The Bridge x Pokemon Masters - Kardas

Chapters

Chapter 1: Lost
Chapter 2: Searching
Chapter 3: Melee

Chapter 1: Lost

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Equestria, Eons ago

Space, time, and dimension bent inwards as land, air, and sea churned on the ancient landscape. Far above the clouds, reality itself seemed to warp and split open as an impossibly huge shape materialized into existence over this new world. Gargantuan wasn’t an adequate word to describe the sheer enormity, for its mass was equal to the largest non-subcontinent islands at over five kilometers in one span. The coloration was largely a dark amethyst purple with a deep blue highlighting several zones that weren’t covered in green lines of energy or similarly green spines. In shape one could approximate it to be vaguely humanoid with two arms, two legs, a single ‘head’, and no tail; but even so it was extremely stylized and could mostly just be called such when viewed in outline. Really it was more man-like in the same sense a chance stone formation or city might be, though that last descriptor was remarkably choice in word given what the entity was carrying.

It landed as softly as something of its mass could even when slowed down, two enormous feet stepping down on the grounds between two mountain ranges and standing similarly tall. While it stood still as a statue, it was surveying. And those inside it liked what they found. The colossus lowered down as its energy lines dimmed, weapon systems spiraling down due to not being necessary. This magnificent living creature the size of a city met the ground, re-configuring its body to curl up and get beneath it. Massive arms shoveled earth onto itself, a span of energy washing over it to condense the debris back into solid rock as it began to self-entomb its form. Within an hour, it was completely buried save for a span of its central chest where the sternum would be. Having reshaped its body, the protruding portion left unburied stayed erupted from the ground as a sort of artificial hill that began to shape itself into something resembling a circular ziggurat temple with four large stony pillars standing watch over the core. By the end of the night, the giant had all but disappeared from view as much as it had appeared; buried under what was now a flat expanse of rock with the temple being the only part exposed across its span.

The temple erupted a beam of light as a gateway opened. Greeting the sun rise upon this new colony world, a creature called ‘human’ smiled warmly upon the new horizon as a small creature resembling a blue and white serpent, a ‘Dratini’, curled upon its perch of his shoulder.

===============

A few days later

Settlement around the temple had paused. As eager as the colonists and their fantastic creature companions were to expand to this realm, a chance discovery had caused all of that to take pause. Instead, a roaring debate filled the halls of the buried ship interior beneath the temple.

“We must evacuate. Reawaken Kardas and leave this world at once!”, a younger man with deep black hair and a short beard barked as he jammed a pointing finger on the council table.

A young woman with darker skin and long, almost indigo hued hair, rolled her eyes and waved him off, “Naga, we know not for sure if the inhabitants of this world are really sapient or not. They might just be like most pokemon are: smart animals, but still just animals.”

The debate room was packed, looking more like the auditorium to a musical hall with the debaters as the performance than a courtroom. Many murmurs seeped through the crowd as the one standing between Naga and Valora, an older man by the name of Orion, stroked at his chin.

Naga sneered, “They might be primitive but so were humans once. If there is even the slightest chance these equines are sapient and developing, we have the moral obligation to leave and find a new place. We’re colonists, not conquerors. Arceus did not give us our protector goliath, one of her first born, to use as aggressors. You remember what was said: he is meant to be our protector, not our war engine”

The room was filled again with shouting, some in protest and some in support. Orion rubbed at his tired temple as he shrugged. Crossing his arms behind him, he turned around to the creature standing behind him that could best be described as a mixture of a dinosaur and hammerhead shark.

“Garchomp, use Scary Face,” he muttered and earned a nod from the creature. The garchomp stomped up to the front of the stage and threw up its head. Instantly the room seemed to darken, the only light being the terrifying projected visage of the pokemon’s bioluminescently glowing shark-like teeth, jaws, and eyes as it bellowed across the hall. Cowed, everyone went silent.

“Thank you,” Orion muttered as he fearlessly patted the sharkish saurian on the head before turning back to the crowd.

“Now, I believe an expedition force is required. We will not continue expansion until we know for sure if these primitive ponies or other potential races are indeed sapient or not. Just in case it is so, the best action is to observe and document best we can. If such a possibility turns out to be true, we will awaken Kardas again and depart for new lands. If not, we’ll remain but keep a close vigi-”

He was cut off by the entire hall shaking violently for several seconds. The walls creaked and groaned slightly before all went quiet again. Orion slowly turned his head and gave the ceiling a curious eye.

-Earthquake? Survey said this zone was geologically stable.-

His thought was soon filled with alarms of terror as sirens called out across the room, warning lights roaring to life as a much more violent shake accompanied them. There was the echos of fire, bending metal, and erupting earth that sounded like an explosion. A young man, Orion’s assistant by the name of Roller, skid to a halt after sprinting to the debate hall’s doors so fast that the yellow rodent-like creature perched on his shoulders, a pikachu, nearly fell off.

“Kardas is injured! We’re under attack!”

==================

One half hour later

Smoke and alarms clogged the long hallway, one of Kardas’ veins, as much as the screams of the panicking people and pokemon did. Several men and women moved against the flow of the fleeing crowds, flying above them atop numerous powerful flying or levitating pokemon. One of them was holding onto the top of a circular shaped, metallic pokemon which sported four curled up, pillar-like legs and a large X on its scowling face; a metagross. The young man grit his teeth and blew some smoke out of his face as he tried to get a visual on what was chasing the fleeing civilians; having to pull his goggles onto his face. When he did see it, he almost wished he didn’t. It walked through the metal wall of the corridor behind the last to flee. Not smashed through, not blasted down, it walked through solid metal like it was a curtain of water. It was massive, though judging from how it seemed to shrink down to better fit into the space available, he couldn’t tell just how big or small it was supposed to be and the smoke obscured some of its features. What was for sure however was the ungodly cold that gripped the blood of those in the room as dark aerenth crystals tore out of the ground with every slow step it took. The outline of four horns, vaguely resembling a ram’s and goat’s, crowned its head as he felt its eyes upon it.

-With Kardas inactive and taking damage to his internals, we can’t use him to try and fight this thing! Gotta try to contain the damage and not hurt him any further!-

It advanced, destroying the hall as it strolled closer.

“Stand back! Do not come any closer or we will shoot!”, the man atop his Metagross roared.

It kept coming, freezing and melting parts of the hallway as it did.

“Last warning!”

Cold sweat overtook his brow as the glowing red eyes in the smoky form narrowed. The flashing alarm lights briefly revealed more of its form, which seemed to be almost like a moving water color in terms of appearance with swirling dark hues that bent around the light. It looked almost like some sort of dark energy taking a visible, tangible form. A echo of terror whispered into the minds of all present as the monster fearlessly advanced, the only noise in Kardas’ veins aside from the creature’s hoofsteps.

-”Invaders perish.”-

The trainer gulped as his blood frozen, sputtering out a command, “F-F-Fire FIRE! HYPER BEAM GO GO GO!”

His Metagross let out a metallic bellow as it and the other trainers’ pokemon did as instructed, unleashing a flurry of attacks forwarded by the enormous energy wave emitted by the Metagross’ ‘x’. Beams of plasma, flamethrowers, magic bursts, jets of energized water, sharpened flechette storms of stone, and a dozen other assaults all aimed at one source. The onslaught lasted a full minute before they finally ran out of steam and smoke clogged the chamber. The damage was extensive. The hallway was all but destroyed with nalpalm-like liquid fire, Kardas’ literal blood, spilling into the hall. Before any of the defenders could grimace at having to hurt their living ship, their worry was soon filled with dread when the same slow click of cloven hoofsteps sounded out from amongst the flames.

That thing was still coming, like the assault had only given it a moment’s pause. The echelon of a low cackle seeped out of the roaring flames; the horned monstrosity emerging from Kardas’ blood. Dark magic collected between its horns and fang filled jaws, a cold seeming to suck all the heat out of the room as a cornucopia of dark emotions washed over the humans and pokemon that sent them shaking in terror. But as the dark god stepped closer and was about to fire, two things happened.

The first was it stepping onto a damaged portion of the hallway, where a piece of the still alive Kardas’ exposed spinal cord and the metallic sheen was evident. On contact with it, the monster seemed to hiss in pain and wince all over, briefly weakening. The second factor was an aura washing over those in attendance. The inflicted terror lifted, like a curtain of light cast upon them to expel the darkness in the magic. There was a flash of brilliance and something appeared in chamber between the colonists and their attacker. It was literally made of light, almost blindingly so; but when it tackled the monster one could glimpse a forked horn and a mane decorated with a bejeweled tiara.

Harmony, a goddess of this realm, tackled Grogar out of Kardas’ body before he could finish destroying it with tears in her eyes; and a battle of gods that would rage across the whole of the planet ensued.

As the clouds and mountains burst asunder, new craters formed on the moon, and hundreds of thousands of magic blasts clogged the sky, every single trainer and pokemon with a healing move was doing all they could to suture their living transport’s cut arteries as others tried to beat back the flames. Naga and Valora stood back to back, keeping the fires down while giving out the commands to heal.

“So, no sapients on this world huh?”, Naga barked coyly, wiping his brow of sweat while manning a fire blanket. The deafening crash of an enormous explosion reverberated from outside. Peeking out through the skylight Grogar had made on entry, he glimpsed one of the two deities smash the other through the geoform before getting blasted by a beam of magic that sent them flying off all the way to the moon.

“Ah save it Nag- Audino, heal pulse again!”, Valora barked even as she used a hose to douse the flames so her rabbit-like pokemon could hop up and try to mend the internal bleeding with pink waves of energy. It was working, but agonizingly slowly; like trying to fix a gash on a Wailord with a child band-aid. There was no way they could get Kadras back to one hundred percent.

Valora’s eyes quickly locked upon the form of Captain Orion, whom was making his way towards them while directing efforts as he went.

“Please tell me we have good news!”, she gasped with pleading breath. Orion’s face only could turn solemn.

“If we all survive this, Kardas must hibernate…The Soul Drive has been damaged.”

One could have heard a pin drop in the room, had the sky not been ripped in two by dueling energy waves. The sheer power of which caused the earth to shake and the clouds to be torn asunder for dozens of miles.

============================

Western Equestria, Present Day

In the flat planes of the Cloudsdale valley, two figures stood two meters apart inside a glowing circle etched onto the ground. The etching vaguely formed a sort of cross shape enshrined in a series of halos, the symbol of the Guardian of Mortals; lay in overlay with another symbol that resembled a multi-pointed star, the symbol of the Element of Magic. The motifs lay merged as they hummed to life with the grooves cut subject to a deluge of golden and magenta light.

One of the figures was a small, relatively speaking, alicorn with purple fur and a dark lavender mane that sported a magenta stripe. The Element of Magic, Princess Twilight Sparkle, closed her eyes and fed her magic into the rune she stood upon. Naturally given her element and study, the Equestrian magic was easy to supply. It was the new kind of magic, one born not from emotions and bonds but instead from the radiation of life itself, Terran magic that used mana; which she was rustier on. She poured both into the rune, as did her companion.

Across from her was something that at first appeared to be a larger alicorn, white fur with a green tint contrasting to a leaf green mane; but as she homed in on the magic the spell maintaining the facade broke away like fractured pottery. Where there was once a conical horn there was a twisted, spiny one. Where there was once silky fur there was now polished carapace, with butterfly wings replacing the avian pegasus ones her disguise bore. Where there was once an alicorn, now stood a changeling queen; the second ever. Not a native to this world, she had the inverse problem of what Twilight Sparkle had; adept at the Terran magic she taught Twilight but only decent at the Equestrian spells Twilight had taught her. In her true form she might be taken for something even more bizarre, but to Twilight the Guardian of Mortals was called Lea; Mothra Lea.

But, between two of the most adept magic users in their respective worlds, it was enough despite any difficulty either had with the other's native spells. The combined rune built upon itself, spreading its glow through trails that scattered through the ground like electronic signals through a circuit board. For a brief moment one could see the trails race out, zigzagging across the landscape and surveying every tree, every rock, every open field and every valley. The glow died out in both the rune and the horns of its casters as the spell wound down. Twilight and Lea panted briefly, momentarily winded as they looked to each other to cast a small smile and nod; a reassurance of wellness. Without a word, they spread their wings and flapped them enough to ascend into the air and get a few dozen meters up. Back to back, they mirrored each other's movements and put a hoof above their brows as they got a lay of the land around them.

"See anything?", Lea muttered, letting her green and blue eyes crisscross the lay of distant mountains.

"Nothing yeeeeet-", Twilight mumbled, furrowing her brow at the forests to the east before a glimmering shine caught them. The trails of light that went across the ground built in intensity in that direction flickering like an emergency flare to point the way before starting to dim.

"Wait! There, there!", the alicorn yelped, tugging at the changeling queen's forelimb. Lea only managed to turn her head around and see what Twilight was talking about for a moment before she poofed into nothingness with a flash of purple magic. An identical flash sounded off a distance away and now Lea was looking at the light trails no less than three meters away, having been teleported to the edge of a forest by a spell along with its caster.

The changeling, former kaiju, shook her head and scrunched her nose.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that," she quipped, eyes still spinning.

Twilight chuckled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of her head while lowering her ears, "Eeehehe, sorry about that. Just, after that last incident we shouldn't take any chances... Especially with-..."

Lea outstretched a hoof and put it to the bottom of Twilight's jaw, pushing up gently to shush her, "It won't happen again. Not with him."

Twilight, albeit a bit reluctantly, nodded.

"Still, we've surveyed almost all of Equestria with this kaiju detection spell and this is our first hit... Save that false alarm,- or rather heart attack,- Rodan caused."

Lea's eyelids lowered and she deadpanned, "Quite."

Twilight shrugged before continuing on, "Point is, we know this Dimension Tide thing on Terra is what brought you to Equestria and it likely brought at least a few other kaiju afterwards. We still don't know where this 'Monster X' is and after what happened in the north, I'll sleep easier knowing if any of them came to our realm that they're not in Equestria."

"Of course Twily, just remember," Lea muttered as she put her hoof to her friend's shoulder and wiggled her antenna, "Fortune favors the patient. I know the detection spell takes time to prep but we don't want to get caught unawares or rush into anything."

Mothra smiled at the alicorn, retracting her hoof and taking point before the forest they now stood before.

"I'll take lead in. If anything happens-", she glanced back at Twilight as the alicorn struck a determined, though on her Lea thought it looked adorable, expression.

"I'll charge you up and we'll handle it together with the city sized moth."

Lea chuckled, "That we will."

Steeling their nerves, they headed into the forest with their magic blasts on a the metaphorical trigger finger. They didn't know who they expected to find. Given all of whom was sighted it could have been someone as horrific as Grand King Ghidorah, mindless as the Gyaos, or other characters whom were their own brand of dangerous like Monster X. The only thing that was certain was the entity or entities in the forest weren't native to Equestria. Either which way, cautious glances were exchanged to every tree and every clearing they passed; trying to catch sight of any soul or any trace they'd leave behind. But rather than sight, it was sound that first tipped the pair off to what was amiss. It was loud, gradually building in pitch and volume over time. Mothra Lea recognized it first as it was a common trait of Terra, though Twilight Sparkle was a quick study as well both from the rare usage of them in Equestria as well as her time in the human world.

Twilight cocked a confused eyebrow and glanced towards Lea, "Is that a... jet engine? Any kaiju use those?"

Lea looked upwards and around, trying to place the sound, "Nebulan cyborgs use wings or thrusters. Given how you never mentioned planes much, I take it that's not something from around here either?"

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, wincing and covering her ears as the volume grew louder. The winds began to pick up and twist, spurring the both of them to cover their ears and shield their eyes from the sudden gusts. The sound of the engine was blaring, deafening now; as they desperately tried to find it. The wind shook the trees, briefly opening up a seam of visibility in-between them. For a split second, something massive flew overheard. The jet noise was coming from it and the general shape suggested it was some sort of aircraft; though not one Twilight or Lea could recognize despite getting a decent look at it. It was taller than it was longer, looking almost like a flying five pointed star shape with the tip sticking upwards, on the backs of the metallic wings were the whirring roar of multiple jet engines. In scale it wasn't gargantuan, though still quite notably large at around 120 feet in span of its two more horizontal star prongs, and maybe fifty percent more in height. The shape and build, along with its speed, didn't suggest something built as like a fighter plane or high speed scout; in fact the large center mass and appearance of what looked like may doors on the back indicated it was more like a carrier of some kind.

Leaving much as it arrived, the odd aircraft flew off going westward; deeper into the forest. Twilight and Lea watched the craft depart, glancing between it and themselves with a clearly confused expression.

"Please tell me you recognize something, anything?", Twilight yelped a bit loudly to ensure she could be heard over the departing engines.

Mothra Lea puzzled at the craft and shook her head, "Humans on Terra made some weird craft, the aliens even weirder. That one? That's new though. Surprised it came through unaltered."

"Could be the tear between your world and Equestria that Dimension Tide made hasn't healed or stabilized yet. Things come through unaltered!.... Or more craziness is happening, probably that given our track record...", Twilight Sparkle grumbled.

"Might call that bet, look!", Mothra Lea shouted as she pointed at the ship.

The suspected bay doors turned out to be just that as they had opened up and something was floating out of it like a cloud of loose balloons. They were roughly spherical in shape and easily were present in the dozens. Most seemed separate and had some things sticking out of the sides and top, but at this distance neither pony nor changeling could tell what they were looking at; and a few in the crowd looked like they were clumped together in groups of three set packed in to the point they resembled a triangle formation from this distance.

"What... in the name of.. Tanaka?", Lea muttered, squinting at the objects as they fell closer to earth. But rather than hitting the ground and exploding like bombs, which was the Mothra's first worry; they instead gently floated down and seemed to levitate about two meters off the ground at the lowest. Coating the grounds below where the ship traveled, the two mages snuck closer to have a look as some of the odd cargo went about the forest. When they got close enough, they were both sure they had no clue what they were looking at.

The best comparison Lea could make was to some kid's toy from back in Japan. The sphere part was accurate, as the core 'body' for the creatures was a solid, medium gray sphere with a single googly-eye on the center. Attached to either side was a horseshoe shaped magnet, complete with a red colored north tip and a blue colored south tip; with a large screw sticking out of the sphere's top with the head positioned up. Quite honestly the heroines had no clue if they were looking at a machine, some kind of bizarre animal, or an animated hardware store aisle. Additionally perplexing were the larger shapes set in a triangle. Now that they could see them going about their business with their smaller brethren, they appeared to be nothing more than three of the previous creature types moving in a very tight formation; sometimes not losing touch like a trio of conjoined triplets, other times staying in a single position with the other two hovering close by.

“Aaaare those things from… ?”, Twilight muttered as she leaned in closer to Lea.

The changeling queen only shook her head as one of the odd entities locked its cyclopean eye upon them.

“Terra has a great many oddities, that isn’t one of them.”

The machine or creature, neither was really sure which, hovered down closer to the duo. It stopped a few meters away, hovering about two meters off the ground despite lacking any clear means of propulsion. It did nothing as its almost googly-eye sporting ‘face’ looked them over, just rotating the cartoonish looking magnets flanking its sides and the screw at its top while twitching two smaller screws on the bottom of its body like a pair of mandibles. A sound best compared to that of scraping metal and whirling gears briefly screeched out of the oddity, drawing over more of its kind as well as some of the larger, trio-configured compatriots. They encircled Princess Twilight Sparkle and Mothra Lea, quickly giving the two to move a bit closer together.

“Think they’re friendly?”, Twilight whispered through her teeth as she forced a grin to try and look pleasant.

“Well they’re not attacking.”, Lea grunted, biting the inside of her lip.

The odd beings, unbeknownst to the duo known as pokemon called Magnemite and their enhanced, trio state Magneton; began to whirl around in two circles orbiting the pair with the Magnemite going clockwise and the Magneton going counterclockwise. The space inside the circles began to shift, a crackling sound building up inside Twilight and Lea’s ears as a likewise blue glow began to form up across the pokemon. In an instant they felt frozen, gripped by a combined electro-magnetic grip channeled by blue arcs of energy shooting out of the Magnemite and Magneton’s magnets. Fortunately for the pair they had not been blindly optimistic about the strange creatures’ intentions and had prepared in the moment between the energy build up and their attempted capture. Emotions whirled and the power of mana surged, a combined wave of Equestrian and Terran magic shooting out of the both of them to form a dual layered bubble of magic as a barrier.

Broken free of the pokemon’s grip, Twilight teleported them out of the circle and landed them twenty paces away. No sooner than they did however and their attackers were hovering towards them again with narrowed eyes. Arcs of electricity shot out of the screws mounted on their bodies, the Magnemite’s Thunder Shock attack and the Magneton’s larger Thunder attacks ripping the forest apart all around them. As Lea guarded them with a barrier, Twilight ignited her horn and returned fire, striking at one of the Magnemite with a concussive magic bolt that won them a metallic clanging sound on impact. While the flare of magenta magic did almost comically send the pokemon spiraling in the air like a spun bobblehead, it soon righted itself again without much apparent damage.

Lea grimaced, “They’re tougher than they look!”

“Made of metal on the outside, concussive just knocks them around- Look out!”, Twilight yelped as she grabbed Lea and teleported them again to avoid the barrier having to try and tank a massive joint Thunder attack by all the Magneton at once. The massive thunderbolt ripped the ground open and left a burnt crater in its wake. The duo reappeared on the opposite side of the clearing.

“Suggestions?”, Twilight barked as she rapidly fired concussive blasts at the approaching pokemon. It might not have hurt them much, but it was helping to at least stall their advance by physically shoving them back.

Lea wracked her brain before a light bulb went off in her head, “They’re like machines!”

Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes and deadpanned, “... Naaaaaaaaaaah, really?”

Lea just ignored her, “As I said, machines with electricity and metal. That means they’re good conductors of electricity and heat.”

“Well considering their hosing us with lightning bolts, how’s about we skip the shock treatment and go for broke?”

“After you,” Lea barked, plasma building up on her forehead and eyes.

Twilight Sparkle snorted, focusing on the same sort of angry thoughts she did one particular day with friends when a hydra got involved. Unlike the similar state her mentor had, this didn’t give her a bolster in power as much as it did alter her power. And given the kind of magic she knew and the alteration that occurred when her mane and tail burst into flames, it seemed like it was for the best. Red eyes narrowed above a smirk.

They both dove to the side and dropped the cracking barrier, dodging the lightning strikes taking aim at the central Magneton from two opposite angles. Swinging around as they flew in formation to make a circle, a flaming Twilight Sparkle and glowing Mothra Lea fired a barrage of burning magic flares and plasmatic prism beam. The Magneton let out a metallic shriek as it was engulfed in the blasts, fidgeting and whirling for several seconds before the attack cut off. Singed, smoking, and with a large “X” formed over its three eyes, the pokemon dropped to the ground; not dead due to the briefness of the assault despite its severity but most certainly knocked out.

A chorus of robotic screeches rang out as the two heroines hovered next to each other, the other Magneton and the horde of Magnemite leering as they began to form up. Rather than advance again, they instead spun around in a conical spiral, pooling lightning together that was launched up into the sky.

“Um… Were they trying to hit us with that?”, Twilight muttered.

Lea only grimaced, “No, but something tells me we shouldn’t be glad about them choosing to do that instead. Time to go?”

“We don’t know what’s going on and we waste time and risk trying to do that here, a tactical retreat be bes-”

The alicorn was cut off by a deep, clanging, mechanical bellow coming from the sky. In the same direction the lightning bolt, a signal flare, had been fired; a massive object rapidly flew towards them. While again lacking propulsion like the Magneton and Magnemite, this entity’s speed scaled positively with its size. It’s deceptively soft landing was heraded by two massive thunderbolts ripping into the ground on either side of the alicorn and changeling. The shape could be surmised as humanoid, albeit more vaguely in the sense it had two arms, two legs, was upright, and lacked a tail. The lower legs were very wide and much of the body was boxy in formation. A single, large light formed something of an eye on the upper chest where the middle of the face would be if it had one; with a larger light mounted on the upper torso that seemed to contract and tighten like a camera lens. This wasn’t like the previous beings, whom were something of a blurry line between mechanical and a living entity; as Twilight and Lea especially had both seen enough technology in their day to recognize a machine. The mecha, lacking better terms to describe it, started to advance.

Twilight Sparkle pursed her lips, dropped the fire mane, and threw a hoof around Lea’s shoulders as she stared at the mecha with wide eyes.

“Yep, nope! Tactical retreat.”, She sputtered before teleporting them well out of sight and not stopping until they got back to camp.

The mecha and it’s accompanying pokemon stood motionless before looking up to the flying airship that flew over to hover above them. A masculine voice called out from the intercoms, played out from both the ship and a set of speakers on the mecha’s torso.

“Continue to search, we’re not here for them but bring them back if you find them. Get the damaged scout up here.”

The Magnemite and Magneton screeched in compliance, resuming their survey pattern as the mecha gathered up their unconscious number and flew back to the ship.

===============

Kilometers away

A burst of magic begat the arrival of Twilight Sparkle and Lea, whom dropped to the ground back at their campsite.

“Well!.... That just happened!", Twilight yelped as she rubbed at her aching horn, “If those things aren’t Terran, then they sure ain’t Equestrian.”

“Couldn’t be Terran anyways. Only way to get from there to here is Dimension Tide, and it was destroyed.”, Lea muttered as she gently put her horn to Twilight’s. After a few moments concentration and an invocation of a healing rune, she managed to dispel the coming magic migraine before its onset.

Twilight took a deep sigh of relief, “You definitely got on my good side for doing that after we first met, remind me to ask for the lesson later… As for our guests, think maybe they’re from somewhere else and came through the dimensional hole you and the other kaiju made when you got forced through?”

The changeling shrugged, “It’s possible. It would explain why they aren’t getting changed into native forms if they bypassed the barrier.”

Lea suddenly froze, looking about her surroundings.

“Wait.", Mothra’s antenna began to twitch. “I sense something.”

“Not agaaain! Is it those things we just saw?”, Twilight grumbled as she started to ready her magic.

“No this is something different, something different...”

Walking to where she felt the disturbance, Mothra and Twilight came upon a pond in the middle of the forest. The pond itself seemed to be no more than 5 meters in diameter, but despite the darkness of the forest giving it an eerie feeling, one could tell if was no deeper than a foot. Looking closer the duo found that something was making ripples in the middle of the pond. In between the areas of said ripples, they could vaguely see something “swimming” in the pond.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

The alicorn soon got her answer as the ripples became more intense, then something began to emerge from the lake. It was a silhouette at first, the only visible feature was its red eyes. It stood about 4 and a half meters high and had two “wings” on its back that seemed to move and reshape themselves, it also had six legs and a tail. When the otherworldly creature came out the lake and settled down on the ground in front of the mages, its shadowy appearance faded away to reveal its actual look. It had gold half rings circling the back of its neck, Its head had a gold crown-like object surrounding it with two large horns pointing sideways. A thick black stripe ran vertically along the front with red horizontal stripes. This creature overall looked intimidating, which was why both Twilight and Lea still had not for lack of a better term “taken her finger off the trigger”.

However, Mothra then noticed that there was something else riding on the back of its head. The creature lowered itself so its rider could get off, and once it did, Mothra immediately recognized what it was.

Standing there, unaltered, was a female human in Equestria.

The human looked over at Twilight, she mumbled something. It wasn’t clear, but Mothra could have sworn she said “Huh, so that's what Dusk Shine looks like as a girl.”

The human held out her hand in greeting.

“Salutations, I’m Platinum; Platinum Berlitz. Current champion of Sinnoh, keeper to Giratina, and I do believe there is an issue here I’m supposed to help with.”

Author's Note

Written by Metroid Prime and Tarbtano
Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance-Omikron

Chapter 2: Searching

Enzo Island, Pokemon Multiverse, Universal Stream: Master 1114.17 Kappa

Platinum had only been to the Hall of Legends a few times to be honest, most of the time her interactions with Legendary Pokemon were during her visits to Giratina in the Reverse World. The first time she came here was when Arceus wanted to personally thank her for stopping Team Galactic. It was also the day she was made a member of the Pokemon Magisters, a secret group of Pokemon Trainers who had accomplished great heroic deeds and bonded to a Major or Prime Legendary. They were mostly just made of Trainers who had defeated evil organizations, but others did exist.

The reason she was currently here was because Arceus had called both her and Giratina for a “Special Mission”.

“So what do you think your mom has called us for?”

The large six legged dragon that was walking beside her looked down at her companion, the blood red eyes filled with neutrality.

“Dunno, she likes to tell us things in person. Eh, whatever.”

Platinum gave a small smile, the Renegade Pokemon was one of her only few friends aside from Diamond and Pearl. Similarly, Platinum was Tina’s only human friend. But as her bonded human partner, they had a closer friendship than most. Probably because they both shared Tsundere traits.

They soon reached the room where Arceus was. The walls and ceiling were arranged in intricate patterns and designs, each of them reflecting one of the many diverse cultures that flourished in the known world. In a way, each of them represented the civilizations that were the cumulative work of humankind, a testament of creation. It was fitting for a being who was rumored to have created the universe.

The regal Legendary Pokemon, who vaguely resembled a white equine with a golden, jeweled ring extending from her midsection, greeted them.

“Giratina, Platinum, so glad you could make it.”

“Mom,” Giratina said nonchalantly.

“Arceus,” Platinum said with a smile and bow.

“Now before I explain what's going on, I have to make sure our young Platinum here understands a few things.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“As so, Platinum. As Giratina may have told you, sometimes in between the task the Legends take to keep our world safe, we often observe other universes and the lives of the inhabitants within them. Hoopa Prime likes to call it “a Reality TV show, just with other worlds."

The Champion knew what Arceus was talking about, Giratina told her about how they received an Omnisphere that lets them observe other dimensions and universes outside their view. Apparently it was a gift from one of Arceus’s deity friends, one that hailed from a world populated by shape shifting robots.

“Yes, I am familiar with this.”

“Good, because you two will be going to the Pony Multiverse.”

Platinum raised her eyebrows at this, her knowledge about the Pony Multiverse was gleaned from her encounter with Dusk Shine and the union of Arceus and Prince Solaris. The Pony Multiverse got its name from the fact that in all of its realities, there was always a planet called Equus, and a kingdom called Equestria. These phenomenons were called “Constants”, things that will always exist in universes that are within their Multiverse and give them their name. Such as how in the Pokemon Multiverse, there were always Pokemon no matter which version of Earth you went to.

Giratina let out a small chuckle. “Ah the Pony Multiverse, where “Friendship is Magic” and everyone sings and dances. So where are we going? TCB 612.7 Alpha, TGA 113.19 Epsilon…...ANW 114.5 Zeta? Cause if it is the last one we may need more than just me.”

Arceus narrowed her eyes, “What are you implying?”

“N-Nothing mother,” Giratina was now avoiding her mother's gaze.

“Anyway, no, you’re both going to Equus 813.2 Alpha.”

Giratina and Platinum looked at each other and then back to Arceus.

The human cleared her throat, “Never heard of that one before.”

“Well, long story short. On the surface it is like your typical Equus, but we haven’t monitored it long enough to see any deviations. That being said, the most interesting thing is that it appears to have visitors from the Kaiju Multiverse.”

“Kaiju?” Platinum said. “Those giant monsters from those Kanto movie franchises?”

“Yes Platinum, these Kaiju aren’t that much different from the ones you see in film. Creatures the size of buildings, some possessing powers that rival and even surpass certain Legendary Pokemon.”

“I sense a but coming.”Giratina said, knowing from experience that it wasn’t just that simple.

“But, they have lost their titanic forms due to this universe having a Dimensional Barrier that suppress inhabitants that come from outside their universe. It has turned the Kaiju into forms that are more natural to the species of the planet”

“Oh, so it's gonna be one of those worlds,” Giratina had heard about these barriers some worlds had, they often transform people from outside the Pony Multiverse into species that are native the Equus (often they became Ponies). She had even heard a rumor about how a Darkrai from the Mystery Dungeon Realm Cluster became a pegasus upon arriving in Equss 912.13 Alpha.

“Normally the Barrier around this particular realm would affect both you and Platinum, forcing you to become native lifeforms, but..”

Arceus eyes glowed for a second, then a wave of energy washed over Giratina, Platinum and the Pokemon inside her Pokeballs.

“I have arranged an aura for your bodies that will cancel the effects of the Barrier while you are there. So you will remain the same once you pass through the Barrier. It wouldn’t be enough to force your way through said Barrier but there appears to be a hole in it at the moment and I can just barely manage to slip you through it.”

“Alright,” Giratina didn’t feel different, but then her mother knew how she wanted to be comfortable. “But you still haven't told us why we are going to this universe.”

“I was getting to that,” Arceus’s face then turned serious. “The reason why you are both going there, is because that is where Kardas is.”

Giratina’s eyes went wide, now that was serious.

A moment of silence passed before Platinum perked her brow and waved, “Wait, who’s Kardas?”

Giratina looked at her companion with the same expression as her mother. “Kardas is one of the colony Goliaths, the same Goliaths who pioneered the people of the Ransei region to new worlds during the Golden Age.”

This time Platinum’s eyes went wide, the Goliaths were probably more mythical than Pokemon like Mew and Jirachi. Said to have been titans of breathtaking height and great power, rumored to be the very first creations of Arceus that predated all life on Earth. To know now that they were real…

“Not long ago I sent out a telepathic message to all the Goliath’s across the realms, but so far it has been a month and only Vale has returned.”

“Vale? Where was he?” Giratina inquired

Arceus nodded her head to the side, “Shimmer 214.8 Epsilon.”

Giratina puzzled perplexingly, “........Dang how did he survive there for so long?”

“Luck, pure shameless luck. But Vale said how he had to summon a servant just to help him regain his power. Even still, he barely escaped if it were not for……”

Platinum raised an eyebrow and let the worry become evident in her tone, “What?”

Arceus paused but shook her head, “Nevermind, that’s a tale for another time. Back to the point, Vale’s story had made me realize something. If Vale and the other Goliaths got my message, they would have all returned by now if they had the power. Which can mean one thing….they don’t have to power to come back on their own.”

Giratina soon put two and two together, “So you’re sending us to retrieve Kardas, if he is even still alive.”

“He’s alive, otherwise his spirit would have returned to this Earth.”

Platinum thought for a moment. This was a very important endeavor, to help bring home one of Earth’s greatest and most powerful myths was something that would be a great experience, aside from traveling to another Megaverse. But she had one question.

“Arceus, I will gladly accept this mission with pride. But I have to ask, why can’t you go and get him yourself?”

Giratina was a little surprised with Platinum’s question. They both knew that for all the power Arceus had, “god” was still not something she was. She couldn't do everything myths made her out to be. But then again she could understand since Kardas and the Goliaths were created before the legendary Pokemon, so it would make sense for a mother to rescue her child.

Arceus however didn’t seem to be offended by Platinum’s question.

“I understand your question, and yes I would just go there and retrieve him myself. However…”

The deity let out a groaning sigh.

“As Giratina and the legends know, because another Arceus suddenly moved his world's population to ANW 114.5 Zeta without the consent of its natives, it has caused some tension between the Pokemon and Pony Multiverses. Some worlds whom are aware of the other realms are up in arms with what he basically pulled off as an invasion and got away with, not to mention some of my other multiversal doppelgangers are also not happy with what he did. Me going to another Pony Universe would not help ease that tension right now, and I would not want to be the reason for an interdimensional war. On top of it all, recklessly trying to move anything, even myself, between realms like that can tear holes in the dimensional barriers if any are present. Such action can spell disaster for anything inside them. It could drop threats into worlds unprepared for them…”

Arceus took a pause, and for a moment there was a look upon her face that practically seemed like concern or even fear.

“Or let something free. There are some things out there far more powerful or dangerous than some realms can contend with. If such forces became aware of other realms and found a way to escape…”

Both Giratina and Platinum took a collective gulp, if such forces as interdimensional damage or the release of extremely powerful entities into other worlds were bad enough that they scared Arceus; then such outcomes were to be feared by all accounts. Giratina even knew of one such entity that was for all intents a “Chaos Bringer”.

“I can of course still go to Solaris’ Equestria and he can come here. Since we are married and our worlds are linked together, there is no risk of damages. Another reason why I can’t go is-”

A high pitched, childish voice called out from the background, “Mommy!”

All of a sudden a white blur came through the door and put its forelegs around Arceus’s own, Platinum looked at it and saw that it was a smaller Arceus.

His name was Arkayis Caminus Alicor, the son of Arceus and Prince Solaris.

“Arkayis, mommy is kinda busy right now. Whats wrong?”

“Can I go see daddy?”

The Alpha Pokemon picked up her newborn and gave him a nuzzle. “Of course you can, I’ll take you to daddy once I am done talking with your big sister.”

“Okay!”, And just like that, the little energetic spawn of two powerful beings zipped back out the doors.

Platinum looked at the door and then back at Arceus.

Giratina grunted, “Ah, so the egg hatched.”

Platinum chuckled and rubbed at the back of her head, “Anyway, so when will we be going?”

“Now I’m afraid, because it appears we are not the only ones looking to find Kardas first.”

“What?!”, Giratina snapped with her tone instantly going from zero to one hundred, “Who else could know about the location of a Goliath?!”

“Someone you know very well Giratina. I don’t know how, but Palkia detected a spatial distortion that matched the signature of one of her spatial pearls. She looked into it, and saw that the one called “Zero” is now in Equss 813.2 Alpha.”

Giratina’s eyes widened, before her face turned into a scowl.

“And I can only guess one reason why he is there…”

=======================

Dozens of Magnemite and Magneton formed up upon one another, linking the magnets flanking their forms and moving in a perfectly straight line just a few millimeters above the treeline. Every time the height of the trees varied, the formation would move slightly to compensate; flowing over the forest like a draped curtain. Each individual pokemon’s mechanical, cycloptian eyes glowed a dull blue of increasing intensity; building up until they released a quick but horribly high-pitched ping that sent birds scrambling. The pinging noise, that momentary mechanical shriek called a Screech attack, was meant to deafen an opponent at full blast and lower its ability to defend itself. These short bursts failed to do that, but they weren’t supposed to. The Magnemite and Magneton continued to ping and screech at the forest and fields below, sweeping across both in a wide arc.

Inside a venerable floating fortress, the mecha that had a standoff with Princess Twilight Sparkle and Mothra Lea stood in the back of a control room. It’s large, chest mounted “eye” pulsed with an identical blue light to the Magnemite and Magneton, sending a signal out from its form to the main computer situated before the captain’s seat. The broad computer screen, which wrapped around the whole of the front half of the room, lit up with a map. Across the midpoint of said map were dozens of tiny, pulsing dots to indicate the Magnemite and Magneton positions. Every time they and the mecha’s eye pulsed, a circle pinged off the dots and mapped out more of the landscape around them. Flickering onto the screen’s side appeared the visage of a consciousness made of programming and a cybernetic mind. The artificial intelligence’s avatar was that of a young woman wearing an elaborate dress and looping hair, sporting inhumanly bright locks and eyes that were yellow on the lower half and red on the top half of the irises. The AI, known as Infi by designation, let the millions of lines of code scan across her eyes before bowing her head towards the man seated at the helm.

“Despite previous encounters, the search parameter is proceeding as intended. With controlled bursts of coordinated Screech attack, the Magnemite and Magneton are penetrating the ground and providing a readout of what lay within,” the AI chimed.

The commander of the ship hummed, tapping at his finger against the armrest, “And what of our intruders?”

Infi nodded her head and changed the view of the screen, pulling up several point of view shots from both the pokemon and the mecha showing the royal changeling and young alicorn and their battle with the scout team of magnemite and magneton.

“The first is identifiable as a sapient species of equine, matching dimensional archive signature as an alicorn, young as it is. The other, matched to a royal changeling, has peculiarities.”

“Peculiarities?”, he raised his eyebrow, “Display.”

The screen of the alicorn and changeling standing beside each other enlarged.

“Initiating simulated aura signature from Lucario data,” Infi noted.

Her master leaned in closer upon what he saw, tilting his head. Aura was, lacking better terms, the visible display of one’s soul and life force. Lucario, a well-studied species of pokemon resembling an upright jackal, was capable of sensing that force and the mecha could simulate such an ability. And when the aura readouts for the two intruders flickered on his curiosity increased. The alicorn’s signature was bright granted, but even through the brightness he could still tell her outline matched her general body shape. The changeling on the other hand was completely different. Instead of the odd mix of equine and insectoid, it’s aura was completely out of it’s normal shape. Glowing bright teal, its shape was unmistakably akin to some sort of butterfly or moth.

“That’s unusual for sure. Haven’t seen something akin to that since that scan at Alto Mare.”

Infi nodded, “Indeed. At Alto Mare, the Legendary Pokemon Latias and Latios were capable of assuming human form; however their aura signature remained the same regardless.”

“But this isn’t Alto Mare,” he grumbled as he leered at the picture of the insectoid aura, “And that is not something we have on record. I don’t think we want any more surprises in this ordeal Infi.”

“That would prove contrary to plans, Zero”

Zero turned his chair aside to look back at the map his pokemon were charting out. A young man in his prime, his pale hair and piercing amber eyes studying every detail.

“Contrary indeed. Have the Magnemite and Magneton increase their arc sweep rate. Our target’s sheer size means we’re unlikely to miss it by hurrying things along slightly.”

“At once,” Infi bowed and vanished from the display, off to do her duties.

Zero spun his chair around and faced the mecha standing at attention in the back of the room. He smiled and nodded as he extended his hand.

“Go and conduct your own sweep in the opposite way, we need to cover as much ground as possible before any more surprises decide to show themselves. I’ll call you forth if another incident occurs.”

His command was met by the machine crossing an arm over its chest and bowing, turning and levitating back to the hangar doors. As it left, Zero got up and walked along to the storeroom of the airship. Arms crossed behind his back, the dimension-hopping criminal stopped before a seemingly innocuous container and stared at it. The glass cylinder was plain aside from the two mechanical scanners mounted on either end, giving a feed of readouts on the small monitor displayed next to the container. Zero let his mind travel back to the intruders and the baffling aura signature of something that looked equine and yet clearly wasn’t. It and the alicorn were an uncertainty, potential threats in fact. And if there was one thing Zero cared not for, it was uncertainty. Something he was getting a lot of as he looked to the tiny fossil within the cylinder with an unreadable look in his eyes. After all, in a ship armed to the teeth and packing a small army of decent to high level pokemon; this was probably the most dangerous entity on-board.

An entity he was considering having a use for.

“Infi, how are the readouts for the primary scan going?”

Infi’s voice chimed in through the intercom, “13% and climbing.”

Zero’s eyes narrowed as he shrugged, turning away from the tiny fossil and waving his have offhandedly at it.

“Kardas, we’re getting closer…”, he grumbled.

================

Twilight Sparkle and Mothra Lea looked on at the entities they saw standing before them, not knowing if they should be shocked at the one they recognized or the one that was completely alien. They were both acquainted with humans, but seeing one standing before them at equal height was an eyepopper for Mothra and seeing one in Equestria was causing Twilight’s horn to hurt. Then there was the matter of the human’s companion, which could be favorably compared to a vaguely insectoid or arachnoid dragon; like a winged serpent and centipede thrown into a blender. Neither Princess of Friendship nor Guardian of Mortals knew they were met with the Champion of Sinnoh, Platinum, and her companion, the Legendary Pokemon of Antimatter, Giratina. At least not until the former jovially introduced herself.

Platinum blinked, chuckling a tad nervously as she extended a hand while holding the other up in a nonthreatening posture; “Ehehe, as I was saying again. Salutations, I’m Platinum; Platinum Berlitz. Current champion of Sinnoh, keeper to Giratina, and I do believe there is an issue here I’m supposed to help with… You can understand me, right?”

“Yes, yes we can,” Mothra muttered with a half dumbstruck expression; “It’s just…”

“How are you still in human form? Every time I jump the barrier I change back and forth from pony to human and back,” Twilight Sparkle murmured as she finished her friend’s train of thought.

“Oh,” Platinum paused before rubbing at the back of her head, “Arceus, a very powerful being, sent us here through a hole in this world’s barrier. Strange thing to be there, this Equestria’s barrier is exceptionally strong otherwise.”

Mothra Lea winced, not too happy about being reminded how she and the other five original kaiju’s entrance into this world caused what she feared be irreparable damage. Fear that was now enhanced given now it seemed beings from even dimensions other than Terra were able to make the journey here and do Tanaka knows what to Equestria.

Twilight Sparkle however, was more keyed in on a specific wording Platinum used, “Wait, ‘this Equestria’? Is this related to why you called me Dusk Shine earlier?”

Platinum snapped her fingers and nodded, “If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then yes. There are more than just one version of Equestria out there, or at least different realms close enough they can get grouped under the same label as ‘Equestrias’. Some are very similar to each other with only a minor difference, someone moved to somewhere else, getting replaced by another hero, encountering another realm’s denizens, everyone is the opposite sex. And some sport very big differences.”

Twilight Sparkle picked up on what was being set down, “Like a mirrored world of flipped moralities, or everypony being a different species in a different setting?”

“Exactly! Done some realm hopping yourself I take it?”

Twilight shrugged, “Stopped an evil version of my mentor and a very out of control high school formal.”

“Neat! Well you’ll be quick on the uptake then. In a nutshell I’m a friend of another version of you, boy- er stallion version named Dusk Shine.”

“Huh, well I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle!”, Twilight quipped with a smile and extended her hoof to Platinum’s hand.

Platinum beamed and shook the pony’s hoof, “Charmed!”

Mothra Lea relaxed slightly at the human’s actions. Moralities was something she could read like a book, no matter how hard one tried to hide it. It’s why she sought out Twilight Sparkle and revealed herself in the first place. And this young woman, this Platinum Berlitz, was checking out just fine even if her companion was unnerving.

-Then again I spent the last two decades in companionship with Godzilla, whom am I to judge appearances?-

Mothra Lea cleared her throat and approached the human, “I am called Mothra. Now, you mentioned you were here to help with something. Mind clarifying?”

“Right!”, Platinum nodded as she pulled out a device that caused Twilight’s eyes to widen and Lea to perk up her brow as she recognized it as a tiny computer of some kind. Platinum flipped the rectangular shaped object open, revealing it to have two screens with an assortment of buttons and a directional key flanking the lower panel. Drawing out a stylus from the side of the device, Platinum rapidly tapped away to pull up some pictures. Soon the top display showed a mugshot of a pale haired, amber eyed man.

“This is Zero, a rogue researcher turned criminal. After trying and failing to capture Giratina here, he escaped prison and amassed his forces. He then used his machinery’s remaining connection to a place called the Reverse World to slingshot himself across the realms. He’s been tracked to here and I was sent to get him.”

“And what is he looking for here?”, Mothra murmured as she surveyed the leering visage of the young man.

“Zero thinks worlds are, for short terms, messed up beyond other’s means to repair them. How exactly he never saw fit to elaborate, but the effects of his quest were clear enough. First he wanted control of the world he came from and then others. He originally saw Giratina here’s realm, the Reverse World which acted as a counterbalance to his and my world, as a means to control that world and reshape our world as he saw fit. When a few trainers and more importantly, Legendary Pokemon got in the way, he now sees them as opposition and is trying to find means to overpower them.”

“So a grade-A egomaniac who insists he’s the best one to be in charge with otherwise vague motivations?”, Twilight Sparkle piped. Platinum gave her a shrug and a nod.

Mothra Lea puzzled, glancing off to the side.

-Sounds like a Japanese TV show antagonist...-

She took notice of the large dragon-like being looming closer.

Giratina, who had been silent this whole time, spoke once something clicked in her mind.

“Wait, you’re Mothra? As in Mothra the Guardian of Mortals?”

Both Mothra and Twilight jumped wide eyed as they heard what just came out of the dragon’s mouth.

“Wait, how do you know my title?”

“Well, remember when Platinum said that there are other worlds? The same thing applies to you Kaiju who hail from Toho Megaverse.”

“Toho what?”, Twilight murmured in a confused manner.

Platinum sighed, “Okay, let me explain in better detail.”

Twilight took out her notebook, but a look from everybody made her face red and she put them away.

With a nod from Mothra and Twilight, Platinum began, “While many believe in concept of the multiverse, some believe in an even larger frontier known as the omniverse. Each of your realms, or universes in this case are contained within their own multiverse. It’s the multiverse where you’ll encounter things like a mirrored version of your world’s morality or a world where everyone's role or occupation is different. Then each multiverse is contained within its own megaverse, which encapsulates other multiverses, which are all part of the bigger omniverse that each megaverse is included in.”

Twilight rubbed her chin, the multiverse she was aware of, but this was new.

“This is where we are now, the “Pony Multiverse” as many call it. Its primary constant is that in this multiverse there is always a kingdom called Equestria and most of the time there are six ponies who play the central story. A “Constant” is a concept, character or idea that will almost always manifest in that universe, so you could say that Equestria is basically the catalyst for your realms.”

Twilight had to process this for a moment, not only were the worlds beyond this realm even greater than she could imagine, but it turns out that Equestria, and possibly her and her friends played an even greater role in their multiverse.

“Now, your realms are a component of the what's called the “Hasbro Megaverse”. Your multiverse is the second biggest behind the Transformers Multiverse. That place is home to a race of transforming robots”

“Transforming robots?”, Mothra pondered before shrugging, “I think I’ve seen stranger things.”

Platinum continued, “So, while we are in the Pony Multiverse, Mothra here hails from the “Kaiju Multiverse” a component of the Toho Megaverse, as the title suggests is known for its giant monsters.”

Mothra Lea deadpanned, “Hmm, why am I not surprised?”

“Now, aside from other multiverses like Bionicle, Nasu, or DC; we hail from the “Pokemon Multiverse”, which is located in the Nintendo Megaverse. Our multiverse is known for its creatures called Pokemon or “Pocket Monsters” as some call us. Pokemon are basically creatures with control over the elements and other forces of nature.”

Twilight looked up to Giratina and motioned towards them, “So, I guess you’re a Pokemon?”

Giratina nodded, “Yes, however I am what is known as a Legendary Pokemon. Legendary Pokemon are Pokemon that are far more important and powerful than normal Pokemon, not to mention rarer. And whereas most Pokemon range from normal to intelligent animals, Legendaries are entirely sapient. But there are some universes where all Pokemon are fully sapient.”

“So, what kind of Legendary Pokemon are you?”

“I am the Legendary Pokemon of Antimatter and the first born of the creation dragons. My mother is Arceus who is the creator of all Pokemon.”

One could practically feel a pin drop as Lea’s eyes briefly dilated at the thought of a specific, three letter “g” word forming in her head. “So, this Arceus is your god?”

Giratina shook her head, “No. While there are other versions of her who are in a sense “gods” and sometimes brag about it, my mother forgoes such a title because of the perception of power that comes with it. My mother isn’t too keen on things like immortality and all the perks of creation, and she never claims to have created our universe or even Earth for that matter. Some other versions of Arceus did create their own universe at the expense of their power, others claim godhood falsely.”

“I see. it seems like she took a lesson in humility.”

“I think she would say humble.”

Lea sighed, silently wishing all supposed deities or mighty beings one could refer to as such were of a similar disposition. She of all kaiju knew.

Twilight was thinking when a notable question popped in her head. “Okay, so this Arceus used her power to send you here?”

“Yes.”

Twilight and Mothra looked at each other, the changeling realized Twilight’s idea and spoke it.

“Can she send people to other multiverses?”

Giratina paused but slowly nodded, “In a limited capacity, such as for us. Why?”

“Well, me and other Kaiju were sent here by accident and we have been looking for a way home ever since. Or more importantly, a way to get any kaiju whom might still be on the loose away from here.”

Now Platinum and Giratina looked at each other, but the look they gave back was not one of reassurance.

Platinum frowned and slowly shook her head, “If you are asking if we can send you all home, we’re sorry but we can’t.”

Mothra became disheartened, “Why?”

“Due to some events that we can’t get into, the Pokemon worlds are in hot water with any realm that’s aware of their existence. Can’t get into details but another version of Arceus pulled a pretty dodgy stunt and the reception wasn’t pleasant. If my mother tried to help, she’d have to appear here herself and that could cause issues with other realms trying to get involved. Not to mention that realm travel is dangerous in that if you try to cross vast distances in the Omniverse you risk getting lost in the void between worlds. You could also damage one world severely, or potentially cause drastic harm to both. Also due to the infinite amount of worlds the chances of finding your realm in particular would be very slim given she’s not from either world”

“But, what about you guys? Wouldn’t the same apply to you?”, Twilight worriedly noted.

“We have a direct link basically that temporarily ties this world to ours,” Platinum muttered as she pulled out a pearl that was pink and glowing.

“This pearl was made by Giratina’s sister Palkia, the Legendary of Space and Dimensions. It has an emergency return function that can bring me, Tina, and Zero back to our home realm once we are done here.”

Twilight and Mothra both had disappointed looks on their faces, it seemed fate wanted the Kaiju to stay just a little bit longer.

Giratina saw the look in their eyes and felt a pang of sympathy for them, “Sorry. If it’s any consolation, if fate brought the kaiju to this particular Equestria then they are needed here. And if any could find a way to bring you lot back home, it’s yourselves.”

Mothra gave the pair a small smile, “It's fine, not your fault… Besides,”

The former kaiju gave a knowing glance to Twilight, whom easily picked up on her friend’s memo and brushed off any angsting, “We’ve got this Zero character to worry about. We’ll figure out our own issues.”

“You all sure you want to involve yourselves so much? Zero was a threat to Giratina when he was less armed, now he’s even more so,” Platinum muttered as she frowned, “Now that misunderstandings are out of the way, we can try to handle this ourselves.”

Twilight Sparkle blew a raspberry and waved her hoof at the human, “Oh don’t worry about us! We’ve faced our own share of danger. Had a horde of giant killer bats last month.”

Mothra Lea chuckled and joined her friend at Platinum and Giratina’s side, “My family was never one to leave a good deed undone and my equine friend shares the sentiment. You have yourself some local help on your mission.”

Platinum could have argued, could have insisted she take point, could have done some other stunts many in such stories would do to protect those insisting on helping them. But she did no such thing, only cracking a wide grin and pointing out into the horizon from their hilltop with a Alicorn Princess, Legendary Pokemon, and Altered Kaiju at the Champion’s sides.

“Look out Zero, here we come!”

Author's Note

To my Amica Endura who may read this, sorry not sorry.

Metroid Prime

Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance Omikron

Chapter 3: Melee

The time in between the meeting of two worlds’ finest and finding Zero was mostly spent discussing how different their realms were. While most of the talk was about Equestria so Platinum and Giratina could familiarize themselves with it, Twilight being the ever curious pony wanted to know more about the Pokemon Earth, particularly what kind of magic could be found there.

“Wait, so how does a Reality Marble work?”

Giratina who knew enough on the subject to answer the alicorn’s questions found herself getting slightly annoyed at the inquiring, her mother had told her that when it came to the various incarnations of Twilight Sparkle and her counterparts that they were to be cautious with her and not release any sensitive information for fear that it may be used against the Pokemon Multiverse. So she only answered what was considered common sense.

“A Reality Marble is a mage’s mental projection onto the real world. Basically, it pulls you and surrounding individuals into a pocket dimension of sorts made by your own mind.”

“Wow!....So do you know how to do one?”

Giratina looked at the pony and smirked before shaking her head, “Sorry, but Pokemon are incapable of using magic, something you can blame my mom for. Also, a Reality Marble is not something anyone can learn, rather it’s something only a few can perform. And finally, it’s not a form of magic your world is capable of, but rather something exclusive to ours.”

Twilight deflated, “Oh, aww...”

Meanwhile, Platinum and Mothra were having an exchange of their own, the changeling's eyes were wide as dinner plates, “Incredible! Your Earth is actually a sentient planet in a physical sense?”

“Yeah, Arceus said that it got that way after what she calls the “Third Time Wave”, she won’t say what that is but nevermind. The Earth doesn’t really have control over its body except for the core where its heart, mind, and soul are kept.”

“And it is the duty of Legendary Pokemon the protect the world, yes?”

Platinum nodded towards her partner, “Yes, Giratina and the League of Legends deal with the many natural and Pokemon related problems that come about from time to time.”

Mothra raised an eyebrow, “Oh, what do what do you mean by that?”

“Don’t get me wrong, most Legendary Pokemon like humans and protect them from time to time, even when they cause the problem," Platinum shrugged, "-but their priority is mostly Pokemon related stuff plus dealing with whatever aspect of the world they represent. Now as for magically related problems that are the job of the Mage’s Association or Heroic Spirits.”

“Heroic Spirits? Sounds a bit vague”

“A Heroic Spirit is the recorded soul of men and women who have left behind legends and marks on history. The Earth itself sends Heroics Spirits to prevent mankind's destruction, you might call it a counter force to whatever threatens our very existence.”

Mothra nodded her head in off thought. She was well aware of the existence of souls, at least right before Toba when one of her ancestors physically saw one. But one coming back was unheard of.

“The closest we have to that is my family,” she shrugged.

“Oh?”, Platinum perked up, “This related to that ‘sentient in a physical sense’ you mentioned earlier?”

Mothra nodded, “Terra is ‘alive’ in a way, but more metaphorically. Its lifeblood was the mana stream, forged eons ago from a planet’s worth of radiation. Its refreshed by lifeforce and cycles through the core. Because of it, my world had its version of magic, to begin with. It was through there that my father’s side of the family could reincarnate and my mother’s side could pass on their memories.”

Platinum raised an eyebrow as they walked along, “You talk about it like you were there. How old are you?”

Mothra giggled, “Oh I’m only eighteen. But all of my predecessors’ memories get passed on. Being a Mothra or Battra is a legacy, so each generation gets the last's experiences. Though even by that standard, the mana stream was around for about hundred and eighty million years before the first Mothra and Battra so it's before even the earliest memories I can get.”

Platinum drummed a finger against her lip, "Sooo if it's so old, who forged the mana stream?"

Mothra visibly flinched. Her pulse quickened as conflicting memories flashed across her mind. Ones of both a benevolent, almost parental teacher whom guided countless generations and cultivated a peaceful world; and that same horned visage wreathed in the ashes and fires of countless generations lost and destroyed.

Before she knew it, several long moments had passed before she gave Platinum her answer, "Reijuu. Consider it the equivalent to your Arceus. It was thanks to the mana stream that magic even existed in a stable form."

Platinum brushed off her moment of worry and tried to play it kindly with a smile as she braced her arms behind her head, "Oh! That's really cool of them. Must be pretty strong."

"Terran sapient races and beyond considered it a deity and it wasn't an exaggeration... So about this champion title and pokemon battles?", Lea muttered with a not so subtle changing of the subject, "This isn't like cockfighting or animal baiting fights right? You mentioned most Pokemon weren't fully sapient earlier, just very smart for animals."

Platinum giggled nervously after a moment of biting her lip, sensing she'd hit a nerve somewhere in there and obliging the altered topic, "O-Oh not at all, don't worry! It's nothing like what those Team Plasma wackos think. Pokemon battle regardless of if humans tell them to or not, it’s part of their biology. Trainers like me just help make sure no one is seriously hurt and they're smart enough to both appreciate that and the strategy we bring."

"Ah, so it's more like an organized fighting sport. They have human boxing where you come from?"

"Mmmmhm, and pokemon boxing. Good analogy really, seeing as that's where the term 'trainer' in Pokemon trainer came from."

"Aaaah, makes sense. Tell me about some of your trials. You mentioned something about a mountain raining exploding gravel?"

Platinum shuddered at the memory of Stark Mountain and it's explosion spamming rock-type Pokemon.

"Gravelers...", she sneered with a shake.

======================

Lights sprung up to the side of Zero's main console, the beep spurring his attention. Zero quickly strode back into the room and turned towards the display, looking towards the projection with bated anticipation.

"Infi, what is going on? I hope this is what I presume it to be," he muttered.

On command, Infi instantly materialized over the projection with millions of lines worth of code flashing across her irises. She blinked and waved her holographic hand, throwing multiple graphs and survey charts over the command room.

"The Magnemite and Magneton have moved into survey zone 10S-4E. I issued the command to Mecha Z0 to focus efforts in 10S-4 to 10-6W on account of the bedrock between those points being igneous rock less than one million years old."

Zero raised an eyebrow and rubbed at his chin, "Igneous, volcanic stone. But this place doesn't look the part for volcanism at all, especially for the stone so relatively young."

Infi nodded, "Indeed Master Zero. However lacking the region might be in volcanoes, the stone shows clear signs of having been molten or partially molten at some point, then solidified. Furthermore, the terrain is flattened out over a three-kilometer range."

The thought occurred to him and a toothy smirk creased the seam of Zero's lips, "Like something dug down and leveled the region out. Looks like our projections were right, Kardas is here. But why the molten rock?"

Infi shook her head, "Unknown, Master Zero. Kardas is not the fire-type Goliath, that honor belongs to its sibling Pyrus, and superheating the terrain during burial would seem unnecessary otherwise, especially after burial procedures. One theory does spring to mind, however."

"Speak."

"Goliath's blood equivalent is an extremely hot, vicious fluid looking the part of liquid light. It could be Kardas suffered an injury that opened a big enough hole for it to bleed into the surrounding rock, in which the blood partially melted it."

Zero's smirk vanished into a puzzling frown. It made sense and that was the part he wasn't fond of. "Plausible, but that implies Kardas was seriously injured by something to had bled that much. Are we sure it's not dead?"

"Negative, Master Zero. The trace signal leading us here indicates life, however, it might be that Kardas entered a coma of sorts to survive."

"Yes that would explain why it didn't return instantly after being damaged."

"Indeed, Master Zero. For Kardas to have been forced down in such a way, the damage was likely to the core processes, such as the soul drive, found in the torso. This may include necessitating a voyage inside to resuscitate it if they have been repaired."

"I see... It'll have to be done quickly, I do not want to risk spoiling this operation if something strong enough to fight a Goliath decides to return."

"A wise choice, Master Zero."

Zero nodded before tapping away at a pullout keyboard, "Have the Magnemite and Magneton concentrate on excavating the region with the thickest region of igneous rock. If the chest was damaged and Kardas has a humanoid build, most of the blood flow would be through and out there. With its “blood of fire” as it was reported to have, any wounds would have melted the stone around it."

Infi bowed, "It shall be done, Master Zero."

She bowed and disappeared in a blink of light, leaving Zero to watch the monitors as all his Pokemon corralled around one point to begin removing massive hunks of rock at a time. He was close, it was palpable. He could feel the power, the enormity, and the greatness which would make him happy to stow away and banish the fossil from earlier into disuse. He'd never need it with that the Magnemite and Magneton were digging up. His destiny!

======================

The Magnemite and Magneton swirled about in a circle, raking electromagnetic waves into the ground in a precise pattern as they floated atop a hill. Like an invisible drill, it started to churn and bore away the earth, lifting away dirt and stone from the tiny micro-fragments of iron imbedded within them. Tons of rock lifted away and was tossed a dozen meters by the intense magnetic waves. Piece by piece, the hill’s accumulated stone, and dirt revealed something unexpected. The tips to a set of four spire-like pillars emerged from the grounds tore out from around them, more being revealed every passing second. At his station, Zero watched with bated breath… which quickly turned to a scowl when a burl of fire magic smacked into one of the Magnemite.

If he was annoyed by that petulant green and purple pony returning, he felt a sneer of rage and shock of dread shoot through him when he recognized whom they were working with. Champion Platinum and the warden of antimatter, his last attempted prize, Giratina.

Zero mashed a button on his lapel, connecting his voice to the communications link in the mecha and his ship.

“All Magnemite, keep digging to get the entrance opened! Magneton and Mech unit, engage the targets. Infi get the ship’s weaponry online and open fire! Keep them away from Kardas!”

The ship’s engines roared as it rushed towards the dig site, Infi swaying her holographic fingers and hands over the systems to bring all the combat systems online. On the ground, Platinum braced as saw the sheer number of pokemon rushing them as the mecha crashed feet first into the ground before them, crackling with power. She drew up a red and white sphere and a similarly sized black-gold and white sphere, a Pokeball and ultra ball.

“Time to call in back-up, come on out! Typhlosion! Mamoswine!”, she yelled while tossing the spheres up.

The orbs popped open and gushed out a brilliance of light that took shape before returning to Platinum’s hands. The first, from the Pokeball, emerged as a creature roughly the size of a grizzly bear but closely resembled a honey badger in coloration and appearance. The Typhlosion, a fire type pokemon, reared up off the ground while snarling as jets of fire burst from ports around its shoulders to form a mane of flames. From the second sphere, the ultraball, a much large form emerged. The quadruped was covered in shaggy brown fur outside of a blue face ringed in white. Twilight Sparkle and Mothra Lea recognized the Mamoswine as resembling a woolly mammoth of sorts in form and size, but sporting a pig-like nose instead of a trunk and a pair of tusks that looked like they were made of ice. It trumpeted loudly and stomped upon the fractured ground.

Twilight Sparkle gave an impressed nod as she readied her magic, “Reinforcements on command, I like it!”

Giratina levitated up above her with eyes trained upon the mech, “They’re dangerous in numbers, keep them divided and then go for the ones still digging.”

“Right, with the digging started Zero can’t be far away,”

The mech went into attack mode, revealing an array of missiles and launchers under flaps and shields. All of them aiming at the Renegade Pokemon, they fired at their target. Having to experience with dealing with Team Rocket’s many many robots and machines, Giratina simply phased in and out of existence using her signature Shadow Force, the physical attacks going through her as a testament to her ghostly nature.

“Mothra, please stand back. I have dealt with these things before.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am the firstborn of Arceus," her eyes flashed an eerie glow, "a little robot is an ant to me.”

Lea relaxed, only slightly as she worried the confidence in her ally was going hand in hand with underestimation to her own ability, “Okay, do as you do best."

Giratina charged a Dark Pulse, the energy in her mouth swirling before it shot out at the robot. The impact stunted it but didn’t seem to cause any lasting damage. Giratina immediately followed up with and Aura Sphere the struck its head, rushing forward as her shadowy wings arranged themselves into claws and grabbed the machine, hurled it into the air and tearing its arm off in the process.

When it fell back to the ground, Giratina waited for the dust to settle. The mech was still standing but clearly wounded. It turned to face her menacingly despite the injury.

Giratina smirked, “Heh, they don’t make them like they used to.”

Zero, who was observing from her chair in his ship, saw the arrogant look on Giratina’s face as she let go of the the dismembered appendage and crushed it underfoot.

“Don’t be so smug Giratina, this creation of mine has a few upgrades and abilities from our previous encounter,” he sneered as he pressed the button to release the safeties.

Back on the battlefield, a series of beeps and sounds came from the mech before standing up and holding out its damaged shoulder it detached what little of its damaged arm remained and waited.

Giratina baited for its next move, only to hear something like a rocket in the distance, by the time it got close enough to identify it, it was too late. A fresh new right arm appeared from the sky and attached itself to the mech. It looked different from the one she smashed, less bulky and more streamlined.

Giratina scoffed, “Whatever your tinker toy can be, I’ll just take it apart from the inside!”

Using Shadow Force again, Giratina intended to phase through the armor and rip out its power core, she lunged for the robot once more….

But something stopped her.

“Gah! What!?”, she yelped while being forced back.

The Legendary looked down to see the mech’s right arm grabbing her and holding her in place, and for some reason, it was hurting her more than she felt it should. The arm glowed for a bit before unleashing and shock of purple lighting that arced through the dragon Pokemon’s body. Giratina let out a cry of pain as she was tossed back to Mothra.

“How?” she thought aloud, I have never encountered a machine that could hurt me while using that move, not since…!

Zero grinned in satisfaction, glad the Legendary fell into his trap. His voice came through the com speakers on the machine, “You won’t get off so easy this time, Guardian of the Reverse World. This robot has the same powers I stole from you during our last encounter, it was a miracle to replicate the data.”

The mad researcher pressed a few buttons on his keyboard.

“Oh and I have a dozen more interchangeable legs and arms ready to deploy so long as the core is still active and fighting, but even you do destroy it will be too late,” he smirked.

Infi chimed in, “Digging completion at 72% estimate 5 minutes until contact.”

A charge of thunder built up across the malign machine and hurtled towards Giratina, only to be almost casually deflected. A rune of unknown origin had been burned across the ground before fading, leaving both combatants momentarily confused as to its origin. Eyes still glowing, Mothra ignored requests to stand back and approached, she looked at the Pokemon got back up and glared at her mechanical opponent.

“Giratina?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you can handle it by yourself?”

Giratina brushed off the offer for aid from the little bug pony, “Mothra, I am almost as old as my home planet. I have fought countless battles, this is nothing but a pastime for me.”

All of a sudden, the mech started to make a horrible screeching noise of whirling mechanics, then its onboard computer spoke.

“Laser core ready.”

“Wha-”

Giratina didn’t have time to react when the mech's chest exposed itself to reveal a large cannon. Said cannon immediately shot a continuous stream of energy that struck the legendary square in the chest, sending the Pokemon crashing into a few trees until it was done after a few seconds.

Mothra was immediately at Giratina’s side as she slowly got back up.The fact the Pokemon didn’t seem especially hurt gave the former kaiju cause to be persnickety rather than fretting in worry.

“Sooooo, didn't block that one for you.”

Giratina proud eyes narrowed as she grumbled, “Fine, you can help.”

Lea smiled, as they both face the machine, Mothra Lea cracking her neck.

“You should be able to hear me Zero, thus I’ll be abrupt. You like a good experiment as much as I do so let’s have a little adventure,” she paced forward as runes of light trickled across the ground under her hoofsteps.

“You prepared well for Giratina, but how well can you prepare for something like me?”

The depowered Kaiju charged her horn as her eyes lit up.

==================

Twilight and Platinum’s fight with the Magnemite/Magneton swarm was going as well as expected.

“So these things are called Magnemite and Magneton?”, Twilight asked.

“Yes, they are steel and Electric-types, meaning that fire and ground types like Typhlosion and Mamoswine have effective moves against them, fooooor example!”, Platinum smirked and pointed at the horde, “Mamoswine, use Mud Bomb! And Typhlosion, use Fire Blast!”

Both Typhlosion and Mamoswine opened their mouths used their respective moves, the Volcano Pokemon built up a charge of fire before shooting it at the swarm, it took the form of the Japanese character 大 before striking its target, defeating four pokemon instantly. Mamoswine gathered the moisture and dirt in the air until it got a good sized ball of mud and earth to launch it at a cluster of Magneton like a cannonball, taking several more of them out.

Twilight’s researcher mind glimmered and she grinned, amazed and intrigued by the power these Pokemon held. Platinum had told her that her Pokemon were stronger than most, but she did not expect this. She did, however, expect the return fire and wisely threw up a magical barrier as one of the flanking Magneton shot out from behind a tree with its sights trained on Platinum. A ball of lightning collected from the arcs streaming off its magnet and surged forward, only to be smacked aside by a wave of alicorn magic like a baseball clubbed by a bat. The deflected Electro Ball burned a hole through several trees before Platinum’s wide eyes.

She beat on her chest with the side of her fist with a stressed laugh, “Ooooh good Arceus! That’ll get your blood pumping! Thanks, Princess, I didn’t expect them to go for lil’ old me.”

Twilight Sparkle recalled the airship seen earlier, “He probably has a way to communicate with his Pokemon if they’re doing things like survey and digging, and he likely told them to go after you-”

Twilight paused and smacked away another onslaught of electricity, rerouting it to hurl it off into the sky with a magic shroud.

“-yeeep, that just about confirms it. Pokemon can’t fight as well without a trainer, looks like you just became a target.”

Twilight lurched out and got under Platinum’s legs from behind, scooping her up and onto her back. Equines were thankfully very powerful animals for their size and Platinum wasn’t a very large young woman, allowing Twilight to even take to the air with Platinum on her back.

-Note to self, bless Rainbow and Lea for encouraging flight muscle training!-

Platinum flailed for a moment before gaining her bearings. Between the pony’s quick thinking and ability to carry her and make her harder to hit, Platinum honestly colored herself impressed; having expected to do all the work and let the pretty pony princess coast through it. But if anything kicking some bad-guy butt with a friend always made the experience that much more memorable. Plus she was riding on a powerhouse pony princess commanding her pokemon to fight a small army. This was the best day ever! She grinned and punched a fist into her palm.

“Alrighty then! Leave the main artillery fire to me and my Pokemon buddies here, you keep us from getting ganked by a sneak attack. Sword!-”, she pointed to herself and Pokemon and then to a beaming Princess Twilight, “-Shield!”

Twilight saluted with a smirk, “Got it!”

And with that, the battle was joined. Whirling mechanical beings swirling about in a storm of electricity and metal with fire and earth launching back and magic keeping guard. It was, however, harder than either Princess or Champion initially thought. Platinum typically would just use a widespread move like Earthquake from her Mamoswine, hit a huge area for heavy damage to the Magneton; possibly even 1-hit KOs to the lower level ones. But doing so now would be reckless as she would risk hurting herself and her allies or disrupting the Goliath buried below. Similarly, she couldn’t use Typhlosion’s strongest fire attack, Eruption, to call forth magma from the ground for risk of setting the forest on fire and dealing with the smog and flames in friendly fire. Mamoswine, ponies, and humans were quite flammable.

She eyed the ungodly number of Magneton and shrugged, knowing even if they were pulling punches that it had to be done for safety, “Well, just have to keep flinging at them. Quantity of attack over quality. Open fire boys and girls!”

The Typhlosion reared up and howled, before the badger-like creature charged on all fours with the fiery image of fangs engulfing its head. It pounced on a horde of Magneton, using the move Fire Fang to chomp into one Magneton as it tackled it to the ground. More Magneton piled in to save their comrade but were shot in the back while they were distracted by barrages of energized earth that disrupted their circuits. Any return fire was swept up by Twilight’s magic, leading to Typhlosion drawing the Magneton’s attention while they were firing at Platinum and Twilight before dodging about to line up the shots for Mamoswine; rinse and repeat.

However as the battle went on, the swarm began to change tactics. The Magneton that remained began spinning, and in doing so began to summon dark thundering clouds, once they covered the general area, rain began to pour. Once Rain Dance was in full effect, large puddles and heavy rainfall surrounded the heroes. Platinum only needed a microsecond to figure out what was going on.

“Twilight, put us in a bubble shield around us now!”

The alicorn was surprised at the Champions sudden request, but fortunately for them, she instinctively threw one up for them just in time. The Magnet Pokemon all simultaneously used Thunderbolt and Thunder on the now wet ground. The electricity harmlessly passed over Mamoswine, but Typhlosion was unlucky as a large amount of voltage surged throughout its body, deal a large amount of damage to even the high level Pokemon. The badger-like Pokemon shrieked and whined, frantically jumping about to try and get clear but the whole of the puddle-laden ground was electrified.

Platinum winced, “Clever jerk!”

Twilight tilted her head as they flew about, “Pokemon move set up I should know about?”

“They knew Typhlosion was the biggest threat because his speed and fire attacks meant he could dance circles around them while chewing through their Steel typing so they used Rain Dance to cover the area with water. Now their electric attacks have a larger range to almost guarantee hits, not to mention Typhlosion’s fire attacks are now halved!”

“So, I guess we’re in trouble?”

“No, not yet.” Platinum reached into her satchel and took out a circular device, said device extended its middle section and revealed a handle that Platinum now used to hold the device like a gauntlet. Taking out a green disk she inserted it into the device.

Platinum tapped on Twilight’s neck, “Twilight, we need to get closer to Typhlosion!”

“On it!”, the alicorn chirped before banking to swoop closer.

Platinum touched the earpiece in her right ear and called out to her larger pokemon, “Okay, first let's mitigate this lighting, Mamoswine use Mud Sport!”

The Twin Tusk Pokemon, unaffected by the electrified realm about it thanks to its Ground typing making it a living insulator, generated a glowing sphere of energy in its mouth. It them slammed the sphere into the ground, the shockwave began to the elevate the ground was waves traveled along the earth. Mixing with the water to create mud, the electricity that was arcing throughout the area began to subside.

"Alright now let's heal you up Typhlosion!”

Platinum aimed the device on her wrist, the Wonder Launcher, at her Pokemon and fired a shot. The pellet of light flew out and hit Typhlosion square in the center. Once it struck it, the healing properties of the compressed Full Restore did its work, healing any potential paralysis and restoring its health. In moments the Fire-type Pokemon was fit as a fiddle and more ticked off than anything else, a bad choice for something so similar to a honey badger and yet was the size of a large lion. An idea crossed Platinum’s mind.

“Twilight, can you make a field around just Typhlosion and the Magneton?”

The alicorn did some mental calculations and nodded, “Friend of mine showed me just the trick! Just say when!”

“And now let's use this.” The trainer then inserted a red and black disk with the number 6 on it into the launcher and shot it at Typhlosion, power surged through the Volcano Pokemon as its attack level increased to a temporary maximum with the infusion of the X Attack item. It would only last a minute, but that was all that was needed.

“Do it now and duck!”, Platinum yelled as she hung on for dear life. Twilight’s eyes snapped wide as her horn ignited, white light engulfing her eyes. She drew upon teachings from both the most powerful Equestrian of all time and the most powerful magic user of Terra, using the magic of the emotional spectrum and mana at once. A huge symbol stretched across the ground under Typhlosion and the Magneton, much in the same manner Mothra’s family crest would she used her sealing magic; only this time it was in the form of a magenta star matching Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. A massive field of energy formed a bubble around the entire battlefield and encased it as Platinum cried out through it.

“Alright let's ends this! Typhlosion use Eruption, MAX POWER!”

The fire type Pokemon gathered all its strength at the command of its trainer, the flames on its back glowing as it absorbed all the heat in the air, to the point where the temperature started to drop even in the cold rain.

Then with a face of determination Typhlosion unleashed an explosion of fire into the air, the heat of the assault evaporated the water and the rain, even dispersing the clouds inside the bubble of magic. After a moment of silence, the fire came back down in a torrent of flames, showing the Magnet Pokemon in what might as well be a magma storm as everyone else fell back for cover. Only smoke was visible as the magical seal and bubble dissipated, revealing a winded but still standing Typhlosion amidst a field of smoking and knocked out Magneton. Typhlosion cackled a victory roar with a smile on his face even as she nearly collapsed from exhaustion. To the creature, it was a damn good fight!

Elsewhere, an artificial Ice Beam in the form of a sub-zero ray flew out of the Mecha’s chest just as Mothra Lea put a barrier around herself, freezing her within a bubble of ice. The machine lunged and smashed a fist down on the block, expecting to have shattered the changeling only to instead be briefly blinded by a flare of light. Dozens of tiny wisps of light resembling butterfly-winged breezies flew out and swarmed about the Mecha like a hive of angry bees. While their tiny bursts of prism beams and energy rays from their antennae barely scratched the cold alloys, the energized breezies that charged through it by going directly into any exposed circuits hailed a shower of sparks. As the machine electrified its hull and forced the breeziefied Fairy Mothra swarm back just in time for a far larger shape to slam into it. Giratina bulldozed into the robot like a mad bull after phasing up through the ground, her Dragon typing resisting the electric shocks to tank through it with only minor damage.

The Iron Head attack kicked in and turbo-charged Giratina’s tackle, bathing her in a white aura as she used the Mecha as a battering ram to collide through several trees before smashing them into a boulder. The Mecha sparked and surged, pieces of its hull being smashed off even as the self-repair functions kicked in. Giratina glimpsed a robotic eye glaring back at her from within the torso. A mechanical whirl, akin to the screeching sound made by the Magneton but much deeper pitched, shrieked and the machine’s powerful arms grabbed her around the torso and throat. Booster jets on one side of it kicked off and spun them both around as it cocked its arms back, one chilled with cold plasma across a fist and the others in a dark haze that formed a shadowy blade across the fingers; a simulated and supercharged Ice Punch and Night Slash. Giratina, a Dragon, and Ghost-type, was naturally vulnerable to Ice and Dark-type moves. And the Mecha could up the ante in threat by being able to use multiple attacks of multiple types at once, a feat difficult for even some Legendary Pokemon.

But thankfully Pokemon move rules only tended to apply to Pokemon. A stylized cross lit up around Giratina and in the instant the Mecha would have impacted her and either forced her to guard or try to phase through the ground to dodge, a golden aura ignited across her body and caused the attacks to bounce off in a brilliant clash of ice, solid shadows, and mana. Mothra Lea, reformed from her fairy swarm, winced from the effort as she hovered above with a golden glimmer raining down on Giratina from her flapping wings.

“You have my protection! If you’re going to attack, do it now! C-can’t hold it forever!”, the Protector of Mortals shouted.

Giratina wasn’t going to let such an opening go to waste. The Mecha could just heal back damage she inflicted on its body and limbs, but she had an inclination there was a part in the middle that couldn’t. Said part being who was controlling it. She swung back her smokey arms with balls of blue fire igniting on the tips of each. With the mecha directly in front of her, the barrage of Will-O-Wisp fireballs all struck home. But rather than an outright attack like Typhlosion’s burning assault, this onslaught was more subversive. The ghost fire didn’t burn, at least not outright, but it stuck to the mecha like napalm and chewed away at its foundation despite its failed attempts to put the fires out. Giratina smirked and crashed the metallic sheen coating her Iron Head into its elbow joint. The machinery caved and fractured, but couldn’t mend as the ghost fires messed up the machine’s ability to regenerate. The new metal came out warped and didn’t fit into each other properly, effectively turning the limb into a stiff cast.

The machine regarded the limb before turning its cyclopean eye onto Giratina and activating its thrusters, launching itself at Giratina with an Ice Punch ready on its remaining arm and multiple cryo-freezing rays, simulated Ice Beams, firing out of the ports on its torso. Giratina was about to dodge and brace when one of the Ice Beams was about to hit her, but the golden glow about her intensified and the cross rune lit up on her chest.

“GO! GET IN THERE!”, Mothra Lea called out as she strained with her hooves together and antennae blazing, “I’VE GOT YOU!”

Giratina took aim at the mecha’s midsection, where she sensed the pilot was, and felt a grin form behind her facial shield when a glowing mass of ice shot out from the side and smashed into the mecha down low as a mass of spiraling flame collided with it up high. The attacks didn’t do much, as even high-level Mamoswine and Typhlosion were no Legendaries; but having a bear-sized badger use Flare Blitz and a mammoth-sized hog use Icicle Crash into you at the same time was more than enough force to know the machine off balance and stumble it even as it threw them off.

Platinum, riding on Princess Sparkle, flew up beside her comrade.

She raised up her launcher and pointed to it with a smirk, “Giratina, I think it’s time was use that move.”

The legendary looked at her trainer a smiled a smile that would make evil sweat. Somewhere behind his console, Zero flinched.

“Hehe, about time.”

Twilight was as urgent as she was curious, seeing Mamoswine and Typhlosion get hurled away and Lea struggling to shield everyone, “What move?! If you got a trump card I think we need it pronto!”

Platinum then pulled out a peculiar looking black wrist ring, what made it stand out were the many colored rhombus shaped crystals around it. Mothra could sense a faint glow coming from them.

Platinum fit the ring onto her left hand, and put a dark black crystal on the center slot, both a rush of excitement and caution running through her mind. The tool that she had in her hand was the result of the power that came from another world, an interdimensional realm known as Ultra Space, and a legendary Pokemon who its denizens refer to as the “The Blinding One”. These crystals allowed trainers to upgrade their moves into power levels previous unfathomable, and now she was about to use that power to upgrade the moves on one of the strongest Pokemon in the world.

“Alright let's do this!! Z-move, Black Hole Eclipse!”, Platinum shouted as she held her launcher hand high as it glowed.

A burning light engulfed Giratina and she and trainer moved together. Giratina lurching forward as Platinum punched her hands out and swung them out to her sides like she was expanding a window before her. In unison, Giratina let out a rumbling roar and sparkled in radiance. Dark purple and gold energy collected in Giratina’s jaws and she shot it skyward. To the amazement and wonder of all, the mortar shell of energy expanded to take the form of a dark void with an encircling aura that rocketed towards the mecha like a black hole shot spiraling out of a cannon. Ripping away and devouring in everything around it from chunks of earth and bedrock to wisps of smoke and scattered flames, the black hole flew over the mecha and expanded. The singularity stripped away the twisted and sparking plated metal and electronics as it devoured the exterior of the machine; ripping it away to expose a large, solid shape that had been housed in the torso. Having absorbed enough mass, the black hole shrunk down in a reddish brilliance before violently exploding outwards. The sole remaining piece that had been within the mecha, the Pokemon housed inside the core, came rocketing out of the singularity and was thrown through several trees before burying itself into a trench carved into the ground.

The mechanical Pokemon, who had been piloting the machine like a massive suit, had a similar color, magnets, eyes, and screw antennae as the Magneton and Magnemite; but was much larger and wider in shape with a large central body and two smaller ones fused to the sides. One could favorably compare it to a pop culture depiction of a UFO.

The Pokemon, Magnezone, the final evolution of the Magnemite line, twitched and let out a weak mechanical whirl before collapsing unconscious. The light faded from Giratina just as she, Platinum, Platinum’s pokemon, Twilight Sparkle, and Mothra Lea touched down to the same patch of ground and shrugged tiredly.

“Phew! What a rush!”, Twilight Sparkle panted.

“Still got the Magnemite to stop,” Platinum muttered as Lea waved her off.

“If we need to and can get back, Twilight and I have a trick to handle them” Lea noted.

“Let’s hope s- LOOK OUT!”, Platinum shouted and got everypony and every Pokemon’s attention. There was a loud hissing in the air and all heroes jumped back and scattered just as a massive discharge blew up a chunk of the ground they’d be catching their breath on. The scream of jets called out from above as they looked up to see Zero’s aircraft swooping back around for another bombing run.

Twilight saw the ship’s size and no doubt the massive armament poised at them and felt a bead of sweat drip down her face.

“Platinum! Giratina!”, she called out while looking about to spot the both of them, Giratina having jumped back into a tree and Platinum rolled to the bottom of the small hill and on her stomach trying to claw her way back up.

“That move, can you do it again?!”

Platinum winced, ducking and covering her face as another bombing run shook the earth. For safety, she recalled Typhlosion and Mamoswine into their Pokeballs with the red light emitting from both. Coughing in the dust, she shook her head, “Not for a while! Dang Z-move needs time to recharge!”

Mothra Lea flew up beside Twilight, “Twily, I know we’re not big on excessive force but I think it’s time to bring out that trick you mentioned!”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes dilated but another look at the assault ship about to swoop back around for another run steeled her nerves.

“Alrighty then! Lele you get up, everypony else get down!”

Inside the warship, Zero sneered as moved his hands through the holographic display to arm, aim, and fire more barrages.

“Infi what is throwing off the aim?!”, he roared after another near miss.

Infi’s holographic image appeared beside him, “Overabundance of magical radiation in the atmosphere are disrupting the instruments.”

“Switch it to analog then!”, Zero roared in frustration as the holographic display went away for targeting and a pair of control sticks pulled out.

However just before he could adjust his aim and see how well Platinum handled several hundred kilograms of plasma thrown at her, a blinding of golden light flare engulfed the control room. Zero shielded his eyes as machinery around him sparked and groaned. The airship suddenly rocked violently and threw its pilot off his feet. Zero skid across the floor and braced against his captain’s chair just as an insectoid claw dug through the roof.

“Infi what’s happening?!”

Infi’s voice called out through the speakers, her hologram had been knocked offline, “Loss of movement, something has grabbed the ship. Deck 1 is compromised.”

“Compromised?! How is it?!-”, he was cut off when he saw that deck 1, the uppermost hull, dropped down past the front window as a pair of massive butterfly-like wings flapped outside the window.

On the outside, Platinum and Giratina were left with mouths agape at the gargantuan moth that had appeared from where the changeling had been blasted by Twilight Sparkle’s magic; seeing the titanic insect grasp Zero’s aircraft in its claws and cancel out its jet propulsion’s momentum without any effort. Mothra Lea, back in her full form, chirped a booming call as she tore the rest of the first hull off with the intent of finding where the troublesome human inside was hiding.

On the inside, Zero was seeing red as he stumbled his way towards the cargo hold.

“Infi, convert all excess power not in the thrusters to the cargo grid!”, he shouted before kicking the door open.

Growling to himself as the cargo’s lighting brightened to flaring degrees, he tore his way through the room to the fossil containment unit. He was absolutely livid. Livid at Platinum and Giratina for following them, livid at the natives for being interlopers, livid at them for hurting his Magnezone. And if all other options to hold these meddlers back so he could get to Kardas had been expended, he could care less about collateral damage. Mashing the keys to reroute the power in the chamber to the unit containing the fossil, he threw any shred of caution to the wind. This item, a single fragment of a spine or claw, was no ordinary fossil. In fact until he found out about the Goliaths he pondered if this trinket taken from a disgraced Team Magma scientist might be what he’d been looking for to fulfill his ambition of power beyond the Legendaries. He both knew and didn’t know exactly what it was. It’s matter, it’s sheer scale, its destructive potential were all known to him; but it’s origin was not. For while the full entity would resemble the dinosaurian Legendary of Earth, Groudon, it was pure devastation in a living form. No conscious, no reasoning, just destruction.

The fossil cracked, streams of hellish light flickering out from the seams as it started to grow inside its containment unit after finally being exposed to energy. Zero manically smirked.

-And with all the free flowing magic about in this world, it’ll grow even faster than normal…-

If these pests saw fit to meddle with him, then he’d return the favor and let them mourn each other. He picked up the unit and charged to the opened cargo doors. He glared at what was visible of the enormous moth kaiju.

“Time to give you something your own size to deal with! I will have the greatness of a deity and cast my judgment,” he roared through the ship’s loudspeakers as he hurled the now cracking canister free.

“And this world can go to hell and burn!”

The canister tumbled through the air and shattered just before it hit the ground. An eerie blue and burning red light ignited out of the forest it landed on, as the trees seemed to melt into a growing biomass. Drawing in the lifeforce of the trees, any animals caught in the way, and the ambient magic; a vaguely saurian outline formed across the ground. Colored a hazy red and black with searing neon blues outlining and etching runes across it, the mass started to groan as it got up.

Mothra Lea let go of the aircraft as she regarded the emerging monstrosity with horror that Platinum, Twilight, and even Giratina expressed likewise. All the trees around the growing mass withered and died in a way that reminded the Guardian of Mortals all too much of DesGhidorah’s biosphere draining powers, all the confirmation she needed to know what she was beholding wasn’t a lifeform in the traditional sense. More like a virus embodied. Giratina felt a cold settle upon her as it took shape. Bipedal in stance with a wide tail tipped with a row of bladed that arched behind it. It was covered in a red plated armor on its flanks and back that was studded along the side with silvery spines interwoven between glowing blue runes. The eye, or whatever approximate it had, was a solid gold gleam, like a living forge of molten metal or liquid flame. There was no obvious mouth and the front from where the lower jaw would be to the throat, belly, under limbs, and bottom of the tail were covered in a swirling mass of dark energy. When it opened it’s “mouth” it was like parting liquid that revealed a burning interior, like a living volcano caldera. It resembled her comrade and fellow Legendary Pokemon, Groudon, but only in shape and was the opposite in manner. Groudon was usually a calmer entity and responsible for spreading landmass, though sometimes she required balancing from her counterparts of sea and sky, Kyogre and Rayquaza, to keep stable. Plus while she was fairly large, roughly the size of a hill, even in her primal state she’d barely come up to this demon’s ankle.

And never in a million years could she imagine Groudon letting out the chilling, unnatural, groaning wail that came out of The Virus’s maw. Zero had just released a potential walking extinction event upon Equestria, and they all were on the front lines of it.