Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 77 – Tempest Rising

With the Storm King slowly approaching them, Sam, Alice, and their friends reared back and drew any weapons they held to aim at him, stopping him in his path. Despite the opposition he faced, he smiled cutely, disregarding the threat they posed to him.

“Oh, yes,” he continued to speak, “and I’m super pumped that you brought all my other favorite creatures too… Skystar, Celaeno.”

Alice glanced back between the Storm King and the fearfully petrified Fizzlepop, the adamant Celaeno, and the trembling Skystar, his words alarming her. “Hold on, you all know each other?”

“Oh, yeah,” Celaeno growled. “He’s the one who enslaved my crew!”

“And forced my kind into hiding!” Skystar spoke up.

With her friends coming forward, Fizzlepop summoned the strength to speak as well. “And I used to be his first lieutenant… until he betrayed me.”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” The Storm King hissed, pointing at the red unicorn. “Get over your stupid horn already!”

Fizzlepop flared a sparkling spell at his finger, forcing him back as he shook the burning sensation from his hand. “I have gotten over it! My friends helped me realize my true potential, and they didn’t need to give me a new horn to do it!”

“Yeah, you tell them!” Grubber cheered.

“SILENCE!” Instinctively, Grubber bowed to him, trembling as he did so, the sight deeply angering Fizzlepop and Skystar. “You don’t get to speak to your king like that!”

“You’re no king!” Somnambula bellowed. “The ponies of Equestria would sooner accept a ruler like Chrysalis or Cocoon long before they would bow to a despot such as yourself.”

The Storm King let out a scoffing laugh, squeezing his free knuckle into his cheeks to suppress how adorable he felt she looked scolding him. “Okay, perhaps you need me help you get with the program, but that insect-looking freak is now a stone statue in this castle’s basement!”

“What?” Fizzlepop gasped. “You mean, you…”

“Though, she and her hive all did me a huge solid and brought me back to life, so I repaid them all by turning them to stone and drained them all of their magic! Quite literally a steal if you ask me.”

The crystal in the Staff of Sacanas flared with red, Starswirl recognizing it immediately. “You stole the power of the Alicorn Amulet?!”

“Oh, so that’s what it was called? If I were whoever made it, I’d give it a much better name, like the All Powerful Kingdom Conqueror, or the Red Ravager. See? The illiteration in the consonants really helps it pop.”

“Enough!” Dexio stepped to the front with Mega Alakazam floating behind him. “This is already taking far too long.”

“Hmm…” The Storm King pinched his chin contemplatively. “So you must be these creatures the bug was referring to that she never heard of. So, uh… what are you supposed to be?”

“Those two and I are humans who come from the world Twilight and her friends all ended up on.” To hear her name, the Storm King couldn’t help but recoil in intrigue. “The four creatures right beside us are called Pokémon, and if you continue standing in our way, the seven of us and our new friends will have no choice to but to end your very brief and uneventful rule.”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” He interrupted, snapping his fingers to keep him quiet. “I don’t know if you were paying attention just now, but I just absorbed the magic of like, several dozen changelings, along with their queen, and that super powerful necklace she was wearing!”

“It’s still magic all the same. Mega Alakazam, Psyshock!”

Mega Alakazam threw its arms forward, a magenta lightning bolt shooting out of the bowls of each of its spoons. The Storm King immediately held his staff out and created a shield spell before himself, the Psyshock bolts converging into a single, larger one and blasting against the shield, pushing the Storm King back. With the bands of energy branching off the center of the barrier, no one could see if it was really hitting the Storm King.

Mega Alakazam stopped its attack as the smoke that spilled off the barrier began to obscure its vision more. As the smoke settled, each creature’s face contorted into one of sheer terror to see the Storm King’s shield still sound and stable, its red glow fading to a light blue as the Alicorn Amulet’s magic faded from it. Starswirl and Fizzlepop especially felt the warmth of hope spill out from their hooves, replaced by cold dread that made their ears fall.

“Im… Impossible!” Dexio looked to his Pokémon before looking at the completely unaffected Storm King again. “That was a psychic attack from a Mega Evolved Pokémon! How could that–”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it?” the Storm King taunted. “It sure sounds like what you did was supposed to do something, but it did nothing oh yeah my turn!”

The Storm King barely finished his quickly rambled sentence before chucking an obsidian orb at Dexio and Mega Alakazam. Fizzlepop charged her horn and crown, creating a small barrier that the orb could crash into. To Sam and Alice’s fright, the orb slowly pushed its way through, corrupting Fizzlepop’s barrier as it pulsed with with sparkling green.

“I can’t hold it for much longer!” Fizzlepop grunted, trying her hardest to resist. “Whatever you do, don’t let it hit you!”

“Right!” Dexio and Mega Alakazam were already prepared, his Pokémon forming a barrier of its own just as Fizzlepop’s gave out, the orb continuing its flight unimpeded. “Let’s see this how this thing takes to Psychic energy.”

“Heha!” With the Staff of Sacanas glowing, the Storm King swept it forward, bringing the gem close to him. “Fooled ya’!”

Right before the orb could hit Mega Alakazam’s shield, it vanished in a small explosion of red sparks. Neither Dexio, Mega Alakazam, nor any of their friends behind them could register as the orb then appeared behind the two in a similar explosion and flew into the inside of the shield. The orb shattered and covered both Dexio and Mega Alakazam in dark-green smoke.

“NO!” Fizzlepop and Grubber screamed.

With the rest of the smoke billowing out, the others were forced to back away, watching as Mega Alakazam’s barrier quickly faded away as the painful grunts inside petered out.

“What happened to him?” Alice spat.

“The same thing that happened to these changelings lining the walls…” As if to reinforce Fizzlepop’s answer, the smoke cleared to reveal Dexio and Mega Alakazam frozen in place on the ground, their arms covering their eyes as their teeth clenched, their last moments spent feeling their bodies turned to black stone.

“Oh fuck…” Sam whispered.

The Storm King laughed heartily as he placed Dexio and Mega Alakazam off to the sides of the hall to join the changelings in his audience of trophies. “Aaand judging from the looks on your faces, it seems you just used and totally wasted your trump. I like when you make those faces! Keep them up!”

The Storm King slammed the Staff of Sacanas down, creating a wall of thick air that crashed into Sam, Alice, their Pokémon, and the Equestrians and threw them further back down the hall. As Sam and several others quickly rolled themselves upright from the floor, the Storm King swung the staff back up, causing several round shadows appear on the ground, filling the space between them. The shadows grew darker and rose out from the ground like a gelatinous liquid, and with a pop, big, grey-furred storm creatures with large forearms, white longer-furred backs, and skull-like faces with two blue dots for eyes appeared from them.

Those that stood closest to Sam, Alice, and the others formed an impregnable wall to block them, hoisting their shields and spears at them in a phalanx formation. The storm creatures behind them spread out, ready to fight whoever would be somehow strong enough to break through. Sam glared at the hideously giddy Storm King, whose face was barely visible past his newly formed army.

A single changeling burst through the doors into Celestia’s throne room. With the secret entrance to the stone stairway behind the chair still left open, it slipped inside and flew all the way down to its bottom. Landing there, he sped to the right and galloped down its dark halls, his heart slamming against his ribcage with each beat. Reaching the cell where Celestia was kept, the changeling stopped itself by colliding into the door. Several ponies, Celestia included, shot up to their hooves in alarm. Celestia approached the door to find the changeling fumbling with a ring of keys, breathing and crying as he slid one into the keyhole.

“What is happening?” The changeling ignored her question as he forcefully entered the cage, many of the ponies gathered near the bars slinking back and yelping in fright. “Don’t you hurt any of them!”

To her surprise, she felt the changeling’s magic form around the black ring over her horn and pull it off before dropping it to the floor. Stepping away from her, Celestia stared at the changeling, taking in what he just did for her.

“The Storm King…” it panted, “he’s returned!” Celestia and the nearby ponies all gasped, haunted by the memories his invasion still left in their minds. “The Pillars of Equestria… came with friends… they began to retake the kingdom, and Cocoon revived him so she wouldn’t lose control… and now… he’s up there turning all my changeling brethren to stone and stealing their magic!”

Despite the disheartening news, Celestia kept a neutral expression. “And the Pillars?”

“They entered the palace shortly before the Storm King began to attack us. I passed them as I tried to escape. I beg of you, if you don’t help us stop him, then the Pillars– no, all of Equestria will fall to him!”

Celestia approached the open cell door. “Then there is no time to lose. We must hurry.”

“Wait!” The changeling’s knees wobbled with the feeling of undeserved humility. “You’re really agreeing to help us?”

“Of course I am. You said it yourself, Equestria will fall if we don’t work together.” Before she forgot, she stepped back into the deep, dark cell facing the direction of the ponies inside still trapped. “My little ponies, I ask that you remain down here until it is safe, but don’t worry, you have my solemn promise that I will return!”

With the faint light of a spark of hope lit, friends and families turned to each other and hugged, giving themselves the strength to wait just a little longer.

“Follow me!” The changeling was already outside the cell, its body turned to face the hallway. “I have a hunch about something!”

“Aright.” Spinning around to exit the cell, Celestia galloped to follow the changeling down the hallway.

After only a few moments, the ponies in the cell saw as Celestia was shrouded in darkness. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to keep her promise long.

“Aegislash!” Sam slid his right foot forward while jabbing his hand forward, his pressed-together fingers pointed at the storm creatures in the center.

Aegislash compliantly unfurled itself off Sam’s arm and thrust forward at the storm creatures its trainer specified. To the Storm King’s genuine surprise, Aegislash pierced though the storm creature’s shield like an empty soda can and into its chest. He then watched as the slain minion was dissolved and burst into a thick liquid that quickly dried and settled on the ground as a powder, which too evaporated until nothing was there.

Sam stood frozen as Aegislash returned to his side, Alice and Lycanroc stepping up to go next. “Lycanroc, Stone Edge right there!”

Lycanroc hopped onto its front paws and slammed them down, a small trail of rock jutting from the ground in a line at the vacant spot in the storm creatures’ phalanx. Once the rock path reached the spot, a large stone tower shot up from the ground, throwing the two creatures standing next to it into the walls outside of them.

“Starswirl?!” Capper drew an arrow, Starswirl charging his horn and providing the spark to light it.

With his horn still shining, Starswirl waited for Capper to fire his arrow before forming a barrier shield between all of his friends and the storm creatures. The arrow struck the Stone Edge tower, the blast of the explosion breaking it apart into pieces big and small, most of which ricocheted into the storm creatures and pierced through their bodies, destroying them the same way Aegislash had done.

The Storm King yelped as he casted a barrier shield of his own to protect himself from the shards of rock that made it his way while the ones shooting backwards at Sam, Alice, and their friends were easily deflected by Starswirl’s shield, though even more pieces crashed through and broke the stained glass windows, ruining the majesty they once had. Once the clatter of stones hitting the ground began to cease, Starswirl let the shield down, Ember immediately taking flight and soaring over the storm creatures.

“I’m comin’ for you, you big monkey freak!” The storm creatures threw their spears at Ember, but with a single barrel roll, she deflected them off her armor, continuing her approach on the Storm King.

Landing before him, Ember ran forward at the Storm King with a rousing battle cry. The Storm King chuckled as he aimed the tip of his staff at her, shooting a bolt of blue lightning at her. Ember let out another sharp yell as she swung her scepter out at the end of the oncoming bolt, the bloodstone gem striking and disintegrating it with a crack of thunder following it. With the sudden brightness obscuring the Storm King’s vision, Ember continued to run and fell to her knees, dodging his spear as he swung it in a blind attempt. Sliding past him, Ember swung the scepter in, lashing at the Storm King’s gut and cutting him.

“Yes!” Alice and Flash Magnus both shouted.

As the storm creatures picked their spears back up off the ground, Celaeno and her crew rushed in and began to spar with them. Squabble was thrown up by Mullet, flipping forward and using its momentum to squeeze its life raft over its head and around its arms, bounding it. Boyle then slashed across its chest and destroyed it, Squabble picking his raft back up upon it falling to the floor. Mullet then kicked another storm creature in the small of the back and hurled it into Spittle, who lashed deep into its face, causing it to break apart.

Ember hopped back onto her feet and spun around to see the Storm King clutch at the spot where Ember cut him. Removing his hand, he seethed over the thick splotch of blood left on his palm. Ember smiled as she ran out at him again. With a growl, the Storm King waved the crystal in his staff over his wound, sealing it up without leaving as much as a scar. In the same motion, he twirled the staff around and swung it up to block Ember’s scepter as it swung down at him. As they pushed against each others’ weapons, fire and sparks spat from their gems.

While Ember grit her teeth as she tried to overpower him, the Storm King also showed his rows with a confident smile. “It’s about time I got to beat something that wasn’t so darned adorable!”

Taking his right hand off the staff, the Storm King swung his arm around and socked Ember in the gut, depleting her strength as she doubled over with the soreness shooting through her stomach. With enough distance between them, the Storm King aimed his staff at Ember and shot another lightning bolt out of it. This time, the plasma branched off into five red tendrils, grabbing the dragoness by the wrists ankles and neck, throwing her into the closest wall and pinning her to it.

“Ember!” Celaeno blocked two of the Storm King’s swung-down spears with both of her blades.

Swinging them up and off, she kept the momentum up as she twirled once around, slashing the storm creature on her right across the face and upper chest and the one on her left down its gut, breaking them both as they returned to shadows and faded. With her eyes square on Ember, she ran forward to help her, Rockhoof wacking his way through the other storm creatures with his shovel to follow her.

Ember tried to pull the bolt around her neck away with her free hand, only for it to painfully shock it, making her breathing more panicked, which greatly entertained the Storm King. “Certainly a so-so effort, but yeah, I’m going to take that little scepter off your hands.”

With the red glow of his staff covering her scepter, Ember held on as tight as she could with every ounce of strength she had left. Finally, he pulled out another dark orb and threw it at her, the shock of seeing it come so close with no way to avoid it shocking Ember into letting her grip loosen. The Storm King pulled the scepter away just as his orb burst. Letting Ember go, she landed onto her now stone-covered feet as the rest of it traveled in from the tips of her wings and her hands. With one final reach at the Storm King as he held both the Staff of Sacanas and her bloodstone scepter like a child carrying the world’s two-largest lollypops, Ember’s head was petrified, completing her sculpturesque transformation.

“No!” Alice pointed out at the distant Storm King. “Lycanroc, get him with Accelerock!”

With a rear in its stance, Lycanroc leapt out to charge, only for it to vanish. With Celaeno and Rockhoof both coming at the Storm King, he twirled both the staff and scepter in his hands, prepared to take both on. He barely noticed as Lycanroc forcefully bounded off the storm creatures near Celaeno and Rockhoof as it came forward, virtually teleporting to each one on each leap. Upon seeing Lycanroc clearly on the closest storm creature to him, the Storm King could not react fast enough as the stone wolf kicked its back paw into the Storm King’s chest, knocking enough wind out of him to force him to drop Ember’s scepter.

Rockhoof immediately dropped his shovel upon the ground and galloped at the discarded scepter, Celaeno shifting herself in front of the stallion’s weapon to safeguard it. The Storm King, upon sitting up, couldn’t help but jump fearfully as Lycanroc kept its spiteful, hungry eyes on him and bared its fangs. To his added horror, he watched as Rockhoof threw Ember’s scepter back over his remaining storm creatures to be caught by Starswirl and given to Mage Meadowbrook.

“No!” The Storm King shot to his feet and reached for the reclaimed scepter, only for Lycanroc to jump up and bite down on his arm.

After a painful yowl, his eyes narrowed and his scowl furious, clenching his fist to widen the portion of his forearm Lycanroc held to. Swinging his arm back and over, he brought Lycanroc with it as he slammed him down on the floor, cracking the marble. Alice’s body felt cold upon clearly hearing a high pitched bark of agony muffle through the Storm King’s fur.

“Bad…” Lycanroc’s hold was weak, but still there, leading the Storm King to deliver another forceful slam that threw pieces of the floor up this time. “…bad…” With Lycanroc having let go, now lying in its own crater, the Storm King picked the wolf up with the magic of his staff and spun it rapidly around him before tossing it into the opposite wall, forcing Celaeno to duck so as to avoid it. “DOG!”

Upon striking the wall, chipping some of the stone off, Lycanroc let out a final, loud whine before it crumpled to the floor, unconscious and still. Fizzlepop and Grubber gasped loudly, shocked by this undiscovered level of cruelty of his.

“NYAAH!” Alice, tears flying off the far corners of her eyes, charged at the storm creature army, her free hand ripping a Poké Ball off her belt. “ASSHOLE!”

Dropping her ball behind her, it opened up to let her Mudsdale out, and with it picking up speed, Alice jumped up and grabbed onto one of its dreadlocks, pulling herself up onto its back.

“Come on!” Grubber quickly mounted Fizzlepop as she broke into a hard gallop, Sam and Salazzle following. “We have to help her!”

Alice looked to her right, finding several storm creatures already standing exactly where she needed them. With a jab of her spear, she sent the obsidian point into the eyehole of the first one, turning it to dust. As Fizzlepop, Grubber, and Sam came to her unguarded left side, the unicorn blasted a storm creature with her magic, exploding it instantly. Salazzle shot a flamethrower at two other storm creatures, their bodies quickly catching fire and turning to ash. Blinded to her ally’s efforts by her rage, Alice then swung back and around at the next creature before her, shattering its shield and throwing it into the next one down, knocking them both to the floor.

Celaeno ran out at the Storm King, who attempted to shoot another lightning bolt at her. Crossing her swords together, both of them were shocked to see the bolt pulling itself to the point where the blades met. With a dual swing to the left, Celaeno flung the magic beam away as she kept at him. Seeing Rockhoof come at him from the other direction, the Storm King kicked Celaeno in the face before pointing the Staff of Sacanas at Rockhoof’s face. Rockhoof deftly ducked beneath the bolt that was shot at him, swinging his shovel to get the one leg the Storm King was standing on.

With a hard hop, the Storm King leapt over Rockhoof’s shovel; twisting about once and landing back before him. The Storm King swung the staff up, a wide band of lightning flying up toward Rockhoof’s chest. The stallion deflected the band with his shovel, though it pushed him toward the line of changeling statues and Alice’s Lycanroc. With Celaeno recovered from the kick, she swung her blades against the Storm King’s staff, catching it by the crystal.

As Alice got closer to the Storm King, her eyes intensely and exclusively focused on him, she didn’t notice two storm creatures hiding behind the pillars readying their spears to strike. With two quick throws, the storm creatures planted their weapons into the floor, both of them crossed to form a wide X-shape.

Fizzlepop noticed this, and could tell from Alice and Mudsdale’s lack of reduced speed that they did not. “Alice, look out!”

Alice looked down too late, the stuck spears already behind Mudsdale’s head. Alice’s horse’s foreleg crashed into the point the spears crossed, its momentum against them throwing its back half up and forward. As Mudsdale’s body went vertical, Alice was flung forward, about to hit the ground face-first. Fizzlepop charged her horn and arced her fall up, allowing her to slide smoothly to a stop on the ground, Mudsdale’s back half landing on the floor a foot or so from her feet.

As many storm creatures rushed to attack the frightened and pained Mudsdale at once, who only resolved to thrash about on its back rather than get up onto its hooves. Alice spun onto her feet and detached her Pokémon’s ball from her belt. Pointing it at Mudsdale, the red beam from the Poké Ball connected with it, her Pokémon converting and receding inside just as the storm creatures lashed at the now open air.

“Fire in the hole!” Hearing Capper’s voice, Fizzlepop cast a magical dome around herself, Grubber, Sam, Aegislash, Grubber, and Alice.

Capper’s lit arrow hit the center of the spot where Mudsdale had been, the resulting explosion vaporizing the storm creatures that were unfortunate enough to have gathered around it. With less than ten storm creatures left blocking the way between them and the Storm King, Fizzlepop brought her shield down and prepared to take the remains of the army on.

As they came forward, a translucent green serpent rushed in from the right and soared through the remaining storm creatures, bursting them all and leaving none of them left. Sam, Alice, and the others couldn’t help but turn around to follow the serpent’s path with their eyes, watching as it swirled around Mistmane’s glowing horn before shrinking and melding back into her aura.

“Never mind them!” she yelled. “Keep your focus on him!”

With a thankful nod, Sam, Alice, Fizzlepop, Grubber, and the Pokémon all ran off to join in with Celaeno and Rockhoof, who still held their own against the Storm King. As well, Somnambula, Flash Magnus, and Skystar also flew in to join them. With the Storm King pushed to the back, Celaeno and Rockhoof both ran at him. With a sudden confident smirk, he swung the Staff of Sacanas up, two whips of red lightning shooting from it and grabbing Celaeno and Rockhoof by the legs. Sam, Alice, and Fizzlepop, as well as Flash Magnus, Somnambula, and Skystar fearfully stopped their advance upon watching the whips fling the parrot and stallion to the ceiling as four more bolts branched off and pinned their other limbs.

“Let them go!” Flash Magnus shouted.

Flying forward, he prepared to drive the bottom of his shield into the Storm King’s face, only for it to crash into a red barrier that threw him and his shield to the ground beside Fizzlepop and Alice.

“Sheesh, could you give me a second?” The Storm King quickly reached behind his back and tossed two dark orbs upward.

Rockhoof and Celaeno, seeing them come close, closed their eyes and hoped for a painless transformation. The orbs burst and released their smoke, completely shrouding the two. After a few moments, Sam and Alice noticed Celaeno’s swords and Rockhoof’s shovel fall from the cloud, the Storm King catching all three weapons in his magic and holding them as if he prepared to fight with them as well as his staff.

“Okay, I’ll let them go now.” The red streams of lightning receded back into the Storm King’s staff, and with nothing to hold them, the stone-turned Celaeno and Rockhoof began to fall to the floor.

With a scream, Somnambula raced up to Rockhoof with Flash Magnus while Skystar shot out toward Celaeno’s statue. With their arms on Rockhoof, Somnambula and Flash Magnus nearly fell with him due to his weight, but managed to pull up hard enough to set him down carefully. Skystar spun half way and let Celaeno fall onto her bosom, the weight pulling her straight to the floor where her back colidided with a hard bang, accompanied by Skystar’s yelp of pain. Sliding along the floor, she was stopped by the Storm King’s foot on her face, his toes pinching the base of her beak.

The Storm King laughed as Skystar’s breaths came out through her nostrils like whimpers. “I’ll be sure to say hi to Queen Novo for you!”

Sam ran at the Storm King as he raised his staff over his head, ready to stab the crystal down. “Aegislash, Iron Head!”

With a swing of its cloth arm, Aegislash slung its shield like a discus at the Storm King, who was so preoccupied with ending Skystar’s life that he didn’t see the shield as it bashed squarely into his throat. The Storm King gagged as he stepped off of Skystar, clutching his throat and trying his best to forcibly open his windpipe. As Somnambula and Flash Magnus kept Rockhoof safely to the side with the other changeling statues, Skystar struggled to lift herself and Celaeno up off the floor.

With the Storm King recovering, his rage-fueled eyes staring at Sam as Aegislash’s shield bounced back to its owner, Starswirl appeared beside him and kept his horn charged, transferring his aura onto Skystar and Celaeno. With a strain, he lifted the two up and set Skystar on her feet while laying Celaeno on the ground beside her. Skystar’s wings were kept unfurled and drooping down, Skystar wincing as she tried to fold them back in.

“Easy now!” Mage Meadowbrook, Stygian, Mistmane, and Capper ran to her aid, holding her to keep her standing. “Let’s step away from this while I take a look at your back, shall we?”

Skystar tearfully nodded, lamenting her sudden uselessness as she slunk safely away from the oncoming fight with her other three friends.

“Starswirl!” Fizzlepop shouted to her master. “Are you–”

“Stay back, Fizzlepop,” he gently snapped back. “This creature wields the magic of the Alicorn Amulet; I cannot let you fight him in this state.”

Fizzlepop whimpered, unable to accept these passive orders, only to have her foreleg shaken by Grubber. “I think we should do as he says. Besides, he’s Starswirl! What’s the worst that could happen?”

The Storm King held Celaeno and Rockhoof’s weapons farther away from him as two stronger red bolts of lighting struck the ground beneath them from his staff. Two shadows appeared as two more storm creatures, appearing more slender than the last while also having a streak of red run down the center of their white fur, formed into tangibility from them. Upon each one grabbing hold of Celaeno’s swords and Rockhoof’s shovel, they faced Starswirl, Sam, and Alice along with their creator.

“To be fair,” Grubber tried to cooly mention, “that’s certainly not the worst… yet.”

Sam, Aegislash, and Salazzle stepped to the left to face the storm creature wielding Celaeno’s swords while Alice went to the right to take on the one with Rockhoof’s shovel.

Pulling a Poké Ball off, she gently lobbed it front of her. “Let’s end this, Mimikyu.”

Her ghastly costumed Pokémon appeared from its ball and faced the storm creature with wobbly indifference. Seeing her Lycanroc still lying on the floor near the wall, she quickly returned it to its ball as Somnambula flew to her side to assist her. Flash Magnus went over to Sam, standing beside him as they both held their shields before the storm creature’s face. Starswirl and the Storm King stared at each other, the gem at the end of the Staff of Sacanas sparking tauntingly. The battle would not begin until these two made the first move.

The changeling led Celestia into the room where the Storm King had been rebuilt, Celestia gasping upon finding Cocoon’s statue there, the changeling only able to mope, having anticipated this.

“To think we were foolish enough to believe he’d help us…” Celestia didn’t seem to acknowledge the changeling’s woes, focusing only on the amulet stuck around the changeling queen’s neck.

“That necklace…” she muttered. “Did she really…”

“You can bring her back, can’t you?”

Celestia stepped backwards, hesitantly staring into the statue’s lifeless eyes. “I must ask you to guarantee that she will not attack me should I do this.”

“Yes, yes, now please! There isn’t much time!”

With a resigned sigh, Celestia charged her horn bright before aiming its tip at Cocoon’s chest below the amulet. With a powerful beam connecting with her, the stone surrounding Cocoon’s body began to burn and dissolve away. Once she was freed, her body jolted back to the ground, gravity returning to her.

“–y?!” Glancing around, she found her changeling soldier and Celestia standing inside the room, the lack of a black ring around the latter’s horn filling her with immense dread. “Celestia! But… why would… how–”

“I freed her, my queen!” The changeling stepped forward between the two. “The Storm King is attacking everyone up there, and he’s drained their magic too!”

Remembering her altercation with the Storm King, she touched the Alicorn Amulet around her necklace, unable to feel any power from it.

“Queen Cocoon,” Celestia breathed. “Please don’t tell me he also stole the power of–”

“Yes…” Cocoon shut her eyes tight, two tears rolling down her cheeks. “The Storm King has left me as powerless as this thing now!”

Celestia turned away from the two changelings, unwilling to let them see the only bit of light in her eyes drain away. “Then I’m afraid that the Storm King may be far too powerful to stop now, even for us…”

The Storm King and Starswirl launched two bolts of magic out at the same time, connecting in the middle and pushing against each other like two swordsmen with their blades locked together. Sam and Flash Magnus both shouted as they rushed their storm creature. Holding their shields up, they both blocked Celaeno’s swords upon it swinging them down.

“Aegislash!” Sam’s Pokémon swung in like a log carried by two ropes, jamming the tip of its blade into the storm creature’s gut.

To Sam and Flash Magnus’s surprise, the storm creature was merely thrown back and away, clearly far less fragile than the ones that came before. Immediately upon landing on its feet, the storm creature ran at the human and pegasus once again.

“Salazzle!” Sam shouted. “Hit high with Sludge Bomb!”

Salazzle leapt in front of its trainer and spat a ball of light-purple phlegm into the face of the storm creature. Though Sam and Flash Magnus were happy to see their enemy frantically try to wipe its face with its clenched fingers, it began to swing madly out in random directions, several of its frantic swings whizzing just over their heads.

Meanwhile, Alice and Somnambula stood by and awaited their storm creature’s move as it rushed at them, winding Rockhoof’s shovel back to swing. Alice saw that it opted to sweep low, vaulting her self off the floor using her spear. With the spade of the shovel colliding into the planted blade of the spear, Alice was sent flipping about, only to land nimbly on the ground. Swinging the spear up, she bashed it into its elbow, greatly satisfied by the muffled crack she heard beneath its skin. Somnambula then flew into its wrist, kicking hard enough to audibly break that part of its arm as well. Once it dropped the shovel, Alice scooped it with her foot and kicked it toward Fizzlepop and Grubber, who pushed it further behind them.

With its arm now hanging limp, Alice knew it could finish it off quickly. “Mimkyu, show yourself to it!”

Mimikyu hopped up at the storm creature’s face, shoving the opening on the bottom over its face. Immediately, the storm creature let out a blood-curdling scream and then went completely limp, falling backwards. As Mimikyu hopped off its head, it merrily weaved back to Alice and a horrifyingly confused Somnambula. They all watched as the fainted storm creature began to blow away to dust before their very eyes.

“What did it do?” Somnambula stuttered.

“Apparently, anything that sees whatever’s under its disguise just straight-up croaks.” Alice then turned to Somnambula, her childlike smile frightening the pegasus even more. “Pretty nifty, huh?”

“If you… say so.”

Sam and Flash Magnus parried and blocked their storm creature’s attacks, noting its getting weaker and slower with each one. Finally, it fell to a knee and dropped both of Celaeno’s blades, its face pulsing with purple.

“What’s happening to it?” Flash Magnus gasped. “Did your lizard–”

“She sure did!” Sam excitedly pointed at their weakened foe. “Salazzle, finish it off with Venoshock!”

With its mouth opening wide, a flurry of purple needles punctured the storm creature’s past its fur, each point that entered leaving a purple ring spreading across its body. Unable to handle the assault, the storm creature fell to its back and began to dissolve, melting until it returned to the shadows that it formed from.

Fizzlepop and Grubber watched nervously as Starswirl and Storm King continued their stalemate. Though Starswirl began to show visible signs of fatigue, sweat forming on his brow, the Storm King only looked to be getting stronger, his beam beginning to overpower Starswirl’s.

“Master!” Fizzlepop galloped forward, charging her horn.

Grubber reached for her. “Fizz, wait!”

Hearing her voice, Starswirl couldn’t help but turn back to see her come close. “Fizzlepop! I said–”

The distraction was more then enough, allowing the Storm King’s beam to break through Starswirl’s and strike the tip of his horn, creating a large explosion of plasma that spread itself across the hallway. Anyone or anything standing near it was thrown off in the direction the blast hit them from. Sam, Flash Magnus, and Salazzle were chucked into a pillar, Aegislash focusing itself to deflect both of Celaeno’s swords with its shield as they were blown at it and its friends.

Alice and Somnambula were thrown to the ground, Mimkyu taking a particularly strong band of magical energy to the head of its disguise, breaking it as it tumbled back toward its trainer. Fizzlepop was swept off her hooves, one of the bolts shooting into the crown on her horn, shattering it and knocking the base off to reveal its brokenness. Upon hitting the ground, she crashed into Grubber, sending them both rolling down as they were pelted by the aftershocks of the Storm King’s winning blow.

The magical bolts began to fizzle out near Skystar and the remaining Equestrians, Mistmane and Stygian keeping a shield spell up just in case. Upon realizing their safety, the two unicorns dropped their shield and looked over along the chaos of the battle. The only one standing now was the Storm King, who could finally breathe following the tense duel. He then noticed as Starswirl and Fizzlepop stirred awake, getting to their front hooves as the singed ends of their horns spilled wisps of smoke.

With a triumphant chuckle, the Storm King approached Starswirl and squatted before him. “How crazy was that? Turns out Tempest was far more useful to me as my nemesis than as my lieutenant. Imagine that!” He then looked over the unicorn stallion and gave Fizzlepop a thumbs up. “I’ve always liked the old horn! Makes me remember how much superior I am to you!”

Fizzlepop and Starswirl could only seethe as the Storm King pointed the Staff of Sacanas close to Starswirl’s face, Sam, Alice, and their Pokémon very quietly sitting up.

“Now…” The Storm King reached behind him ever so slowly, allowing the defeated unicorn to savor his final moments of consciousness, “let me be sure all that magic of yours stays with someone that deserves it…” he then put his free hand to his chest to mention himself, allowing Alice and Mimikyu to spring into action. “Of course, that someone being me, but you probably already–”

“Shadow Claw!” A pair of long black arms spiraled around the Storm King’s left arm and his staff, constricting them and holding them in place.

Just as he realized his arm was caught, Alice hopped up and ran up his staff and his arm. The Storm King roared with anger as he reached for her, only for Alice to lean away and swing her spear as hard as she could, the blunt blade striking the side of his skull. The Storm King shot up with a loud yelp and threw its hand onto its excruciating wound, throwing Alice off of it. Alice attempted to land neatly on the ground, only for her right, scarred leg to catch all of Alice’s weight. With pain shooting all the way up to her upper thigh, Alice could only crash onto her side, screaming as she struggled to roll over and support her shin, the slightest bit of pressure filling her with agony.

The Storm King then directed its glare at Mimikyu, who, despite its firm grasp on him, had the tip of his staff aimed directly at it. With a quick charge and a shout, the Storm King blasted a single ball of magic energy that exploded all over Mimikyu, throwing it back against the a pillar where its half-filled form wound around.

Alice could only turn her head to see the state of her last usable Pokémon. “MIMIKYU!”

Hearing her screams, the Storm King turned to face her just as Sam ran out at him from behind, holding Aegislash back in anticipation for a hard swing in. Twirling the Staff of Sacanas so as to hold it backwards, the Storm King then swung it up behind its back, throwing Sam and Aegislash up toward the ceiling. In the same motion, he magically pulled a dark orb out, the swing of his staff continuing behind him until it went around his right shoulder, allowing him to grab it like a rocket launcher with the orb held at its tip, pointing at Sam and Aegislash as they both slammed into the ceiling.

“Boom, baby!” With a small burst, the Storm King shot the orb at the two, launching it so fast that it burst against the surface of the ceiling and covered Sam and Aegislash in its smoke before they could bounce off and fall back down.

Alice sat up, the pain in her leg only adding to her inconsolable anguish. “SAM, NOOOO!”

The five Equestrians in the back gasped loudly, Mage Meadowbrook putting her hoof over her mouth as Skystar whined loudly, her back in too much pain to let out a full on wail. Somnambula, Salazzle, and Flash Magnus, also having just come awake, exhaled in choked breaths, the loss of another friend hurting their hearts.

Fizzlepop, Grubber, and Starswirl stood stunned as they, along with the Storm King, looked up at the smoking spot, beginning to suspect something as neither Sam nor Aegislash came back down. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Sam burst through the dark cloud as if he had pushed off of the ceiling. Aegislash lead him with its blade held inside its enarme and its King’s Shield aura barrier pushing the smoke away, neither it nor its trainer showing any signs of transformation.

“No!” The Storm King shouted. “Impossible!”

“Aegislash!” Sam’s Pokémon undid its defensive position, quickly arming itself to Sam as he wound his arm back. “Sacred Sword!!”

The Storm King prepared to meet their attack and pointed the Staff of Sacanas at Sam, only for his vision to blur and a swelling feeling fill the side of his head where Alice had struck him. He could only manage a small six-inch barrier around the crystal in his staff as Aegislash’s blade glowed a similar blue. With a purposeful cry, Sam swung Aegislash as hard as he could, its blade not only shattering the Storm King’s weak shield, but the crystal on the end of the staff as well. Aegislash pulled Sam up just in time to ensure a safe, non-injuring landing for him, pieces of the destroyed crystal scattering at his feet.

“NNYUUUUHH!” Sam hopped back and away as the emotionally devastated Storm King looked to his ruined weapon, light slowly filling the top of it. “No… No, no, no! This can’t be happening!”

With nothing to hold the immense power in, the Staff of Sacanas violently trembled in the Storm King’s hands as the energy at the end of it reached maximum brightness. Finally, a twister of magic blasted out from the end of it, the exertion of energy almost blowing Sam, Fizzlepop, Starswirl, and Grubber away. The magic began to enter into the walls and floors, spreading like roots toward the changeling statues lining the hall.

One by one, the stone dissolved off their bodies, freeing the changelings trapped inside and restoring their magic through their horns. The magic lines also filled the frozen bodies of Dexio, Mega Alakazam, Ember, Celaeno, and Rockhoof, burning the stone off and restoring them to their former selves. The five of them then looked around, watching as the freed magic restored the remaining changeling statues.

Starswirl, viewing this with Fizzlepop and Grubber, could only let out a content breath. “Well done, everyone…”

The magic roots, now colored amber and crimson red, seeped into the room where Cocoon, Celestia, and the changling stood, the latter two stepping nervously away before they entered into the changeling queen through her hooves before separating out, the red magic feeding back into the Alicorn Amulet as the amber magic spread across her body, particularly up her neck and into her head and horn. Once all of the magic had returned, she began to pant heavily, the amount of magic energy filling her starting to overwhelm her.

“My queen?” the changeling nervously addressed.

Celestia could only look up at the room’s ceiling, feeling something miraculous had happened. “Could it be?”

“Yes…” Celestia and the changeling turned back to see Cocoon unclasping the amulet off her neck, sighing uncomfortably as the extra magic it provided was ripped away from her, turning her aura from red to an orange-brown. “I do believe that the Storm King has already been defeated.”

“Which means… the Pillars!”

“And my allies!” The changeling darted out of the room, leaving Celestia alone with Cocoon.

The two looked at each other and shared a respectful nod before galloping off to follow it.

Alice sat herself up further as she watched the Storm King tremble, the now useless Staff of Sacanas still in his hands.

“Give up now!” Dexio demanded. “You no longer possess any magic that can best any of us!”

The Storm King bowed its body over, its trembling only worsening as his sadness morphed into fury. It then picked its head back up, its clenched teeth and narrowed eyes suggesting a thirst that only blood could quench.

“You ruined everything!” The Storm King threw the staff like a javelin at Dexio and Mega Alakazam.

Neither Dexio nor Mega Alakazam could react fast enough, the staff hitting the wall behind them and blasting pieces of stone into the backs of their heads as well as several changelings, knocking them both unconscious. With the Storm King now unarmed, Sam ran over to attack the Storm King again and take it out once and for all. With an outside sideways slash, Sam looked to strike his lower chest, only for him to catch Aegislash’s blade with a single hand.

Sam gasped fearfully as blood trickled down the Storm King’s palm, which refused to let Aegislash go. With his free hand, the Storm King punched him, its large fist hitting his head and chest simultaneously. Alice and the others watched as Sam bounced off the floor, already quite unconscious before he limply rolled to a stop.

“SAAAAAMM!!” Alice shrieked.

Salazzle screamed as it ran over to try and shake its trainer awake as the left side of his head began to seep with a red trickle. As Aegislash tried to struggle free from his grasp, the Storm King slammed it down on the floor face-first hard enough to crack the marble out just short of Starswirl and Fizzlepop’s hooves.

“No!” Flash Magnus and Somnambula both rushed the Storm King at once.

Picking up the fainted Aegislash, the Storm King furiously swung it at both of them, hitting them hard to knock them back away toward Skystar and the other four Equestrians there. Celaeno and Rockhoof, despite being unarmed, both came at him on the ground while Ember came at him from the air. Swinging Aegislash along the floor, the Storm King blasted chips of rock and marble at all three of them, pelting their bodies hard enough to send them to the floor.

“Guys!” Capper ran as fast as he could toward the Storm King, Mistmane, and Stygian galloping to catch up.

With Mage Meadowbrook and Skystar staying behind, they could only observe idly as the Storm King turned his sights back to Alice, who, upon realizing that she was his next target, weakly slid back on her good foot toward the wall and the changelings standing there, who also shook in terror as he came near them. Fizzlepop and Grubber also gasped, knowing Alice could never possibly escape.

“You…” The Storm King pointed Aegislash at her. “If it wasn’t for you hitting me, I would have stopped him. Now, I’m going to finish you in front of all your stupid friends!”

Fizzlepop seized up for just a moment as the Storm King rose Aegislash over his head, ready to stab down on her. “Alice!”

As she galloped out, her horn began to charge, loose, unstable sparks flying off of it. Capper and the others stopped between Grubber and Starswirl, who both reached out to her.

“Fizzlepop, no!” Starswirl cried out. “Your horn!”

With pain still pounding his head, the Storm King decided to savor Alice’s look of complete hopelessness as she put her arm up in a futile attempt to block it. Fizzlepop refused to slow down, her horn lighting up even brighter as more sparks spilled out of it like a cheap firework. Sam’s eyes slowly came open just as Fizzlepop leapt at the Storm King, her entire body getting covered in light before it collapsed in, disappearing along with her.

At the same instant, Fizzlepop appeared beside the Storm King’s head in a bright, colorful explosion. Spinning around, she drove her back hoof into the right side of his head. With her unstable magic covering her body, the sparkling energy traveled down her body and into the hoof kicking her former master. A brighter, more violent explosion followed, blasting the Storm King back to the end of the hall and forcing him to drop Aegislash to the ground. It’s back was thrown against the doors, bouncing off of them before landing hard on its stomach, disoriented with pain now coursing through both sides of his head.

Fizzlepop landed on the ground, looking around herself as though she had no idea how she got there. With her horn sparking up again, she then realized that she had just completed her first successful teleportation spell.

“Fizzlepop…” Starswirl’s mouth hung open.

Dexio and Mega Alakazam came to, picking themselves up to see Fizzlepop standing alone against the Storm King, who could only get onto his hands and knees. With widening eyes and mouths, they could only begin to imagine what could have possibly happened. In any case, no Equestrian, human, or Pokémon dared move except to move back and away, unwilling to get between or even near the furious raspberry unicorn and the once dreaded Storm King. Having come to terms with her new abilities, Fizzlepop widened her stance.

“Get up, you charlatan!” The Storm King picked his head up to stare into her vengeful eyes. “Your fight is far from over!”

With another quick charge of her horn, a band of white sparks swirled around her body.

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[Xp45]

Time to rock and roll, Fizzlepop