Guest Star Kelduo: Justice from Afar

by The Kelduo

Chapter 37: A Remarkable Discovery

Author's Note:

Hello, reader! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and Pummel Fist was kind enough to allow me to write a chapter in my own point of view. I hope you enjoy my chapter! Afterwards, I think I'll give Keldeo a chance.

I told myself after the incident with Magolor and the Squeaks that I wouldn't let myself be surprised by anything else involving Pummel, his team, and anything related to them. I'm glad I didn't Pinkie Promise, because I just had to explore the Lor Starcutter.

It was much bigger on the inside than I had anticipated; there were an incredible number of rooms, and there was even a basement floor. However, the thing that got most of my attention was a huge computer terminal near the entrance, in the main room. Instead of a traditional computer keyboard, there was a rounded, digital keypad with a star shape at each end. The screen showed what appeared to be Pop Star, and a line was connecting it to my home planet of Equus. The Lor was depicted traveling along the line from Pop Star to Equus, which must have been the path it took to get here. In a smaller window, there was only static and the words 'No Connection.' It must have been used to contact somepony or creature. Maybe someone who knows Pummel and his friends?

My curiosity was cured when I pressed a flashing button on the keypad. It opened up a window that showed a biped with large blue eyes and pink hair. "Greetings, being from Equestria, or so I assume you are, if the Lor Starcutter reached the correct destination. My name is Susanna Patrya Haltmann, but you can call me Susie. If you are watching this prerecorded message, them you must know that the Lor Starcutter has been piloted here to rescue Pummel Fist and his friends, and also to scout the area. The reason for scouting is because Ribbon and Elline had no means of communication with us back at the Expedition Society, due to some kind of interference when they entered Equestria's atmosphere. If you believe you have the answer as to why there is interference, please follow the onscreen instructions to send your response. If not, then you may feel free to explore the Lor while waiting for Pummel and his teammates to return to the Lor. This is Susie, signing out." Then the window disappeared.

Interference? What could have caused interference? I'd have to research the possible causes later, but for the time being, I decided to go into the hallway on my left. In the hallway were several doors, each with about five symbols above it. The second door I came to caught my interest; the symbols above it were a red parasol, green electricity, orange energy balls, an orange whip, and a dark brown rock. The rock reminded me of Rocky, so I chose to enter the room.

Inside the room were golden pedestals with figurines of strange creatures. One of the pedestals had a brown Rocky on it, except with a blue headband instead of a rock hat. Is it in memory of Rocky--?

"Do it again, Kirby! Do it again!"

"Poyo!" Bzzt!

Sounds like there's someone on the floor above. I climbed the ladder and was nearly shocked when I saw Kirby wearing a green electric hat as he played with Pinkie Pie. Kirby seemed fully charged with green electricity when Pinkie Pie touched him, causing her mane to stand on end. Apparently it didn't hurt Pinkie much.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Pinkie answered, "Oh, hi, Twilight! Kirby and I are playing Mane Zap!"

"But where'd Kirby get that hat?"

"Kirby got that Spark hat when he touched one of those statue thingies. Come on, give it a shot!"

"Okay." I climbed back down the ladder and looked at the various pedestals. I was already able to shoot lasers and the like, so that marks off the energy balls and green electricity. I now had a choice between the rock, whip, and parasol. Since Rocky could take on stone formations, I figured Kirby could do the same. I cautiously made contact with the stone figurine, and I gasped as a bright light surrounded me. When it dissipated, I was wearing a stone hat like the one Rocky wore. "So, these pedestals give us Copy Abilities? Does that mean...?" I concentrated hard, and I suddenly transformed into a stone statue of... my castle.

Pinkie exclaimed, "Wow, that's amazing, Twilight! You should try it on the training dummy!" Pinkie pointed towards the center of the top floor, where there was a dummy made of the same material as a punching bag.

I chose to use the same move that Rocky used on the giant orb of dark energy that Hyness threw: I punched the dummy with a stone fist, sending it clear across the room. I finished it off by jumping above it and smashing it as a stone Discord. I chuckled to myself as I realized who I just transformed into, and what I was made of. I was a petrified Discord.

Pinkie and Kirby also laughed. "I never knew you were so good at making jokes, Twilight!"

I returned to normal. "That was just a coincidence. And while I'd love to stay and test the different forms of this Stone Ability, I should go and try the abilities with more variety. See you later, Pinkie and Kirby!"

I left the room and continued down the hallway. Some of the symbols above the doors were quite interesting, such as an indigo web, a yellow bell, and a light blue group of shards. I entered the door with the shards above it, with the other symbols being a black wheel, a blue jet, a white pill capsule, and an orange staff.

Inside, I made contact with the pedestal holding a red-robed wizard figurine. I thought I would get a robe like it was wearing, but instead, I got a strange blue jester hat and a blue wand with a crystal at the end. I tried to test my wand on the dummy, but all that came out were shards of some translucent substance.

"Ooh, that one's really fun to use!" Pinkie appeared a short distance in front of me in a cloud of smoke, wearing a purple ninja outfit. She suddenly threw a kunai at me. Acting on instinct, I aimed the shards at the kunai, but something weird happened: Upon contact with the shards, the weapon was reflected back at Pinkie, who vanished, leaving a log in her place.

"So... do we get instant knowledge of the Ability or something by obtaining it?" I asked.

"Wanna find out?" Pinkie reappeared behind me, prompting me to guard against her katana with my wand, which acted as a blade itself.

"This ability certainly is intriguing. If only I knew what it was called..."

"Look, on the wall!" I was directed towards various digital signs on the wall adjacent to the door. Each one depicted one of the symbols above the door and a short description, as well as the apparent name of the respective Ability.

"So this is the Mirror Ability, huh? Thanks, Pinkie Pie!"

"Don't thank me, silly! Thank yourself!"

"What do you--" I turned to face Pinkie, only to look at myself. No, not me me. A clone of me.

My clone asked, "Why are you surprised? The sign did say that you could make mirror copies of yourself. And don't worry about your clones having different personalities than yourself like Pinkie's clones from the Mirror Pool. We actually work together, because you're in charge of us."

"Really? In that case..." I created ten clones of myself. "Okay, Twilights, I want you all to visit the various Copy Ability rooms and research the various Abilities. I will do the same."

My first clone replied, "That would be a good idea, but try not to obtain a new Ability. As soon as you drop the Mirror Ability, we disappear. Maybe you could watch Pinkie and Kirby use new Abilities instead."

"Thanks, Twilight 1. Team Twilight, it's time to move out!"

My clones and I stormed out of the room and searched the other ones. I, for one, entered a door that had a teal broom like the one Rarity mentioned, a purple eye, the indigo web I saw earlier, a gray missile, and a golden targeting reticle.

As I had somewhat expected, Rarity was inside, and she was wearing a white bandana with green stars, and holding a broom. "Hello, Twilight! What do you think of this Cleaning Ability I obtained? Does it look marvelous?"

"I think you should see for yourself. Here, I'll help." I used Reflect Force, using the shards from my wand to reflect Rarity's appearance.

Rarity never looked happier... except when she was temporarily crystallized. "Oh, my! No wonder Kirby seemed so happy cleaning my place with the Cleaning Ability! He must have really enjoyed the outfit, for so do I! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some cleaning to do back at Carousel Boutique!"

After I bid Rarity farewell, I glanced at the signs describing the Abilities. I learned that the ESP Ability offers powers similar to those of 'a certain boy with PSI'; the Cleaning Ability magically removes debris and waste; the Spider Ability can shoot webs to ensnare opponents; the Missile Ability lets its user turn into a rocket that explodes upon impact; and the Laser Ability can fire lasers that bounce off of angled surfaces. That's quite interesting. Normal unicorn lasers stop upon impact, and stronger unicorn lasers can blast through objects, but I never heard of a laser that ricochets off of surfaces!

I finished up with the room and decided to go further down the hallway. The doors closer to the end seemed more important, because one of them also had the words 'Limited Use' above the signs, which were a purple microphone, a purple explosion, an orange chef's pot, an orange boom cone, and a purple bed; the next one had 'In Case of Super Emergency' above it, with no symbols except for a large, glowing star; after that was a sign that read 'If You Need a Miracle'; then there was a large, mechanical door; and finally, a door with only the phrase 'Power Effects' above it. Since those rooms seemed important, I chose to save them for later.

Having covered the Copy Rooms, I moved on to the other side of the Lor. Rainbow Dash was there, in front of a door with the Wing symbol above it. "Hey, Twilight! Want to watch me rock this Wing course?"

I asked, "How do you know it's a course?"

"I thought you read the sign, egghead!" Sure enough, there was a sign outside of the room that we were in, and it read, 'Challenge Stages.'

"A Wing course? That sounds perfect for you, Rainbow Dash. Maybe I'll take it on after I watch you so I can test my flying skills."

"All right, prepare to be blown away!" Rainbow flew through the door, running into the Wing pedestal along the way, giving her the Wing Ability. "Really? This looks... actually kind of cool. It goes perfectly with my rainbow mane!" I'd have to agree with Rainbow. I may not be Rarity, but I am sure she'd think it looks great too. "Anyway, time to be awesome!"

I watched as Rainbow soared past spiky balls with eyes (which a hologram of Susie explained were Gordos), collecting every coin she saw. She powered through every enemy she saw, leaving no witnesses. Somehow, she once even sped through a squadron of Gordos! At least Susie explained that some attacks have 'invincibility frames,' so I wouldn't be as surprised. Rainbow finished up by flying past Gigatzos (giant cannons that shot flaming balls) and entering the goal door at the end before the timer even reached 30 seconds. That's Rainbow Dash for you, with her incredible speedruns.

Rainbow trotted out with swagger. "Look out, everypony, platinum flyer coming through! Seriously, nopony could top my perfect run!"

"That may be so, but can you top my perfect run of the Whip Challenge?" Daring Do walked out of a nearby door, to Rainbow's shock.

"You're Daring Do! Nopony could beat your Whip run! Besides, we've got more important things to do, such as check out the basement floor!"

"Okay, guys. I wish you two good luck. I'm going to go check on the Squeaks, see to it that they haven't gotten themselves in trouble."

Rainbow and I climbed down the ladder to the basement, where there were two big doors, each with their own, special motif: One had a ninja motif and had the sign 'Ninja Dojo,' while the other had a robot King Dedede motif and had the sign 'Scope Shot.'

"Dibs on Ninja Dojo!" Rainbow zipped into the ninja door, and I soon followed.

The instructions, which were on a large scroll, were simple: throw shurikens at moving targets, one at a time. Was it easier read than done? For Rainbow Dash, definitely, at least for the more difficult targets, such as ones in stampedes of wooden wheels, ones on parachutes, and ones hidden by Gordos. But for me, it was paradise. So much strategy, so much timing, and so much aim! I was at home in the Ninja Dojo! I hit bullseye after bullseye! When it was all over, I had the perfect score this time.

Needless to say, Rainbow Dash's jaw was dropped. "I... I lost!"

"Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. Maybe you'll do better on Scope Shot."

As we headed into Scope Shot, however, we learned that somepony beat us to it. Or rather, someponies. We tried to join, but some kind of force field prevented us from advancing further. We had no choice but to wait for Pinkie Pie and a brown colt with a propeller hat to finish destroying a robot that looked much like King Dedede. As they blasted away, we read the instructions on a monitor. Apparently, we're supposed to use these 'scopes,' which are long, silver rods, to blast giant robots and destroy them before time runs out. We have to watch out for their attacks and missiles from the background.

Oh, they just found the glowing weak point on the robot's belly. But wait, they're still destroying the rest of the armor. Maybe that's how they get more points. And... there's the last part of the armor, destroyed! All that's left is to blast the weak point. Wow, I was getting tense just--wait, the robot's getting back up! And it got its hammer out! Do Kirby bad guys ever quit?!

Suddenly, the brown colt shouted, "Go for the hammer!" The colt and Pinkie repeatedly blasted the hammer, until... Thunk! The hammer's head broke off and landed on the robot's head. A few seconds after, the two ponies turned around, facing us, as the robot exploded. "Aw, yeah! Bosses do not mess with the video game master!"

Pinkie ran over to us and said, "Hi, Twilight and Rainbow Dash! Did ya enjoy the show?"

Rainbow replied, "You bet, Pinkie! Destroying stuff is awesome, and destroying robots is double the awesomeness!"

I asked, "Who's your friend?"

Pinkie answered, "This is Button Mash. He's awesome at games, so he was super awesome at this!"

Rainbow asked, "Can we join?"

"Sure you can! Which level do you wanna play?"

"Which one's the toughest?"

"Well, we already beat Waddle Tank, Mecha Kawasaki, and Robo Dedede, so that leaves the extra-special, super-secret mega-tough level that neither of us have even heard of!"

The monitor changed to show various robots: a stout tank with eyes and a parasol on top, a robot chef, a robot Dedede, and--! "Is that... a robot Pummel Fist?" I asked.

"Let's find out!" Rainbow aimed her Scope at the image and pulled the trigger.

The screen switched to Susie. "If you are watching this, then that means you are about to engage in a dangerously tough battle against a prototype robot or two. You may know the Kelduo, but can you handle the Kelduo 2.0? There is only one way to find out. Don't blame me if you lose or are hurt. You have been warned."

Before we began the battle by re-calibrating our Scopes, I said, "Okay, here's the plan: Rainbow Dash, you are to hit the robots, and hit them hard. Pinkie Pie, take care of the attacks they throw at us. I'll blast the important and hard-to-reach parts. As for you, Button... mash."

We re-calibrated our Scopes, firing at our own image. Once we were finished, a giant robotic Pummel Fist marched in from the left, and the screen showed the following before lifting away: "3, 2, 1, GO!"

Robot Pummel began by throwing a sphere of energy into the sky before running towards the horizon. When the sphere came down, he punched it hard enough to send it flying at us.

"I got it!" Pinkie shot the energy ball, sending it back at robot Pummel, who launched it back at her. This continued for three more volleys.

"Let's send it back together this time!" I said. We all shot at the energy ball, sending it back with enough force to catch robot Pummel off-guard, hitting him in the chest. "Now, give it all you got!"

We didn't stop firing until robot Pummel got back up. A mechanized version of Pummel's voice came from it: "Whew, you guys are pretty good. But can you handle this?" Robot Pummel punched the ground, knocking us off-balance, before shooting a volley of spheres at us.

"These ones are mine!" Being in the air, Rainbow wasn't off-balance and was able to fire a large blast at the energy balls, sending them all back at robot Pummel.

"Ouch... Forgot about the Flying-type... Better change tactics!" Robot Pummel ran back and forth while shooting energy balls at us.

I warned, "Each of us should fire at the sphere closest to our plane."

Pinkie asked, "We have a plane? Why don't we ride it and shoot the robot with its weapons?"

"No, I mean the imaginary line connecting us to robot Pummel." I demonstrated by shooting at the sphere coming for me.

The others followed suit, knocking the rest of robot Pummel's armor off, revealing a glowing spot on his glasses. Knowing what to do, we fired at it, which was obviously the weak point. Upon getting blasted, robot Pummel toppled over.

Rainbow scoffed, "Easy peasy! I was expecting something tougher than that!"

I replied, "And your expectations are about to be met."

A robot Keldeo helped robot Pummel up, and Keldeo's voice said, "We're not even close to finished! You guys might want to put on some shades, or you might be blinded by sheer awesomeness! It's time for Bond Phenomenon!"

Just then, Pinkie started shuddering. "It's gonna be a doozy!" Pinkie hadn't had that kind of Pinkie Sense reaction since Harmony Kirby. This is bad...

The two robots glowed brightly, changing greatly in the process. When the light dissipated, robot Pummel had regained his armor, and he now had spikier hair and water covering his hands. Robot Keldeo, on the other hoof, had watery hooves, a blazing mane, four swords instead of one, a yellow, heart-shaped protrusion on his chest, and an infinity-shaped mark on his muzzle.

"Warned you," I said to Rainbow.

The screen reappeared. "3, 2, 1, GO!"

Robot Keldeo moved so fast that he made illusory copies of himself, and they each charged up an energy ball in their mouths.

I said, "Rather than search for the real deal, we should just shoot the spheres before they're even fired." This had better work.

We each shot one of the four spheres, sending them down their owners' throats.

"Choking robots?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That's new."

The robot Keldeo gagged before the sphere exploded in its throat, making the copies disappear and making the real one collapse. Robot Pummel also held its throat, as if...!

---

Back at Twilight's Castle, Pummel clutched his throat. He wondered, 'What's going on? Have the effects of the Bond Phenomenon extended past when it wasn't active?'

---

I exclaimed, "This prototype is really accurate. They even share each other's pain during the Bond Phenomenon!"

Rainbow said, "Save your Twilighting for after destroying these guys! Right now, we gotta attack!"

We whaled away on the Kelduo 2.0 before they got up. Robot Pummel aimed his spiky hair at us before shooting its needles.

"I'll handle this!" Button vigorously pulled his trigger, sending a storm of shots at the needles, knocking them away.

"That all you got?" Robot Keldeo fired electricity at the needles, making them stick together like magnets. The needles then soared right for us like a missile.

Taking my chances, I fired right at the center, making the needles come apart at the seams. They then rained down on the other side, making them slowly rack up damage.

"I think we wasted enough time going easy on you," robot Keldeo said.

Robot Pummel said, "We'll finish you off in one fell swoop."

Robot Keldeo shot a sphere of energy into the air before it and robot Pummel began infusing it with water, fire, and electricity. They continued adding energy balls, water, fire, and electricity, increasing its size with each shot.

Rainbow panicked, "Can't these things charge up any more?!"

"No," I replied, "but we can do something better. We can follow their example."

Button seemed overjoyed. "Oh, yeah, this'll be just like the Fire Bros Attack!"

I would have to research this 'Fire Bros' attack later, but right now was the time to mimic it. We all fired our shots at a single point, where they combined into a massive sphere of energy. "Rainbow Dash, time to send this flying!"

Rainbow burst into a huge grin. "Time to show them just who the boss really is!" She flew away to pick up speed. A few seconds later, she Sonic Rainboomed into the sphere, sending both it and the Kelduo 2.0's sphere at the other side in a rainbow burst.

The Kelduo 2.0 watched their own medicine being force-fed to them, with double the dosage. Robot Keldeo said to robot Pummel, "These guys are really good. I underestimated them."

Robot Pummel replied, "So did I. Maybe we should've tried Phenomenal Sword?" He shrugged before the two looked at us. "You guys did awesome, using such teamwork against us."

"We never thought you'd beat us. There's just one thing left to do..."

The Kelduo 2.0 waved at us. "Congratulations on beating us. You are the true Champions." They went out with a huge, rainbow-colored bang.

"Who's ready for another round?" Rainbow asked.

"Actually, I have a better idea." Pinkie then fell asleep on the spot. I don't blame her, given how exhausting the battle was.

"Yeah, I could use a break too." Button followed suit.

I chuckled to myself as I telekinetically carried the two back to their homes.