Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 30 – Silver Lining at Last

Gladion kept his eyes on Akala Island, which grew closer and closer with each beat of his Charizard’s wings. His Lucario sat directly behind him, its arms and paws wrapped firmly around his waist. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both flew beside Gladion’s left, seeing as the details of Heahea City getting more and more defined with each passing second.

Pinkie Pie moaned impatiently. “Hey Gladion, can Lucario use his freaky aura vision to find our friends yet? Are we close enough yet? Am I bothering you enough yet?”

Gladion huffed, knowing she no longer needed to. “Lucario, scope out the island. Let me know if you spot something.”

Lucario slipped one paw off its trainer and placed it on the spike on its chest, the four appendages on its head floating to the sides as it closed its eyes. To it, the world appeared as a black void with tiny blue specks along the streets and scattered along the routes. The outward pull of the appendages strengthened as it sensed a brighter pair of auras around the Ruins of Life.

Gladion heard his Lucario humming anxiously. “Lucario, have you found them?”

Lucario pointed downward toward the Ruins of Life, Gladion understanding its directions perfectly.

“Is that them?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Are those our friends?”

“Most likely,” he replied. “However, those ones are safe in the Ruins of Life now. We should look for Starlight and Fluttershy.”

“Seriously, dude? Our friends are about to be right beneath us, and you don’t want us to let them know we’re here? We have to at least stop for a–”

Lucario loudly gasped, it’s floating appendages suddenly trembling. It caught the brighter auras of two more ponies at the top of the Wela Volcano with two trainers making their way down. What frightened Lucario even more were the nearly dozen people standing and waiting halfway down the path to the park, their auras lighting their bodies enough to reveal their robes. Two of them appeared to run down the path from the top of the crater, about to flank the group from behind.

“What is it?” Gladion asked.

Lucario tapped its paw on his shoulder and pointed to the top of the volcano, the frantic thrusts of its arm indicating just enough for him.

“We have to hurry!” Gladion lightly slapped both sides of his Charizard’s neck, making it fly harder and faster.

“What’s happening?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Did you find the others?”

“Not just them.”

“What? Who then?”

Gladion was already several paces ahead of the ponies, unable to hear Gladion. It suddenly dawned on Rainbow Dash what Gladion and Lucario meant, and she squinted her vision, filled with a strong sense of vengeance.

“Pinkie, hang on!”

Pinkie Pie crouched down and hugged her friends neck. “Hanging!”

With a reel of her body, Rainbow Dash shot out faster to fly alongside Gladion and his Charizard. Now all Gladion could focus on was the tip of the volcano.

Sam, Alice, the ponies, and Lady treaded carefully down the steep slope down the path that turned right into a small cave inside the volcano. As Sam and Alice began to walk inside, Starlight and Fluttershy stopped, observing the ocean to the north and the sky it reflected, which began to turn the slightest orange with the birth of the new evening.

“Hold on,” Starlight said to her human companions. “I want to take a quick look.”

Sam and Alice emerged back out, watching from the mouth of the cave as the ponies and their Pokémon looked out past the horizon with the faint sight of Route 8 and the Lush Jungle to their left. Sam stepped out and joined the ponies, standing between them.

“Pretty beautiful, isn’t it?” Sam asked.

Starlight nodded. “You should see the sunrises and sunsets in Equestria. This is still quite nice, but those are incomparable to this.”

“Oh yeah?” Sam sat down and scooted to the edge of the cliff, letting his feet dangle off. “Does Equestria have a view quite like this?”

“Oh, countless! Canterlot has at least two dozen alone!”

“Really? Maybe you could accidently warp me and my sister to this Canterlot and show us yourself!”

Starlight laughed, almost regretting it instantly. It was a joke in poor taste, but she couldn’t pull the smile down, no matter how hard she shifted her face.

“Damn you, Sam.” Starlight’s smile only grew wider. “I’m… using that phrase right, right? Damn you?”

“Sure. Just be sure you don’t bring it back to Equestria with you when you two return.”

“I see…”

“You know what amazes me the most?” Fluttershy asked, still staring off into the farthest reaches of the sea. “Of all the places we could have ended up, we found this one. I never thought I’d ever meet, see, or even know what a human or a Pokémon was, but I’m happy to have made friends with both.”

Alice leaned into the wall of the cave, practically about to melt from Fluttershy’s compliments.

Sam nodded, trying to find the next right words to respond with. “Yeah, well, I’ve been enjoying this adventure of ours. I certainly don’t think it would be half as exciting or fun without you two literally falling into it.”

“Thanks a bunch, you asshole!” Alice pushed off the wall and stood, laughing at her own jest.

Sam turned to face her, slighted by her implications, kidding or not. “Hey, I really appreciate your help too!”

Sam suddenly couldn’t help but notice two enlarged shadows slithering down the face of the volcano, each one headed right at Alice. Glancing up, he saw as two Bruxish slowly encroached down toward them all. Once his eyes met both of theirs, Sam pushed himself out of his sitting spot and threw a Poké Ball up as he stood. “Honedge, Shadow Sneak!”

Starlight and Fluttershy looked to the volcano, their eyes tracing to Honedge as it popped out of its ball. They then followed its snaking shadow upwards, immediately noticing the two floating triggerfish that had failed to ambush them. Alice ran to join Sam’s side just as the Shadow Sneak hit one of the Bruxishes, the remaining one charging the bulb on its head with blue light.

“No!” Starlight began to charge her horn, the aura of it covering her body just as the Bruxish’s psychic powers shone onto her.

Fluttershy and Alice watched nervously as Starlight continued to fight, grunting and moaning to maintain her magic.

“Lady…” she growled loudly. “Bite!”

Lady barked as it bounded up the mountain, rounding up the entrance to the cavern and heading right at its target. With a last leap, Lady’s teeth managed to grab a hold of the Bruxish’s belly, the pain it felt making it let Starlight go.

Fluttershy and Comfey looked to their friend panting heavily. “Starlight, are you okay?”

Starlight charged her horn, feeling far less strain as she maintained a steady aura. “Fine!”

Lady threw her head down and let go, sending itself Bruxish down to the ground. While Lady landed before Starlight, the Bruxish banked up and swam back to its trainer, a female Prism grunt with short blonde hair, who stood beside another grunt with the other Bruxish.

Alice walked forward ahead of her friends and brother. “You know, unless you brought more minions or Pokémon, these double battles aren’t really going to work out for you.”

The grunt to Alice’s left, a young man with short, spikey dark-brown hair and cocoa skin, laughed. “Just because you only see two of us doesn’t mean we didn’t bring more friends. You would just have to try and jump down the volcano to avoid them all.”

“Down the…” Sam surmised aloud. “You gotta’ be kidding.”

“We’re not!” a young female voice called out.

He then looked to his left into the cavern, seeing two grunts, a man with jet-black hair covering his right eye and a woman with a longer face and straight red hair, barely concealed in the shadows with their Pokémon, a Slowking and an Espeon, stepping into the sunlight. Trapped, Sam faced the two Bruxish trainers again with a scowl.

The short-haired blonde grunt held her hand up. “We’ll also guarantee safe passage to the bottom if you hand over those ponies now.”

“Honedge, Shadow Sneak!”

Honedge thrust its hilt down, its shadow zooming along the ground quickly until it hit her Bruxish, blasting it up to its trainer’s surprise before it floated itself back down.

The woman only showed slight contempt in her changing expression. “That’s one way to answer. Fine then. Bruxish hit the unicorn with Psychic.”

“And Bruxish,” her partner said, “Crunch that Honedge!”

“Espeon!” the red-haired grunt in the cave echoed out. “Hit the Honedge with Shadow Ball!”

The female grunt’s Bruxish began to charge up its bulb again, covering Starlight with it as she tried fighting the harsh energy with her magic. Sam watched as the second Bruxish swam quickly at his Pokémon, its mouth wide open to reveal its frighteningly sharp teeth. Comfey then looked to its left to see a dark-purple ball of energy form upon the red gem on Espeon’s forehead. With an angry frown, Comfey unwound itself from Fluttershy’s neck and flew out past Sam and Starlight.

“Comfey!” Fluttershy cried out. “Don’t go!”

With a shout, it began chasing its own tail in a quick, incalculable circle. Winds began to pick up, drawing in numerous loose pieces of grass from the area and swirling them around in its whirlwind. Just as Espeon shot its attack out, the Shadow Ball got caught in the whirwind and ended up slamming into the right side of the cavern wall, blasting it, Slowking, and both of its trainers deep inside.

Before the male grunt’s Bruxish could reach Honedge, it was suddenly whipped off course and dragged into the vortex. The Bruxish hitting Starlight was suddenly thrown off its spot and slammed and pinned into the wall, greatly weakening it. Freed again, Starlight glanced around her to see Sam, Alice, Lady, and Fluttershy struggling to keep their footing on the ground, charging her horn and covering all five of them in her magic. They were all forced to their knees and shins as they suddenly felt heavy, though their weight sufficiently anchored them to the ground.

Watching the male grunt’s Bruxish getting whipped inside the Petal Blizzard, Alice gasped, suddenly getting an idea as she pulled out a Poké Ball. “Noibat, chase that Bruxish and use Bite!”

Alice held tight to her ball as Noibat was instantly picked up in the gales upon emerging. It quickly regained its balance, soaring through the storm and flying faster than the Bruxish could swim away.

Starlight then looked to Lady as they shared a mutual nod. “Okay, Lady. Get that Bruxish that’s pinned over there with Quick Attack!”

Letting the magic covering her Pokémon go, she allowed it to be picked up by the winds, swirling over the edge of the cliff and back around to the wall where its target was. Putting all four paws up, Lady pounced onto Bruxish, the sheer force of the collision making Bruxish faint. Noibat had finally caught up with the last Bruxish, getting close enough to bite down hard on the base of its tail. The Bruxish screamed as it refused to keep fleeing, letting Noibat carry it back around to the wall where the other Bruxish was and whip it against it before Lady could run away along the wall, making it faint as well.

Comfey slowed itself down, its attack finally ended as it became extremely dizzy, flying back to Fluttershy in a sloppy line. Both Lady and Noibat returned to their trainers, all of whom faced the two defeated grunts with confident smiles. With nothing left, they both returned their Bruxish to their balls and ran back up the mountain.

In the cave, the Slowking’s grunt pushed himself up off the ground. “Desperate times…” he muttered, his voice deep. “Slowking, send the unicorn’s Eevee off the side with Dragon Tail.”

His Pokémon, also having gotten itself up, made a run for it outside, its eyes kept right on Lady. Starlight and Lady turned to the charging Slowking, followed by her other friends and their Pokémon. Lady gasped as it watched Slowking spin about, its tail glowing blue-and-orange. Just before the attack hit, Lady began to glow bright, its brown fur transforming into a translucent body filled with a bubbling, swirling green aura. The Slowking’s tail hit Lady, but Lady stayed completely still, unfazed by the attack, making the Slowking step back warily.

Starlight’s eyes grew wide and fearful as Lady’s body lit up even brighter and grew three times its size. “What’s happening!?”

“Is it…?” Alice wondered aloud.

Just then, two long feelers like ribbons quickly sprouted out from where its fluffy collar was, the fur there receding into its neck except for the front, where it morphed into a flat bow. The rest of its hair began to recede into its body, revealing a far more slender form. On its left ear, which began to get a bit fuzzier like the right, another bow formed in the front while two more feelers slithered out from behind. Finally, the hairs of its bushy tail squeezed itself in, becoming skinnier and thicker.

Just then, it glowed completely white before the light shattered off of it, revealing a new Pokémon with a cream colored body with its four paws, its tail, the centers of its bows, and the top of its head and ears colored bright pink. The ends of its feelers were colored blue and then faded to pink down a couple of inches before they resumed their cream color.

“Holy shit!” Sam gasped.

Starlight stepped up to Lady, nervously reaching her hoof out. “Lady… is that you?”

Lady turned to face Starlight, smiling back with its solid blue eyes, mewing in affirmation.

“Your Eevee…” Alice was fighting the urge not to laugh exultantly. “…just evolved into a Sylveon!”

“A Sylv…” Starlight couldn’t believe it, but felt an immense sense of joy as Lady’s new feelers caressed Starlight’s face and pulled her gently for a hug. “I had no idea that Pokémon evolution went so fast! This is incredible!” Starlight threw herself onto her Pokémon, its feelers ready to catch her as Lady patted Starlight on the back with its paw.

Sam, Alice, Fluttershy, and Comfey smiled at the heartwarming sight, only to be interrupted by the Espeon’s grunt audibly shifting herself back to her feet. “How convenient,” she spat. “You still have so many more of us left on this volcano; I don’t see how you can possibly make it off, even with your new Pokémon.”

“We’ll take our chances,” Sam replied. “Honedge, Shadow Sneak on Espeon!”

“Espeon, Shadow Ball on Honedge!”

As Espeon charged its attack, Honedge’s shadow slipped beneath it and threw the Espeon back. It flipped back to balance itself and landed on its paws, facing Honedge and launching its Shadow Ball, striking Honedge in the center of its blade. Sam looked back nervously as it was thrown back to the edge of the cliff, saving itself only by staking itself into the ground with the tip of its blade.

The others were too focused on the Pokémon they still had left to fight. “Comfey,” Fluttershy exclaimed, “uh… use Vine Whip on Slowing!”

“Noibat, Bite Espeon!”

Comfey dove at the Slowking, flipping forward and lashing its tail across the face. Noibat swooped in and took hold of the Espeon’s neck with its mouth, tackling it to the ground. Lady breathed in hard and then blew, a glittering spray washing over the Espeon and the Slowking, which appeared to crackle on their bodies painfully.

“What move was that?” Starlight asked.

“Fairy Wind!” Alice said. “Lady must have learned it when it evolved!”

“Huh… cool.”

As Noibat flew off of the Espeon, it weakly stood up and looked to its ally, seeing that it had fainted. Its grunt returned it into its ball as Espeon and its grunt scowled at the group.

“No way you’re getting off this volcano!” she hissed. “Espeon, Shadow Ba–”

“Shadow Sneak!”

Sam’s Honedge’s shadow deftly slithered around the feet, hooves, and paws of the humans, ponies, and Pokémon in front of it, reaching Espeon before it could register its appearance. Halfway through the charging of its attack, Espeon was hurled into the air by the blast of Honedge’s attack, its back slamming into the roof of the cave before it roughly fell onto its stomach, fainting shortly after.

The female grunt returned her Pokémon while her partner stood up as well. “Our Pokémon may have been beat…”

“…but now you’ll have to get through us.” The male grunt put its fists out, prompting his partner to do the same.

Starlight pursed her lips, annoyed. “Fine.”

She then charged her horn and blasted a light at the two. They put up their arms to protect their eyes from the brightness, but upon opening them, they were unnerved to see that they could see their foes through their cloaks. Looking down at the rest of their bodies, they let out a couple of yelps to find that they were entirely translucent.

“What is this?” the woman grunt screamed, patting herself down.

Starlight ran ahead, passing through them as if they were ghosts. “It will wear off in a couple of seconds! Hurry!”

Understanding immediately, Lady ran to Starlight, and Sam, Alice, Fluttershy, and all of their Pokémon followed them through the cave, leaving the two grunts behind them.

“This is messed up!” the male grunt cried out.

The group zipped through the cave, guided by small torches along the walls. With another turn left, they saw the bright cavern exit, rushing to it with reckless abandon.

“Guys.” Alice was panting heavily. “Be prepared to fight immediately. They’re probably waiting for us.”

“Right.” Sam picked up his pace, soon joining Lady and Starlight side by side. Starlight then charged her horn and bared her teeth, ready for what may be waiting for her.

Outside, a pair of grunts, a young dark-skinned woman with medium length black hair and a pale-skinned ice-blue-haired man, stood opposite of the side of the cavern exit where the path turned to continue down, their Kadabra and Oranguru waiting for them both. Starlight, her horn still glowing, jumped from the cave, standing and looking about her surroundings.

“Psychic!” both grunts shouted.

With Kadabra’s spoons and Oranguru’s hands glowing, they both took hold of Starlight in their psychic grasps, making her scream out as she stood on her hind legs. Then, to the grunts and their Pokémon’s shock, Starlight's entire body began twisting like a rag, her scream refusing to let up as it increased in pitch. Before any of them knew it, the body continued wringing itself thinner and thinner before it disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

The male grunt’s face contorted with confusion. “The hell?”

Immediately, Starlight, Lady, Sam, and Honedge came out from the cave, surprising the four of them.

“Honedge, Shadow Sneak on Kadabra!” Sam ordered.

“Bite the ape-thing, Lady!” shouted Starlight.

Honedge’s shadow threw Kadabra back while Sylveon tackled Oranguru down, its sharp teeth making a horrifying contrast with her beady eyes. Alice and Fluttershy emerged next with Noibat and Comfey.

Sam turned back, hearing their footsteps. “Go on ahead! We’re almost done with these guys!”

Honedge whizzed past Sam’s head as it was hit with another Shadow Ball, Lady getting blasted off by a hefty bolt of electricity from Oranguru’s palms. Alice and Sam couldn’t help but stay to help, but Sam could see several more grunts approaching them from the bottom of the hill.

“Like I said, almost done!” Sam quickly turned back with a point at the Kadabra. “Use Return!”

Honedge shot back into the fray, brushing the back of Sam’s hair as it moved. Alice and Fluttershy reluctantly turned back to see four grunts, three male and one female, stopping a ways away while their Pokémon began to advance: another Slowking, a Metang, another Kadabra, and a Hypno. The Hypno and Kadabra advanced to the front, both of them looking at Noibat.

Fluttershy and Comfey leapt forward. “Hold on, guys! It’s my turn! Comfey, use Petal Blizzard!”

Comfey shouted as it flew between the three Pokémon and spun around, creating another whirlwind of loose grass, much of it striking Noibat, the Kadabra, and the Hypno. Behind Alice and Fluttershy, Honedge struck the Kadabra with a last Shadow Sneak before it passed out from exhaustion. Sam hissed as he was forced to return Honedge back into its Poké Ball. He then turned back to feel the winds pick up from Comfey’s attack.

Alice looked to Noibat as it fought against the gales, awaiting her orders. “Noibat, go ahead and hit the Hypno with Bite.”

Noibat screeched excitedly as it kept its wings out and rode the twister, flying faster than it ever could in fairer conditions.

“Right to us.” The Kadabra’s grunt, who had long black hair on the right side of his head and none on the left, smirked with anticipation. “Kadabra, Dazzling Gleam!”

Crossing its spoons together, the Kadabra shone a bright, sparkling light from them into Noibat. Screaming in pain, Noibat was too disoriented to look where it was going, its double vision making it pass safely between the Kadabra and Hypno.

“That’s it!” The Hypno’s grunt, a tan short-haired woman with two large and ornate earrings, pointed at Noibat, keeping track of it. “Hypno, finish it with Ice Punch!”

With Noibat flying back around, shaking the last of the stars and spots in its eyes, Hypno swung its pendulum around its right hand until the coined end rested right above the middle knuckle. Reeling its arm back, the coin began to frost over until it was completely covered ice, clinging to the rest of the chain. With a strong punch forward, its freezing fist hit Noibat right in the face.

Noibat was out cold before its body could tumble on the floor, continuing to get picked up by Comfey’s Petal Blizzard and nearly reaching the edge of another drop in the mountain.

“Noibat, no!” Alice sprinted out to save it, only to feel a sharp tug back and an invisible grip of her arms and legs together, keeping her immobile. Comfey stopped its whirlwind as fast as it could, but the winds still kept swirling. Alice ignored the Metang and Slowking that kept her at bay while her Noibat suddenly went over the side. “NOOO!”

Suddenly, Noibat’s body was lifted up, held in Starlight’s blue magic. Alice gasped as she turned her head around as far back as her constricted body could allow, seeing as Starlight, Lady, and Sam, now with his Fomantis, approached and joined Fluttershy by her side.

“Looks like you two already took a beating,” the half-haired grunt said. “Time to let the flower girl have a turn. Kadabra, Energy Ball on the Comfey!”

Whipping its spoon like a club, the Kadabra hurled a green ball of aura out, hitting Comfey in the face and sending it flying back several feet.

The short-haired woman pointed at Sam’s Pokémon. “Hypno, Fire Punch the Fomantis.”

Sam was not easily deterred. “Fomantis, hit Hypno with Fury Cutter!”

Fomantis charged at the Hypno, who, with its pendulum still wrapped around its fist, reeled back its arm, the melted ice left on the chain and coin evaporating off as it began to glow red hot. It threw its fist at Fomantis, who quickly swung out to the right to let it pass its front. Side stepping further, Fomantis leapt up and swung back in right, slashing Hypno in the stomach with its leafy arms, throwing it onto its back. Alice gasped as she suddenly felt her arms become free, allowing her to grab Noibat’s ball on her belt.

“Lady, Bite Kadabra!” shouted Starlight.

Lady ran at Kadabra and tackled it down, its mouth over the snout.

Having returned Noibat back into its ball and having her legs freed, Alice landed back on her feet and threw out another Poké Ball. “Pikachu, Quick Attack on Kadabra!”

Pikachu emerged from its ball and charged right at Lady and Kadabra. With barely any time to spare, Lady hopped up off of Kadabra just as Pikachu passed beneath, headbutting the Kadabra and rolling its limp, tired body back to its trainer. The half-haired grunt angrily returned his Pokémon back to its ball.

“Enough!” A warbled voice cracked out from the bottom of the hill, the volume of it making it sound like a broken pane pf glass.

The four grunts and their Pokémon parted the way, allowing for a fully robed Team Prism member to begin walking up the hill. With their robe and lack of a real face or distinguishable voice, the person’s appearance was very intimidating to Sam, Alice, and the ponies.

The apparent leader of the group tossed a Poké Ball out from one of their robe pockets, revealing a purple ten-pronged star with a golden crest and red gem in its center that floated and slowly spun beside him.

Sam breathed out a bit tepidly. “A Starmie.”

“You’re doing particularly well this time around, especially compared to our first two meetings.” Even with his electronically scrambled voice, he was noticeably irate. “At this rate, you’d have us all beat quite easily. I can’t let that happen, so I’m going to have to help end this now.”

The leader crossed their wrists before him, gravity pulling their sleeves down to reveal a synthetic Z-Ring on their black-sleeved left wrist. Putting their arms down and them crossing them out, they then punched their fists perpendicularly, accompanied by phantom clanging sounds, and then punched them both out. Their body exploded with light as a wind lightly blew about their robe. Dark red aura seeped out from him and flooded into their Starmie’s body, which flexed and bent out, feeling the awesome powers coursing through it.

Sam and Alice gasped, confused by the leader’s choreography. “That sure didn’t look like the moves he used last time,” Alice said.

“Different crystal, different moves.” He held his left arm up, revealing the silvery crystal with a cube-shaped icon inside the ring. “That Comfey is a Fairy-type, yes? That means it will be weak against Steel-type moves. It’s simple strategy, really.”

Fluttershy’s voice quivered as she looked to her mesmerized Pokémon.

“Starmie!” the leader shouted. “Attack Comfey! Corkscrew Crash!”

Starmie, its front still facing its enemies, began to spin incredibly fast, a reverse-twister forming on its face, the point aimed right at Comfey. When the Starmie was nothing left but a shining cone of spinning metal, it darted out, Comfey hugging its arms over its face to best shield itself from the pain it would feel.

It suddenly felt a tug on its tail as it was pulled down. Opening its eyes, Comfey saw as Lady leapt over it, its feelers letting go and rising to meet the attack. The tip of the drill hit Lady in the stomach, sending them flying back into the floor of the path. Starlight and her friends all turned back, horrified to see Lady continuously being pushed and thrust into the ground by the attack.

“LADY!!” Starlight shrieked.

Finally, the Starmie had exhausted its Z-Power, slowing its spinning which made the drill disappear. When the cloud of dust cleared, Lady was now lying motionless in a crater that it made. Starlight ran out, sobbing loudly as she sunk to her knees beside her fallen Pokémon and dug it out, cradling it in her arms.

Sam, Alice, and Fluttershy noticed as Starmie, bent forward and tired, began to sparkle with harsh red sparks. Alice and Sam’s hairs began to stand on end, remembering what this meant.

“Fluttershy,” Sam muttered, “now’s your chance! Attack it while it’s weakened!”

Fluttershy, seeing the Starmie in its sorry state, morphed her worried face into a furious frown. “Comfey, use Vine Whip!”

Comfey screamed and shot out at Starmie, slapping it hard with the end of its tail and throwing it back up the hill.

“Pikachu,” Alice shouted, pointing her finger out, “hit it now with Thunder Shock!”

Pikachu let its whole body go alight as its electric stream beat Starmie down into the ground.

“Fomantis, finish it off with Leaf Blade!” Sam ordered

Fomantis charged up the hill, making hard leaps up with each step. On the final lunge, Fomantis put its arms up and slashed Starmie with both of them as it landed on its front side. The gem in the Starmie’s center had lost its luster, indicating that it had been defeated.

A red beam from a Poké Ball hit Starmie, converting it to an energy that soon receded back into the ball, bringing Fomantis down to the ground. The group turned back to see the end of the beam return inside the leader’s ball. Without even looking at it or acknowledging it, he put the ball back into his robe pocket.

“You made me waste my Z-Move,” he said in the same terse tone. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The three remaining grunts, including the short-haired woman with the earrings and her Hypno, as well as a pair of men, each of their short, spiffed hairstyles dyed black and white, stepped out to block their leader, who slowly walked back to avoid the crossfire.

Their Slowking and Metang stood before them on the line beside the short-haired grunt’s Hypno.

Fluttershy observed the trio standing before them, her legs quivering. Comfey, seeing that she was too frightened to declare an attack, flew into action, beginning yet another Petal Blizzard, picking up winds and blades of grass around them and hitting every other Pokémon around them.

The winds weren’t too strong yet, Alice realizing this was her chance. “Pikachu, Thunder Shock on the Slowking, now!”

Pikachu shot another jet of electricity from its cheeks at the Slowking. It appeared to hurt, but the Slowking was clearly weathering through it fine. Comfey stopped itself and flew back to guard Fluttershy, panting out of exhaustion.

The Hypno’s grunt smirked. “Our turn now.”

All three grunts crossed their wrists up in front of their faces at the same time. Sam and Alice could barely register the different colors of their crystals, the Hypno’s grunt’s Z-Ring containing a desaturated-blue crystal, the Slowking’s grunt’s crystal being orangish-brown, and the Metang’s being bright-purple. They all threw their arms down and crossed them back out, a wind picking up their hooded jackets even stronger than Comfey’s Petal Blizzard was picking up.

The Hypno’s grunt began jabbing her flattened hands three times out and up one after the other, finishing with spreading her arms out wide and then swinging them both in, the palms of both of her hands just inches from each other. The Metang’s grunt pulled his left arm to his torso and held a clawed fingered hand over his Z-Ring and pulled up, finishing with a falling to his right knee and holding both arms out down to the right with both hands forming claws. The Slowking’s grunt put his weight and arms in to his left, pushing off and spinning once around before spreading his legs wide, falling forward, and catching himself with his right hand while holding his left arm up.

At once, their Z-Power shot out from their backs and transferred into their Pokémon, the amount being channeled producing another windy burst that blew harshly into Sam, Alice, and Fluttershy.

“You did pretty well up until this point,” the Metang’s grunt spoke.

“But you can’t defeat all us,” the Slowking’s grunt finished.

“Especially after this…” The Hypno’s grunt pointed her arm out. “Hypno, Subzero Slammer!”

“Metang, Acid Downpour!”

“Slowking, Tectonic Rage!”

The Hypno unwound its pendulum from its hand, spinning it around and channeling itself with a cold-blue misty aura. Spears of ice began to jut out from the ground around it, and with a thrust of its arms, a massive white beam the width of the diameter its chain shot out at Fomantis, who could not avoid the beam hitting it and entrapping it in a twenty-foot tower of ice that formed where it stood.

“Fomantis!” Sam shouted, his foggy breath pouring out from his mouth.

The Metang thrust its arms out, a thick purple gas spewing out from its sides and forming another twister, taking Comfey inside of it. With the chill of the tower of ice, the gas in the twister began to solidify into sickly globs of slime that struck Comfey ceaselessly until it was floating limply to the floor.

“No, Comfey, no!” Fluttershy wept hard as she ran inside to pick her Pokémon out.

Even with her breath held, the effect of the freezing, poisonous jelly that hit Fluttershy tickled and soured her lungs, and with Comfey in her grasp, she erupted into a hard coughing fit as if she had just nearly drowned, running back out as quickly as she could. Finally, the Slowking slammed its hands to the ground, causing a fissure in the earth that instantly swallowed Pikachu inside of it.

“PIKACHU, NO!” Alice shieked.

With Slowking's glowing hands out, the crack in the earth began to glow bright and hot. From far behind, Starlight noticed as the ice tower Fomantis was trapped in began to squeak loudly as the ice expanded and cracked.

She looked to her still unconscious Sylveon, feeling immense guilt over what she was about to do. “Guys, hold on!” She galloped out to them, her horn charging.

A plume of lava erupted out of the fissure, Pikachu shooting from the top of it. With the cold of the ice mixing with the heat of the molten rock, the ice tower and lava plume exploded with a deafening boom.

Fluttershy, Sam, and Alice were too shocked to shield themselves only for a translucent blue wall to rise up from the ground between the side of the volcano and the edge of the cliff, blocking the force from ten-feet up. Starlight let out a yelp as her magic instantly faded, unable to handle the strength of the explosion. The wall shattered and disappeared, forcing Sam, Alice, Starlight and Fluttershy to get thrown off their feet and hooves and thrown back to where Lady lied, the motionless bodies of Pikachu and Fomantis rolling back to them as well.

As they passed over the Akala Outskirts, Gladion, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie heard the bang from the explosion, looking to the behind of the volcano where they faced it to see fragments of ice and rock shoot around to both sides.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Was that them?”

Gladion pressed his lips together. “We have to hurry! There’s not much time. YAH!”

On Gladion’s cry, his Charizard dipped down and gained more speed, heading to round the volcano east from the south. Rainbow Dash followed their tail, flapping her wings harder to pick up even faster.

Sam and Alice shot to their feet, facing the three grunts and their Pokémon. Sam breathed heavily to see that there was now a twenty foot gap between them and the Prism grunts and their pained, sparking Pokémon where the path had been. The leader stood closeby behind them, their Alakazam holding its glowing spoons out. Once it set them down, a once invisible wall shield that had shielded the grunts from the blast wiped its way down before it vanished. Alice looked down the edge, the large chunks of the ground that were once there now rubble at the bottom of an eighty foot drop.

“Now you’ll just have to go the long way around!” the Hypno’s grunt exclaimed. “But that won’t even be easy anymore!”

The sounds of footsteps filled the ears of Sam, Alice, and their friends. Turning around, the six other grunts they had defeated were now standing in a wall preventing them from going back.

“There’s two options left for you!” the leader yelled out. “Let us leave with the ponies without another word, or you can surrender them over the fainted bodies of you and your remaining Pokémon.”

Sam and Alice felt as Starlight and Fluttershy backed into their legs, deathly frightened and shivering. Alice looked to her Pikachu and Sam’s Fomantis, clenching her fist with a nearly impossible decision. After glancing back to her brother, who looked back to her, she pulled her Pikachu’s Poké Ball off the belt.

“Like my brother said…” She returned Pikachu inside its ball, replacing it with another. “We’ll take our chances. Go, Mudbray!”

Throwing her ball out to the six grunts blocking them, her Mudbray appeared from it. With a charging leap from it, the grunts instinctively stepped back, Mudbray guarding its trainer and her group from them in a wide, defensive stance.

“I still haven’t used mine yet.” Sam displayed a futile smirk as he returned Fomantis into its ball, swapping it out for his last. “Your turn, Salandit!”

Sam held the ball as it opened up, Salandit appearing and landing on the edge of the gap separating it from the remaining grunts’ Pokémon.

“And what do you think that little black turd can do from all the way over there?” the Slowking’s grunt yelled out.

Sam let out an uncontrollable chuckle, removing his Normalium Z from his Z-Ring. “You know, if my sister and I hadn’t cleared the Fire Trial just now, I admit I wouldn’t be able to do much. However…” Sam put his crystal back into his pocket and pulled out his new Firium Z. “…since we did, I’d say my so-called turd is going to rain hell upon you all.”

Sam pressed his crystal inside the ring, immediately then crossing his wrists in front of his face. Salandit followed Sam in his motions, and after putting his arms down and then crossed back out, they both fanned upwards twice before swinging his left arm down with his other hand on his elbow.

Sam’s pure-yellow Z-Power flowed out of him and inside of his Salandit, who swayed pleasurably with the power coursing through it.

“You put up quite a fight yourself!” Sam shouted. “What was this, eleven to four? Sounds about right for you guys.” He then held his fists out, feeling his arms tingle with the Z-Power still pent up inside him. “We’re getting off this mountain, one way or another, and you scumbags aren’t going to stop us! Now go, Salandit! Inferno Overdrive!”

Salandit crouched itself down, a single flame appearing before the end of its snout, smaller numerous flames appearing from nowhere around it and swirling into the center, converging into an even larger flame as it began to grow twice the size of Salandit’s body. With a spit, Salandit launched its massive fireball at the Hypno in the center of the trio of Pokémon. The three Pokémon took a defensive stance as the fire came closer, but it clipped against the corner of the gap and produced a colossal explosion, throwing fire and blasted rock up and around.

The flames all struck the grunts' Pokémon, throwing both them and their trainers off their feet. The half-haired grunt was too thrown off the side of the mountain where it stood, being swept alongside his fellow grunts and their Pokémon. The four of them and the fainted Hypno, Slowking, and Metang appeared at their leaders feet, who, along with their Alakazam, shielded their faces from the burst of heat Salandit’s attack had made.

Several grunts from behind Sam attempted to approach them, Mudbray quickl to stamp its hooves hard and whinny, keeping them back and at bay. As Starlight and Fluttershy stared down at the leader and their Alakazam, they couldn’t help but notice a sound of feet hitting the ground and sliding down from above them, their mouths hanging open as the figure became more noticeable as it slid down the mountain.

“Such pointlessness,” the leader spoke, shaking its head. “I said you weren’t getting off this mountain with those ponies, and I meant it. Now you’ll have to take us all on at once!”

Sam and Salandit watched as the four grunts on the other side of the gap stood up, the half-haired grunt bringing his Kadabra back. He then saw as they each pulled a Revive from their robes, prepared to bring them back. Alice and Mudbray saw this too, each of the grunts bringing their Poké Balls back out. Starlight and Fluttershy continued looking up, watching as it slid down to where the leader and their Alakazam stood.

The leader seemed completely too wrapped up in their retribution to notice the Pokémon careening toward them. “Prepare your self for a world of hurt, kids–”

“Multi-Attack!”

The leader audibly gasped, turning to his left to see Gladion’s Silvally hop off the side of the mountain and slash its dark claws into Alakazam’s chest, the attack heavily weakening it and bringing it to a kneel. The leader and their Alakazam scuttled backwards to keep their distance from the Silvally as it crouched down, ready to attack if they tried anything. The four grunts on the same side of the gap also nervously backed themselves close to the edge out of fear, leaving their Pokémon behind.

The sound of wings were then heard above them, Sam, Alice, Starlight, and Fluttershy all looking up to not only see Gladion hovering down to the middle of the gap on his Charizard, but Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie beside him as well.

Even with their current predicament, Starlight and Fluttershy smiled wider than they ever did since arriving on Alola. “Pinkie Pie!” Starlight screamed.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy wept

“You guys are okay!” Rainbow Dash shouted out, also streaming tears down her face.

“If we weren’t fighting for our lives right now, I’d give you all the biggest hug!” cried Pinkie Pie.

Sam and Alice looked to Gladion, seriously unsure about what he would do.

Gladion reached into his red waist bag and tossed what he grabbed out to them both. “Here!” Sam and Alice each caught one, seeing that they were both Max Revives. The two of them looked up, a bit confused. “That Sylveon and Comfey. Give those to them!”

Understanding, Sam slid down to Lady and slipped it inside of her mouth. As Alice knelt to Fluttershy with Comfey slung around her neck to feed it the Revive, several of the grunts behind them began to bring out their Pokémon, the dark-brown haired grunt, the pale blue-haired grunt, and the red-haired grunt sending out their Bruxish, Oranguru, and Espeon, who were still tuckered out from the earlier fight.

Alice was already well aware of their sneak. “Nope! Mudbray, hit them with Bulldoze!”

Mudbray charged the half-dozen grunts and threw up mud in a wave right at them. Just as the three grunts were about to put a regular Revive in their Pokémon’s mouths, they, along with the other three grunts, were knocked and thrown down by the mud, dropping their Revives.

Fluttershy quickly took the Max Revive from Alice’s grasp and fed it to her Comfey, beginning to wake it up. Once Lady’s Max Revive dissolved into its mouth, it sprung awake, and upon seeing Sam first, it hugged his face close to its own with her feelers.

Starlight turned to see Lady up and fully healed, running to its side. Fluttershy fed the last of her Max Revive to Comfey, waking it back up so it could give Fluttershy’s face a hug.

“Come on, guys,” Starlight stepped forward with Lady, Comfey joining it. “We still have some work to do. Lady, Fairy Wind!”

With a deep inhale, Lady blew its pink glitter breath at the grunts, also managing to blow the three dropped Revives off the side of the volcano, leading to their owners’ shouts of anguish. With Lady, Comfey, and Mudbray guarding them, the six grunts refused to make a move other than breathing.

Sam and Alice turned back to the grunts and their leader on the other side of the gap, watching as Gladion, his Charizard, and the other two ponies landed there, the former approaching the leader.

“You’re a slow learner, aren’t you?” Gladion said to them.

“But I still learn, Gladion. And we’re still far from finished here. Alakazam, Flash!”

Crossing its spoons together, a blinding light shot out from them, forcing Gladion, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie to shield their eyes. With the bright flash behind them, Starlight and Fluttershy glanced behind them to watch as the silhouette of the Prism leader and their Alakazam appeared instantly between the four grunts and the Pokémon, and with another bright flash, they, including the first, bigger flash, disappeared, leaving Gladion, Charizard, and the ponies alone on the other side of the gap.

A stampede of footsteps soon sounded off, and upon turning back, Starlight and Fluttershy saw that the remaining six grunts had bolted, running into the cave leading back to the top of the volcano.

“No!” Starlight broke into a gallop. “Lady, after them!”

“Starlight, wait!” Alice ran with her Mudbray to follow her, Fluttershy quick to tag behind with Comfey.

As Sam reached out to them, he suddenly looked down to notice Salandit scurrying backwards as if to leave room for someone. Turning back around, Gladion and his Charizard landed on the edge of the gap, quickly sliding off on the side Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie landed on.

Sam looked between Gladion and the two ponies, gasping with slight relief. “Uh… hey there?”

Starlight, Alice, and Fluttershy continued their way through the cave, coming close to the exit, but finding no other trace of Team Prism. It wasn’t until she saw a bright flash shine further up the path that she quickened her pace. Upon exiting, she turned to the left immediately, only for her ears to droop fearfully to find no one on the path, clearly having vanished. Alice, Mudbray, Fluttershy, and Comfey came out soon after to see the end of their chase.

Starlight then grit her teeth and hung her head low. “Damn you, Team Prism. DAMN YOU!”

“Starlight!” Alice put her hand on Starlight’s shoulder, which she quickly swatted away by turning around.

“WHAT?!”

“I think they ran for their lives. We don’t have to worry about them anymore… for now.”

“What if they just tried luring us back out?” Fluttershy wondered nervously.

“Then we should get back to Sam before they have a chance to heal their Pokémon. It should be safer inside the cave.”

Alice began a jog to go back inside, only to wince and grip her right shin. “Hahhh… really picked a bad day to climb a mountain and get jumped.”

Mudbray let out a soft moan and rubbed its side against Alice’s butt, and with a smile, she hopped up and sat on her back.

Mudbray trotted inside the cave with Alice in tow, Starlight, Fluttershy, Lady, and Comfey matching their pace.

“So you’re the one who’s been keeping Starlight and Fluttershy safe?” Rainbow Dash asked Sam with only the slightest hint of wariness.

Sam rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit sheepish. “I wouldn’t say I’m the only one–”

He was quickly assaulted with a tight, surprise embrace from Pinkie Pie. “Thank you so much! You’re such a friend to us now!”

“Don’t… mention it?” Sam fought as hard as he could to prevent from getting pushed off his feet.

“Pinkie!” Gladion snapped. “He’s been through a lot today already, let him breathe!”

“Oops!” Pinkie Pie slid off of Sam, who took a deep gulp of fresh air. “Sorry, mister!”

“It’s Sam…” he panted. “My name is Sam.”

“Sam, huh?” Rainbow Dash approached him and put her hoof up. “Hoof me, dude.”

It was the first time he heard the expression, but Sam was quick to guess what she wanted him to do, balling his hand to a fist and giving the base of her hoof a firm pound.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash giggled, “that’s what I like to feel. You have no clue what you did means to me.”

“I think I have an idea…”

Alice and Mudbray emerged from the cave, followed by Starlight, Fluttershy, and both of their Pokémon. Both ponies eyes locked onto their friends, and theirs locked onto them. After a few moments of silence, stunned shock morphed into overwhelming joy as all four ponies sniffled and let their tears flow from their eyes.

“Guys!” Rainbow Dash bellowed, galloping to Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie leapt up and fell towards Starlight, who gladly caught her in her arms and twirled. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy leapt up wrapping their arms around their backs, their wings flaring open.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Fluttershy bawled

“Me too,” Rainbow Dash blubbered. “Me too.”

Sam and Alice watched on as Pinkie Pie stretched her arm across to include the two pegasi in her embrace, Fluttershy slipping an arm around Pinkie Pie to hold her close. Alice huffed out and wiped her moistening eyes while Sam bit his lip and breathed heavily, not wanting to let his emotions out.

With two tears falling from his eyes, he could only dry them with the bottom of his shirt. “God dammit…”

“You two.” Alice and Sam were suddenly frightened into turning around, seeing Gladion approach them, his fixed stern expression on his face. “We were still several miles out from Akala Island when Team Prism attacked.” He suddenly smirked, surprising the two. “You managed to hold them off very well. I apologize for misjudging you.”

Alice smiled smugly, happy to have made yet another ally. “That’s okay. We’re cool.”

Alice reached her hand forward and shook Gladion’s hand. Sam reached his hand forward to him, quick to accept his forgiveness with a handshake of his own. “Yep. Thanks for the help, Gladion.”

“No…” Gladion peered back to the ponies, watching as Starlight introduced her friends to Lady, who Pinkie Pie was quick to hug. “…it’s your help I should be thanking.”

Salandit crawled up Sam and laid out across the back of his neck, watching with Alice and Gladion at the reunion they had managed to make.

Comments

[StrawberryGamer]

Does whatever you write these chapters on have Autocorrect? Because it sure seems like it turned a lot of perfectly good words into typos

[moviemaster8510]

8403724 I tend to write through my chapters very quickly (this one especially because I liked writing this particular one and I wanted to finish it before I left for something tonight), and that causes me to gloss over errors that I type, especially when they're so identical to the word I meant to write. Microsoft Word's favorite words to change on me are "Gladion" and "Fomantis" into "Gladden" and "Foments."

[StrawberryGamer]

8194205
Oh but plotholes are the best part!

[DWM32]

What would you think about if pinkie pie and rainbow dash have their own pokemon like fluttershy and starlight. And what would they be for rainbow dash and pinkie pie. Let me know and send it my email address. And love that chapter. Keep Up the good work man. 😎😎😎😎😎😎😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤:rainbowdetermined2