Fighting Outside the Canon

Ash, Dawn, and Raina dash outside, where they find Brock staring down the creature. It unleashes a whinny-like roar, but Brock is unfazed by the noise. “A serpent horse…” Raina gasps. “No one has ever battled one and lived to tell about it!”

“Well, I’m going to try and be the first!” Brock snaps back before calling “Icy wind, take flight through the stars! Snow Firefly!” With that, he begins a rendition of a song Dawn recognizes as Zelda’s Lullaby, creating small fairy-like creatures in the stream of light blue energy.

“Where’s Happini?” Ash asks in a panic.

“I have her for the time being…” Dawn replies, showing Happini, who is crying profusely, to Ash.

“It’s gonna be okay…” Ash tries to assure Happini but the rumbling of the serpent horse trying to swat away the icy fairies and the harpist conjuring them with rocks suggests otherwise.

“The best way to attack a serpent horse at to attack from a long range, be this through a weapon or magic.” Raina suggests as the serpent horse smacks a hoof on the ground, prompting Brock to roll out of the way of the resulting avalanche of rocks and find a safe place to perform more Song Magic.

“Then I’m going to give Brock some help!” Ash runs over to a small knoll and waits for Brock to join him there. Once his friend is safe, he takes his bow and readies an arrow. “Wings of flame, bring dawn to a dark sky! Flame Tail!” With that, the arrow flies towards the serpent horse, into flames while in the air. The monster roars in pain, but the flames fizzle out a few seconds later.

Ash is shocked. “Did it not work?”

“No, you wounded it a little…” Brock starts as the serpent horse writhes in pain from the arrow embedded in its coils. Suddenly, the serpent horse picks up the arrow in its mouth and bites it in half!

“You were saying?” Dawn sighs over Happini’s squalling.

“You have a sword too, you know!” Ash is just as frustrated.

“Okay, let’s see how this will do…” Brock draws his blade and aims it at the serpent horse as it lumbers closer and closer to the hill. “Spirits of the colorborn, sing in tune with my call…Harmony Blade!” At this, a rainbow beam flies from the sword, making the serpent horse rear back in pain.

Dawn sets Happini on the ground. “I’m going to give your daddy some help fighting that monster, okay?” Happini smiles through her tears–maybe there’s hope for her caretakers after all!

Brock motions for Ash and Dawn to join him on the knoll. “Okay…I’m going to stun this guy again with Harmony Blade, then you two attack while it’s stunned–maybe if three attacks hit at the same time, it’ll weaken it a little.”

“Got it!” Dawn replies.

“Although…where are we supposed to hit it if we don’t know where its weak spot is?” Ash shudders as the serpent horse demolishes an abandoned house.

“Would you happen to know, Raina?” Dawn asks.

“Every creature has its own weak point.” Raina explains. “As for what the serpent horse’s is, that is one of the few I do not know.”

Ash grumbles as he readies an arrow. “Let’s try the same place I hit before!”

“Spirits of the colorborn, sing in tune with my call…Harmony Blade!” At this, a rainbow beam flies from Brock’s sword, making the serpent horse rear back in pain again as the beam impacts the creature’s stomach in an explosion of color.

“Wings of flame, bring dawn to a dark sky! Flame Tail!” The serpent horse roars again as Ash’s arrow lands a little to the left of his previous shot.

“Earth, fire, wind and water, create a rainbow with your power…Prism Halo!” Dawn commands as she sends a shining disc flying into the serpent horse’s head. The colorful ring has no effect, however.

After several hours attacking the serpent horse, the group begins to tire. “It’s no use…” Ash sighs as his Flame Tail fizzles out without the serpent horse batting an eye.

“We’ve tried everything we know that defeats a serpent horse in the canon….” Brock agrees.

“Maybe not…” Dawn interjects, a wry smile crossing her face.

“You mean…you’re actually going to try Song Magic?” Ash gasps.

“You can’t! Not at your skill level!” Raina protests. “You’ll tire yourself to the point of exhaustion!”

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take if it means saving my friends!” Dawn assures Raina as she stares down the serpent horse…