Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 82 – Mothers and Fathers

Finally, Susan fell out from Metang’s claws, limply landing on her back with Alice just barely fast enough to catch her head before it bounced off the street. Meowstic howled to see its trainer in such a state. Benji fell down beside her and clutched her hand, screaming over the sure-to-be fatal wounds he still couldn’t believe he was looking at. As she rest her head down, Alice swung her arms back, her vest getting tossed off her body before she folded it twice and held it down onto her mother’s gut.

“Come on, Mommy,” she hyperventilated, blood already beginning to seep up, “come on, Mommy!”

Susan squeezed her husband’s hand as hard as she could while she breathed as calmly as her body would allow. Sam looked up to the Metang hybrid looking over what it had done, the human’s glance prompting it to stare back at him.

Sam’s face twisted into complete, inconsolable wrath, his legs pushing off the ground to run harder than they ever have before. “MOTHERFUCKER!”

Starlight and Fluttershy worriedly glanced back to their friend. “Sam, stop!”

With the shrillest of screams, Sam wound his arm back, Aegislash’s cloth arm wrapping around it. Upon grabbing hold of the hilt, Sam swung Aegislash as hard as he could, the Metang hybrid holding up its arms to block. With Aegislash’s added momentum, its blade struck its arms hard enough to crumple them in like soda cans, the ends folding forward as the Metang hybrid was shot down the street, sliding to a stop. Sam’s breathing mirrored the intensity of his bleeding mother’s, and he blindly walked forward at his still living enemy.

It pained Benji to take his eyes off Susan, but for the sake of his son, he forced his gaze to him. “Sam! Get back, now!”

“Shut up!” Sam would not hear any opposition. “This thing kills my mom, I kill it!”

The Metang hybrid, using its still-intact elbows, pushed itself to its knees, allowing it to get back onto its feet, a feat that only served to anger Sam more. As his pace quickened again, the humans, ponies, and Pokémon gathered near the Crystal Empire portal tensed up, knowing what was coming next would not end well for him.

“Sam, god dammit!” Alice screeched. “Stop it!”

Sam let out another battle cry as he jogged into a run. At that moment, the Metang hybrid brought its leg back and pushed off with its other, soaring at Sam fast enough to leave a sparkling tail around its body. Sam felt his body freeze up as the hybrid came at him at speeds that he could not react to fast enough. Aegislash pulled itself up and held itself and its shield close to Sam’s chest, the Metang hybrid crashing into the two of them and sending both flying the same way they did to it.

A shout escaped the lips of everyone but Susan and Alice, the latter of whom was the first to make a command. “Noivern, catch them!”

With a roar, Noivern spun to the right and held its left wing out to where Sam and Aegislash would fall. Like a safety net, Sam’s back struck the skin with enough cushion to safely stop its thrust. Lowering its wing down further, Noivern allowed both its trainer’s brother and his Pokémon to slide back down onto the street.

Sitting up, Sam watched as the Metang hybrid came at them slowly and tauntingly. With a gentle upward swing, Aegislash pulled Sam up to his feet to ready themselves to meet its advance. Just as Sam took another step, Molayne and Sophocles came up on both sides of him, compelling him to stop.

“Killing it won’t heal your mother,” Molayne advised, pulling an Ultra Ball off his belt, “but it will be easier if we bring him down together.”

Sam wasn’t sure how to respond to this, but as Sophocles took a ball off his own belt, Sam felt his thirst for revenge slowly extinguish. With a calmer motion, Sam slid a foot back and held Aegislash with both hands on the hilt. The Metang hybrid prepared for yet another lunge, prompting the other two trainers to ready their Poké Balls. Just then, Sunburst hopped out from the portal with his horn charged, his back legs swinging and sliding around to face the hybrid dead on.

“Duck!” Sunburst shot a concentrated white-hot beam out from his horn right as the Metang hybrid shot forward, the beam striking it dead in the face.

Sam, Molayne, Sophocles, and Noivern got down as low as they could in such a short time, but Sunburst’s warning proved to be enough, the Metang hybrid now a limp ragdoll flying over the three trainers and two Pokémon. Save for Alice, Benji, and Susan, everyone then turned to look back as the Metang hybrid hit the ground much harder this time.

As it finally came to a stop, they were aghast to see a semicircle-shaped gouge now hallowed from atop the hybrid’s head, which was left red and smoking with the heat still left on it. With it still holding part of its arm up in a final attempt to reach them, it finally relaxed before its body shriveled and began to blow away into dust.

Sunburst glanced back to see his success, but with Susan still clinging to life at the corner of his eye, he galloped over to her. “How is she?”

Benji’s breath began to tremble on its way out. “Not good. She’s not squeezing as hard any more.”

With a huff from its nose, Sunburst gave a light charge of his horn, turning it bright and hot. “Do any of you have something she can bite down on?”

“Bite…” Benji suddenly got it, his eyes shooting open. “Someone find a stick or something wooden, hurry!”

On cue, Fluttershy and Comfey had already returned with a piece of a branch wide enough to fit inside ones mouth. Uncoiling it from its tail, Comfey dropped it into Benji’s hand, who immediately lowered it to his wife’s face.

“Benji, please,” Susan whispered, “I can make it to the hospit–”

“Frankly ma’am, you won’t.” Sunburst seemed deathly confident in this assumption. “I’m looking after a mother myself, and I don’t want to cause the loss of another tonight, now bite down, please.”

Susan looked to Alice, who clasped both hands around hers, nodding assuringly. “Mom, just do it.”

With two quick readying breaths, she turned to Benji and nodded. He promptly put the twig in her mouth, shifting it around to ensure her inner cheek or tongue would not interfere. After Alice tossed her crimson-soaked vest aside and pulled her torn shirt up, revealing her bare stomach, Susan looked up at Sunburst and nodded to him, permitting him to lower his searing horn down at her stomach.

“Just try to be still as possible.” Sunburst’s horn made contact with the first gash.

Susan squealed as her neck arched up, squeezing her husband and daughter’s hands hard enough to make both of them wince. Slowly tracing the horn onto the wound, Sam’s breathing began to quicken as he saw the once flowing spot now become dry and clotted where the unicorn’s horn had been.

“That’s it, Mom!” Sam ran to stand over Susan’s head from behind. “You’re doing great!”

“FUCK YOU!” As Sunburst took his horn off, Susan grunted out all the air she had in her lungs, relinquishing her mouth’s grip on the stick and letting it slide down the left corner of her mouth.

“Whoa…” Benji caught the stick and put it back in.

“Huh? Wur nut done?”

“Still got two more holes, honey.”

“Shisht. Arigh, arigh, jusht do buth. Nuh brwakesh.”

“Are you sure?” Sunburst asked, beginning to get nervous. “You don’t want to pass out now–”

“I SHAD BUTH!”

Sunburst shook his head as he charged his horn back up, still in disbelief over what he was doing. “Mother knows best…”

Pressing his horn down to the second gash, Susan screamed through the branch, Alice and Benji panting as they expected their hands to break at any second.

“That’s it!” Benji growled. “You’re doing so good!”

Susan could no longer think of anything witty to say, her cries the only substitute she could muster. The second gash was soon finished, and as demanded, Sunburst put his blazing horn onto the final cut, Sam monitoring his mother’s consciousness as she began to look tired and unresponsive.

“Mom?” Sam knelt down over her head, holding both sides of it. “Mom, are you still there?”

Susan let go of Alice and moved her hand to Sam’s, letting her clutch on as tightly as she had been to her daughter’s. “So proud of you both.”

Finally, her strength began to fade, Sam biting his lip as he feared the worst. “Mom?! Mom!!”

Sunburst groaned as he worked through the last few inches. Upon reaching it, he let out a hearty sigh, looking down upon his work. It was far from professional, and it would look only slightly-less uglier once it healed, but Sunburst had saved her life, and he felt as though he could take enough pride in that.

“She definitely still needs medical attention,” he said, “but that should buy you more than enough time to get her to a–”

“Honey!?” Benji gently shook the head of his unconscious wife. “Sue!!”

“Hold on!” Sophocles pushed Benji aside, leaning down and putting his ear over her chest, the wide-eyed expression he suddenly showed worrying anyone unfortunate enough to see it. “Shit, she’s going into shock!”

“What?!” Alice could hardly comprehend what was happening as she looked back at Susan and then Sophocles over and over. “She’s dying?!”

“Not if we can stop it. Come out, Togedemaru!” Pointing an Ultra Ball down at Susan, it opened up and let his round, spiky rodent out on top of her.

He then began to take a pair of gloves out from his pockets and put them on. He then picked Togedemaru up and began to rub his hands all over its sides, greatly confusing everyone save for Molayne.

“What are you doing?!” Starlight snapped. “This is no time to be petting your Pokémon!”

“You don’t understand…” Sophocles continued, small sparks beginning to discharge off the tips of his fingers. “These gloves allow me to handle Pokémon that give off lots of natural static electricity like Togedemaru here and absorb it. I normally use them to quickly power up certain electronics back at the observatory, but if I collect enough static, I can use my gloves as a makeshift defibrillator and stabilize her heartbeat!”

Sophocles set his Pokémon down, which stepped aside to let him kneel beside Susan. Placing his hands over the upper right and lower left sides of her chest, Benji and Sam let go of her hands and stayed back to let Sophocles do his thing.

“Alright, clear!” Sophocles slapped both hands down at the same time, causing Susan’s chest to jolt up before settling back down.

Alice and Sam both wept as their mom continued remaining still. After removing his gloves and tossing them aside, Sophocles put his ear back over Susan’s heart, hoping to hear a more regular pulse. Breathing out, he got back off and put both hands over her chest, pressing down at a steady rhythm several times before putting his head down again.

A small grin and tired chuckle escaped Sophocles’s mouth, filling Susan’s surrounding family and friends with hope. “We have a pulse!”

Comfey floated onto Susan’s face and flew in a circle over it, releasing soft pink spores that she began to breathe through her mouth and nose. Not long after, Susan’s eyes fluttered before they slowly came open. Upon her picking her head up, Sam, Alice, and Benji each gasped as much air as they could as Meowstic hugged and nuzzled its face against the side of its trainer’s head.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Fluttershy sighed.

Susan attempted to sit up, only to loudly squeal and lay down flat upon feeling the excruciating pain piercing her stomach. “Okay… no getting up.”

Sunburst breathed open-mouthed, elated above all else that his attempts to save her were not in vain. Starlight trotted to him and gave him a loving thankful hug, which he was more than happy to return after so long.

Molayne squatted beside Sophocles, looking over Susan’s closed wounds. “Looks like she’s patched up for the most part, but she’ll still need to get to a hospital right away.”

“Right.” Benji then turned to Alice. “Our key code is 2093. Get the car keys off my dresser!”

“Right!” Alice spun around as she stood, sprinting down to the apartment buildings.

“Lurantis,” Sam spoke, “keep her safe!”

With an affirmative cry, Lurantis whizzed off, quickly reaching Alice’s behind.

He then looked to Sophocles and Molayne. “Any of you have another Full Restore?”

Nodding, Molayne pulled a bottle from his jacket and lobbed it to Sam.

Catching it in one hand, Sam held the nozzle down just a few inches above Susan’s stomach. “This is going to sting a little.”

“After all that,” Susan coughed, “I look forward to stinging.”

With an accepting cock of the head, Sam sprayed a liberal stream of Full Restore over the first of the three sealed cuts, Susan breathing calmly through it.

Alice opened the front passenger door of the yellow car as Susan was walked to it, her arms slung around her husband and son’s necks. Alice reclined the seat down and hopped aside to let Benji and Sam adjust her inside. As Molayne, Sophocles, and Fluttershy saw to them, Sunburst took the quiet opportunity to scoot over to Starlight.

“So…” Not the most awkward way to start a conversation. “This is where you and your friends ended up?”

Starlight let out an exhausted, but sympathetic grunt. “Yeah. All things considered, it actually could have been a lot worse…”

“Are you sure about that?”

With Susan buckled up and lying back, Sam and Alice ran around the back of the vehicle got in the back seat. Benji went around the front, getting in the driver’s seat and habitually checking the mirrors. As he looked ahead, he noticed as the four hybrids that he helped save his children from were slowly getting up without any of their friends’ knowledge.

Benji began to blare his horn, getting more frenetic as the hybrids all were now on their feet. Lady was the first to sense something off, turning around and yapping at what Benji was warning them off. At once, the ponies and humans spun around to see the hybrids all coming at them. Sam clutched the back of Benji’s headrest, wanting nothing nothing else more than his mother’s safety to rush out and help them.

Sunburst turned to face to the occupants inside the car. “Leave us and get her better! We’ll handle them!”

Wasting no more time, Benji shifted the transmission by the wheel to D and floored the gas pedal, burnt rubber smoke trailing behind the back wheels before traction kicked in and pushed the car off the driveway and drifting right into the street. As the car went further away, Sam and Alice looked back as Molayne and Sophocles brought their Metagross and Vikavolt back out to join the ponies and their Pokémon.

Coming to the end of the road, Benji turned the wheel left, the car’s back wheels skidding off near the curb. Once he straightened it out, Benji felt his foot jerk over the brake pedal upon seeing another portal to Ponyville a hundred feet down. Outside it, Guzma and Ilima fought against a Hypno and Kadabra hybrid with their Masquerain and Smeargle. With a shout, he brought his foot back down on the gas and prepared to drive through their battle.

Outside, Guzma heard the sound of Benji’s car honking, greatly annoying him as he turned back toward it. “Hey, shit-for-brains! Does this look like a good time or place to drive?”

Alice frenetically cranked her window down, sticking her head out to ensure she could be heard and seen. “Hospital! We need to get to the hospital!”

“Kids?” Upon recognizing Alice, he then turned to Ilima. “Ilima, help me move these bastards out of the way for them! Masquerain, use Bug Buzz!”

Guzma’s insect Pokémon flittered its wings, creating a wave of dense light-green energy that crashed into both hybrids, leaving them crouching in pain as they covered their ears to block as much of the unbearable noise as they could.

“Excellent work, Guzma!” Ilima praised. “Smeargle, finish the job with Power Whip!”

With the hybrids still distracted by Masquerain’s attack, Ilima’s Pokémon rushed at them with its entire tail aglow. With a single spin, its tail swung out and lashed into both the hybrids’ stomachs, sending them soaring into a building on the left. As the two trainers and their Pokémon rushed to the right, the street was now clear enough for Benji to safely drive around.

Just as Benji began to shift to the left, he spotted an Oranguru hybrid running out from the portal with Zeraora hung over his shoulder. As the electric cat tried breaking free, the hybrid kept its hold strong until it threw him into the same building the other two hybrids were blasted into. With the Oranguru hybrid now blocking his path, Benji jammed the wheel right to pass both on the other side.

Alice began to fish for a Poké Ball from her belt while Sam white-knuckle gripped both backrests for stability. The Oranguru hybrid, seeing its prey get away, forcefully waved its hand at Benji’s car, flinging the left side up to flip it over.

As Benji and Sam screamed for their lives, Alice whipped her ball out of the open window. “Raichu!”

Her large, orange rodent popped out from its ball, immediately flying down to the car and magnetically latching its tail to the space between both left doors. Bending back, Raichu began to pull the car back upright. Benji, having turned the wheel left in his panic, found his car juking left right at the portal once all four wheels returned to the ground. As he frantically worked to straighten the car’s direction, Raichu and the car drove straight into the portal, the smooth asphalt now replaced with soft grass and soil. Once the car had been stabilized, Benji slammed the brakes.

Sam leaned in between the front seats and looked to his mother, who looked shaken and extremely anxious. “Mom! Are you still okay?”

“Where…” Susan was too overwhelmed to string a complete sentence together. “…are we?”

Now in the streets of Ponyville, the jarringly new surroundings left Benji and Susan almost petrified. He watched as unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies of all ages and genders ran for their lives throughout the street, many of them looking at the machine that just crashed through with even more terror than they originally had.

“What is this…” Benji’s amazement killed his words on his tongue.

“It’s where our friends are from,” Alice shouted, “now punch this thing in reverse and let’s go!”

“Ah, yes!” Benji cranked the transmission up two spaces and floored the gas pedal.

The tires dug up the ground, making their escape back to their world a slow one. At that moment, the Oranguru hybrid ran out from the portal and pushed against the car, the now sudden bang and stop making Sam and Alice yelp in shock. The lack of traction against the ground only served to make the Oranguru hybrid’s efforts to hold them that much easier.

“Raichu, Grass Knot, hurry!”

Raichu turned around and pointed its magenta-glowing arms at the Oranguru hybrid’s legs. As vines and thick blades of grass began to sprout from the ground and twist around its legs, the Oranguru hybrid took one hand off the car to wind its arm back, a Shadow Ball forming in its palm. With a quick throw, the orb struck Raichu in the face, flinging it out down the street until it was several feet from the front left corner of the car.

“Come on, come on!” Benji pumped the gas pedal, but his car and the hybrid blocking them would not budge an inch. “Nothing’s working! We’re stuck.”

“Not yet.” Sam pulled a Poké Ball off his belt and looked through the rear window. “Dad, when I say now, go forward!”

“What?!” Benji shouted. “But the hos–”

“We have to get out of here somehow! These portals are open all over town, so maybe we can take one that will get us to the hospital!”

“Or maybe Ponyville has a hospital here we can take her to!” Alice desperately suggested.

“Wait!” Benji’s eyes darted throughout all the buildings. “These ponies have hospit–”

“Dad,” Sam screamed, “just drive! Salazzle, Flamethrower!”

Holding his ball back and letting it open, Sam gave the white energy that poured out enough space so that Salazzle could lay on the surface underneath the rear window. As Salazzle’s mouth charged with flame, staring at its target, Benji shifted the car into ‘drive,’ the push of the hybrid getting it out of the rut.

Salazzle shot a strong, narrow stream of fire that immediately burned through the glass and blew into the Oranguru hybrid’s face before the car could drive away and leave it to burn.

“Raichu!” Alice’s Pokémon, seeing the car drive off along with its trainer’s voice, hopped up back onto its tail and flew after it.

Benji kept to the middle of the road, keeping his eyes out for any ponies that would try to cross the street before he could reach it. “So, any of you know where this hospital is, because I don’t think this is a good time to ask for directions!”

Alice then saw a body get blasted back near the car. “Dad, stop!”

With an exasperated yell, Benji slammed the brakes once again, allowing the creature that came at them to hit the ground and tumble with their back hitting the fender. As the creature stood up, Sam and Alice could instantly recognize her from her scaly blue body and the scepter she wielded.

“Ember!” Alice shouted.

Looking from the corners of her eyes, Ember was more surprised to see them than the machine they were all inside. “Alice, Sam! How’d you–”

An Espeon hybrid jumped at her, forcing the dragoness to refocus her attention. She was still too distracted to avoid the hybrid’s downward punch that slammed down on the top of her head, throwing her to her stomach. As the Espeon hybrid held its hands down over Ember’s body, they began to sparkle and brighten for an oncoming Dazzling Gleam.

Raichu mashed the bottom of its electrically-charged tail into the front of the Espeon hybrid’s head, sending it flying back to where it had come. Alice whimpered to see her friend still not getting up, resolving to unlock the door and open it, running around the car to check on her. As she helped pick Ember up, Alice’s Raichu returned to her side to help in any way it could.

“What…” Much like her legs, her speech was also weak. “What are you two doing here?”

“Our mom got hurt in the crossfire,” Alice quickly explained. “We’re trying to find a hospital– any hospital to help her.”

“Whoa…” Looking in the front two seats, it suddenly occurred to Ember that she barely recognized either of the humans in them. “You brought your folks here?”

“We can’t stay long!” Benji shouted before brightening up with an idea. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the hospital is do you?”

“Yeah, but a lot of good dragons, ponies, and changelings got attacked by these creatures, so unless she isn’t knocking on death’s door, you’d best look elsewhere.”

“Is there another hospital nearby I don’t know about?!”

“Calm down, pops! Some human girl came through one of these things and helped me out. She said she was going back home to help her ‘bros’ and ‘sisses’ or something. Maybe that’ll lead you in the right direction!”

“And you know where that is?”

Ember growled. While her patience with Benji was running thin, she knew that helping Alice out would be worth the trouble.

Ember’s claws dug into the upper lip of the windshield, one of her hands pinning her scepter down on the roof. With a knelt leg on the roof and her wings held out, she stabilized herself further as Benji rocketed through the streets of Ponyville. Raichu flew beside the car, keeping an eye out for every creature that momentarily crossed the car’s path.

Susan’s breathing was getting slightly hoarser as she had nothing but the admittedly beautiful night sky to keep her mind focused on other than her agony.

“Hang in there, honey.” Benji sounded much calmer as his tension was transferred to his grip on the steering wheel. “We can’t be much farther now.”

Leaving the street and entering into a small plaza, Ember spotted a portal up ahead, recognizing the blue and pink haired people on the other side of it and the matching tank-tops and shorts they wore.

“There! It’s right there!” Letting go of the car, her wings pulled her off as the vehicle and Raichu continued on. “Good luck!”

With dragons and transformed changelings alike doing battle against several hybrids on both sides of them, the path to the portal was clear. As they continued driving, Sam couldn’t help but notice a familiar looking girl with her Carracosta fighting against an Oricorio hybrid. Upon her turning around to check her behind, he finally recognized Olivia’s shopkeeper, filling him with a flurry of positive and negative emotions.

Just as Raichu and the car shot through the portal into Po Town, Benji began to honk his horn once again, the Skull grunts filling the streets jumping and sprinting out of the way. Benji slowed his speed as he began to scope out the even newer surroundings. Almost out of nowhere, a Metang hybrid shot out from the left and punched its claw straight through the front wheel of the car, sending it spinning out to the right and crashing into a couple unaware and unprepared Skull grunts.

Raichu immediately flew atop the car and pulled opposite of the spin, allowing it to come to a quicker stop, albeit now facing in the direction of the portal they had just come out of. Upon stopping, Raichu flew away from the area as fast as it could, crying out for help. Sam and Alice looked around at the scene where the grunts that the car had hit were now writhing upon the ground, their Pokémon nudging at them to get back up. The grunts and Pokémon who did manage to escape glared at the Metang hybrid as it stood back up.

“Salandit,” a pink-haired grunt yelled, “Flamethrower!”

“Mareanie,” a blue-haired grunt added in, “Liquidation!”

A Salandit hopped upon the hood of Benji’s car, breathing flames out of its mouth which washed over the hybrid’s body. Blocking as much of its face as it could with its arms, the Metang hybrid couldn’t see as the Mareanie rocketed at it, its point colliding square with its chest and an explosion of water helping knock it back down to its back. The Salandit then hopped off the car to continue its assault while two Fomantises and a Spinarak ran across the hood to join them.

With that danger averted, Alice leaned over in between the seats and looked to her still ailing mother. “Mom! Are you any more hurt?!”

“Why…” Only one thing seemed to concern Susan at that moment. “…aren’t we moving?”

Benji stepped on the gas pedal, only to find the vehicle lurching forward inches at a time accompanied with a terrible grinding sound. Even as he turned the steering wheel to pull a U-turn, he was discomfited by how loose and easy it was to turn. He then glanced out the window, seeing that the entire right wheel, tire and all, was now almost flat and facing up, forever useless.

“No…” Another flooring of the pedal only produced a louder grind and only slightly faster speed. “No, NO!”

Sam hissed as he reached for the door handle, only for Alice to pull his wrist away from it. “Sam, are you crazy! We can’t leave here!”

“The car’s totaled!” he shouted. “At least outside we have a fighting chance!”

Just then, the mass of Pokémon that attacked the Metang grunt almost appeared to explode off the ground where they were gathered. The grunts on the other side of the car were dumbfounded by what had happened, only to feel themselves get violently swept away by the same force. Sam and Alice quietly and nervously glanced out both windows, seeing the glowing eyes of two Pokémon on either side of the car. As they walked forward, they recognized them as a Hypno hybrid and an Espeon hybrid. Finally both hybrids lunged at the car, Sam and Alice screaming and closing their eyes as they awaited whatever fate they had in store.

The only thing they heard or felt was a slight, muted thud against the sides as if some cushion blocked the blows. Looking back out the windows, the light inside the car perfectly illuminated a familiarly oily and colorful sludge that had accumulated along the sides of the car. The sludge further blocked their sights as the sounds of the hybrids roars of pain followed two incredibly strong strikes from whatever was protecting them.

“Yo, Alice! Sam!” Recognizing the voice, Sam, Alice, and Benji looked back through the unblocked rear-view window to find Plumeria standing there with Raichu beside her. “Your Raichu looked all worried and stuff, so I rushed over to lend a hand.”

“Who–” Benji stammered. “Who are you?! What is this?!”

“Don’t trip, sir! Just a friend of who I presume are your kids! Where y’all heading anyway?”

“Our mom’s been hurt!” Alice shouted back. “We need to get to a hospital!”

“Well, I can tell you our hands are a bit full right now, but we can take you someplace else that can help!”

“Unless you can get our car moving,” Benji angrily jeered back, “we’re pretty much stuck!”

Suddenly, the car began to rock as if it were floating on water. The sludge then began to cover up the windshield, and as Benji watched it completely obscure his view forward, several pairs of eyes and a couple of smiles stared down at him, a muddy hand forming a thumbs up against it.

With a sudden lurch, the car began to flow backwards down the street, the sludge getting tracked under from beneath sliding right back to the front to keep the motion going. Plumeria stepped aside as the Muk and Grimer-covered car swept passed them. She and Raichu then shared a look to each other as they followed the car close behind. Sam, Alice, and Benji shared an joyfully amazed glance to each other, Salazzle sliding into Sam’s lap as they enjoyed their trip.

Benji, with nothing else to focus on, clasped his wife’s hand, both of them holding each others’ tight. “We’re almost there. For real this time.”

Sam, Alice, and Salazzle looked through the back window, now facing forward. As Skull grunts saw the car come at them, neither could help but stand dumbfounded in its path for a moment before they realized they needed to move and did. They also found themselves facing an Oricorio hybrid and Kadabra hybrid. Before they could even have to wait for the blob of Grimers and Muks to defend them, Raichu flew into the Oriciorio hybrid with a hard Wild Charge. The Kadabra hybrid was blindsided by a Sharpedo, which flew away with its prey using the magnetic plates attached to it. Riding by the intersection where the Sharpedo came from, Sam and Alice spotted two Mossdeep employees and a Scrafty watching them pass.

Turning to the right, the two siblings spotted another portal that they were being led to. With their goal in sight, the Grimer-Muk blob sped on faster toward it, Plumeria turning the corner right behind them. Just then, an Espeon hybrid, a Hypno hybrid, and a Slowbro hybrid ran out into her path to block her. With a grimace, she detached an Ultra Ball off her belt and chucked it out.

“Out of my damn way!” she bellowed. “Toxapex, Pin Missle!”

The energy of the ball shot out, Plumeria’s starfish Pokémon forming from it and falling towards the ground. Before it could land, water began to spray out the sides of its angled tentacles, allowing it to spin itself at the three hybrids. Without any further warning, several spikes detached themselves off the tentacles as they were hurled at all three hybrids. Despite the hybrids blocking as many of them as they could with their arms, the onslaught was relentless, continuing until all three were blown away and cleared Plumeria’s path back up. Before her Pokémon could fall back to the ground, Plumeria returned Toxapex back into its ball, not slowing down as Benji’s car neared the portal.

Rockhoof smacked an Oranguru hybrid upside the chin with his shovel, disorienting it enough for Somnambula to kick it in the side of the head and away from her other friends. As Starswirl, Stygian, and Flash Magnus guarded Celestia, Mistmane and Mage Meadowbrook rallied several changelings to further block the advance of the hybrids that were able to evade Rockhoof and Somnambula. Even further outside their protective circle, Twilight, Lilligant, and Clefairy worked together to attack even more hybrids that tried to break through.

Twilight and her Pokémon suddenly saw a large, amorphous shape arrive out from the portal from Po Town, making her gasp with worry. However, she was left only slightly bemused once the Grimer-Muk horde receded off of Benji’s car and return to Po Town, leaving the useless heap on the Canterlot palace floors. However, upon seeing the all-too-familiar Raichu enter through the portal, she gasped a second time, this time out of hope. The left door was thrown open, and from it, Alice swung herself out with Sam and his Salazzle following her out immediately after.

“Sam! Alice!” Her calling of their names turned the heads of every pony and changeling in their direction.

“They’re back already?!” Starswirl muttered.

Three hybrids, a Slowking, a Metang, and an Espeon, upon noticing Sam and Alice outside, all charged the two at once.

Sam detached a Poké Ball from his belt while pointing at the Metang hybrid. “Salazzle, Flame Charge!”

With an exalted hiss, Salazzle sped off at the hybrid, its back awash with purple flames. Crashing head-first into it, Salazzle brought the hybrid down with a fiery burst. As the other two changelings continued their approach, Alice and Sam tossed out their next Poké Balls.

“Mimikyu, Shadow Claw!”

“Lurantis, Leaf Blade!”

Both Pokémon came out of their balls and landed on the stone floors together. As Mimikyu charged the Espeon hybrid, the hybrid lashed its arm out to hurl a web of Psyshock bolts at Mimikyu, busting its disguise. Undeterred, Mimikyu leapt up and lashed at the Espeon hybrid with both of its long, black claws, striking its face and chest. Lurantis ran at the Slowking hybrid, who shot an Ice Beam attack from its mouth. With a leap and twirl, Lurantis dodged the attack from above, continuing its rotations to slash at the hybrid using its momentum.

The Oranguru hybrid that had been attacked by Rockhoof and Somnambula recovered, beating its chest with its fists and roaring before charging at Sam and Alice’s Pokémon. Benji kicked the door to the car open and threw his Poké Ball out into the fray.

“Hawlucha, Throat Chop!” Benji’s wrestling bird soared out from its ball, quickly passing Sam and Alice and flying the bar of its wing into the front of the Oranguru’s neck.

As the Oranguru grasped its neck, its eyes bulging as it tried to breathe, Plumeria rushed out from the portal next, tossing an Ultra Ball out. “Gengar, Dark Pulse!”

Plumeria’s cheeky ghost Pokémon appeared from its ball, its grinning mouth opening up wide as it shot a black orb of aura at the Oranguru’s head, the strike knocking it out cold.

“Hey!” Plumeria shouted. “Any one of you know where we can find medical assistance?”

“Medical…?!” Mage Meadowbrook broke from Mistmane and the changelings as she rushed toward Plumeria, leaving the others to watch.

Taking the hint, Benji ran back around the car and opened up the passenger’s side door, preparing to pull Susan out. Plumeria went on the opposite side of the door to help Susan out. Sam and Alice came back around to monitor their mother as Benji and Plumeria laid her down.

Upon arriving by Susan’s side, Mage Meadowbrook was aghast at her horrific scars. “Egads! What happened to her?!”

“One of those bastard hybrid things dug its claws into our mom,” Sam explained. “A unicorn friend of Starlight’s helped cauterize the wound, but she still needed medical attention.”

“She certainly does!” Mage Meadowbrook tugged at her frock with her teeth, undoing the drawstring of a bag tied to her body and letting it drop to the floor.

Rumaging through her bag with her face, she pulled out a large vial of slighty-glowing green liquid. Handing it to Benji, he looked at it, almost confused at what to do.

“Am I supposed to make her drink this?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Alice answered to him before turning to her mom. “It’s not poison mom, trust me. I’ve already had some of her medicine, and you’re going to feel real good. Dad, now!”

Pulling the cork off the top, Benji carefully brought the vial toward Susan’s lips. With a reluctant parting of her mouth, Benji poured the vial’s content’s inside, filling her mouth halfway. As Susan swallowed, the other ponies and changelings came to gather around Susan to see to her further.

After a few seconds, Susan’s breathing began to relax and get quieter, surprising her greatly. “What… what did that stuff just do?”

“Easy now. I have to imagine that wound must have caused some internal bleeding,” she explained. “That potion is helping neutralize the blood in your system while clotting any spots the cauterization didn’t heal. It’s also a strong pain reliever too. We’ll still need to get to a hospital once most of this chaos blows over, whenever that may be.”

“That’s… wonderful…” Susan reached to the mare, who allowed her to take her hoof. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me! And while we’re on the subject of ‘wonderful,’ I just want to say that you two have raised the most amazin’ kids.”

“You don’t need to tell us twice,” Benji responded, still humbled.

As the other ponies stood proudly for their friends, the voice of Flash Magnus called out from behind them. “Hey, guys! We stopped those creature things, but more are coming!”

As the others turned back, they saw two more hybrids appear from the portal further down the hall. As well, the Metang hybrid and the Slowking hybrid began to stand back up to face the ponies all gathered around Susan. Before Sam, Alice, and their Pokémon could stand up and face the hybrids to continue the fight, the sound of a Poké Ball bursting open sounded off accompanied with its energy shooting between Alice and Sam. It formed into Susan’s Meowstic, Benji’s Hawlucha fluttering down to join its side.

Sam and Alice looked back to find Susan put her arm back down, her Poké Ball still in her hand. “Sam, Alice, just get back home. You have your own friends to save.”

“But…” Sam could hardly believe it. “We’re not leaving without you!”

“We’ll be just fine,” Benji assured them. “It looks like we’re in perfectly good company.”

Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Flash Magnus all nodded affirmatively as Celestia stepped forward. “We will protect your parents with our lives. We owe you at least that much. Now, please take Twilight back to your world and help your friends like your mother said.”

Despite their assurances, Sam couldn’t feel comfortable leaving until he felt Plumeria’s firm hand on his shoulder. “I’ll cover your six. I think that portal those two just came through will take us right back.”

Twilight hummed and nodded. “She’s right. Let’s not waste any more time.”

Turning back to the direction of the other portal, they saw as Hawlucha and Meowstic aptly took the Slowking and Metang hybrids back down to the ground. With their path no longer blocked, Alice, Sam, Plumeria, Twilight, and their Pokémon ran toward the portal. Once they were halfway between the ponies and the changelings fending off the two new hybrids, Sam and Alice couldn’t help but stop and turn back one last time.

As the ponies shared another glance back to their friends, Sam breathed in, almost unsure if these were the words he wanted to leave on, until… “Thank you!”

With calming farewell smiles levied to him, his sister, and their Pokémon, Sam felt more comfortable with running back to the portal that would return them to Hau’oli City. Alice, Plumeria, and their Pokémon came close behind. Ahead, a Bruxish hybrid pushed its face at the head of a changeling who struggled to push it back with its hooves. As well, a Hypno hybrid had two changelings held in its torturous Psychic grasp.

Lurantis swung its scythe arm clean between the Bruxish’s jaw, the force throwing it off the changeling. Mimikyu grasped the Hypno hybrid with both its shadowy arms, holding it up just as tightly and painfully as it did to the changelings it was forced to free. With nowhere to move, Raichu was given an easy target as it slammed the bottom of its tail into the hybrid’s head in a particularly forceful Wild Charge.

With Sam, Alice, Plumeria, Twilight and the others rejoining Lurantis, Mimikyu, and Raichu, all of them rushed into the portal, appearing before Spike, Capper, Rarity and Shining Armor, who appeared to be alone. Reunited, Spike and Shining Armor hugged Twilight tight as Capper and Rarity came to greet the humans and their Pokémon.

“Fancy meeting you guys here!” Capper chuckled. “Glad to receive some extra assistance.”

“Though it doesn’t look like we need much of any,” Rarity spoke up. “Our horde of monsters took off into that portal after we proved too much of a match for them.”

“Guys!” Facing off down the road, everyone gathered noticed Pinkie Pie and Skystar quickly coming at them.

To Sam’s dismay, both creatures looked exhausted and scuffed. “Guys! What happened?”

Skystar sheepishly pointed behind her. “Um… they happened.”

Looking past them, they spotted six hybrids forming a tight wall between both edges of the road. Among them, there were two Kadabra hybrids, an Espeon hybrid, a Slowking hybrid, a Bruxish hybrid, and an Oranguru hybrid. Alice and Plumeria scooted over to let Pinkie Pie and Skystar scurry back within their ranks.

“You don’t mind helping out a friend in need, do you?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Alice grinned, humored by the irony. “That’s exactly why we’re here!”

At once, Sam’s Lurantis and Salazzle, Alice’s Raichu and Mimikyu, Plumeria’s Gengar, and Twilight’s Lilligant and Clefable all came forward to form the front line of defense against the approaching hybrids. With their instant increase in numbers, Pinkie Pie and Skystar felt safe to smile confidently once again.

“Well,” Plumeria said, “we outnumber these guys, so what’s say we rush ‘em all real quick?”

“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Sam purred. “Alright guys! Attack!”

*TOUNHK*

A large bone club ricocheted off the head of one of the Kadabra hybrids, knocking it out cold before its back could hit the ground. As the others tried to follow the bone bouncing back up to where it had been thrown, another shape swooped down to catch it, landing on the ground in a recoil-reducing kneel.

Skystar spotted the creature first. “What the heck is that thing?”

Sam and Alice readily recognized the Alolan Marowak, and as it began to stand straighter, the ends of its bone torched up with blue fire. It then intimidatingly twirled the bone beside and around its body. With one hand holding the bar of its bone along its shoulders, it held its other hand out to beckon them forward.

“Whose Pokémon could that be?” Pinkie Pie wondered aloud.

Just then, a raptor bird’s screech split the sky from directly above, prompting the others to look up. Soaring down on bright orange wings with black tips was indeed a large bird with a grey body carrying down what appeared to be its trainer. Upon landing down, the trainer’s features appeared more defined in the light of the streetlamps.

His most defining feature was his brown skin, a few shades darker than Hau’s. Along with his black tank top, revealing a tribal tattoo on both of his shoulders, he wore a pair of fashionably ripped red jeans and leather sandals. His darker brown hair was spiked upwards with large streaks of red like a bonfire. As his bird fluttered beside him, he stood next to his Marowak and flipped a baton about, both ends catching one of the fires from his Pokémon’s bone and lighting it up as well.

While the others were surprised to see this sudden ally land in to help them, Plumeria huffed and smiled as she put her hands to her hips. “Welcome home… Kiawe.”

Sam and Alice gasped with realization. “Hold on!” Sam sputtered. “I recognize that name. You’re the one Flannery was covering for!”

“That’s right.” The young man Plumeria named Kiawe turned back to look at them with a serious face. “It looks as though you were struggling a bit against these monsters, so we arrived with reinforcements!”

“We…” The seas sounded strangely louder than before, and as Sam, Alice, and all the others glanced southward, they suddenly noticed something incredibly off.

Closing in between the eastern bay and the docks were dozens of Laprases, each one carrying at least two Pokémon on its back, including Trevenants, Pinsirs, Carbinks, Kadabras, and Klefkis. Flying in a thick swarm directly above them were an even more diverse array of Pokémon, among them Skarmories, Drifblims, Metangs, and others, including white sugar gliders with yellow wings, green bipedal insects with large scythed arms, and seagulls with a small body and long, skinny wings.

As the horde came closer to Hau’oli Beach, Lillie and Gladion turned from their spot on the street to see their help arrive. Standing atop the Lapras in the very front was a rotund man with a white wifebeater, tattered green shorts, and a straw hat covering his messy medium-length hair.

Lillie whimpered at the unbelievable sight. “Father…”

Spotting his son and daughter in his sights, Mohn removed the hat from his head and threw his arm forward, using it to point the way. “Go, my Pokémon! Save them!”

His Lapras sped on ahead, prompting the others to increase their own speeds as well. Above, the flying Pokémon soared out quicker toward the island, diving down as they reached the shores of the beach. The Dexio hybrid, Bruxish hybrid, and Slowking hybrid roared at the oncoming creatures as they began to swarm.

A couple of sugar gliders landed upon the Bruxish hybrid, showering it with sparks as it struggled to pull them off. A scythed bug and a small black crow with a ruffled crest of feathers like a crooked pork-pie hat both tackled and slashed at the Slowking hybrid. Over a dozen Pokémon ran into the Dexio hybrid at once, throwing it into the side of a building. While still amazed by the sight, Kaj, Mina, and Hapu turned to Chrysalis, Cocoon, Trixie, and Thorax, and after a nod to each other, they all ran west down the street, eager to let Mohn’s wild Pokémon fight in their stead for the time being, gathering with their Pokémon on the other side.

Sun, Lillie, and Gladion ran down the steps to the beach as Mohn’s Lapras finally slid onto the shallows. Lillie could not hold in her cries as Mohn hopped off his Lapras’s shell, ready to greet his approaching daughter. Throwing his arms open, Lillie nearly jumped face-first into his bosom, Mohn catching his daughter and holding his ground as she hugged him back.

“Father!” she wailed.

Mohn smiled as Sun and Gladion stopped near him, amazed to see him in the flesh. “It’s okay, Lillie I’m here.”

“Mother…” Mohn's soft, warm smile hardened into a frown, wondering what Lillie could possibly have to say about Lusamine. “She’s gone… She died trying to help us!”

“Lusy… No, she couldn’t have…” Mohn then glanced back to his son and his friend, Gladion unable to look him in the eye as Sun forced a stoic, confirming nod.

His mouth parted open in sadness, and with a firmer, tighter grip on his flesh and blood, his voice broke as he tried to withhold his own cries. With several deep breaths, he seemed to have calmed himself down. Behind him, the other Laprases were close to land now.

“Unforgivable…” Grabbing his straw hat by the top, he gripped it hard enough to crush it.

Looking back up, he saw as the Dexio hybrid up on the street appeared to deal with the flying Pokémon easier than the other two hybrids near him. Finally, the Laprases ran up the wet sand, the Pokémon having rode them in all leaping down.

Mohn dropped his hat and threw a pointed finger upward. “Attack, my Pokémon! Show these devils no mercy!”

Having already gotten into a run, Lillie, Gladion and Sun shielded their faces as the feet and paws of each Pokémon picked up sand, whipping it all about. Mohn then looked up at Necrozma, who looked back at him with a furious scowl. Necrozma scanned its eyes over Hau’oli City. As more of Mohn’s Pokémon arrived by air and sea, they began to spread over the streets, reaching the groups of Equestrians, humans, and their Pokémon as they dealt with the hybrid menace.

At the ship shed, Celaeno crossed both blades and pushed back as hard as she could to block the shove of a Metang hybrid’s arm.

“Oricorio!” Kahili shouted. “Revelation Dance!”

Holding its wings up, the Baile-style Oricorio clapped them together, flames bursting between them. It then swung them down and up, creating two bands of fire that crashed into the Metang hybrid, knocking it away. Celaeno leapt backwards to join Kahili’s side. Just as the Metang hybrid took the first steps to attack them both, a Lapras rode in with a Pinsir on its back, which leapt onto the platform, charging the Metang hybrid and tackling it down with its horns clamped around it.

With the Pinser and Metang hybrid thrashing on the ground, Celaeno, Kahili, and her Oricorio rushed outside to let the insect deal with the hybrid itself. There, they spotted Lana and Mallow with their Cloyster and Tseereena backing away as wild Pokémon filled the streets throughout the city, two Emolgas swooping down and showering an Oricorio hybrid with twin Thundershocks, the hybrid too weak to catch itself as it fell back off the side and into the water where it was promptly Ice Beamed by an awaiting Lapras.

Looking behind them, Lana and Mallow spotted Kahili and Celaeno running over to join them. “Guys!” Mallow shouted. “What’s going on here?!”

“If they’re on our side,” Celaeno mused aloud, “perhaps its best to leave those questions unanswered.”

“I saw Pinkie Pie and that bird-horse thing get chased off!” Lana worriedly spoke up. “We should help them!”

As the four humans and three Pokémon bolted off, Kahili looked at the wild Pokémon filling the air. “I’ll bet money they’re getting plenty of help too.”

Necrozma growled, the amount of Mohn’s Pokémon filling the skies obscuring its view. What it could spot included more of the wild Pokémon rushing into portals wherever they found them, no doubt helping every creature, Equestrian or earthly inside. It hardly mattered, with the Pokémon having spread themselves throughout the entire city, the humans, their Pokémon, and the Equestrians fighting its hybrid army seemed to become idle, watching as the wild creatures dealt with them themselves.

Sensing a sudden disturbance, it looked westward, spotting a bright blue light flying over the water, headed right for the city. Turning around to the east, it spotted two similar lights colored magenta and green headed in the same direction.

Necrozma rotated itself back toward Hau’oli once again, hanging its head in mounting rage. With a ear-splitting shriek, it flapped its arms only a few times, getting several stories up into the air on that alone. With its eyes locked west of the wrecked Aether yacht where Hau and Tapu Koko stood by with Fizzlepop and Grubber, it let itself fall, tilting so that it dove headfirst. Picking up fearsome speeds, it began to pull up to fly over the city, its eyes never once leaving its infernal target.

Comments

[Xp45]

Chaotic, heroic, and confusing. I LOVE IT!

[Kauetheadventurer246]

This is a freaking all out war for both worlds! I’m having trouble trying to keep up