Arms of Arceus

Dawn rose on the second day of battle. The Exploud and Loudred had decimated the enemy armies four times on the first day, and now their throats were sore and their voices completely drained. Unaware that their greatest current threat was disable, the Tyranids and Orks had begun bombing the Pokémon from high altitudes while holding their ground forces back. Hal had taken groups of Metang and Metagross to fight the bombers off, but the steel-type leader had calculated their success ratio during the battle and determined that they wouldn’t be able to overcome the enemy’s numbers. Though he had returned without taking losses, his troops had been battered. He claimed to have gained valuable data, and was now discussing new strategies with his fellow Metagross as the bombs continued to fall.

The Slowking were busy rebuilding the city’s force field mechanisms, which had been damaged by the backlash of the force field’s destruction. The princesses had raised a shield in defense, but it rocked with the power of each explosion. The shield wouldn’t last long, and when it fell, the next phase of the city’s strategy would come into play. Safe for the moment, most of the defenders had found a chance to sleep. Groups of Hypno and Noctowl kept watch, their Insomnia abilities keeping them conscious while their allies took a much-needed rest.
Of the two million active troops within the city proper, six thousand had fallen on the first day. It was a statistic that the ponies weren’t used to tracking. Word had arrived the night before, describing the daemonic incursion within the streets. Luna had almost flown to engage this new threat, but had been forced to rally the troops for the Tyranid’s final, desperate push of the night. That battle had been gruesome, and when it was over she had received further word that Celestia and the Champions of Harmony had lost a quarter of the surface, but had managed to quarantine the daemons in the shopping district near the palace.

Today would be the day when Lord Ra and his family led the ghost-types into the fray, and the second day’s success hinged on their arrival. Confident of her position in the city, Celestia had asked that Luna and Cadance get some rest. Despite the majority of the city’s strength gathered at the wall, Celestia argued that the Pokémon needed the alicorn’s presence on the front line. Luna’s Aegislash, Tzu, had relayed all of this to his princess during their brief respites from battle. When she consulted Cadance, Fu Hao had supported Tzu’s words. Too weary to argue, the princesses had accepted Celestia’s leadership and remained at the front.

As if it were scheduled, the Tyranids and the Orks appeared just as the sun began to peak over the horizon. Using a pair of binoculars she had brought from the palace, Luna saw that there were many enemies that used psychic powers within the ranks of the Tyranids. For their part, the Orks had outfitted most of their vehicles with a flamethrower of some sort. Both sides had brought a number of titans, as well.

“I count ten Ork titans, and fifteen among the Tyranids,” Cadance said as she flew down to stand beside Luna. “Our numbers can’t match that.”

“They have no need to,” Luna said. “It is time we flex our magical muscle a bit, Cadance.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know my sister has trained you to take over her duties, should anything happen to her. You are capable of moving the sun and the moon, correct?”

“Well, yes. I can’t do it as easily as either of you, but I can do it nonetheless. But Celestia says it is a power that isn’t meant for combat.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. How much lighter do you think these titans are than my beautiful satellite or Celestia’s majestic sun? I think, if we dig into that selective strength, we can eliminate these armies ourselves.”

“Possibly… Still, it sounds like a gamble. What if they manage to break our shields in the process? We reinforced everypony’s armor before the battle began, but the weapons those monsters use are growing larger and more potent with each assault.”

“I’m not suggesting we fly full bore into their ranks. I’m suggesting we let them come to us, and while our forces distract theirs, we use their titans to make an example that they will not soon forget.”

“All right,” Cadance said, grinning as she imagined the spectacle they would create. “But only if we fly together. I would feel more comfortable with a small escort, too. These foes are not to be underestimated.”

“You’re quite right,” Luna replied with a smile. “Let us go and tell our friends. It will be good for the troops to see their leaders display such power, as well.”

She and Cadance flew from their perch on the wall to tell Potpourri of their plans as the second day of warfare began.

Fluttershy had read through Harmony’s dissection notes, and she had agreed with her assertions, however regrettably. Harmony had determined that killing was the only reason these creatures had to exist. It broke the pegasus’ heart to admit it, but just like the daemons they had faced on Cadia, the only way to deal with the Orks and Tyranids was to put them down. The forces of the city were capable of doing that for the moment, thanks to the long preparation time the city had been given, as well as the fact that these monsters had never faced anything like the Pokémon of God’s Breath before. But the first day of battle had shown that these creatures were intelligent enough, and resourceful enough, to adapt. This terrifying fact was further hammered home when Trixie galloped into the medical clinic.

“They’re coming again,” she said, restrained urgency in her voice.

“The shield hasn’t fallen, yet,” Fluttershy said, as she finished replacing the bandages on a badly slashed Machoke. “Surely they can’t break it with a simple charge, can they?”

The shield above them was rocked by massive explosions. The ponies covered their ears at the terrible noise, as rockets and balls of bio-plasma crashed into the magical barrier. A cracking sound was heard from above, and cries from below announced what the hospital staff feared.

“The shield will fall any minute now,” Trixie said, as she looked out the window. The multi-color swirl of magic that had been protecting the city was slowly breaking apart.

“We need to focus on the patients,” Fluttershy said as she turned back to her medicine cart.

“I’m going to help the Blissey take the injured from the battlefield,” Trixie said, turning to Fluttershy for approval. “I have some warrior training. I may not continue that occupation back home, but…I think I can be of help down there.”

“If you think that’s best,” Fluttershy said after a pause. “Be careful, Trixie.”

“I will,” Trixie said before running out of the hospital ward. The sky cracked once more as the unrelenting barrage continued. Fluttershy took a deep breath, forced her fearful mind to calm, and returned to her patients.

Princess Celestia cut through another daemon, her Aegislash moving at such a speed that only the most powerful of opponents could hope to match it. Even then, she had slain several daemons that declared themselves “Bloodthirsters of Khorne” with relative ease. But their death cries were always the same: “We will return.” She felt a stab of fear whenever they said this, as if their threats would inevitably come true. That feeling was made worse when Dorris explained that, through the psychic sorcery being cast by the daemon’s cultist slaves, they could be brought back into this plane of existence within a matter of hours. Some dark, malevolent entity was fueling their reemergence from the other side of the portals, granting them the power to quickly manifest in the physical plane.

“The daemons already have enough sacrifices,” Zao said as she clashed with the sword of a lesser daemon.

“I don’t like that word,” Celestia said as she lifted the bloodletter with her magic and slammed it to the ground, its body breaking from the force. “I especially don’t like it when used in that context.”

“I don’t like it either, your majesty. Still, that is what they are. It is their purpose in life, and it is what they’re being used for. There are enough of them to keep those portals open for as long as their masters need them.”

“And how many are there exactly?”

“Last estimate put them at fifty-thousand sacrifices within the city, and many millions in the place where the daemons are being summoned from. There is word that they are attempting to make a portal large enough for their master to step through.”

“I don’t really want to meet this ‘master’ of theirs.”

“Then we had best put a stop to their rituals, majesty.”

“And we will…” Celestia said, pausing in surprise beside the site of a yet-unclosed portal. She had stepped on something large, hard and bumpy. She pulled her armored hoof back in horror as she saw the massive, cancerous cyst growing out of the ground.

“What in the world is that?” Zao said, voicing Celestia’s thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she said as she turned to see more cysts growing out of the pavement. “We need to regroup at the palace. There is something horribly wrong, here.”

“The palace can wait, majesty. You must focus on the enemy at hand.”

“I don’t have hands, but I suppose you’re right,” Celestia said, the Aegislash’s words echoing strangely through her mind. She put a hoof to her head as a wave of dizziness threatened to overtake her. “Where are Luna and Cadance? Didn’t I call for them?”

“You asked them to stay behind and guard the front.”

“But the front is well guarded, and led by a majority of the High Council.”

“They were tired from their battles, majesty. You asked them to rest before the next charge came.”

“I… did? What’s that sound?” she said, as the wave of dizziness left her.

Celestia turned to the sky to see the shield that she and the other princesses had made. It was cracking like an egg, and for a moment, she was struck by how horrible that fact was. A large daemon took the opportunity provided by her shock and leapt for her neck, his sword gleaming in the light of morning. She turned in time to see Zao cut the thing’s arm off before it could strike. With a cry from above, King Sesha brought his mighty tail down upon the Bloodthirster, crushing its body and returning its soul to the Warp.

“Sesha!” Celestia cried as she spread her wings and flew to perch atop the Steelix’s head. “We have some work to do. Quickly, we have to close all of these portals. We have to end this threat in the city now, before…”

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of breaking glass. The shield fell, the Pokémon groaned in frustration, and new cries emerged from the streets. Mingled with the furious roars of the daemonkin were the brutal, guttural cries of the Orks and the animalistic cries of the Tyranids. The defenders were surrounded before their princess could call a retreat as the streets of the city erupted into a four-way slaughter.

Pikku huffed as she clasped her side. The pain was intense, but the crying children in the back room pushed her to fight harder. Many young first form and baby Pokémon were huddled together, seeking shelter and safety from one of Pikku’s injured co-workers. Despite the gash in her chest, Pikku’s injuries were less threatening than most of her friends’ injuries. To her right, a Wigglytuff named Dora was busy bandaging an Audino named Fuschia. The barricade at the door shuddered, and all three of them jumped in fear. They had fought off one wave of enemies, and the next was soon to come.

The three nurses stood ready at the doorway, their anger and frustration all but forgotten as they steeled their resolve. When the barricade broke once more, a flood of Orks charged through. They could see the fighting outside through small gaps in the charge. The daemons that had survived from the first wave were now engaged by gargantuan orks in mental suits. The second wave of daemons had come to the aid of the first, but too many orks had landed in their midst. They were bogged down by boyz in Mega Armor, while the bulk of the ork landing party stormed the daycare.

Pikku stifled a cough as she and her two friends made their final stand. She gritted her teeth and charged a Lightning Bolt attack as the first ork raised his axe above her head. Then, the flames came.

Two Charizard had appeared out of the sky to fly through the broken door of the daycare. Flames of unspeakable heat licked the sides of their mouths, fueled by their righteous indignation. The ork that would have cut Pikku in two was engulfed by their Flamethrowers. It, and its allies, melted on the floor of the daycare. In the visible sky beyond the broken wall of the building Pikku saw a blue blur crashing into orks and daemons alike. The blur was confronted by several winged daemons. This slowed it enough for Pikku to make out its appearance. It was a pony in a stunning suit of armor. Her rainbow colored mane waved in the light of the burning building. The daemons raised their bloody swords to cut her down, only for a Doublade to block them both. Another Flamethrower was launched from a nearby Flygon, whose attack was tripled as the Charizard flew through the broken wall to aid the pony. The daemons were incinerated. The Pokémon turned their flames to the daemons and orks fighting on the front lawn, and quickly reduced them to ash. Then the four warriors flew out of sight with incredible speed as they charged the next group of foes.

More orks appeared to be gathering in the street below the daycare. For a moment, Pikku feared that the pony had abandoned her. Then she saw the gates open to the Zone of Fire at the end of the long street. The orks saw this, too, and began an eager charge. The roof of the building shuddered several times as the reinforcements from the Zone of Fire quickly overcame the vastly outnumbered orks. The pony and her Pokémon friends landed before the broken wall. A large, severely burned Tyranid creature fell from the ceiling to be caught by the larger of the two Charizard and thrown unceremoniously into the lawn. The pony looked back at Pikku and smiled confidently. On the street below the hill on which the daycare sat, an army of fire-types the likes of which God’s Breath had never produced before marched into battle. High above the battle, two alicorns argued furiously amid the airborne combat. Pikku smiled, unaware of the conflict between leaders, as her beaten and battered friends closed in around her in comfort and support.

Gil had formed a web formation with his electric-types. Sitting at the heart of the formation, he felt every electrical current that his fighters produced as they fought. His forces were constantly recharged thanks to the thunderclouds formed by the Manectric in their ranks. Lightning struck repeatedly as Gil led his warriors from battle to battle. Though their numbers were few, they had enough collective power to fry anything they encountered. He had twelve such groups tearing through their enemies, electrocuting fortified positions despite the almost constant stream of monsters teleporting into the city. It had only been ten minutes since the first enemy units had arrived, but they were already building bunkers from rubble, or digging holes to connect a network beneath the streets. Their speed and efficiency terrified the Raichu. For each group he killed, four more took its place. Gill was thinking of how disturbing this fact was as he came to the palace.

“Halt!” Gil said, raising a silver gloved paw and stopping before the palace gates. They were closed, pristine, and unguarded.

“Gil, we need to move,” Dorn said from his right.

“Yeah, there’s some trouble to the south,” Marta said from his left. “I got a signal message about Orks digging into some of our fortifications. They’re taking our stuff and turning it against us!”

“Suzuki and her swarms can handle that,” Gil told the Dedenne as he walked up to the tall gates. “Something is off here, and I don’t like it. Where are the guards? This is our base of operations, so why is it the only thing in the city not under attack?”

“I wonder that, as well,” said a soft voice from up above. Gil and his fighters looked to see Joan floating down to them with a group of battle worn Clefable in tow. Twelve Wigglytuff bounced up behind them, accompanied by fourteen Granbul.

“What does your foresight tell you of the castle?” Gil asked as he greeted his friend.

“It tells me nothing,” Joan said, her voice cautious and frustrated. A terrible roar came from the streets behind them. Some of the Pokémon jumped in surprise, while others growled angrily.

“Reinforcements are supposed to be coming from the four zones,” Gil said. “Most of those Pokémon are wild. They lack the discipline of the regular troops. It’s possible they’ve hit a snag with all these creatures teleporting in.”

“I thought the zones were blocked off to protect them,” Joan said. “I wasn’t aware that was changed.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle thought it was necessary, and managed to convince Princess Celestia of it. It was a desperate decision made early this morning. They will multiply our fighting forces ten fold, but their lands are now vulnerable. No doubt these creatures will be seen on the plains and forests where the non-combatants live.”

“Our reinforcements are trying to break through the enemy’s fortifications,” Dorn squeaked, his whiskers twitching with each new electric signal he received. “We need to get back to the fight!”

“The palace is a blank space to my sight,” Joan said. “I know we’re needed, but this is… disturbing.”

“There’s enough to be disturbed about on the battlefield,” said a Wigglytuff to Joan’s right.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of disturbing stuff out there right now,” said an anxious Clefable to her left. “Dorn’s right, though. We need to get back in the thick of it… unfortunately.”

“What can you hear from the palace, Laurel?” Joan asked.

“I…” the Clefable said, staring past the gates as she pondered the question. “I don’t hear anything. No voices, no breathing, no sounds at all. There should at least be guards in there, but…”

“But there aren’t. It’s as if the entire palace is an unknowable void. My intuition tells me that the Dark God is behind this.”

“Then let’s put a stop to it,” Gil said as he took a step toward the gates. He was stopped in his tracks by a series of terrible, ear-splitting screams. Dozens of portals opened around the palace, the suddenness of their appearance almost as frightening as the monsters they poured forth. Screamers of Tzeentch emerged from the warp rifts, their cries shaking the air and filling their foes with dread as they swooped down upon the small gathering of Pokémon. Suddenly surrounded, the council members forgot about the palace as they rallied their forces and fought.

“These ‘zones’ they spoke of,” Destiny Slayer said, rubbing his chin in thought as he watched the portals open before the palace gates. “I feel a strange displacement of time and space from the different directions of your city. It isn’t large for a land on the mortal plane, so why is its size contradictory to its population? Based on the numbers of reinforcements coming, there seem to be many more inhabitants of these ‘zones’ than they could accommodate.”

“God’s Breath, and its surroundings, are blessed by the gods of time and space,” Korish said. “Though they appear to be relatively small on a map or from a distance, each zone is much larger once you’re inside of it. The city itself is roughly forty square miles, but the zones dwarf that. They exist in their own spatial bubbles, and they stretch for hundreds of miles in each direction, from their border with the city to their border with the wall. Maps and books can’t accurately reflect this, and the eye cannot perceive the difference properly from the outside. Our resources that describe the kingdom as a whole measure those lands using the size at which they appear from a great distance above as relative to the city proper. Thank you for distracting the council members, by the way.”

“Summoning our forces was a simple task,” Destiny Slayer said as he watched the battle begin. “It’s good we came prepared.”
Screamers and armed cultists were now emerging from the portals that he and Fateweaver had made. Even though their numbers in the streets were large and still growing, the humans were little more than fodder compared to the daemon flyers.

“A Lord of Change is always prepared,” said the left head of Kairos Fateweaver.

“A Lord of Change is even prepared for his death,” said the right head.

“We are not meant to die here, are we?”

“If we were, we would not be here.”

“Perhaps your god hopes you won’t die, but he really doesn’t know,” Korish said as she led her guests through the halls of the palace.

“Nonsense,” Destiny Slayer said. “There is no knowledge beyond the sight of Tzeentch.”

“You’re lying again,” Korish said in a soft, sing song voice. “Tzeentch didn’t know us when we arrived, and he doesn’t know us now. He knows we exist, and that we’re powerful. That is all.”

“You have offered us the power that these equine creatures use,” Fateweaver said. “Where is it?”

“It’s beyond these doors, in our late king’s throne room. If you can manipulate the locks and get Dark Arceus’s prison from the ceiling, you can take whatever power you can handle.”

“That is a simple task,” Fateweaver said as they walked through the doors of the throne room. “Come, Destiny Slayer. Help me draw down her ‘god’. Then our deal will be complete.”

Korish watched as the Lords of Change began a dark chant. They waved their hands casually and the locking mechanism activated. The ceiling opened up and the rainbow-colored prison of Dark Arceus floated down. Even with its current bindings, the aura it gave off was dark and sinister. The Lords of Change looked upon the prison as children would look upon a beautiful new toy, but there was something wrong. The Gorgiest smiled as she watched their faces turn from gleeful greed, to strained confusion.

“What’s the matter?” Korish asked. “You seem to have paused. I thought you would strip the prison of its power the instant you set eyes on it.”

“This power is most certainly that which angered the Daemon Primarch on Cadia,” Destiny Slayer said, uneasily. “It is that same power that sent a shockwave through the Warp, disturbing the realm of our master.”

“But we neither recognize it, nor do we know how to use it,” Fateweaver’s right head said. “It burns to look at, but it draws our curiosity and we cannot turn away.”

“Yet we are familiar with it, most certainly,” said the left head. “It is rare in this universe, common only among the mortal races. Even then, it is shunned for its weakness.”

“Yet all the Immaterium has seen what this power is capable of,” Destiny Slayer said, his voice angry and determined. “All souls bound there know of its strength. It will be ours, no matter the cost!”

The Lord of Change reached out to touch the rainbow prison. His claws began smoking and steaming even before they met with the surface. He pulled his claws back and cried out in pain. His body convulsed as he fell to his knees, his cohort looking on in rapt curiosity. Korish laughed as she floated forward, reaching out with her purple arms to grasp the orb. Shadow Claws formed around her tiny hands, growing to a size larger than she was. She smiled back at the daemons as she took hold of her god’s prison.

“How do you do it?” Fateweaver said, his heads speaking together out of shock. “As Destiny Slayer has shown, we would be killed if we were to touch that power. Yet, you are like us. How do you do it?”

“I am nothing like you,” Korish said, smiling despite the disgust dripping in her voice. “The power that holds my god is love and friendship. That is something you are incapable of understanding. Yet my heart knew both of these, once. Though I only feel hatred now, I am not so emotionally crippled as you.”

“Whatever your reasons,” Destiny Slayer said as he rose on unsteady feet. “That power is ours by right. You allowed us to open portals to our realm. They do more than give us troops to command, they also fill us with the sorcery of Tzeentch! For the veil is weakening here, and we grow in strength as a result!”

The Lords of Change attacked together, lightning and fire flying mercilessly from their claws. Korish attempted to dodge, but she was a moment late. She knew they would grow stronger the closer they were to their home realm, but she had underestimated just how much stronger they would become. Their attacks knocked her out from under the prison and slammed her into the far wall of the throne room. Her small body shook with pain as she struggled to right herself, but the daemons were already standing over her.

“You will make a fascinating research specimen. I look forward to the years of suffering I will inflict upon you.”

“How cute,” Korish said as the second volley of spells lashed out at her. She vanished before they struck, and her foes began searching the room in worry. She knew that they had powerful foresight, but as a ghost-type she was protected from psychic prediction.

“It’s adorable to think that you can defeat me, here of all places! My god sustains me, and its prison floats before your very eyes. Yet you think that it would let its most faithful servant be slain so close to victory? Truly, you are both idiots.”

Korish watched as the daemons raised shields around themselves. Their efforts at self-preservation made her smile as the power of Dark Arceus filled her hollow heart. Her Phantom Force attack struck through both of their shields simultaneously. They had made the mistake of standing too close together, and the blood that spilled from their chests was the price of their mistake. Korish vanished again as the Lords of Change cried out in pain. Their eyes turned sharp as they used their future sight to search for their foe. They were scared, and the Gourgiest could see the gears turning in their heads as she stalked them.

“You’ll get nothing from this deal,” Korish said from the shadows, her strategy forming as she spoke. “You’ve been lying to me from the beginning, and now you think that you can master a power you can’t even touch? You’re lying to yourselves, now. That prison will kill you long before you can corrupt it! Your god just sent you here as test subjects so he could see what to make of the Equestrian’s Rainbow Power.”

“Then we are betrayed…” Fateweaver’s heads said, pausing as he assumed the truth of Korish’s words. Though the Gourgiest had been bluffing, both daemons seemed completely unsurprised by the idea of being betrayed by their god. They looked to each other and nodded, as if a plan had been silently formed.

“Then we shall retreat,” Destiny Slayer replied as he waved a claw and opened a portal to the Warp. The deamons stepped through the gateway without hesitation.

“That was easier than I though it would be,” Korish said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She waved one of her own claws, and a portal to the Underworld opened before her. She took hold of the prison once more and carried it to the dark fortress beyond.