My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Interludes III: The Gathering Storm

Deep within the twisted vastness of the Distortion World, a dark figure wreathed in shadows stared intently at a shard of crystal floating in front of it. Never taking its gaze from the crystal, the figure began to chant, producing a dark, droning sound that somehow seemed to come from every direction at once. Meanwhile, the shadows surrounding the figure began to twist and flicker, like guttering flames of pure darkness. Slowly, the chanting increased in intensity, and as it reached a crescendo the sound of the tolling of a bell rang out, cutting through the rest of the din like a knife. The sound of the bell was soon echoed by a higher-pitched ringing coming from the floating crystal, which began to draw the surrounding darkness into itself. As the shadows flowed into the crystal, it steadily darkened until it became so pitch black that it no longer appeared to be a solid object, but rather a crystal-shaped hole in reality itself. Once the crystal reached this point, its edges started to become hazy as it began to slowly expand outward, all the while the chanting and ringing continued to increase in intensity. Suddenly, without any warning, the crystal shattered, its broken fragments dissolving to nothing as they fell to the ground.

“Curses! I was so close that time!” the figure snarled as the shadows surrounding him receded, as if in fear of his rage, revealing the caprine form of Grogar. “I should have expected Sombra’s precious crystals would be as worthless as he is.”

“Aw, what’s the matter? Is the widdle goat’s magic not working right?” Grogar felt his eyes twitch with barely contained fury as Discord’s mocking voice emanated from the surrounding air.

“If you had even the slightest understanding of magic beyond what it takes to snap your claws together then you’d know that each of these so-called ‘failures’ brings me another step closer to my goal,” Grogar growled. “I might not have been able to access that accursed world this time, but now I know—”

“That leaning on Sombra’s magic like a crutch won’t be enough to get you there?” Even without being able to see Discord, Grogar could perfectly picture the mocking expression on the draconequus’ features. “What’s your next plan, borrow some magic from Queen Cheese legs?”

“You’ll see what I have planned soon enough, Discord. For now, though, I’d hate to ruin the surprise,” Grogar replied. After several moments of silence followed, Grogar was satisfied he was finally alone and let out an angry snort before storming off to vent somewhere Discord wouldn’t be able to watch.

In Grogar’s anger, he failed to notice that his experiment hadn’t been quite the failure he had initially thought. Where the crystal shard had been floating, there now was a tiny sliver in the fabric of existence. While the tiny tear had been too small for either Grogar or Discord to notice, a third being had taken interest in what was happening and had decided to take action. The remaining shadows of the surrounding area began to writhe and dance of their own accord, gathering together as they gradually took the form of a vaguely humanoid figure. Once it was fully formed, the creature reached out and grasped the edges of the tear in reality and stretched them apart until it had opened a coin-sized hole. Seemingly satisfied, the creature pushed itself through its newly-formed portal, contorting and squeezing itself until it had completely disappeared through the opening. Once the creature had vanished from sight, the portal swiftly sealed itself shut, leaving no sign of Grogar’s progress behind.

*********

“I can’t believe you managed to lose track of them. Isn’t skulking around after ponies supposed to be the one thing you’re actually good at? Besides losing your entire kingdom to a rebellion, that is?”

“Mark my words, Sombra, the moment I no longer need to worry about a reprisal from Grogar, I’m going to—”

“That’s – neeHaw! – enough! Both of you!” Bray whined as the three villains huddled together in the darkness of the alleyway. “Lord Grogar wants you two to work together so that his plans—”

“Shut up, Bray!” Sombra and Chrysalis snarled in unison.

“Hmph, at least we can find one thing to agree on,” Sombra snorted. “In any event, it doesn’t really matter that you’ve lost track them, anyway. Until we can find a way to use these blasted crystals, we won’t have much hope of besting them.”

“What we need is a plan,” Chrysalis agreed, only to be interrupted by the growling of her stomach. “And dinner. We’ve spent so much time chasing after those two that we haven’t had a decent meal in days.”

“What are you talking about? We ate this morning,” Sombra protested, earning a sneer from Chrysalis.

“I said a decent meal, not some bag of junk food that you stole from a small child,” Chrysalis retorted.

“You have to at least admit the sounds it made when I grabbed its candy and ran off were hilarious,” Sombra chuckled evilly. “But, fine, we’ll go ambush a couple humans leaving one of those take-away restaurants. Just don’t get too picky about which humans we rob this time. I don’t want to have to spend all night waiting for you to find a couple that looks tasty enough. You can’t even eat love in this form!”

“Perhaps, but I still find the looks on some happy couple’s faces when we attack them to make for an excellent appetizer.”

“…Okay, I’ll give you that, the looks in their eyes are pretty funny,” Sombra admitted as he led the group out of the alleyway. “Still, we need to find some way of using these crystals before Grogar starts asking questions. Maybe we could capture someone and—”

“Maybe we just need to read a book,” Chrysalis said suddenly.

“What, have you suddenly decided to turn into Twilight Sparkle? No, that might mean you’d actually be useful for a change, so there’s no way that could—” Before Sombra could finish his taunt, Chrysalis snatched him by the back of his shirt and roughly yanked him backwards. Chrysalis then proceeded to grab his face and physically pointed him towards the other side of the street. There, a bookstore was proudly advertising its newest release, A Comprehensive Guide to the Z-moves of Alola. “Huh, that’s awfully convenient.”

“Only if we can actually get our hands on a copy,” Chrysalis replied. “In case you’ve forgotten, we don’t have any money.”

“A trivial matter. I’ve already come up with a solution that will get us that book without needing to worry about petty issues like that. Bray, come with me, this particular plan will require your assistance,” Sombra said as Chrysalis scoffed.

“Really? You’re ‘brillinat’ plan needs Bray’s help? What possible use could you have for that mewling imbecile?”

“Hey, I’m—neeHaw!—standing right here!” Bray complained indignantly.

“So?” Chrysalis replied.

“A true ruler knows how to make use of all of their servant’s talents, no matter how lowly they may be,” Sombra said as he stopped in front of the bookstore window, earning a growl of rage from Chrysalis. “Allow me to demonstrate. Bray, if you could stand right over here.”

“Sure, at least—neeHaw!—someone appreciates my – AHHH!” Bray let out a panicked scream as Sombra suddenly grabbed him and tossed him through the store window before snatching up one of the books on display and bolting down the street as fast as he could.

“That was your brilliant plan? Tossing Bray through a window, grabbing the book and running away?” Chrysalis yelled incredulously as she raced to keep up with the fleeing Sombra.

“It worked, didn’t it? And besides, that’s the most useful Bray’s been since we’ve gotten here.” Unable to dispute Sombra’s statement, Chrysalis remained silent. Sombra may have been a crude oaf, but his actions had brought her another step closer to taking her revenge on Twilight Sparkle and her friends. In light of that, Chrysalis could allow Sombra to enjoy his victory this one time.

*********

Nestled in the forest near the foot of the Javik region’s central mountain, one could find a lone, abandoned building. There was nothing particularly notable about the building, save for its isolated location, though the wild Pokémon of the area seemed to give it a wide berth. Its empty rooms were devoid of any furnishings, aside from the bits of man-made and organic detritus that had found their way inside, leaving no clues as to the building’s original purpose, if it had even ever had any. With nothing to attract attention or interest from either Pokémon or people, it was the perfect waystation for Team Rocket.

“Dude, I can’t believe the boss actually wants to talk with us,” Femur said. “Normally he just sends messages and junk and tells us not to bother him.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, it’s gotta be because he’s stoked with us after that heist we pulled at the castle,” Ribcage said. “I mean, we sent him two bags loaded with loot. I bet we’re, like, his top grunts now or somethin’. He probably wants to give us some sort of really cool reward. Y’know, like hardcore new titles, or jet skis.” Before the grunts could speculate on their potential rewards for a job well done any further, they reached a room in the basement that held a few decrepit-looking computers along with a large monitor in the far wall. Displayed on the monitor was a seated figure, shrouded in shadows, who practically radiated menace. Immediately, the two grunts sprang into action to greet their superior in the best way they knew how.

“Yo yo yo yo, it’s your boys Femur—”

“And Ribcage—”

“Coming at you harder than hard.”

“We’re the baddest, maddest, raddest grunts in this whole dang region, and if you’ve got beef with someone we’re ready to beat ‘em down—”

“And beat them down—”

“And beath ‘em down again!” A few moments of silence passed before the figure on the monitor replied.

“Are you both finished?”

“We’re good for right now, unless you want us to keep going.”

“We don’t have anythin’ else prepped, but if you want us to try freestylin’ then we’ve got ya covered—”

“No, none of that!” the figure said quickly before slumping back and letting out a sigh. “How did the two of you manage to be some of my best active operatives?”

“You hear that, bro? The boss said we’re the hardest grunts he has!”

“Dude, that must be because of that sick heist we pulled! It was all the loot from the heist, wasn’t it?”

“Ah yes, the ‘loot’ you sent me. Two soaking wet bags filled with worthless costume jewelry and damaged stage props.”

“Worthless?” Femur replied, suddenly alarmed.

“Uh, yeah, we knew that, but the cash wasn’t really the point,” Ribcage added quickly. “Yeah, uh, the point was…to send a message! Yeah, we were showin’ that loser gym leader that you always gotta watch out or ya might catch a beatin’ from Team Skull!”

“Riveting. In any event, you did manage to keep the League’s attention away from out other operations, so your ‘heist’ was still a net benefit to Team Rocket. Now, I’ve contacted the two of you because I have a very special operation coming up that will require your particular talents.”

“Whatever it is, boss man, we’ve got you covered.”

“Ya need some fool beat down? We’ll beat ‘em down ‘til there ain’t nothin’ left. Just say the word.”

“What I need is for the two of you to go to Keystone City immediately. Once there, you’re to prepare the largest, most eye-catching trouble that you’re capable of. I want something so loud and audacious that the League won’t have any choice but to focus all of their attention on it. Am I making myself clear?”

“If you want trouble like nobodies even seen, then you’ve got the perfect pair of boneheads right here!”

“Yeah, just ya wait! We’ll stir up somethin’ so nasty they’ll be able to see it all the way back in Alola!”

“I’m sure you will. If any member of Team Rocket can be counted on to distract the entirety of the Javik League, it would be the two of you.”

*********

The sounds of Luna’s hooves echoed off the cobblestones as she trotted down the streets of Canterlot. The normally bustling city was deserted, with no trace of life to be seen or heard. The dark, vacant windows of the abandoned buildings stared down at Luna like the empty sockets of skulls stripped of flesh. The skies above were, if anything, even more disturbing than the empty streets. Dark clouds the color of old bruises drifted listlessly across a crimson sky somehow devoid of both sun and moon.

Suddenly, the sky overhead ripped open as a pair of dark violet claws punched through the fabric of reality and tore it asunder. A mammoth, skeletal, draconic creature wormed its way through the tear, atop of which stood the unmistakable form of Grogar. The dark progenitor of evil surveyed the land before him for a moment, before giving some silent command to his mount. The creature emitted a terrible, unearthly scream as it opened its maw and let loose a terrible blast of bright, violet energy that tore Canterlot loose from the mountainside and sent it tumbling to the ground below.

Luna bolted awake, back in her Mercury City hotel room and drenched in a cold sweat. “It was a nightmare…” Luna muttered to herself. “But, something about that was off…it was wrong. I might not have my magic in this world, but I can still tell, that dream wasn’t mine.” Some instinct prompted Luna to turn to face her room’s window, at which point she let out a started shriek. Floating just outside was a vaguely humanoid figure, seemingly entirely composed of smoke and shadow. For one brief moment, its brilliant, blue-green eye met Luna’s, and then it vanished into the dark of the night without a trace.

“Luna! Are you alright?” Luna tore her gaze away from the window to see that a visibly concerned Celestia had burst into her room. “I heard you scream, did something happen?”

“No, sister,” Luna said. “It was just a nightmare. For now, at least.”

Comments

[CyberDemonSlayer]

Lol, honestly Giratina is usually portrayed as one of the nicer legendaries, so I imagine a plan to use his power will require stealing it by force.

[raven618]

11541428
Giratina? Sounds to me like Eternatus.

[Xanderfox]

Well Giovanni knows what Femur and Ribcage are really worth now, being distracting.
And let face it the Legendary Pokemon's are never truly malicious, Even destructive ones are doing things that are "normal" for them. Force is the only way to get Garitina to do what you it want, and it's not going to appreciate or forget what you did to it. Trying to control Legendary Pokemon pretty much insures they're going to make you pay for your hubris.