//------------------------------// // OSP: Boss Battle 1- Solo Action // Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// The Director seemed to walk across the sands around Halberd Base but the creature moved faster than if it was just putting one hoof in front of the other. It walked in a hunched-over, bipedal stance but left no footprints or hoof tracks in its wake. The only evidence of its passage was the land it touched getting colder and being drained of some of its magical essence. It was as if a dark and pervasive force of corruption followed wherever the Director went, warping everything around it. The hooded creature walked around the base from the gate to the north to where Dan had made his entrance to the south. Dan's friends noticed him right away, not that he was avoiding them. Rogue Squadron was still over head, circling the fortress in pairs like vultures while Derpy was busy trying to reconstruct the turrets into mailboxes, thinking that that's what they were even though they had been trying to shoot her only minutes before. The Director was about to the hole Dan had made when they tried to stop her. Or rather, they tried to help her. "Hi!" Derpy said, flying down to ground level. "Can I help you today?" She stuck her mail-mallet right in the ground and partly lend against it. "I believe you can," the Director said, face concealed by the hood. "I'm looking for Dan. Do you know where he is?" Derpy nodded. "Yup. But he's a bit busy right now. Would you like to leave a message?" A small smile appeared under the Director's hood. "I'm here to deliver a message, actually. And I expect you're here to do the same. I think it's better if I... give it to him in person." "Oh. Um," Derpy looked over her shoulder. "Well, we're still cleaning up here. Unfortunately, this area's off-lemons to civilians until Dan's done. But he should be done soon so-" "That is most unfortunate," the Director interrupted. "Yeah, so-" "For you." "Umm... what do you-" Derpy's mailbox flung open. A series of letters, a stream of envelopes flew out. Derpy backed away in shock. Before she had the chance to wonder where even those letters had come from, they flew at her, wrapping around her legs. The mail barrage tied her up and stuck her to the mailbox's post, restraining her to it. Finally, a single postage stamp flew out and stamped itself over her muzzle, silencing her. "MMNN! MMMMPH!" "Don't you just hate getting chain mail?" the Director asked, walking past Derpy and leaving her bound to her own mailbox. Struggling on the ground, Derpy spat off the stamp covering her mouth. "They're called chain letters! Chainmail's a type of armor!" "Duly noted." "Discord would've known the difference!!" Derpy yelled as the Director entered the hole in the wall. "I'm sure I'll remember next time." As the Director passed through the first barrier, Rogue Squadron strafed her path with laser fire. Bright bolts or orange energy lanced the ground around her exploding and sending sand, fire and smoke into the air. These were warning shots; if she came any closer, so would their lasers. "Ah, the errand boys," she remarked, looking up at them. "I guess the Enclave wasn't much of a challenge, was it?" A single hand emerged from the Director's sleeve and rose, palm-up, towards the sky. Edge had a close eye on the shadowy, hooded figure in his HUD's display. Whatever it was, it seemed to be a magic-user of some kind by the way it took down Derpy. General tactics with magic-users were simple: keep your distance, hit from high and hit fast. Alicorns, unicorns and creatures that could use magic tended to have limited range, mostly anyway. He knew all too well that some magic attacks had enormous scopes and some sorcerers could expand their powers to massive ranges. Still, it was safer to stay up high just in case, that way the Rogues would keep the advantage and hopefully get to Derpy faster. "Five and Six in position, Commander! Ready to strafe on your mark!" "Hold off on that, keep circling," Edge ordered. "Our guest seems to have stopped." He looked closer at the target, still moving as he watched her raise a hand to the sky. "Something's going on, get ready for-" "Leader, we have incoming!" "What?!" he said, looking around. First instinct as a pegasus was to check behind and above to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. He checked his HUD's radar and quickly saw a group of blips entering scan range. "Ten... no, twelve marks at one o'clock, closing fast!" "Seven through Twelve, go left! Two through Six on me!" Edge banked hard around, splitting his force into two groups to face the invaders. And that was when they made their own presence known. "Edge Antares..." a smug-sounding voice said over the radio. "Not exactly a clever disguise, Wedge. What would Iella think if she knew you were here?" Edge felt his jaw clench in pure rage. Whoever this joker was, he was pressing all the right buttons. Or all the wrong ones. "Who is this? You don't sound like Fel." He saw the enemy squadron. Twelve black dots coming into distance, growing quickly, coming right at them. "This helmet doesn't have a voice modulator. You probably wouldn't know the difference if I had one, though," the voice said, laughing. "Of course, you didn't last time." The dots were almost upon them now. He could see them all clearly- twelve pegasi in jet-black armor. At their sides were strange, trapezoidal attachments that looked like solar panels. The eyes of their helmets resembled targeting sights instead of the visors the Rogues' helmets had. Finally, they each had two red stripes running down their barrels with the number 181 emblazoned in white directly in the center, their squadron number. Director-summoned, Zsinj Special Forces 181st PIPgear Interceptor Squadron Are they real or fake this time? Suddenly, Edge recognized exactly who had been taunting him. The name came to the front of his mind, hitting him like a brick to the face. "Tetran Cowall." "You remembered!" The two squadrons opened fire. Red-orange and green lasers exchanged, blasting past and into pegasus armor. The Rogues engaged these new/old enemies, mixing into their formation like a swarm of angry hornets. "These guys are good, Edge!" "I got one on me! I got one on me, right now!" "I copy, Case, brake right and I'll hit him." "I copy!" Edge flew through the entire scrambled formation. The Rogues each engaged their own target and were engaged in turn. It was a twelve-on-twelve dogfight, no chance to help out your wingpony. And Edge knew exactly who he could engage. At the opposite end of the swarm, the apparently ponified version of Tetran Cowall hovered in midair. His hooves were folded as if he'd been expecting him. Edge didn't give him a moment's notice; he opened up with all four lasers at the ends of his wings, sending lances of red right at him. His opponent bowed and dropped, using gravity to assist a dive. The lasers sizzled right through the space he'd been in. Edge dove after him. "You still don't realize how predictable you are, do you, Antilles?" "I'm not Wedge Antilles. And you're not Tetran Cowall. This isn't a game!" Edge yelled. "Sure, sure. I thought the name "Cobalt" sounded pretty good for a pony. Or you can go back to calling me Fel again, hahaha!" Edge gritted his teeth. He chased after the black pegasus, barreling towards the ground. He fired off a full blast right where he expected him to be but the enemy accelerated to avoid the shot. Tetran kept turning, pulling further and further inward, forcing Wedge to do the same. But he kept on him, not losing his tail as he pursued Tetran's spiral dive. "This may not be a game to you, but it's sure fun to me!" Pony-Tetran taunted, flipping over on his back and waving at him. "Besides, you never realize when you're getting played!" Suddenly, he stopped and pulled upward, coming to almost a complete midair halt. Wedge shot past him, unable to brake at such a speed. "This one's for leaving me stranded on Selaggis! Adios, Antilles!" A white sphere shot from under Tetran's wing and raced for Wedge. A concussion missile, or some kind of Equestrian-equivalent. The pegasus knew he couldn't outrun it, couldn't dodge it and couldn't shake it off. It was just like Selaggis VI all over again. Fortunately, it wasn't exactly like Selaggis VI. Wedge boosted forward instead of braking. He flew hard, he flew fast, as fast as he could, even closing his wings. As the missile closed on him, he suddenly pulled up, braked and cut his engines. Using the forward momentum, he turned the maneuver into a flip and fired his lasers at the oncoming missile, blasting it to pieces before the warhead could arm. Tetran Cowall, or "Cobalt", or whoever it was, held a look of utter disbelief as Wedge destroyed the concussion missile. This look of shock amplified when an additional laser blast hit him and tore off all four of his trapezoid-solar wings, burning his armor. "Well... I still have my acting." "Face disagrees with you on that one." "Wait, what?" "You still have something on me, though," Wedge said, teeth gritted. "I can't even act like I care." He fired another blast right at the opposing pony at point-blank range, piercing his armor with four holes. "Aaaaaaaaaaarrrg!" His armor smoked all the way to the ground. Wedge didn't follow it; he'd already done that once before. The victorious squadron leader turned his attention back to his own squadron as he boosted back up to help them. Four of the "181st" had already fallen and another six had apparently dropped when their leader had. Wedge shook his head; it was just like Selaggis. Down on the ground, the Director had happily seen it all. She had even clapped a few times, as much as her weakened hands had been able to. The creature wore a bright smile that would've been seen as the cheeriest thing if it wasn't on the muzzle of a demon. She left as the Rogues dealt with the last of her summoned distraction, thankful that she took Vice's ad-vice for once. Phoenix and Gust were busy examining one of the hangars that was built into the compound's sides, or maybe they were just there to get some shade. Dan's chariot was parked nearby along with a trailer that seemed to be making noise. The Director had to resist the urge to summon Miles Edgeworth and have him battle Phoenix Wright right now... she would have to make up for that later. The Blast Sisters were busy stockpiling weapons taking off of the Flutterbirds. Missiles, bombs, grenades, rockets and mines were all laid out in piles organized by type and yield. Being former Enclave members, the Blasties were happily planning on turning their explosives against them just as soon as Dan gave the word and even doing a little experimenting later. None of them seemed to be aware of Derpy's predicament or the battle still raging overhead. But, the Director's own presence tended to be disruptive to communications, so they probably weren't able to contact any of the Rogues or Derpy just outside the base. She entered the Enclave fortress through the hole the MY-Wing had made, deciding she would have to get one of those for herself, as well.