Atlas Strongest Tournament

by Bico

Chop and Change: Engage

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT II: ENGAGE

Flames danced out of the fissure as a platform rose from it, holding a crowd of howling figures as well as a number of cocoons. Rarity and Scootaloo looked on in confusion as the figures immediately evacuated the dais, doing their best to pat out the flames. "Derpy!" the changeling with Rainbow's form barked. "How did you even do this?"

Derpy whimpered pitifully as she massaged a minor burn on her bum. "I just don't know... I was just trying to put the new dragon in his cocoon..."

"Shining!" Chrysalis shouted from the Royal Box, and the aforementioned changeling snapped to attention and saluted his queen. "Use your barrier spell to snuff out that flame, now!"

Shining's copy complied, and a rosy barrier popped into existence around the inferno, which quickly consumed all the air within and sputtered out in seconds. After the fire died down completely, he released the spell, letting the smoke billow toward the airship.

A figure coughed and sputtered on the blackened wood as undisguised changelings began to descend and surround the cocoons, securing lines to them. A dragoness with soot-grayed scales dragged herself off and collapsed to the ground. "Ugh... why are dragons flame resistant but not smoke resistant, again?"

"You dummy!" the false Rainbow chided Derpy's copy. "I bet I know what went wrong. Did you try to put Spike into that imposter's cocoon or something? You must have woken her and let her use her fire breath."

"Nope!" Pinkie said from her position atop faux-Rainbow's head, where all present could have sworn she was not anywhere near a moment prior. "I actually fell down in front of Derpy, which made her sit on Scales, which made her blow fire all over the place." She put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Come to think of it, while I was dangling overhead, it looked like Derpy was putting Spike into one cocoon, but Scales was lying behind her, having fallen from a different cocoon. And!" In a pink blur, she appeared next to the cocoon in question, looking at it closely through a large magnifying glass as she wore a gray deerstalker on her head. "It appears to have been cut. Not only that, but the cavern out of which all of you emerged had only one entrance and exit, which means... it could only have been done by somepony in that room!"

Rainbow gasped. "A closed-room mystery. Just like in Daring Do and the Ruby of the Blank Village!" She squinted at the dozen and two changelings that had emerged with a discerning glare. "So... who done it?"

"Scootaloo," Rarity whispered, bringing her former opponent's attention to the changelings who were preparing the cocoons for extraction. "While they are distracted, we should use this opportunity to free our compatriots. We will subsequently be in a far better position to... 'negotiate' with these invaders."

"Right," Scootaloo agreed, and the two made a beeline for the burned dais.

The changelings, focused on their tasks to the detriment of their attention to outside details, didn't notice the blitz until they were in their midst, punching and bucking them away from the cocoons. Several of the cocoons were already being hoisted into the air, which Rarity attempted to cut loose with her diamonds.

Lao Wu clubbed Rarity across the face with his tail, sending her tumbling back to the ground. He caught an attack from Scootaloo with his hoof and bucked her in the gut before tossing her at his hooves and then proceeding to trample her. He was driven off her when Rarity countered with a barrage of diamond needles. He batted most of them away, but a few hit their mark, and paralyzed enough of the old master for Rarity to take advantage of the opening and pile into him with abandon.

Scootaloo leaped into the fray upon her quick recovery, and she ran interference, her ability to predict his moves allowing her to foil his counters even as he freed himself of the hindering needles. She wasn't unscathed from the exchange, however, as he was managing to rock her back by simply powering through some of her defenses.

By this time, the other fake fighters were gaining an interest in the fight. "Hey, Lao Wu looks like he's gettin' beat... by two worn out fillies, no less!" Rainbow guffawed. "That's rich. Hey, need a hoof, Wuey?" Without waiting for a reply, Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo's hind leg with her wing and dragged her away, leaving Rarity to face off against the still-fresh longma alone.

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Hey, Scoots," Rainbow said with a wicked grin. "Looks like you're in trouble, now. A weakling like you would need to be at least thirty four percent cooler to have a chance against me."

Scootaloo scowled. "You're not the real Rainbow Dash. I don't have time for you." She tried to go back to Rarity's aide, but Rainbow cut her off.

"You'll have to get past me, first, if you can," Rainbow said with a smirk.

"P-Pinkie!" Scootaloo called over her shoulder. "I could use some help, maybe?"

"Sorry, Scoots," Pinkie shouted back. "I can only handle so many ponies at once."

Scootaloo briefly glanced behind her to see Pinkie riding on a panicked Derpy's back as she cranked the handle of a large wheel fitted with several boxing gloves attached that was thoroughly pummeling any pony that got in her way while at the same time swinging around what appeared to be a pocket knife with several weapons popping out of it, including a katana, a morning star, a scythe, nunchucks, a crossbow, and a chainsaw. She seemed to be doing a fair job of keeping the other dozen fighters busy, but her hooves did certainly seem full.

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Rainbow took advantage of Scootaloo's momentary distraction and punched her in the gut. Her initial attack flowed into a combo, and though Scootaloo attempted to defend, her struggles were no use against the supersonic strikes. "What's the matter, squirt? Tired? Reading my moves isn't very useful when you can't keep up, is it?"

Thunder cracked, and light momentarily filled the arena, drawing the attention of the fighters on the ground. An arc of lightning ripped through the spot Rainbow's clone had just been, but whose reaction had been just fast enough to dodge the bolt. Out of the crater the explosion had created, a familiar pony stepped out and fixed the changeling with a steely glare.

Rainbow visibly wilted under the gaze of her master. "A-Amber... Spark?"

"Hey!" Chrysalis complained. From the battlefield, her hovering image seemed to be missing an eye due to the sizable hole in the shield surrounding it. "You can't just break through my shield like that." Her horn glowed and the gap closed before any other adventurous pegasi could decide to join the fight.

Scootaloo gaped at Master Spark. "H-how...?"

A dangerous smirk played at the corner of Amber's mouth. Electricity crackled around her body, and she said, "I used to be able to perform the Jupiter Lance like you... then I took an arrow in the knee." She grimaced. "Got pretty messed up back then, but I guess I still have a couple left in me, after all."

Rainbow snarled and pawed the ground with her hoof. "Alright, old mare, looks like we're going to find out just how much I've grown."

"Intriguing," Amber murmured. "I've been curious what it would be like to fight my own student all-out. Guess I'll get my chance."

Rainbow smirked and charged Master Spark, her hooves cracking in the air. Her attacks were rebuffed, however, as her foe's wing blurred, sweeping aside the punches and kicks as Amber maintained her calm, almost disinterested expression.

"Come, now, is this all you got from my student?" Amber criticized with a hint of annoyance. "Trying to use shear speed to overwhelm me? How incredibly amateur. That may work on somepony who is far slower than you, but—Sonic Rainboom aside—I'm faster." She backwinged Rainbow across the cheek, literally shocking her as she reared onto her hind legs in a wide stance, her front legs crossed in front of her chest. She punched Rainbow in the face and gut simultaneously and a flash of white light and a crack of thunder accompanied her strike, sending her opponent hurdling back.

Amber turned back toward Scootaloo and her expression softened. "Watch yourself... 'grandstudent.' I can't save your tail from everypony." With that said, she took wing, a trail of white lightning extending from her tail.

Scootaloo snorted, her eyes filled with determination as she turned back to Rarity, who was being driven back by Lao Wu's copy. She galloped for them, and as Lao Wu took a deep breath as he flew in the air, and Rarity collapsed to a knee, her energy draining fast, Scootaloo jumped between them.

The longma lightning arced between Lao Wu's gullet and Scootaloo's hoof, tracing a path down the pegasus' foreleg, through her shoulder, across her barrel, and into the other foreleg. Scootaloo thrust her hoof toward the enemy and released the electricity.

Rarity advised her from her prone position with a tone of complete composure. "Scootaloo, that lightning will only heal—"

A changeling attempting to haul one of the cocoons into the sky was blown away by the redirected lightning attack, causing the chrysalis to fall back to the ground. Scootaloo looked back at Rarity and smirked. "Yeah, I know."

Lao Wu crossed his hooves as he flapped casually in the air. "Hmph. Can redirect lightning, I see." He gave her a smug grin. "I wonder, though. Let us borrow a page from my student's strategy book. How much can you take?" He laughed and began to dart about, raining lightning down upon his foe.

Scootaloo caught the strikes, sending them sailing back toward the changelings filling the air. As the tempo of the attacks increased, she found herself less and less able to attack with precision, and some streaked into the sky. One such bolt happened to sizzle right past a changeling's ear, causing her no small amount of distress, and continued on into the sky where another fight was now playing out.

Amber kicked the stray bolt into Rainbow's changeling, stopping her rapid advance. "What's the matter? Having trouble redirecting lightning?"

"You know I was never good at that!" The fake Rainbow shot Master Spark a dirty look as she clutched the burn mark on her shoulder.

"Rainbow Dash was never good at that, you mean," Amber retorted. "Though... I guess you're right that you must have never been good at it either, as I very much doubt changelings have that ability."

"Feh," came the changeling Rainbow's retort. She attacked Master Spark again, her quick strikes coming with more precision than previously.

Amber floated backward as she used a single hoof to ward off the imposter's attacks. "Better, but you're still sacrificing technique for speed. Do I need to repeat myself? Speed can't save you against a faster opponent." She began to go on the offensive, her hooves blowing past her opponent's defenses, and each strike punctuated with an electric shock. She struck the gut, the kidneys, the neck, and the face before pausing just long enough for Rainbow's copy to attempt to strike her back.

The fake Rainbow chose a quick jab combo, but Amber's image seemed to flicker as if she was moving in guttering candlelight, and the thrown punches missed their mark every time. In a desperate move, Rainbow threw a wild hook, and Amber seemed to disappear entirely.

Master Spark kicked the copy of her student in the back of the head, sending her tumbling toward the ground. In a flash of lightning, she followed, almost instantly reaching her foe and driving her front hooves into her back with a resounding crack. She paused in midair and took a breath as she watched Rainbow's clone fall. With slow, deliberate movements her hooves traced an arc of electricity before her, and with a powerful exhalation, a bolt flew from her hoof.

Rainbow righted herself in the air just in time to see the attack coming. She crossed her forelegs in front of her, and cried out when the lightning struck her. She was pushed back a little, but she concentrated on the lightning even as it burned through her body, and halted herself before she could touch the ground. With a great effort, she managed to route the electricity through her body safely and with a snap of her tail sent it streaking into the barrier surrounding them.

"Hey!" Chrysalis shouted. "Stop abusing my poor shield in there. How about you just get the captives and go?"

Changeling Rainbow ignored her queen for the moment. "Amber's right," she mumbled to herself. "I can't beat her like this. I gotta... I gotta go faster!" She took in the terrain, and a plan began to form in her mind. "I think I just might be able to pull it off." In a multicolored streak, she took off toward the edge of the battlefield.

Master Spark snorted as she watched Rainbow's copy building speed. "Does she really think that's going to work? Very well..." She, too, took off as a blazing streak.

On the ground, Scootaloo was enduring an almost constant lightning attack by the changeling Lao Wu. It had reached the point that she simply had no time to redirect the lightning, but was merely letting it spindle within her, building in intensity. Sweat poured off of her from the effort of holding so much energy. There's no way I can keep this up... and if I don't get rid of this, I'll end up going critical and probably kill myself. She flicked her wings, letting some of her flight aura invisibly escape her feathers. Wait... that's it. She smirked as she began to flap her wings furiously, letting her flight aura build around her. She poured the lightning she had built up in her body out into her aura, and it began to turn a visible cerise color.

At that moment, a red-eyed Princess Aurelia returned to the battlefield. "Augh, even transforming twenty times won't make these spicy eyes go away," she groaned. Through her still watering eyes, she observed the battlefield, and promptly dropped her jaw on the ground. The pink pony that had taken her and her Rarity out was now taking on some dozen of her subjects with a highly questionable set of weaponry. Looking into the air she saw that Rainbow Dash was being chased by somepony with a lightning flight trail, and further in the distance, Lao Wu seemed to be pouring near constant lightning attacks into Scootaloo, who seemed to be catching it now with one hoof as her flight aura grew more massive by the moment as her wings buzzed furiously.

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Aurelia blinked the tears from her eyes, not entirely sure she was seeing things right. She knew intimately that Scootaloo's flight aura was pathetic. She wouldn't be capable of sustained flight at all, in fact, were it not for her special talent of intimate understanding of movement allowing her to use the aura so much more efficiently than other pegasi. She looked back and observed that, yes, Scootaloo's aura was overflowing with power. Not only that, but it seemed as if lightning were streaking through it as well. Realization dawned on her. "Oh... oh, no. Lao Wu, you foal!"

Scootaloo could feel her flight aura become taut, like the surface of an overfilled balloon just about to pop. She felt herself grow calm as she focused on the triskelion that had seemed to form in front of the hoof she was using to block and absorb the lightning strikes. She brought her other forehoof off the ground and cocked it back.

"Lao Wu!" Aurelia shouted. "You idiot, she's about to do the—"

Scootaloo's wings stopped for a split second in their raised position, and then with a powerful downbeat and a devastating punch through the center of the triskelion her aura had formed, Scootaloo exploded from the ground. Her tunnel vision came almost instantly, and she saw her target attempt to move out of the way. She understood instinctively exactly what he was doing, however, and immediately adjusted, bringing the center of his barrel back into the center of her vision. She saw the tip of her blade of lightning touch Lao Wu's chest, and then she saw the green tinted sky above her.

Scootaloo stopped a hair's breadth from the interior of the shield, and turned back to see the specks of the fighters on the ground, as well as two streaks making their way higher. She buzzed her wings again, and she hit the ground a second later, her aura still blazing around her, though it was beginning to fade. "Whoa..." she said, shocked at her sudden swiftness.

Lao Wu was still hanging in midair, but dropped to his hooves. The hole in his chest glowed brightly, and was closing even as Scootaloo watched. He laughed mockingly as he turned to her and said, "Stupid girl. You think a lightning technique can hurt me?" He reared up on his hind legs to show the hole closing completely, and he gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Your attack only heals the wounds you infli—" He paused, his eyes bugging out as he clutched his chest. He gave a wet gasped and gurgled, "N-not... all... the wounds..." He coughed and collapsed to the ground.

Scootaloo looked to Rarity, who seemed far more opaque than before, and began to move toward her, when a rainbow shock wave exploded just over their heads, flattening her to the ground.

The changeling Rainbow Dash had been trying to build up speed for a while, though it had been difficult to do so while trying to keep Amber off her tail. Finally, she had reached the top of the barrier and made a dive, managing to perform the Sonic Rainboom just before hitting the ground. As she reversed course, zipping back up through the shock wave she had created, the ring of many hues seemed to reverse its growth and was sucked into her wake. High in the clouds, Rainbow's copy saw that Amber had not moved from the ceiling, and was now surrounded by swirling gray clouds, that seemed to have taken a familiar curly three-armed shape.

Amber waited as she saw the creature who wore her student's face approaching at a supersonic rate. She was ready for her. Every flap of her wings had allowed her aura to reach out and encompass the cloud cover, absorbing the remaining lightning, and the power she had built up inside of her was more than enough to do what had to be done. She began to plummet downward, her body approaching the sonic barrier, and then she broke through the clouds, and her body sizzled with energy, becoming a pure white as she streaked toward her target.

At the same time, Rainbow came to a full stop, her arms and legs splayed wide. As the shock wave trailing her caught up, she curled her limbs back in on herself, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Sonic Wavebow!" The wave of energy blasted past her, abruptly picking up speed as she pumped it full of her multicolored aura's power.

Amber and the Sonic Wavebow collided nigh instantaneously. It took less than a nanosecond, but Amber could readily perceive how her electric body slammed into the wall of magic and super-compressed air. She struggled against the attack, but she knew that the Jupiter Lance could pierce anything, so she didn't fret. The wave bowed in the middle, and she ripped through it, creating two waves which blew past her on either side, and she continued on her path toward her target.

Rainbow couldn't believe her good luck. She had chosen just the right time to release the attack that her original had been toying with for the longest time, but had never had the opportunity to try. As it happened, it wasn't enough to stop the Jupiter Lance, but it had been enough to slow Master Spark down. The brief moment in which they had collided allowed her to move ever so slightly out of the way, and Amber continued on her path, striking dead center of where she had been moments before, but slightly to the right of where she was now.

A pair of hooves grasped Amber's lance arm and redirected the incredible amount of momentum into a throw. Amber slashed the changeling Rainbow's chest right as she was released to tumble uncontrollably to the ground, and had the satisfaction of hearing the imposter scream in pain. She had bigger problems to deal with, however, and quickly assessed her surroundings. She was now falling at a speed and in a position that would make missing the ground very close to impossible. However, she was falling right past the side of the massive ship the changelings were flying. She thrust her Jupiter Lance into the side of the boat, and she ripped a burning gash into it as she continued to fall, until she stopped very near the bottom of the hull.

Amber clutched her left shoulder as she remained suspended on the boat. "That... certainly feels dislocated. No using that the rest of the day, I suppose." She turned her head as she heard an insistent buzzing behind her, and saw five changelings giving her looks that were rather cross. "Oh... hello, girls." She kicked off of the hull, ignoring the burning sensation in her shoulder as she delivered a crescent kick to the nearest changeling, and bounded off of her to punch another in the face with her right front hoof. A changeling that chose to attack from behind received a clap of her wings, not even warranting Master Spark looking at her, and the fourth was treated to a tail throw followed by a quickly summoned bolt of lightning.

The last changeling fired a blast of magical energy while Amber was distracted, hitting her in the back. She hissed in glee as she saw her enemy fall the rest of the way to the ground, where she made a satisfying "thump." The other changelings around her cheered and gave congratulatory hoof-bumps all around.

"Master Spark!" Scootaloo cried as she tried to take to the air. The artificial boost to her flight aura had faded, however, and she merely fell to the ground, the energy she had remaining utterly unable to provide the lift she needed.

"Scootaloo..." Rarity said, having crawled to Scootaloo's location. "I'm afraid we may have other issues with which to deal." She gestured to the changelings, including several of the ones that were now taking the forms of the tournament competitors, that surrounded them. "It seems Pinkie has finally run out of gags."

Pinkie breathed heavily as she lay prone on the ground nearby. "Hey... I'd like to see you try to keep thinking of new jokes to club ponies over the heads with after all this time."

"You have no chance," Aurelia declared as she stepped to the forefront. "Nopony's coming to save you. You're out of power, Scootaloo, as impressive as that display was, and Rarity... well, she's turning to flesh as we speak. She'll be a goner in less than a minute. You ought to give up for her sake, at least." She grinned broadly. "Unless you wanted her out of the way."

Scootaloo stepped protectively in front of Rarity. "N-no... I won't let you..."

"She's right," Rarity said softly. "There's no other way."

"Rarity?" Scootaloo asked, looking back at her in shock. "What are you...?"

Rarity's horn began to glow, and the crystal floor dropped out from under Scootaloo. With another exertion of magical power, she closed and sealed the floor back up, preventing the changelings from following. "Stay safe for now, Scootaloo," she prompted her. "Fight again... another day..." Her eyes rolled up in the back of her head, and she hit the ground with a wet slap.

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To be continued...

Comments

[harcroft]

OK, this is supposed to be comedy, not tragedy, so I assume Rarity isn't actually dead... I see things have gone badly wrong for the changelings, anyway.

[Bico]

2497227

Hey, you don't know. I could pull a fast one and change tags next chapter for a sneaky twist. Nah, remember that she's surrounded by changelings who want her alive (yes, I just spoiled it for you). I do wish there were an Action tag, though, 'cause I think that label is a bit more honest than Slice of Life or Adventure, and would set up the expectation for crazy stuff like this. I'm going for Dragonball style violence, not Higurashi: When They Cry, after all. You know, for the kids.

[Corundum]

2497616 speaking of dragonball this is auspiciously like their first (goku+krillin) world martial arts tourny(though its not anywhere near a copy or anything), well up untill the changelings

[Corundum]

Wow typos, meh thats what I get for using a phone

[Bico]

2504100

I was thinking of the Tenkaichi Budoukai, specifically, when coming up with the basic idea of this, so it's no surprise that it would remind someone of the first one in Dragonball. Of course, I also had a lot of other influences, such as the Dark Tournament from Yu Yu Hakusho, the Chuunin Exam from Naruto, and the countless other tournament arcs that seem obligatory in every shonen manga, ever. You'll probably pick up those influences, as well, but I also wanted to be as faithful to the characters and show as possible even while putting them in what would be a pretty bizarre situation in the context of the actual show, so that it would still come off as natural.

[Corundum]

2504535 yeah I could sense some of the others in there , and I mostly thought of DB cause. Of the way everyone went for seperate training.