Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 55 – Battle of Mount Hokulani

Sun, Lillie, and Gladion stood outside Plumeria’s mansion while looking up to the sky, the former now wearing his black shorts and blue-and-white shirt, a Poké Ball belt with five balls attached slipped around his waist. Lillie’s hair was now put into a simple ponytail, her outfit now consisting of white jeans and a short-sleeve turtleneck sweater. Sun’s hair was still wet and matted down from the shower, something that didn’t appear to bother him, despite the fact that something on his face implied that something clearly was.

Gladion took note of Sun’s anxious breathing. “He’ll call when he calls. Relax.”

Sun’s Pokédex began to ring and vibrate, and he swung his bag around and caught it by the zipper, pulling up until it opened. Pulling his device out, he was nonplussed to not see Hau on the caller ID but Wicke. Slowly, he tapped the answer icon.

“Sun!” Wicke huffed. “Is Hau near yet?”

“Wicke?” Lillie hopped over to look over Sun’s shoulder, surprised to see her on the screen. “What’s going on, what happened?”

“There’s been a… change of plans.”

Sun felt his grip on the Pokédex tighten, struggling to keep it or his hand from trembling ever so slightly.

The bus continued up the winding road, the steep cliffs of the mountain’s edge on either side of them and the long drops down visible from the windows of each side. While the mountain was considerably dryer and drabber than Mt. Lanakila or the land outside Malie City, it was much more tranquil, the muted bus’s engine the only sound to be heard. Alice looked off in the distance to see a small, but advanced village still a couple miles away. With a sigh, she looked up to the sky from the window, the thicker clouds much closer.

“What’s wrong, Alice?” Pinkie Pie peered over the back of Alice’s seat. “Aren’t you excited to meet Hau and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and Twilight and Spike and–”

“Pinkie, Pinkie!” Alice snapped. “Yes, I’m very excited to see all of them, but something just seems really off.”

“What for?” Applejack came up beside Pinkie Pie. “We’ll be there in a few minutes, and as far as we know, those Prism grunts that we saw are still counting sheep courtesy of Starlight.”

“I don’t know. Other than the grunts Wicke showed us and the ones that attacked us, I don’t remember seeing any others as we were escaping. Don’t you think that given their numbers, we would have seen at least a few more, even in the alleys?”

“What are you saying?” Sam asked.

Alice felt nervous to say what she had concluded. “I’m thinking that Prism–”

*PAHKLSH*

The right side of the bus was struck, breaking the windows and spraying pieces of glass onto Starlight, Rarity, Shining Armor, Lady, and Discord. As they screamed and yelped, they opened their arms to find they were covered in a translucent turquoise sheet that the shards bounced harmlessly off of.

The driver slammed his brakes and threw the wheel to the left, sending the back of the bus drifting off so the bus blocked both lanes of the street before stopping. Sam and Alice let go of the sides of their seats and looked around, still not certain what had happened. As Rarity, Shining Armor, and Discord checked their bodies for cuts or glass embedded into them, they saw as Starlight charged her horn down, panting over the close call she had made.

“Good save,” Shining Armor breathed.

Pinkie Pie shook the wooziness from her head. “Did we take the bumper-cars bus? Since when did this become a carnival?”

Ignoring her quip, Sam, Alice, and Applejack rushed over to their friends on the right of the bus. “Are you alright?” Alice asked.

“Looks like,” Rarity said. “I don’t see any blood on my coat.”

With a bright flash of light distracting him, Sam looked up through the window at a sight that made him feel ill. “No… god dammit, no!”

Alice and the others looked out too and very well saw what he was seeing. With over a dozen grunts behind them, Faba, Chrysalis, and the Prism leader awaited them twenty feet from the bus, all standing in neat little rows. Chrysalis smiled wide as she saw each of the Equestrians looking at her through the windows of the bus as if it were their cage.

“I’m guessing this is what you were scared about?” Pinkie Pie’s question was met only with a gulp and a nod from Alice.

“Who the hell are they?” the driver shouted. “They weren’t even on the road when we got hit!”

“They likely weren’t,” Starlight responded, “but they’re the ones who hit us.”

The driver looked between Sam and Alice incredulously before delaying a point at the pink unicorn. “And they can talk?”

“There’s no use waiting!” The leader shouted. “Come out of the bus slowly or we’ll tear it apart to get to you.”

Sam sighed, walking toward the driver. “It’s a long story, one we don’t have much time to tell here.” He then waved to the Prism leader, ensuring he understood their threats. “You get off the bus first and go down the road. Once it’s clear, you can go to the summit, get a new bus back down, call the cops, I don’t care. We just can’t have you in the middle of this thing.”

“And I certainly don’t want to be.” Grabbing the lever, the driver pulled the doors open, the grunts behind the leader reaching for their Poké Balls.

The leader put their hand up to stop them. “Calm down, they’re not stupid.”

At once, the bus driver quickly stepped down and ran around the front of the bus as fast as his legs could carry him. Once he was out of sight, the leader focused on the remaining humans and Equestrians inside.

Sam was about to step out with his left hand up until Alice grabbed his right. “Sam, wha– are you serious right now?”

“I don’t think they’ll give us any fighting chance if they have to rip the bus open. All we can hope now is that Sun and Hau got Wicke’s message.”

“Let’s go!” Chrysalis bellowed

“They aren’t going anywhere,” the leader coolly promised. “At least those kids aren’t.”

Sam looked to his sister and the Equestrians, all of whom awaited for some kind of surprise plan to save them, but as the silence carried, Alice stood up and came close behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort. With a nod, Sam made his way down the steps, counting each second his feet went on the next one until they were both on the street.

With his hands still up, Alice exited the bus as well, followed by Starlight, Lady, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Discord. The nine of them lined up beside the bus before facing the leader and their small army.

“Hmph!” Faba chortled. “If we had done this from the beginning, we might have had this whole thing wrapped up days ago!”

“Just get your Alakazam out already.” Frightened by the immediate sternness of their voice, Faba did as his leader instructed, tossing out his Ultra Ball and sending his Alakazam out.

As his Alakazam stretched its limbs out, Starlight shifted her mouth toward Sam and Alice. “Guys, get ready.”

Sam shot his gaze to Starlight, trying not to turn his head out of shock. “Starlight, what are you–”

“Shining Armor, grab his belt!” Starlight quickly charged her horn and shot a small aura ball at the buckle of the leader’s Poké Ball belt poking out from the unzipped bottom half of their robe.

As Shining Armor charged his own horn and Sam and Alice grabbed hold of a Poké Ball, the leader quickly widened their stance so that the magic attack came at the bottom of their chest, their clawed, open hand held there to catch it. The attack struck the palm of their glove, and their fingers clasped around it. The force was enough to throw the leader backward and force the grunts behind them to disperse to make way.

Sam, Alice, and their friends all gasped as the leader continued holding on to the magic aura as it appeared to try and keep pushing at them. “Hah… Should have expected that.”

With a labored throw to the right, the leader redirected the magic ball off toward the ground at the bottom of the cliff, where it exploded in a small mushroom cloud of dust and rock. With their retaliation thwarted, Starlight and Shining Armor bared their teeth and yelled as the aura on their horns expanded out to form two high walls that extended to each end of the road.

“Aw, this is just disgraceful now!” The leader plucked a Poké Ball from their belt and tossed it out. “Malamar, Psycho Cut!”

“Malamar?” Alice gasped, detaching her Poké Ball from her belt.

The leader’s squid Pokémon leapt forth from the energy of its ball, and with two lashes of its two main tentacles, two bows of magenta energy flew out at Shining Armor and Starlight’s walls. The first one hit just before the last, managing to shatter both walls like thin glass. As the pieces hit the ground and dissolved into the air, both unicorns swooned before catching themselves on their shins.

“Mimikyu!” Alice cried, throwing her ball. “Play Rough!”

“Lady!” Starlight roared. “Shadow Ball!”

As Starlight’s Sylveon formed a dark-purple ball with its feelers, Alice’s ghost Pokémon bounded out from the energy of its ball and fell toward Malamar, which sidestepped to avoid the attack. As Mimikyu attempted to grab hold of its target with its shadowy arm, Malamar dodged and evaded each attempt. Meanwhile, Lady shot its attack at Faba’s Alakazam, hitting it dead in the chest and knocking it to its back.

“No!” Chrysalis charged her horn and the device on it, changing its magic aura from green to magenta. “Not this time!”

Starlight, Rarity, and Shining Armor were suddenly enveloped in Chrysalis’s converted aura, collapsing to the ground gagging and whining as their bodies were squeezed in from every perceivable point.

“Guys!” Sam screamed.

Applejack ran at the changeling queen. “Let ‘em go!”

Leaping up and spinning around to kick her with her back legs, Applejack was surprised to find her back hooves hitting a flat tingling surface before the surface blasted her off into the air back to her friends. With the strength of the recoil she rolled into the side of the bus before lying down tiredly and limply on the ground. Alice and the others looked fearfully to see Faba’s Alakazam hold one of its spoons in Chrysalis’s direction, the soft glow on it dying down.

“Malamar!” the leader shouted. “Hit that pest with Night Slash!”

With the broader sides of its tentacles going black, Malamar lashed at Mimikyu, who also appeared to leap and dip underneath its attacks.

Chrysalis laughed maniacally as Starlight and Shining Armor’s breathing got more hoarse and labored. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on the winning end against you and your friends, and I must say, it’s incredibly delightful!”

Sam couldn’t take much more, detaching a Poké Ball from his belt and reeling back before tossing it. “Doublade, save the–”

Sam stopped himself mid-throw and glanced up at the large shape coming at the Prism grunts from behind. Upon recognizing it, he couldn’t help but let out a smirk that the Prism leader was quick to notice as their head perked up in realization. Just as they turned back, they saw as a Drampa threw its head down and blasted down on the street with a plume of Dragon Breath.

Several grunts leapt out of the way while a few others were flattened to their stomachs by it. Faba, his Alakazam, the leader, and their Malamar both jumped aside, but Chrysalis, still preoccupied with the three unicorns in her control, could only turn back fast enough to see Drampa’s blue flames ravage into her. As she screamed, unable to hold her spell, Starlight, Shining Armor, and Rarity were freed, breathing loudly and hastily while the Drampa above continued its flight.

Lady and Alice both ran to Starlight, the latter pushing up on her chest to help her onto her hooves. “Starlight, are you okay?”

Starlight tried to reignite her horn, only for several small sparks to fizzle at the top. “All things considered. Guys?”

Shining Armor found that he had the same weak charge. “Lost my magic again, but fine otherwise.”

“Yes, thank you darling,” Rarity addressed.

Applejack also slowly got onto to her hooves. “I’ll be sore tomorrow, but I’m okay.”

“Wait a sec, guys!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “Mimikyu was in that blast! Mimikyu, come on–” On cue, Mimikyu quickly slid itself back to Alice’s side from the dust cloud left from the Dragon Breath. “Oh, hey Mimikyu! I almost thought you got burnt to a crisp for a second!”

Chrysalis peered up to see Alice’s Pokémon in apparent perfect health, growling in anger. “But how? How could that ugly little runt withstand that attack!?”

“Fairy-type, bitch!” Alice shouted back. “And you’re one to talk about other’s appearances!”

As Shining Armor got to his hooves, Sam put his Poké Ball back onto his belt and reached into his bag, pulling out one of the training staffs from it. “Shining Armor!”

Sam threw the baton out to the stallion, who caught it in his teeth. Pressing the button on it with his tongue, the staff opened up as he stepped forward to prepare to fight. As well, the Drampa flew back over the bus and quickly rested before Sam, facing the Prism army.

Sam breathed out, dumbfounded. “Dr… Drampa?”

The dragon turned back and nodded to him, acknowledging itself as the one that carried them down Mt. Lanakila, Sam letting out a chuckle.

“You just can’t let me out of your sight, huh?”

Drampa turned back to face Prism, glaring especially hard at Malamar and Alakazam.

“So you wish to fight then?” The Prism leader’s question was met with everyone widening or arching their stances, prepared to charge. “Fine. For once, you’ll learn where your blind heroism will get you!”

“Go, Decidueye!”

Just as the Prism army and the Pokémon turned back at the source of the voice, two feathery arrows struck both the heads of Malamar and Alakazam. Though Malamar appeared somewhat annoyed by the hit, Alakazam got thrown back down to its stomach.

Faba twitched his fingers, seeing that his Pokémon would not get up. “Wha–?!”

Looking back up, he spotted a large owl with a green, leafy hood, wood-brown feathers, and a white body falling toward the ground. With its left arm raised up and holding tight to a vine drawstring, it appeared to him as an organic bow. Gliding to the ground behind the Decidueye were Sun, Gladion, Lillie, and Hau’s Charizards, their group of Equestrians close behind. Despite their dire situation, Discord and the ponies gasped happily at the sight of the rest of their friends as they came in close behind.

“Twilight!” Starlight called. “Fluttershy!”

As the Decidueye and the Charizards quickly landed, so did Twilight and the others. “Don’t worry, girls! We’re here now!”

“You guys okay on your end?” Gladion called out as he, Lillie, Sun, and Hau brought their Charizards back to their Ride Pagers.

“Now that you’re here!” Discord eagerly responded.

Reinforced by their presence, Sam, Alice, and their group stepped forward. Though the Prism army held its ground, the grunts in the back turned to see Sun, Hau, and their group blocking them from behind.

“Alright, you jerks,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “you’re surrounded now! Don’t bother us and we won’t bother you, got it?”

Hearing the sounds of Hau, Lillie, and Gladion clasping their first Poké Balls, the leader turned back at the newcomers ready to flank them from behind. Turning back at the group in front of them, they froze up as if they could feel their rage seeping out from the face behind their hood.

“No…” they huffed. “Not like this…”

Slapping their hand to their chest, the air around their torso had began to appear fractured as if being viewed through a clear gemstone. The phenomena spread out until the leader’s army, as well as the humans and Equestrians on both sides of them were enveloped.

With the imperceptible walls of this space spinning and warping around them, Sam and Alice quickly found themselves floating off the ground and isolated from their friends. Hearing their friends screams of fear from nearly every angle and distances both far and near, they looked about to see visions of their friends passing from one edge of a window to another before the refractions made them disappear once again.

Then at once, the ground opened in front of them as gravity took effect once again, letting them fall face-first onto the street. Quickly getting back up, they were shocked to find that they, along with the equally confused Drampa and Mimikyu, were now facing the other end of the street where Sun and his friends had stood. Looking left and right, they found that they were completely on their own, the rest of their friends all backed against the bus with Faba, Chrysalis, and the Prism grunts all facing them.

Alice turned to face the Prism leader and their Malamar, who was now standing in front of them by themselves. “What… what did you just do?”

“Just leveling the playing field, is all.” The fractured air receded into the space above their upward-facing palm before it mended itself back to normal. “Now, while my friends deal with yours, I’ll finally be taking you two thorns out of my sides!”

On the other side of the Prism army, the Equestrians were just coming to terms with their sudden change in location, reuniting with each other upon spotting them. Starlight and Discord ran to Thorax and Trixie on either side, embracing them.

“Starlight!” Trixie wept. “I was so worried about you!”

“Same!”

“And now we’re together again!” Discord managed to pick all three of his friends up, holding them close to his chest.

Twilight looked to the Prism army and spotted Chrysalis, who also appeared to spot her, both of their eyes shooting open.

“Chrysalis!” Twilight shouted.

“Twilight!” Chrysalis hissed.

“I didn’t want to believe it when I heard it, but here you are.”

Chrysalis’s lips curled to a smile and chuckled. “Yes, and if you thought Equestria was in danger at this very moment, just wait until my new friends and I return to it!”

“You’ll never have that chance! I won’t allow it!”

“Ha! And what can you possibly do now? Can you even use your magic after that?”

Twilight charged her horn for a quick attack, only to find that it was only a small fizzle, the light draining from her eyes.

With another laugh, Chrysalis charged her horn. “I’ve waited years for this…”

Just as her green aura turned magenta, she was caught unaware as Starmie boomeranged into her forehead just below her horn and returned to Lillie, along with Gladion and his Dark-type Silvally, Hau and his Pangoro, and Sun and his Decidueye.

“We waited hours,” Hau retorted. “Send out your worst, guys! After Dexio, I’m ready to take on anything!”

Faba let out a shrill grunt as he called his Alakazam back to its ball. “Insolent brats! You will no longer make a mockery out of us! Go, Bruxish!”

As he called out his floating pink triggerfish Pokémon, the other grunts each detached their Poké Balls and tossed them out. Joining Chrysalis and Bruxish on the front lines in successive flashes of white from the balls were three Kadabras, two Slowkings, a Hypno, an Oranguru, two Slowbros, a Metang, two Espeons, a Pa’u Style Oricorio, and another Bruxish.

“Wow,” Pinkie Pie spoke, hushed, “now that’s an army.”

“Big deal!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “We’ve dealt with groups of you in this size before!”

“As have I!” Twilight spoke. “Come on everyone, we have to try and help out Sam and Alice!”

“Right!” Starlight and Fluttershy shouted back, Lady and Comfey joining the other Pokémon on their side.

“Starmie!” Lillie shouted. “Use Swift on Faba’s Bruxish!”

“Kadabra!” A young male grunt with short sand-colored hair yelled. “Block the attack and hit Starmie with Charge Beam!”

As Starmie shot star-shaped lights from the gem in its center, the Kadabra crossed its spoons together, shooting out bolts of lightning that collided with most of the star shaped beams. As a few of the stars got past the lightning and struck Faba’s Bruxish, a weaker beam passed through and struck Starmie, both attacks not seeming to do much damage to the other. At once, the remaining Pokémon on both sides charged each other.

“Malamar!” The Prism leader shouted with an outstretched arm. “Hit Drampa with Superpower!”

With its body becoming awash with a reddish-brown aura, Malamar bowed its head at the Drampa before shooting forward at it. A bright, fiery cone formed around the top of Malamar’s head as it plowed into the top of Drampa’s chest. As it slid back toward Sam, it dug its claws into the street, reducing its speeds just before it could collide with him.

As Malamar returned to its trainer, the leader perked their head up as Drampa panted, heavily hurt by the attack. “Impressive. Most Pokémon don’t survive my Malamar’s Superpower, especially those already weak to Fighting-type attacks.”

Drampa squinted, bearing its teeth with rage mounting in its expression.

“Maybe you’ll stop underestimating us finally,” Alice grunted. “Mimikyu, hit Malamar with Play Rough!”

As Mimikyu ran ahead, the leader puffed dismissively. “This again? Malamar, dodge it!”

“Drampa!” Sam yelled. “Use Dragon Breath!”

The Drampa breathed in while Mimikyu’s shadow arms shot out from beneath its disguise. Leaping up, Mimikyu grabbed at Malamar, only for it to duck back beneath its grasp. Drampa breathed out its blue fire, and right before the attack hit, Malamar sprung back up, striking Mimikyu in its disguise’s stomach and knocking it back to Alice.

The fires covered Malamar, the leader putting their arm before their face to shield themselves from the intense, cool heat. As the fires dispersed, Malamar’s arms slumped to the ground, and as it tried picking them up, it found that it was too weak to.

“She’s paralyzed!” Sam cheered. “Way to go, Drampa!”

The dragon mewed happily.

Alice looked into the space inside the leader’s hood. “Let’s see your slimy squid avoid this one! Mimikyu, Play Rough!”

“Drampa, another Dragon Breath!”

The Drampa breathed in, throwing its head back. Mimikyu turned and stared at the dragon and then ran toward it, confusing and frightening Alice and Sam.

“Mimikyu!” she cried. “What are you–”

Mimikyu leapt up and tilted its body away as Drampa whipped its head forward, its eyes closed. With perfect aim, the Dragon Breath launched from its mouth and propelled Mimikyu forward. Mimikyu slid its arms out and reached at Malamar, whose helpless position allowed Mimikyu to tackle it to the ground as the Dragon Breath engulfed them both.

Lillie’s Starmie tumbled back after getting thrown back by a Bruxish’s mouth. Lillie ran to her Pokémon, cradling it as the light in its gem flickered out and went limp in her arms as the visual and audible cacophony of blasts, beams, and flying bodies went on above her.

“Nice job, Bruxish!” a teenaged grunt with bobbed purple hair shouted to her Pokémon.

Looking behind her, she saw as the Drampa’s Dragon Breah and Mimikyu’s Play Rough viciously assaulted the leader’s Malamar.

“Those kids… Bruxish, hit that Mimikyu with Crunch!”

As was told, the Bruxish swam back, weaving through the rows of grunts giving their Pokémon commands. Passing through the last row, it swam around the leader’s legs and tilted sideways with its mouth wide open. Grabbing hold of its disguise’s neck, Bruxish clamped hard and broke it with a soft crack.

The leader, realizing what happened, chuckled. “Malamar, hit Mimikyu with Night Slash!”

The grunt’s Bruxish threw Mimikyu back as Malamar slung its right tentacle out, whipping Mimikyu into its disguise’s stomach and throwing it back to Alice.

Mimikyu! Are you alright?” Mimikyu got back up to its feet, and upon feeling its lopsided disguise head against its body, it stretched upward, screeching at Malamar and its trainer.

Sam hissed, distraught by Mimikyu’s anger. “Drampa, take the Bruxish out with Dragon Breath!”

The Drampa blew its blue flames at the triggerfish with great intensity, Malamar forming an invisible barrier to protect itself and its trainer from the wisps that threatened to flicker into them. When the Drampa finally let off, the flames faded away to reveal Bruxish lying on the street, fainted.

“Ugh, damn!” The Bruxish’s grunt called her Pokémon back.

“Thank you for the assist!” The leader called to her.

With a nod, the grunt ran off to the side of the street, only able to watch the battles as they continued on both sides. Sun’s Decidueye dodged an Espeon’s Shadow Ball, and in its ducked position, it allowed Silvally to leap over and strike it with an X-Scissor, knocking it into two grunts.

Silvally was soon sucker punched in the gut by the Metang’s Brick Break, sending it flying off toward the edge of one of the cliffs. Before it could land, Discord ran in and curled its body into a single-coiled spring, allowing Silvally to bounce off of it and land nimbly on its feet.

Discord pumped his arm, uncaring for Silvally running back into the line of fire. “Yes! No magic required on that sweet save!”

On the other side, the Prism leader reached into their cloak and pulled out a Full Restore. As they sprayed Malamar, its body and tentacles became more limber and fluid, regaining its health and mobility.

“Figures. We might as well heal our Pokémon too.” Sam got out a Max Potion and hopped over to the Drampa, aiming the bottle at it. As he sprayed the dragon, it let out a deep honk, shocked by the sudden cold sensation. “Don’t worry. You’ll be better after this.”

“I’ve got a better solution!” Alice shouted. “Mimikyu, use Leech Life!”

Mimikyu ran out at Malamar, leaping up and tilting back so that the open bottom of its disguise faced Malamar. As the Malamar shielded its eyes, Mimikyu grabbed onto its neck and dug the fingers of its shadow arms in. Malamar grunted and clenched its beak as bulbs of green light fed into Mimikyu’s arms and into its underside. Mimikyu eventually hopped off and freed Malamar to slump over in lightheadedness. Once Sam finished healing the Drampa, it mooed contently at him before facing Malamar and the leader.

“You think that now your Pokémon are all better, we’re back at square one, right?” The leader crossed their arms confidently. “Know that the moment I made my first move, I was always a step ahead of you.”

“First move…” Sam’s eyes shot open upon getting it. “Shit! Its Contrary–”

“Malamar! Finish Drampa off with another Superpower!”

As it scrunched the bottom half of its body in to shoot off, its head and tentacles flexed, appearing thicker with pulsing veins rising from beneath its skin. With a push, Malamar rocketed at Drampa faster than before, the strike colliding into it hard enough to blast it off its stomach. Sam fell to his stomach just before the Drampa passed over him, continuing to fly up the road until it crashed and rolled to a stop several yards away.

“Drampa!” Sam ran back to his fallen comrade.

Alice looked back, seeing the Drampa smile contently at his approach before resting his head and falling into unconsciousness. Fixing her gaze back to Malamar, she clenched her fists and breathed through her clenched teeth.

“Mimikyu…” she breathed. “Take that Malamar out with another Play Rough!”

Mimkyu darted forward and stretched its arms out long enough to wrap them around Malamar’s body several times. Approaching it and pulling it towards itself, Mimkyu hoisted its foe up into the air before slamming it on its head. Malamar easily attempted to roll away, taking Mimikyu with it, but Mimikyu leapt up and slammed Malamar back onto the asphalt sideways. Alice panted uneasily, seeing that even with her Pokémon’s tremendous strength, it didn’t do much to injure Malamar.

“Your Mimikyu’s weak!” The voice of the Prism leader only made Malamar’s resistance to it all the more scarier. “After those two Superpowers, my Malamar’s virtually untouchable now! In fact, let’s see it try to survive this. Malamar, hit Mimikyu with Psycho Cut!”

Malamar floated itself upright, and took Mimikyu up with it. With its tentacles expanding with the extra strength it received from its attacks, Mimikyu’s arms began to lose their grip. Malamar then slashed its glowing tentacles outward, freeing itself and hitting Mimikyu dead-center between the eyeholes of its disguise. The point of the strike flashed brightly as a magenta X was left where Malamar made its attack.

Alice danced her feet about as Mimikyu tumbled limply through the air, appearing to have already fainted. “Mimikyu, I got you!”

Holding her arms up once she felt she was directly beneath where it would fall, Alice caught Mimikyu, its disguise feeling half-deflated as it formed around her forearms.

“Oh my god…” Alice took Mimikyu’s ball from her belt and returned it inside, keeping her head hung low. “You were great, Mimikyu. Thank you.”

Sam, having pet the Drampa’s head one last time, turned back to the site of the battle, slowly walking back with his eyes firmly matching with Malamar’s as it paid him attention. “Okay, yeah, you’re pretty… no, very strong. But if you think we’re going to stop because you took out a Pokémon each from us, you’re sorely mistaken.”

The leader stayed stoically still. “That’s quite kind of you to compliment my skills, but I never expected you to give up in the first place, not that it matters that you aren’t. Even with just Chrysalis by my side, both Gladion and Nanu didn’t stand a chance against me. What makes you think a pair of kids just barely halfway through their Island Trials will fare any better?”

“Maybe we’ll just have to show you!” Alice threw a Poké Ball out. “Lycanroc, Accelerock!”

Sam threw out another ball next. “Salazzle, Flame Charge!”

Alice’s Poké Ball opened up, her Lycanroc leaping out from the white energy that spilled out of it. Upon its front paws hitting the ground, it pushed forth with such speed and intensity that it appeared to teleport from its landing spot to just in front of Malamar, where it slashed its stony claws across its chest.

Upon appearing from its ball, Salazzle galloped ahead, watching Malamar intensely as it tried to recover from Lycanroc’s hit. With a spit of fire from its mouth, the flames spread over its body and created its own cone as it leapt up and socked Malamar in the face just below its beak. Unable to keep its balance, Malamar was slammed flat onto its back. Lycanroc and Salazzle leapt back cautiously as they watched Malamar’s movements, able to relax upon seeing it not even attempting to get back up.

“Yeah!” Alice shouted. “Got ‘er!”

“Nice one, Salazzle!” Sam shook his fist.

The leader returned Malamar to its ball, looking down on it until the red energy it was converted into completely receded back into the ball.

“Once we’re done with you,” Alice shouted, “Faba, Chrysalis, and your grunts are next! You won’t escape this time!”

The Prism leader replaced their ball with another from their belt. “Naïve little children, you are. You beat one of my Pokémon and expect an easy victory. Nothing comes easily against me. Now, take them out, Xatu!”

The Prism leader’s tribal bird flew out from its ball and glided gently to the ground to face Lycanroc and Salazzle.

Meanwhile, a Kadabra tried to hit Rainbow Dash with a Thunderbolt. Though she was quick to avoid it, lightning struck both Sun’s Decidueye and Hau’s Kommo-o below, blasting them down and away.

“Hey, not cool!” Rainbow Dash soared down and kicked the Oranguru in the face, laughing triumphantly as it was knocked to the ground.

Just then, she found herself stopped and unable to move her wings or limbs. Forced back up above the fray, she saw as Chrysalis laughed as she had her in her grasp.

“Don’t think you’re exempt from my rage!” she spat.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cried, flying out at her.

Chrysalis giggled again as she turned to face her nemesis, also managing to hold her still. Try and she might, Twilight could not break free from Chrysalis’s psychic grasp.

“But you…” Twilight continued to writhe and groan as Chrysalis floated her towards herself. “You’re my prized prey…”

“You let her go!” Chrysalis turned just in time to see Shining Armor swing his staff into the base of her horn.

The force of the hit not only broke the concentration on her psychic hold, freeing Twilight and Rainbow Dash, but the pieces of her now broken conversion ring clattered to the ground with her. As she reached for the pieces, she found herself jabbed in the gut by the staff and pushed her further way. Sliding back to her hooves, Rainbow Dash and Twilight joined Shining Armor’s side, arching back and ready to charge.

“Urgh!” Chrysalis charged her horn, which maintained its green light. “No matter! I still have my magic!”

Unbeknownst to her, Lady leapt from the ground and nimbly bounced off the top of the Metang’s head. Soaring high up, it whipped its feelers in Chrysalis’s direction. At that moment, a web of bright volts of a Psyshock attack showered all around Chrysalis, turning darker until they faded away. Weakened from the hit, Chrysalis crumpled to her stomach.

Lady landed before Chrysalis as Starlight joined Twilight’s side. “Not anymore you don’t. Come on then, Chrysalis, show me how strong you are without your magic!”

Chrysalis weakly got to her hooves, staring down the four ponies and Sylveon who looked ready to attack with the first move she made. With an anxious huff, Chrysalis broke off and ran to the safety of her grunt allies.

“You coward!” Shining Armor ran ahead first, Starlight, Lady, and Twilight quick to follow him.

The four of them ran past a female grunt with long, purple hair, pointing out at Decidueye. “Espeon, Shadow Ball!”

Opening its mouth, a dark-purple ball formed in front of its face, and with a shout, it shot its attack into Decidueye as it aimed its next arrow at an airborne Metang. Striking it in the chest, Decidueye lost its aim and shot high and away from the battle, falling to a knee to support itself.

“Yes!” she hissed with shake of her fist.

Behind her, Sam and Alice pointed at the Prism leader’s Xatu. “Salazzle, Flamethrower!”

“Hit ‘em with Stone Edge!” Alice shouted.

Salazzle breathed a hefty plume of fire at Xatu, the flames quickly and intensely rising on its body as it threw its wings open and cried out. Lycanroc stood on its hind legs and mimed an intense uppercut, a small, narrow mountain jutting out from the street where Xatu stood. As Alice traced the top of the mountain, she was dismayed to see Xatu flying just above the rock, which appeared like a volcano with Salazzle’s flames still covering it.

Hearing the commotion behind her, the purple-haired grunt looked to see Xatu fanning the flames off its plumage as it perched itself atop the Stone Edge pillar. “Espeon, use Sunny Day!”

Her Espeon let out a loud mew as the gem in its forehead glowed bright. Just then, the sun, which was already shining bright in the somewhat cloudy sky, shone brighter and burned more intensely, dissolving the clouds that were visible.

Along with the trainers and Equestrians, the leader looked up at the brighter sky, chuckling at the advantage they’d been given. “Xatu, use Solar Beam!”

“Solar Beam?!” Alice gasped. “But with the sun…”

With a couple flaps of its wings, Xatu hovered a yard above the peak of the rock formation and raised its wings as high as it could. Above its head, a small green sun formed like a dot that popped into existence, and with the real sun’s heat and radiance, the orb of light expanded out until it was roughly the same height as Xatu.

“Now, finish her Lycanroc off, now!”

Xatu flapped both wings forward, aiming both ends at Alice’s Pokémon. With a sudden increase in brightness, the sphere of light shot out a thick green beam that hammered onto Lycanroc. The beam exploded the street where it struck, the shockwaves throwing Sam, Alice, and Salazzle hard off their feet.

With the earth shaking beneath their feet, the grunts, the Equestrians, Sun, his friends, and their Pokémon ceased their attacks and looked back at the site of Sam and Alice’s battle, staring up in awe at the Xatu’s Solar Beam.

“Sam!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “Alice!”

Once the green light above Xatu shrunk and disappeared, the beam finally let out its last bit of energy. As the roar from the blast began to echo off into the distance, Alice peered up to see her Lycanroc lying motionless on the ground on its side.

“No… Lycanroc.” She got to her feet and pulled Lycanroc’s ball from her belt before looking back angrily at the leader and their Xatu as it floated back down to the ground.

Sam and Salazzle were also slow to get to their feet. “So this is how you win? You get your grunts to run in and save you when your chips start running low?”

“Are you seriously complaining about a ten on five match being unfair to you?” The Prism leader dryly asked. “You two losing this battle would only speak less about the skills of my Pokémon and I and more about the lack of yours.”

Sam bared his teeth in frustration.

“Sam, cool it!” Alice called her Lycanroc back and replaced its ball with another. “He’s right. We have two Pokémon for each one they do. We got this. Go, Raichu!”

With her ball opening up, Raichu flew out and circled around Sam and Alice before settling down before her.

Sam, looking back up at the sun, couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Heh, I suppose you’re right. After all, these grunts can be just as helpful to us as they are to him.”

The Prism leader scoffed. “Just what are you–”

Salazzle’s back suddenly flared up, and as they looked up to the sky and the intensified sun, the leader gasped upon understanding.

“So yeah, you can thank your comrade for the power boost! Salazzle, hit Xatu with Flamethrower!”

Salazzle breathed out its fire breath, the flames now glowing white-hot as they washed over Xatu’s body, making it scream out with the much more sweltering heat.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Alice cried out. “Raichu, hit it with Wild Charge!”

With its body surging with electricity, Raichu rocketed at the still burning Xatu before tilting its body up and slamming the bottom of its tail into its upper chest, the sparks and lightning bursting out from under it. Xatu’s upper body swung down into the street while Raichu flew right back to its trainer, shaking off the soreness it suddenly felt in its legs and feet.

As Xatu rolled up onto its talons, the purple-haired grunt ran from the back row of her allies with her Espeon following alongside. “Espeon, use Shadow Ball on Raichu!”

Quickly shooting a dark-purple orb from its mouth, Raichu could barely register the arrival of the new Pokémon before it was pummeled into the stomach, knocking it off its tail and to the ground.

“Raichu!” Alice cried.

As Xatu got back up, the Prism leader pointed their outstretched hand at Salazzle. “Xatu, finish the lizard off with Psychic!”

Opening its wings up and staying still as a statue, its body emitted a pink glow that also began to cover Salazzle. Roughly forced up to its hind legs, Sam shuddered in horror as small magenta rings faded in around it and flew into its stomach, back, limbs, and face. Even as it yowled in agony, the rings refused to let up. Finally, Salazzle’s eyes rolled into the back of its head, which slumped over from sheer exhaustion.

“Stop, already!” Sam loudly begged.

The leader softly laughed. “No, no. “I’ll stop when–”

“Raichu, Thunderbolt!”

The leader and their grunt ally gasped, looking up at the sky just as a thick bolt of lightning rained down on the petrified Xatu, the aura radiating off its body as well as Salazzle’s disappearing. With the hit, Xatu fell back and closed its eyes, passed out. At the same time, Xatu’s body landed, so did Salazzle’s, who was just as physically spent as its adversary.

Sam huffed out indignantly, taking Salazzle’s Poké Ball from his belt and returning it inside. “Good job, girl. Only two more to go.”

The purple-haired grunt clenched her fists. “Little brat! Espeon, finish her Raichu with Shadow Ball!”

Opening its mouth as wide as it could, the orb that formed before the Espeon’s face grew out to the size of a medium-sized beach ball, the sight of it unnerving both Alice and Raichu.

Alice breathed through her teeth in worry. “Don’t worry about it, Raichu! Break through it and attack with Wild Charge!”

Raichu’s body sparked up and jetted out to strike its target.

“Espeon, now!” On its trainer’s orders, the Espeon shot its Shadow Ball at a much greater speed than Raichu expected, the attack aimed just high enough that it struck it square in the face and exploded, hurling Raichu off its tail. With the tail still moving, Raichu was yanked to flip over, falling head first onto the street before rolling to a hard tumble at the Espeon’s feet.

“Raichu, no!” Tears were flung from her eyes as she ran to it.

“Alice, stop!” Sam quickly fidgeted for his next Poké Ball.

“Espeon!” The purple-haired grunt’s Espeon knew what to do, and with a flash of the gem in its head, Alice was frozen mid-stride. With her fingers just barely twitching as they reached for her motionless Raichu, Alice screamed as she failed to fight the hold she was put in.

“You let her go!” Sam chucked his next ball out. “Archen, Dragon Claw!”

With Sam’s prehistoric bird soaring out from its ball, it quickly swung between Raichu and the Espeon, slashing its target in the face with a blue blaze trailing off its claws. The whiplash was intense enough to slam Espeon’s head into the street, breaking its hold on Alice. Overexerting herself, Alice fell onto her stomach and clasped onto her Raichu. Swinging onto her feet, she quickly backed away as the Prism leader took out Xatu’s ball and returned it inside.

Sam turned to Alice as she and Raichu returned to her spot. “How is he?”

Alice looked to her right sleeve near her shoulder, seeing a noticeable, but shallow patch of blood there. “It doesn’t look good. We need to get to a Pokémon Center soon.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” the Prism leader bellowed, tearing their last Poké Ball off their belt. “I couldn’t care less if that rodent bleeds out on this mountain, but I will defeat you two! Come on out, Gardevoir!”

Lobbing their ball up, it opened up as the energy that spilled from it unveiled their white maiden Pokémon.

“Oh my god…” Alice’s uneven breathing made it appear that she was either laughing or close to sobbing with every exhale. “I am going to enjoy tearing you to pieces, you son of a bitch.” Taking Raichu’s Poké Ball from her belt, she returned it inside, put the ball back and threw another out straight from her belt. “You’re up, Noibat!”

With a bursting open of the ball, Noibat soared up before holding its place at an altitude just above Sam’s head. From their body motions, Alice could tell that both the Prism leader and their grunt were surprised.

Both of them laughed hard. “You sent out your Noibat to face off against a Fairy-type?” the leader boisterously asked.

“And you’ve faced our Espeons before!” the purple-haired grunt added. “Surely you remember the moves they have!”

“Yeah? What about it?” Alice cocked her head, not appearing at all bothered. “Sam sent out a Poison-type to face off against your Psychics, and she helped take two of your Pokémon out.”

“Yes, I give your brother’s Salazzle credit for its resilience,” the leader said, “but first, lets see if your Noibat can even survive long enough just to make an attack!”

On the other side of the battle, Hau’s Passimian finshed assaulting the Metang with Beat Up, sending it to the ground and managing to make it faint. As it fell, a Slowbro was right behind it with its mouth aflame, preparing a Flamethrower. Passimian held its arms up to brace itself, only to relax upon seeing a staff raised behind the Slowbro. The end of the staff met the back of its head hard enough to cause it to swoon, the fires in its maw extinguished. Falling forward onto its stomach in dizziness, Shining Armor panted as he looked down upon the enemy he felled.

Hau, seeing another figure behind him, narrowed his vision. “Hey, man, behind you!”

Just then, his staff was pulled away, spinning him around to face a Kadabra, holding its spoon like a fishing rod as it tried to pull the weapon from the stallion’s mouth. Though he continued getting pulled toward it, Shining Armor refused to relinquish the staff. As he got closer, the Kadabra reached for his neck, which came close to its reach. Seemingly out of nowhere, Lillie’s Rapidash gored its green glowing horn into the side of the Kadabra’s head, sending it flying away and losing its focus on Shining Armor’s staff.

As he watched the Rapidash slow its gait, he became alarmed by several explosions of smoke ring out all around him, the smog quickly covering him and obscuring his vision. As he spun about, keeping his ears open for any approaching enemies, he suddenly felt a large creature run past him, its shadow disappearing into the smoke.

Before he could wonder what he had seen, he suddenly saw a fiery claw swing out at an Oranguru’s silhouette and briefly illuminate itself, appearing like a very muscular bipedal cat. With another enflamed slash going at another Kadabra on the other side of it, Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile, admiring the convenience of the smoke. High above the smog, Thorax held onto Trixie as he hovered safely over it.

Trixie haughtily lobbed a smoke bomb in and out of her hoof, watching as the large cat finished the Oranguru off. “Where there’s smoke, there’s–”

“FIRE!” Pinkie Pie screamed, slamming the button on her party cannon down.

Both Rarity and Applejack were shot out of the cannon, flying directly through Trixie’s smokescreen. While Rarity delivered a firm punch to the Slowbro that Shining Armor stuck, Applejack turned around to buck the Kadabra behind the large cat in the side of the head, sending it flying back into the line of grunts.

Upon landing, Applejack was rejoined by Rarity. “Hoo wee! ‘Bout time we did our part!”

Without warning, the wind picked up and brought the smoke up in a small, tight twister, clearing the battlefield. Applejack and Rarity both looked back at the cat, who sported red fur with black stripes on its arms and legs, a grey-haired chest, and a belt of fire around its waist, who also acknowledged them. Looking back up, they watched as the smoke accumulated in a sphere directly above the center of the line of grunts. Upon exploding, the three of them saw an Oricorio with its wings thrown out, flapping them again to maintain its height.

Thorax and Trixie both shifted back upon seeing the bird. “Well,” Thorax said. “It was fun while it lasted.”

The fire cat clenched its fist as it looked up at the bird, and as it looked down to face it, Rarity, and Applejack, it was promptly pelted by a piece of jagged ice. It fell a ways before retaining its flight before hitting the ground. Rarity, Applejack, and the cat looked back to see Gladion run in with his Weavile, joining their side.

“Looks like you need a helping hand,” he said.

Coming to the Oricorio’s aid was another Oranguru, a Slowking, and Faba with his Hypno.

“You certainly have the best timing,” Rarity spoke up.

“We aren’t through here,” Faba shouted. “Either of you.”

Gladion sighed. “Good. I was getting bored with the others.”

“Have at you, you brutes!” Rarity yelled, standing on her hind legs and holding her hooves up like fists. “En garde!”

With a shout, Rarity, Applejack, Weavile, and the cat each charged a Pokémon.

“Espeon!” The purple-haired grunt commanded. “Hit Archen and Noibat with Dazzling Gleam!”

“Gardevoir!” The leader pointed at Alice’s Pokémon. “Attack Noibat with Moonblast!”

Espeon’s gem glowed brightly before illuminating the area around them in a bright light. At the same time, Gardevoir fired a silver beam directly at Noibat. The colorful particles of light that danced around the light of the Dazzling Gleam pierced into Archen and also swirled around the Moonblast beam.

With Noibat trying to shield its eyes from the near blinding light, it took the combined attack in the center of its chest, shooting it over Alice’s head where it tumbled further up the road. As the light faded, Alice turned back to see how far her Pokémon had gone back.

“Noibat! Noibat, come on, get up!”

“There’s no way that scrawny little thing could have survived both attacks.” Alice turned back to face the Prism leader. “Even Gladion’s Silvally found standing difficult after a single Moonblast. Whatever you had tried was a clear failure, so just call your last Pokémon and–”

“Uh, boss?” Pointing behind Alice, the leader looked over to see Noibat slowly pushing off the ground with its wings, and stepping both feet one at a time to stand.

“Noibat!” Alice and Sam both shouted happily.

“Impossible!” The leader clutched the sides of their hood. “A Noibat couldn’t have possibly survived my Gardevoir’s Moonblast!”

“Sure, just any Noibat maybe,” Alice responded, “but my Noibat… should never be underestimated.”

Back up on its feet, Noibat threw its arms out and screeched at Gardevoir and its trainer.

“Alright, girl,” Alice ordered, “hit Gardevoir with Super Fang!”

Noibat screeched again and got a running start. Once it passed between Alice and Sam, it flapped its wings and took flight, opening its mouth wide as its row of small fangs lit up inside.

“No!” The purple-haired grunt whipped her arm out. “Espeon, hit them again with Dazzling–”

“Archen, Bulldoze, quick!” On Sam’s command, Archen swooped down low to the ground, picking up a small wave of dirt that accumulated into mud.

Upon whizzing beneath Noibat, Archen shot up and rose the mud wall high, crashing down on both Espeon and Gardevoir. Gardevoir quickly exploded the pieces of mud caked on its body off with its energy, only for Noibat to clamp down on its upper chest. Gardevoir screamed in pain as beams of light reflected off Noibat’s teeth and shot in multiple directions.

“Boss!” The purple haired grunt looked down to her Pokémon. “Espeon, take Noibat out with–”

She was stopped and terrified to see her half-buried Espeon having fainted, not showing the remotest signs of pulling itself free.

“Boss,” she whined, “I’m–”

“You’ve done your part,” they interrupted, “now take your Pokémon and rejoin the others.”

“Yes, sir!”

As the purple-haired grunt called her Espeon back, Gardevoir tried to pry Noibat’s mouth open, though was not strong enough to.

“Come on, Gardevoir!” the leader spat. “Get that Noibat off of you and finish it with Moonblast!”

With a guttural cry, the Gardevoir forced Noibat’s mouth open just enough to throw it off and away from itself.

As Noibat attempted to realign itself, Alice gasped to see its horn charging. “Noibat, watch out!”

Gardevoir instantly launched its attack, the entire beam blasting into Noibat’s body. As the tail of the beam passed through, Alice watched as Noibat limply fell toward the ground.

Alice was quick to draw its Poké Ball from her belt and aim it at her Pokémon, the red beam converting and pulling it back inside before it could hit the ground.

Panting over the close call, Alice hugged the ball to her chest. “Thanks, Noibat. You were excellent.”

Sam grit his teeth, seething. “Archen, take Gardevoir out with Acrobatics!”

Archen, still in flight, got low to the ground before sprinting along the ground, maintaining its speed.

“Gardevoir, dodge it!” the leader coolly ordered.

Archen leapt up, hugging its legs and wings to its chest as it flipped and spun about at Gardevoir. With a bending over of its waist and a spread-legged stance, Archen went well over its head. Undetterred, Archen unfolded its wings and used its momentum to fly and and swoop back and then directly down toward Gardevoir.

Looking up, Gardevoir fell back into a reverse summersault. Archen, now only seeing ground beneath it, pulled up as hard as it could, swinging around and aiming its talons at Gardevoir’s chest.

“Gardevoir, Thunderbolt!”

Hearing its trainer’s command, Gardevoir held its hands near both sides of its horn, which began to sparkle with electricity. With a squawk, Archen tried to fly out of the way, but with a throw open of its arm, Gardevoir blasted a bolt of lightning point blank into Archen, throwing it back near Sam.

“Archen, no!” Alice threw out her last ball. “Mudbray, use Bulldoze!”

Mudbray charged out from the energy of its ball, passing Sam as he caught his fainted Archen. Its hooves picked up the dirt and mud, thrashing it into Gardevoir and entrapping it inside as it quickly dried. Sam returned Archen in its ball as Gardevoir furiously punched and kicked its way out of its earthen prison.

With his free left hand, he reached around and took out his next Poké Ball quickly flicking it out. “While it’s stuck,” he sputtered, “Doublade, hit it with Flash Cannon!”

The ball opened up, and Doublade quickly swooped out of it, its blades already charged with a bright shimmer. Finally able to step out, Gardevoir faced Doublade with a tired stance, hanging its arms low. Closing its eyes, it allowed Doublade to deliver a dual swing of its swords, shooting a silver X into it, the strength blasting the dried mud into a cloud of dirt and dust.

“Hah…” Alice giggled. “Nice move there.”

Sam kept his eyes inside the cloud, hoping to see Gardevoir sprawled on the ground as it began to part. To Alice’s surprise and Sam’s ire, Gardevoir was now standing stronger than before, the cloud fading further to reveal the Prism leader pointing an empty Max Potion bottle behind its head. Having served its purpose, the leader tossed the bottle to the ground.

“Seriously?” Sam growled. “You’re just going to continue healing your Pokémon until we can’t fight anymore?”

The Prism leader breathed out in frustration. “You’re more than welcome to continue using your turns to heal your own Pokémon, but whether you brought enough potions or revives to continue to do so is no fault of mine. So what will it be? Will you treat them or will they just have to lick their wounds?”

“We don’t need to do anything!” Alice pounded her chest with her fist. “Your Gardevoir doesn’t have much left, and we’ll continue beating her down until she can’t get up! Mudbray, hit her with High Horsepower!”

Mudbray charged again, and with a spin around, it tucked its legs in to buck. As forceful as its kick was however, Gardevoir had the stamina to swing to the left and let the attack thrust past it.

“And you certainly won’t get the victory you want like that.” The leader snapped their fingers. “Gardevoir, Shadow Ball.”

With an upward swing of its right arm, a Shadow Ball materialized instantly in Gardevoir's hand and shot at Doublade, the attack hitting it dead center and breaking apart its X formation and it clattered to the ground.

Sam looked to his Pokémon to see it quickly picking itself up, digging into the street with the tips of its swords. “Yes, that’s it! Now, hit her with Shadow Claw!”

Flying forward, a purple aura covered both of Doublade’s swords. As it readied its stance to dodge, Mudbray tapped one of its back hooves into Gardevoir’s legs, tripping it. Just as it recovered from falling, Sam hugged his arms to his chest before throwing them out, his Doublade forming a cross and slashing its blades outward, sending Gardevoir flying back.

After sliding to a stop, Gardevoir tilted its head back to see Spike riding Princess Luna’s back, breathing fire upon the cloaks of several grunts as Luna passed just over their heads. Rainbow Dash came down from the other side, flying into them and knocking them down like bowling pins, Faba among them.

“Aiyee!” he screamed before his hard landing cut him off.

Gardevoir’s brief reflection was interrupted by the harsh voice of their trainer. “Gardevoir! Get back up!” Rolling into a seated position, Gardevoir got back up to their feet, jogging back to face Doublade and Mudbray. “Now, hit Mudbray with Magical Leaf!”

Gardevoir threw its arms out, a flurry of color-changing leaves spilling out from beneath its organic dress. With another wind and throw of its right arm, all leaves shot forward, threatening to hit both Mudbray and Doubalde. However, each leaf directed itself away from Doublade and pelted Mudbray’s chest, sides, and face, exploding like small fireworks upon collision.

Alice was stunned as Mudbray cried out to the sky. “Holy hell, is there a move this thing doesn’t know?”

Once the attack ended, Mudbray’s legs buckled as it panted; Alice could tell it could not survive another attack.

Sam looked to Doublade, who turned to look at him back. “Hey bud? You don’t mind letting Alice get the last shot, do you?” With a shake of its body, Sam nodded, appreciative of Doublade’s approval. “Hey, Alice?” She glanced to him. “Hit her with Bulldoze.”

Both Alice and Mudbray looked surprised by this. “Sam, what are you saying? I’m not sure if Doublade could handle it!”

“Neither does he. But we can both agree that she’s yours to take down.”

Alice continued staring at her brother and his Pokémon, only to relent with an uneasy breath, turning back to face Gardevoir. “Mudbray… use Bulldoze!”

With a hard push, Mudbray galloped forward, blasting mud around it. Much of it splattered Doublade and slammed it to the street. With the mud wave created even bigger than the first, Gardevoir shielded its arms in front of its face as it crashed into it and left it completely buried.

As Sam called his Doublade back to its ball, he turned back to see Gardevoir dig itself out, though much slower and labored. “Hopefully that’ll do it.” He replaced Doublade’s Poké Ball with his last. “Let’s end this, Fomantis!”

Fomantis appeared from its ball’s white energy just as Gardevoir finished pulling itself out from the hardened muck. The Prism leader looked to Gardevoir, its stance much lazier and tired.

“So that was his aim…” they said to themselves.

Alice turned to face Sam, a confident smile growing on her face. “Ready to finish this, Sam?”

“Hell yeah!” he exclaimed. “Fomantis?”

“Mudbray, take her out with High Horsepower!”

“Finish her off with Poison Jab!”

Both Mudbray and Fomantis charged Gardevoir, who was forced to glance between both Pokémon, unsure which one its trainer wanted it to attack first. Mudbray outran Fomantis, and as it spun around, ready to buck its legs into Gardevoir’s chest, Gardevoir crouched, ready to jump. Mudbray thrust its hooves out, Gardevoir nimbly hopping up and leaping higher off Mudbray’s back left hoof. Sam and Alice gasped as Gardevoir twisted itself about to face Mudbray below.

“That’s it!” The Prism leader cheered. “Now finish it off with Magical Leaf!”

With a throw of its arm, more colored leaves rained down onto Mudbray, each explosion forcing it onto its stomach as it groaned and whined through it all. Fomantis, finally reaching Mudbray’s spot, jumped up, bouncing up a falling leaf and making its way to Gardevoir, who had begun to fall back down. As Fomantis got closer, the tip of its leaf arm glowed purple as it thrust it at Gardevoir’s stomach.

Fomantis’s jab left a purple shockwave traveling through Gardevoir’s body, but as it reached halfway around, it stopped and traveled back to the point where Fomantis’s arm was still stuck.

Fomantis was blasted back by the receding shockwave as it once again traveled back through Gardevoir’s body. Fomantis and Gardevoir both hit the ground, unable to land on their feet. At the same moment, Mudbray tilted to its side and lied still, unable to continue battling. Alice sighed as she took out its Poké Ball and returned it inside.

Gardevoir and Fomantis slowly got back up, their stomachs pulsing with purple from their poisoning. As they tried standing up straight, they both doubled over and nearly fell back down.

Sam gasped at this. “What is this? Why’s she poisoned too?”

“Synchronize,” Alice answered solemnly. “Since you poisoned her Gardevoir, your Pokémon gets poisoned back.”

“What?!”

“And it all comes down to this.” From their panting, the Prism leader both sounded exhausted and filled with hate. “Its true your sister’s Noibat had considerable brass, but I can’t assume the same of that Fomantis, especially if its poisoned.”

Sam breathed through his teeth, feeling his strength draining out from him.

“Once your Fomantis falls,” they continued, “I will rejoin my team and finish what we came up here to do. Gardevoir…” Their Pokémon stood as straight and strong as it could given its condition. “Moonblast.”

Gardevoir held its hands toward its chest horn, bright, argent sparkles appearing around it. Fomantis focused its gaze and panted for the pain it was sure would come. Finally, the entirety of Gardevoir’s horn was alight and with a throw of its arms, its bright beam was launched out.

“Fomantis!” Sam screamed. “Fight it!”

Winding its arms back, Fomantis then thrust them forward, pushing against the force of the Moonblast. Though it slid back inches at a time, Fomantis continued to resist, even as rays of the beam would pelt its chest and face.

“Come on…” The Gardevoir continued blasting away, hoping to do its trainer proud.

“Come on, girl,” Sam cheered, “come on, girl!”

Fomantis refused to give up, even as its grass arms began to wobble, its own body unable to continue holding. With a loud, long screech, Fomantis dug its feet in, now completely anchored and immovable in its new spot. Suddenly, its eyes shot open, and as its body turned into a translucent green aura that blended with the Moonblast, Sam and Alice caught their breaths in their throats, at first unsure what was happening.

“It disappeared!” Sam shouted.

“No, Sam, look!” Pointing in, Alice watched as Fomantis’s glowing body began to grow three times its size.

As well, its leaf arms elongated into two arms with long scythes attached to its ends. Its short stubby legs grew out and elongated into leggings with dainty feet beneath them. Along with two pairs of appendages growing out of its back like a large shuriken, the bulb on its head blossomed into a pair of antennae as well as what appeared to be a broad pair of ears on both sides of its head, which began to widen into a flatter shape, completing its transformation into Lurantis.

The leader and their Gardevoir already caught on, already seeing the Moonblast divert at sharper angles than before. With another shout, Lurantis threw its scythes apart, breaking the beam and forcing Gardevoir to stop. No longer obscured, Lurantis stood in full view of Sam and Alice, the sun above giving it a more glorious appearance.

“Lurantis!” Sam shouted to it, and it turned its body to face him.

Putting its wrists to its chest, it wiggled a bit with happily closed eyes, also pleased with its new form.

“Dammit…” The leader’s breathing sounded more anxious now. “Faba told me what happened on Mt. Lanakila… I didn’t think it could be true.”

“You better believe it!” Sam bellowed. “Lurantis! Finish Gardevoir off with Petal Blizzard!”

Holding both scythes to its right, it slashed them both toward Gardevoir, a flurry of leaves blowing out beneath them. The twister spread out and grew thicker and more intense, colliding into Gardevoir and the Prism leader like a wall. Both were struck back hard, landing amongst a scattering of beaten and tired grunts and a select few fainted Psychic Pokémon.

The Prism leader writhed as they rolled to their stomach, looking at their unconscious Gardevoir. “No…” They reached into their cloak. “This isn’t over. We still have another chance…”

Pulling their hand out, three Max Revives were held between their ring, middle, and index fingers and thumb. As they crawled to Gardevoir, an arrow from Decidueye struck the back of their hand, making them drop the Max Revives and roll over to their back. With a moderately battered Decidueye holding its next drawn arrow, Sun, Lillie, Gladion, Hau, and all of the Equestrians formed a semicircle around them and the defeated grunts.

“Now that we have you where we want you,” Gladion said, “you’re going to tell us where Professor Burnet is!”

Faba, curled in a fetal position away from the Equestrians, held an Ultra Ball in one hand and a Revive in the other, with his hands obscuring both objects from Alice and Sam, he tapped the Revive against the center button, causing it to flash yellow before the Revive was absorbed into the button.

“You tell us where she is, dammit!” Hau marched as boisterously as he could, grabbing them by the front of their cloak and lifting them off their feet.

“Hau, please!” Fluttershy begged.

“Tell us, you bastard!” The leader clutched Hau’s arms tight trying to pull them off. “I’m not letting you leave this mountain until you tell us!”

“Answer us!” Starlight shouted. “Where are you keeping our friend!?”

Faba rolled over to face the Equestrians’ circle, his Poké Ball still held close to his chest. “She’s safe with us. Don’t you worry.”

Faba dropped the ball, letting his half-healed Alakazam free from it. The others shifted their focus to Faba and his Pokémon, and as Decidueye readied its arrow, an air-warping aura formed around the Prism leader’s hands. The aura pulsed out, knocking Hau and Decidueye back, the latter’s arrow breaking from the force. The leader landed in a kneel, glancing over to the Alakazam.

Sam and Alice gulped as the Alakazam held its spoons up, casting a bright light around the area. “No!” Alice shouted, running to it.

“You’re not getting away!” Sam and Lurantis sprinted as fast as they could.

As the three neared them, the Alakazam’s light grew bright enough that neither of them could make out the Prism leader, Faba, the grunts, or any of their Pokémon within. Sam continued to run with his arms shielding his eyes. Just as he would run into where the Prism leader was, the light disappeared, and with it, every Prism member and Pokémon of theirs, save for the three Max Revives the leader dropped.

“No,” Twilight whimpered. “They’re gone… again.”

“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Every time with these jerks!”

Alice couldn’t help but turn back around, unsure if they were behind them once again. Sam, on the other hand, slowly walked to the east side of the cliff and stood near its edge, and with a squat, he screamed as loudly and as long as he could toward the horizon.

“Sam!” Alice tugged on the back of his jacket, pulling him away from the precipice. “Calm down!”

“They’re going to keep getting away,” he huffed, his eyes watering. “No matter how many times we beat them, they’re going to keep getting away until they take all our friends away.”

“Sam, listen.” Hearing Sun’s voice, both he and his sister looked to see him and Gladion approach with blank expressions on their faces. “It’s true that we couldn’t apprehend them again, but this is nonetheless an important victory for us all.”

“If all of us work together the way we did just now,” Gladion added, “then Team Prism cannot hope to defeat us.”

“And I’m sure Professor Burnet would be happy to know that at this very moment!” Alice exclaimed.

“Yes, she would!” Lillie stepped forth. “If she could see what happened here, I’m sure she’d feel more confident than ever that we’ll save her.”

“We just have to keep moving forward,” Sun said. “We will save her in time, but these ponies are our priority.”

Sam glanced away, still unsure if he could feel as accomplished as Sun and his friends wanted him to.

“Hey, guys.” Sam then looked back to see Hau walking up to him and Alice with Starlight, Lady, Fluttershy, and Comfey by his side.

“Hau.” Sam peered back down, uncomfortable facing him.

Without breaking his stride, Hau opened his arms and pulled Sam close for a hug. Sam, understanding the gesture, embraced him back. With a couple dry sobs, Hau gripped Sam’s back tighter, the two of them receiving their comfort and condolences. Fluttershy and Starlight joined in, holding them tight from either side. Alice stepped up to him and gently stroked his upper back, letting him have this moment.

“I missed you,” Fluttershy said, stealing a glance to Alice as well.

“Yep,” Alice whispered. “Us too.”

The others stood around the group hug, patiently observing and sympathizing with their plight.

Sun and Gladion watched as a tow truck carted the damaged bus back down the hill, another one waiting on the other side of the road to pick them up. As the Equestrians, now relaxed and at peace, talked amongst one another about their adventures, Lady felt about Lurantis’s new scythes, mewing in sheer fascination. With a high-pitch buzz that rose and fell in pitch, Lurantis responded positively to its longtime friend before the two cuddled each other in their arms.

Meanwhile, Alice and Lillie watched as Sam fed one of the dropped Max Revives into the still fainted Drampa’s mouth. Quickly, the Drampa awoke, yawning loudly and happily to have his sight graced with Sam’s face.

Digging its face into Sam’s chest, he laughed as he petted its snout. “Man, what a trooper you are!”

“So Sam actually didn’t catch him?” Lillie asked Alice.

She shook her head. “Not yet at least, but after just now, he probably won’t leave this mountain without doing so.”

“That’s incredible. It must really care for him to do something like that. If you need, I have spare Poké Balls if he needs one.”

“No need,” Sam said, trying his best to ignore the Drampa’s tongue licking up half the side of his head, “but thank you. Would you like that, buddy? You wanna’ come travel with us?”

With a short mew, the Drampa nodded its head once. At the same time, Sun, Gladion, Hau, and the Equestrians all walked up toward the bus.

“We’re ready whenever you are,” Gladion said.

“Yeah, yeah hold on!” Sam stood away from the Drampa as it awaited to be caught.

Pulling a Poké Ball from his bag, he pressed the center button and enlarged it. Without much waiting, Sam threw the ball straight and true. The Drampa threw its arms out in excitement as the ball landed upon the top of its head, becoming red energy that was quickly drawn into the ball. Sam approached the ball as it hit the ground and shook a couple of times before it latched closed.

With a quick squat, Sam scooped the ball up and added it to his belt, heading toward the bus. “Okay, now we can go!”

Knocking twice on the door, the driver opened it up, Sam stepping aside to let everyone else on first. As the humans and Equestrians all piled in single file, Sam knew it would still be a little while before he’d get to board. Admiring this rare quiet moment, Sam looked out to the north to see the Hokulani Observatory, feeling not as far away this time.

Comments

[DDDDDDDDD23]

so the prisma leader does not seem like leader material. Dexio looks more of the big bad

[DDDDDDDDD23]

the prism leader is more of an elite grunt

[DDDDDDDDD23]

Are the "prism leader" pokemon the real leader's pokemon but the guy saying he is the leader is a bodydouble.
It does not matter how strong the pokemon are if the trainer is incompetent.

[DDDDDDDDD23]

Also bad choice in grunt pokemon. People that are so heartless to pokemon should not be able to evolve eevee into espeon.

[HB_DS2013]

I’m tired of Team Prism running away. I know that if I was around to help Sam and Co, I’d bring my Alola team to help take down those cheaters and make ‘em suffer in every manner.

[Ororon35]

Gladion and Faba didn’t stand a chance against me.

Shouldn't it be Gladion and Nanu?

[raven618]

You let the pronoun 'her' slip through a few times this chapter. That's not a problem and is easily passed off, in my mind at least, of the voice filter being damaged and letting the more female tones through. But because of that slip, I have two theories as to who the Prism leader is.
1) Dexio's partner from Kalos. I can't remember her name but I know she is an expert in Ice types in the Sun and Moon games. The cold fog released from her suit seems to be hinting at that. Also, with the exception of Xatu, her Pokemon are native to the Kalos region.
2) Burnett herself is the leader. I really hope this is wrong, but I can't think of a moment when the Team Prism leader and Prof. Burnett were confirmed to both be present at the same time. It was assumed she was being kidnapped when the Leader was assaulting the Prison, but that could have been faked. Again I really hope I'm wrong, but...