw her into the side of a rock formation. Rarity powered up to kaioken X2, and placed two fingertips on her forehead.

'Everypony? I have a smaaall problem.' Rarity was communicating to her friends using the telepathy spell.

'Ok?' Rainbow Dash sounded quite confused. 'What is it?'

'I'm charging up a rather powerful attack right now,' Rarity began. 'I have yet to try it out, but I may be able to kill Omega using it. The problem I-we have is that the attack might take a while to fully charge, an-'

'And you need us to hold her off until you're done, right?' Pinkie even managed to yell in her mind.

'Exactly that, thank you. Good luck.'A few seconds later, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both flew towards Omega. She was still shaking off the rubble when a still furious Fluttershy powered up to her limit, vanished and reappeared beside Omega, then fired a full power kamehameha at her from just a metre away! The beam split around Omega as she blocked it, but eventually the kamehameha engulfed its target. As Fluttershy let the attack dissipate and Omega prepared to retaliate, Rainbow Dash flew up and hit her with an uppercut to the chin. As she rotated in the air, Omega released a high amount of ki in an explosion around her body, knocking her opponents back. Her advantage didn’t last however, as Rainbow Dash powered up to kaioken X2 and flew toward Omega, nothing but a rainbow blur. She came back into view as her hit connected, a knee planted firmly in her opponent's liver. The hit had the desired effect, incapacitating Omega for a few seconds; she clutched her torso in pain as she coughed up a mix of blood and bile. When Omega finally stopped, her eyes were wide from rage and had many burst blood vessels. She was breathing heavily.

"You-" She winced as another wave of pain shot through her lower chest. "YOU BITCH!!" Everypony was always offended by Omega's use of foul language, but Rainbow Dash was offended more than necessary.

"Hey! Come on, that’s just racist." At first Omega was pissed, but all that anger dissolved into pure confusion.

"W-what??!"

"I'm not a stupid dog." A stream of blood came from Omega's nose.

"I'm going to enjoy this," She said as she clenched her fists. "I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should." Omega vanished and reappeared above Rainbow Dash and smashed her down towards the ground before firing a Nova Strike down after her. Rainbow Dash dodged the attack and looked over to Rarity. Their eyes met, and Rarity gave a quick nod before opening a telepathic communication.

'Somepony hold her. It’s done.'

Applejack powered up to kaioken and vanished behind Omega, then held her arms out to her side in a lock. She struggled and tried to free herself from Applejack's grip, but it was too great. It was only as Omega sensed Rarity's immense power level that she realised their plan.

"Rarity, I can't hold her much longer. It’s now or never!"

"DO IT NOW RARITY!!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The electricity crackling around Rarity's fingers subsided and all the ki she had gathered focused at the tip of her index and middle fingers. She took her fingers away from her forehead. Omega created a ki explosion around her, knocking Applejack back just enough to get free. She then elbowed her in the liver and flip kicked Applejack down to the ground.

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!!!" She fired the attack. Omega realised how easily she'd been distracted and scolded herself in her head. The orange spiralling beam came toward her at an alarming rate, clearly with enough power to kill. Omega prepared to redirect it away from herself, but she knew well enough that she had to time it perfectly. Those remaining of the Main 6 watched intently with hope of victory. Hope that was dashed. Omega let out a yell, and swatted the Special Beam Cannon down to the ground; Fluttershy watched in fear, petrified as the beam came toward her now. Rainbow Dash acted in a split second, vanishing in the path of the stray attack and redirecting it once more into the ground. She turned to Fluttershy.

"Hey. You alright?" Fluttershy nodded shyly.

"Uh-huh." She replied quietly. Rainbow Dash exhaled a sigh of relief. She focused on Omega once more.

"Tell Rarity to stay with everypony else; you go too." Omega locked eyes with her and smiled in an almost mocking way.

"I don't want to see any of you get hurt anymore, let alone killed. I'll fight Omega myself now, alone. Go!" Rainbow Dash looked around, then flew up to a large stone pillar with a wide, flat peak. Omega followed shortly after. Rainbow Dash landed just before her opponent. They both stared at each other for a while, neither one nor the other willing to make the first move. The wind picked up suddenly, causing their manes and tails to wave furiously.

"Omega, nopony else has to die. If you stop this bloodshed now, we'll let you go." Omega had to fight herself not to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just... I just don't get it is all. Let me go? LET ME GO?!! I am stronger than any of you could ever hope to be!"

"Then how come Rarity was beating you black and blue?"

"You idiot, evidently I'm still not at my full power yet. I could obliterate all of you maggots right now... and probably your whole planet too!" She raised a hand above her head and another Supernova formed above it. The expression of sheer malice on Omega's face indicated that she really wouldn't hesitate.

"Hold on Omega." Rainbow Dash said. "Even if you survive destroying this planet, who could challenge your power then? Huh? You said it yourself, we’re your only hope of getting stronger." That statement planted a seed of intruige in Omega's mind, which was all that was needed. She scolded her curiosity, but began to listen.

"Go on." She prompted.

"I can give you the best fight you will ever have. You understand, I know you do; you’re not gonna pass this up because I know I wouldn’t. You know, we’re not so different. We’ve got the same motivations: to improve, better ourselves, to always get stronger... Let me fight you. One last time. But don’t even think about involving my friends in this anymore. If they fight, it’s on my terms. That's all I’m asking for." Everypony below waited to see what decision Omega would make. She thought it over in her head numerous times before acting. The wind from the Supernova subsided, and the attack slowly shrunk, then disappeared.

"Alright then, have it your way." Omega took an attacking stance, and waited.

"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash shouted down to her friends. "Uhh, you might wanna step back a bit, Omega and I will probably end up moving around a bit." She was usually cheerful when she said stuff like this, but this time she was completely focused. She took a defensive stance as her friends heeded her advice.

"Ready when you are." Omega attempted to goad her opponent into attacking unplanned. Neither made a move though. The silence was only broken, momentarily, by the howl of the wind. The two warriors' eyes were fixated on each other, neither wanting to look away. The wind stopped. Rainbow Dash went kaioken and a red aura surrounded her. She leapt back into the air and fired a kamehameha as soon as it charged. Omega met the attack with a Death Beam, which caused it to collapse and dissipate. Rainbow Dash wasted no time and flew toward her opponent furiously! Their first hits clashed, neither one winning out. Omega stepped back only to attack again; she jumped, throwing a kick as she rose - which Rainbow Dash blocked - then flipped over, bringing her heel down towards Rainbow Dash's head. Rainbow Dash dodged the second kick, and retaliated with a punch to the jaw. Omega reacted quickly enough to sidestep the punch, which Rainbow Dash overshot, but didn’t anticipate the knee that followed. It surprised Rainbow Dash that she had even landed the hit so, as she fell she tucked her legs to her chest and thrust them upwards, hitting Omega right in the face. She rose up into the air for a bit and fired a Nova Strike down at Rainbow Dash just as her kaioken ran out. She couldn't block it, or intercept it, so she had to simply move out the way. The attack hit the stone pillar and kept going down to the ground. The blast of dust that was sent outwards surprised the Main 6, they had to shield their eyes quickly. The next they saw, Rainbow Dash was flying up into the clouds, closely followed by Omega. They landed on opposite ends of a cloud, and immediately resumed their battle. Rainbow Dash rushed forward at her opponent and threw a ki enhanced punch at Omega's chest; she blocked the punch and countered with a kick aimed at her opponent's chin. Rainbow Dash leaned back, dodging the hit, and threw a punch with her available hand. The two opponents tried to overpower each other by pushing the other down. Neither gained the advantage, realising it was pointless. Rainbow Dash attempted to back away, but Omega's grip held firm. She smiled and flipped her opponent overhead, then threw her down through the cloud; she wasted no time, firing a volley of ki blasts after her prey. Rainbow Dash saw the ki blasts coming toward her as she fell; she righted herself and stopped abruptly, before firing her own volley of ki blasts back. The projectiles collided and created a smokescreen. Omega became frustrated at its sudden appearance, and was further dismayed when Rainbow Dash shot through the dust and crashed headfirst into her stomach. Nopony was expecting something that unorthodox, but that's why Rainbow Dash was so difficult to fight against - her quick thinking was almost impossible to strategise around. She chuckled slightly as a small trickle of blood ran from her mane down her forehead. Omega had barely recovered when she spoke.

"That was an unnecessary injury, not that there's much up there to injure anyway."

"Talk all you want Omega, hubris won’t get you anywhere."

Author's Note:

I think the fights in this chapter were my favourites to write, hope you enjoyed them too. See ya.