Episode 5: The Nocturnus Clan
On Angel Island, Knuckles was laying down on top of the Master Emerald, a leaf in his mouth. As he was laying there, the Master Emerald started glowing brighter.
Knuckles was then awoken in the past, seeing something that happened. He looked up and saw he was in a field of some kind.
"What?" Knuckles asked. "What is this?"
"Something you must be warned about," came a voice. Knuckles turned his head towards the voice and standing there was a face Knuckles hadn't seen for a while. Tikal the Echidna.
"You?!" Knuckles asked.
"Yes, me," Tikal said. "I've come to warn you."
"About what?" Knuckles asked. Tikal did nothing but point off somewhere. Knuckles looked towards where Tikal was pointing. There, he saw Tikal's father, Pachacamac, and an army of his echidna warriors facing off against another echidna, and his army of technologically advanced echidnas.
"You have a choice, brother," the white echidna said. "Surrender the power or face the wrath of my army and gizoids!"
"That's enough out of you, Ix!" Pachacamac said, his spear in hand. "You do not have the will power that my men have!"
"You are not worthy of being the leader of the clan!" Ix said. "I was born first! I am the true leader! You were only chosen to be the leader because you were father's favorite child! Well, no more!" Ix then raised his staff and shouted, "Attack!" Then Ix's army started charging towards Pachacamac's army. But then a rift between time and space opened up, causing everyone there to freeze. "What?!"
"What's happening?" Knuckles asked.
"Their fate," Tikal said as Ix and his clan were being dragged into the rift. "The Master Emerald had summoned a rift above Ix and his clan and banished them into another dimension. But with final word, Ix proclaimed..."
"I shall return to take back what is rightfully mine!" Ix called out. "I shall have the great power all for myself! The legendary gem of power will be mine!" Then an explosion of light burst as the rift closed.
Knuckles then sat up on top of the Master Emerald, gasping. He then looked around and said, "It was only a dream." He then noticed something. There was a burn mark on the ground just outside the Altar of the Master Emerald. It was in the shape of a symbol. The same symbol that was on the clothing of Ix and his clan. Knuckles then looked up at the sky with an angry expression and said, "Or maybe not."
In outer space, a space time rift opened up, and a huge spaceship came out of it. In the bridge of the ship, Ix was sitting in a throne, looking towards the front of it. If you could see his mouth, you could tell that he'd be smirking.
At Freedom Fighters Mansion, Misty was trying to grab Sparky, who was running away from her.
"Hey, get back here!" Misty said. "I got you now!" Sparky then ran into one room, which happened to be Misty's room. "Aha! Gotcha!" Misty ran into the room, closed the door and locked it tight. "Nowhere to run now, Sparky. Now, where are you?" She then started looking under her bed. "Aha! Wha...?" Sparky wasn't there. She then looked under the desk, but there was no Sparky there. "Where'd he...?" She then checked the bathroom to see if Sparky was in there. With no place to hide, she then checked the only one place left to check, the closet. "Sparky? Are you in here?"
But as Misty was checking her closet, Sparky came out from hiding behind Misty's pillows. He then tried running for the door. He jumped and grabbed the door knob and tried turning it, but the door was locked.
"Aha!" Misty said, coming out of the bathroom. "Gotcha!" She then grabbed Sparky as he was holding onto the door knob with all his might. "Whoa! You are... strong!" Just then, the doorbell rang. Misty stopped pulling and gasped in shock. "Oh, no!" She then tickled Sparky, making him laugh and lose his grip. Then she threw him into the bathroom and closed the bathroom door. She then opened the main door and outside was MC. "Oh, uh... Hi, MC."
"Misty, have you found a job yet?" MC asked.
"What?" Misty asked. She then remembered. "Oh, shoot! I forgot to fill out job applications!"
"Well, you better start filling them out, because you only have two weeks until you start having to pay for your stay here," MC said. Just then, Sparky burst out of the bathroom, heading out the door. "Sparky?"
"Oh, uh... How did he get in here?" Misty asked, nervously.
"Listen, Misty, you've gotta start working soon, otherwise, I can't let you stay here," MC said. "Even the six graduates of Twilight's school are starting working. Ocellus is working in the library, Sandbar and Silverstream are working at the indoor pool, Yona is working in a thrift store, and Smolder and Gallus are working at a McDonald's in the mall food court."
"Okay, okay," Misty said. She then sighed. "I just don't know how I'm gonna start."
Then Midpoint came up to the two saying, "I can help you with that, Misty." Midpoint walked up to Misty. "The mall has plenty of choices for you to start working."
"You seemed to recover greatly," MC said. "How?"
"When you said that I was my grandfather's true legacy, it inspired me," Midpoint said. "Right now, Cozy Glow wanted me to start a new factory business here in Station Square." He then brought out his phone. "I'm now bidding on this factory building." He showed the bidding was almost complete. Midpoint just got the second highest bid with 10 seconds left.
"You're about to lose it," MC said.
Midpoint checked the bid and raised it, saying, "Bid going up to 850 grand and... sold!"
"$850,000?" Misty asked. "Wow. You must be rich."
"He's running one of the most famous appliance companies in the world," MC said. "Of course he's rich."
"I'll take Misty to the Mall," Midpoint said. "Twilight and her friends got a call from Knuckles. Something's coming to Angel Island."
MC then started walking towards the main part of the house, saying, "Freedom Fighters, those who aren't in training, meet up here at the mansion. We're going to Angel Island."
Later, Sonic, Tails, MC, Mutt, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Maria and the Mane 6 got into the Spirit of Freedom and they took off, heading towards Angel Island. The Spirit of Freedom arrived their as quickly as it could, and landed near the altar of the Master Emerald. Knuckles was standing right near the symbol that was burnt into the ground.
"What are we looking at, Knuckles?" Sonic asked, looking at the symbol.
"Honestly, I don't know what it is," Knuckles said. "All I do know is that it was created by an old rival clan of my ancestors. I know because Tikal showed me a vision of the past, and that symbol was on the pendant of the leader of that rival clan."
Twilight inspected the symbol. She then asked, "This was a symbol from 4000 years ago?"
"I've never seen anything like this before," Tails said.
"I'm sure that there's a logical explanation for this," MC said. "Perhaps Professor Pickle knows something about this."
Rarity noticed that Amy had something in her hands. It was a set of cards. She then asked, "What are you doing?"
"Checking my old psychic cards to see if they have an answer for this," Amy said.
"You still have those?" MC asked. "I thought you tossed them out years ago."
"You'll never know what you'll get from them," Amy said. She then picked out three cards and laid them out on the ground right between her and the symbol. "Oh, that's not good."
"What do they say?" Cream asked.
"Chao?" Cheese asked.
"It says... 'Danger will strike from above'," Amy said, reading the three cards. Just then, the sky seemed to get darker from around them. The Mane 6, the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles looked up and saw a spaceship blocking out the sun.
"No, no, no!" MC said. "I said no more space missions!"
"Technically, we're not in space," Twilight said. Just then Pinkie Pie's tail twitched.
"Twitchy tail!" Pinkie said. Just then, a bunch of armored figures started dropping down from the ship, landing between the heroes and the Altar of the Master Emerald. One figure brought out a magenta laser dagger and held it out.
"You have no right to have possession of the great gem of power," the masked figure said in a female voice. "We, the warriors of the great clan leader, Imperator Ix, shall be taking it back into his custody."
"You've gotta be kidding me," MC said.
Back in Station Square, in the mall, Midpoint and Misty were walking away from one store. It was a clothing store.
"That was exhausting," Misty said. "I don't think that fashion is for me."
"Yeah, you weren't all that great of sorting out clothes or giving people the perfect outfit," Midpoint said. "Rarity would be shocked to see how unorganized you could be in her stores." Misty nodded in agreement. "What else can we try?" Midpoint then saw the bowling alley. "How about the bowling alley?"
"Um... I'm not too sure about this," Misty said.
"I'm sure they'll let you in," Midpoint said. "C'mon." He then pulled Misty into the bowling alley.
Meanwhile, back on Angel Island, the Mane 6, the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles were on guard in front of a bunch of alien wannabes.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked.
"I am Procuator Shade of the Nocturnus Clan," the figure in front said. "You fools are in the way of taking back what rightfully belongs to us!"
"Not likely," Knuckles said. "You're messing with the Freedom Fighters, the Council of Friendship from Equestria, and me, Knuckles, the last of the Echidnas." MC then noticed something coming from the hands of one of the masked warriors. Spikes coming from its knuckles.
"Last echidna, huh?" Shade asked. "You are such a fool to believe that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Knuckles asked.
"They're echidnas!" MC said. The Mane 6, the rest of the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles looked at MC in shock. "Take off the mask, girl and show these guys who you really are."
Shade chuckled and said, "Alright. Just to prove to him that he's not the last echidna." Shade then pulled the mask off, revealing her face. That made the Mane 6, the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles gasp.
"She is an echidna!" Fluttershy said.
"That... is... unexpected," Rainbow Dash said. The heroes looked towards Rainbow Dash with raised eyebrows. "What? I don't have to say awesome everytime."
"You have two choices," Shade said. "Give us the great gem peacefully, or die."
"The one day Truemen went back to Delphius to get his magical robot arm tuned up," MC said.
Meanwhile, in Delphius, the Oracle of Delphius was giving Truemen's arm a tuneup. But it wasn't attached to Truemen at the time.
"Wow," the Oracle of Delphius said. "You really have been working this thing up."
"You know it, Orc," Truemen said.
Back on Angel Island, the Freedom Fighters, the Mane 6 and Knuckles were still in battle position.
"Protect the Master Emerald at all costs!" Twilight said. She then used her magic to teleport the heroes to the top of the altar, all of them surrounding the Master Emerald.
"Get it!" Shade said, pointing to the Emerald. Then the armored Echidnas started running up the steps towards the Master Emerald. Mutt then brought out his Elemental Whip and started whipping an electric whip, making the armored Echidnas coming towards him to step back. Sonic used spin dash attack to send some armored echidnas back. Amy brought out her Piko Piko Hammer and swung it, sending three armored echidnas back.
The Mane 6 were using their magic and skills to keep the armored echidnas back. Shade then charged towards the Master Emerald, a laser dagger in her right hand. Twilight noticed it and used her magic to protect the Master Emerald by putting up a barrier. Shade shoved her blade through the barrier, but the handle didn't go through.
"What?!" Twilight and Shade asked in unison.
"Where did they get those weapons?!" Tails asked.
Shade groaned in frustration. She then pulled her laser dagger out and then she cut a hole in the barrier, it vanishing as soon as it was fully cut in a perfect circle. She then jumped through the hole and tackled Twilight. Twilight was now pinned by Shade, and Twilight's magic stopped, the barrier disappearing.
"You're strong, I'll give you that," Shade said. "But I'm afraid that this is the end of you!" She then tried to stab Twilight, but MC stopped her from making contact. Shade looked back at MC with anger.
"I don't think so," MC said. He then kicked the blade out of Shade's hand. As it was heading towards him, MC used his claws to slice it into bits. "Sorry, girl. But you're not getting another step closer to the Master Emerald."
Shade chuckled and said, "That's what you think." She held up her right arm, and a pink laser blade came from her bracelet.
"Oh, shoot," MC said. Shade then tried attacking him, but MC was too fast for her and jumped over her. Twilight used her magic and picked up Shade and threw her away from the altar. She then used her magic to create a small impulse sending the armored echidnas back.
"You are all fools for fighting against my clan!" came the voice of Ix from the ship.
"What?" Knuckles asked, looking up at the ship.
"If my army can't handle you all, then I'll send in my gizoid!" Ix said through the speakers. Just then, something yellow came down and landed on the symbol that was burned into the ground. The Freedom Fighters gasped.
"Emerl?!" Cream asked.
"Chao chao?!" Cheese asked.
"Oh, that's not good," MC said.
"What is that thing?" Twilight asked.
"That's a very complicated robot to fight," Sonic said. "It scans our skills and copies them perfectly."
"No way something's that good at copying my skills!" Rainbow Dash said. She then charged at the robot fast. The robot was looking at Rainbow Dash, copying Rainbow Dash's skill. After doing that, it dodged Rainbow Dash quickly. "What?!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said. "Look out!"
"Behind you!" MC said.
Rainbow Dash turned around and saw the robot doing the exact same skill Rainbow Dash was using, and it struck her, sending her flying.
"I forgot how irritating these things are," Tails said.
The gizoid started running towards the heroes. Just then, MC remembered something. He then said, "Wait a minute! I remember how to take this thing down."
"How?" Twilight asked.
"It copies our skills one at a time," MC said. "But it can't copy the skills of two people at the same time."
"Oh, yeah, that's right," Amy said.
"So, you fought one of these things before?" Rainbow Dash asked, coming back to the group.
"We found it at the bottom of the lake in Green Hills," MC said. As the robot came in, MC used his power to create a barrier around them and the Master Emerald. "Tails and Rotor fixed it up. It seemed to be a copycat robot. But when it had a Chaos Emerald given to him, it supercharged it and started attacking everything around it. It seemed that its original programming was to destroy everything around it."
"So how did you stop it," Maria asked.
"It couldn't fight two people at the same time," Sonic said. "It was Cream and Cheese that stopped it. Of course, it did take a heavy toll on them."
"How did that happen?" Fluttershy asked.
"Before going haywire, Cream and Cheese formed a strong bond with Emerl," Amy said. "Them having being the ones who destroyed it was so heartbreaking for them."
"Oh," Fluttershy said.
"Cream, Cheese, I know this is gonna be heartbreaking..." MC said before being cut off.
"I know," Cream said, tears coming from the corners of her eyes. "But for the safety of my friends, I must do it." She then started flying off, Cheese following close.
"Good luck, Cream," Twilight said.
Back in the Mall in Station Square, Midpoint and Misty were coming out of the bowling alley.
Misty sighed and said, "I don't think that being a part of maintenance is the right fit for me."
"Yeah, especially your horn banging into the machine and your hair getting caught," Midpoint said. "Ever thought of getting a different hairstyle?"
"Like what? Pom Pom Pigtails?" Misty asked. "No way. I'd never go for that." She then thought about something. "Or, maybe I have but outgrew it. I don't know. It's been a long time since I was a filly."
"Yeah, that's true," Midpoint said. Eventually, they came up to the movie theater, and the concession stand was backed up. The manager of the movie theater was working concessions all by himself. "Whoa! That guy needs some help!" Midpoint and Misty ran into the theater. "You need some help, sir?"
"I tried getting some help, but everyone who works the concessions is out sick today," the manager said. "I could really use some help." Midpoint and Misty looked at each other and nodded. Then they came in and got onto a cash register. The manager logged them in for those registers under his name and they started taking orders.
Back on Angel Island, Cream and Cheese were flying towards the robot. Cream then threw Cheese straight at the robot and Cheese had her right front limb charging hard for contact. The robot was scanning Cheese's skill movement, but was cut off when Cream got in front of Cheese, cutting off the robot's skill scanning feature, and Cream kicked the robot back.
"What?!" Shade asked. "Impossible!"
"That robot can copy peoples skills, but it can't copy two skills at once," MC said.
"Insolent fools!" came Ix's voice from a speaker on the ship. "I'll just have to do this myself!"
Just then, something white and purple came down very quickly and landed on the symbol with a loud thud. It was Ix from the past.
"Impossible!" Knuckles said. "There's no way he'd still be alive for all this time!"
"I hear machine noises coming from under his cloak!" MC said. "He's a cyborg!"
"Oooh! What a way to go!" Pinkie said.
"We shouldn't be complimenting him, Pinkie," Tails said.
"Prepare to be taken down!" Ix said. He then charged at the heroes. MC charged back. He and Ix grasped hands and tried pushing each other back, but they were at equal strength. "Impressive strength, Young man. You must be popular with the children."
"Get out of my universe!" MC said. He then kicked Ix's crotch, but to no avail. "What?!"
"Your strength is impeccable, but not enough to stop me!" Ix said.
"How about him?" MC ask, tilting his head. Ix looked where MC tilted his head to see Knuckles coming right towards him. Knuckles then punched Ix in the face, sending the ancient echidna back.
"Gaaaah!" Ix said. He then growled. "You... you're a descendant of a member of Pachacamac's clan. It should have been mine!"
"I saw that vision of the past, shown by the spirit of Tikal, who happened to be Pachacamac's daughter," Knuckles said. "You're going to be taken down like you were back then!"
"Like you ever would!" Shade said, standing next to Ix. "You're all going to get what's coming to you!"
"I've been told that for a long time," MC said. "Mostly death. But it could never come to me."
"You all believe that taking power and conquering worlds is your sworn duty?" Twilight asked.
"No wonder your father chose Pachacamac over you," Knuckles said. "You're a monster."
"My father was a fool!" Ix shouted. "I won't let my plans of taking over worlds be stopped!" He then looked at the Gizoid. "Destroy them all!" The robot nodded and charged at the heroes. Cream and Cheese then started flying towards the robot. The robot was about to strike both of them, but then it stopped in mid air. The robot looked back and saw an arm made of earth came from the ground, grabbing the robot's left leg.
"One way to fight a skill copying person, use a move that that copycat can't copy," MC said. MC then used his power and made the earth arm throw the robot towards him. MC then bared his claws and cut off the robot's head, deactivating it.
"Impossible!" Shade said. "That robot was designed to perfectly counter every attack!"
"Shade, destroy them!" Ix said. Shade then charged towards the heroes. But then Applejack got in front of her and held Shade back, without being cut by the laser blades coming from Shade's bracelets.
"Ah don't think so, sugarcube!" Applejack said.
"I don't give heck what you think!" Shade said, trying to kick Applejack off of her, but Applejack was too sturdy. Shade noticed and asked, "What do you do for a living?!"
"Ah'm an Apple Farmer," Applejack said. "Ya should see how we get the apples from the trees."
"Hyaaaah!" came Amy's voice. Shade noticed Amy coming towards her and Applejack.
"Oh, this is gonna hurt," Shade said. Amy then hit Shade towards the other armored echidnas, and they all went down.
"Nice hit," Applejack said, high fiving Amy.
"Thanks," Amy said.
Ix then shouted and said, "You're all useless!" Ix then charged at the heroes.
"They're only useless as the leader who commands them," MC said. "You're selfish."
"Those who are selfish get what they deserve," Knuckles said. He then pounded his fists. "A one way ticket to isolation!"
Ix then groaned and said, "I'll be back to claim what's mine!" Then Ix and his army vanished by teleportation technology, and the spaceship started flying away. Then in a flash of light, the ship vanished.
"Talk about a hasty retreat," Sonic said.
"Something's not right," Twilight said. "If they were banished from this world a long time ago, how did they return?" Then the heroes started thinking of any possibilities of how Ix and his clan returned.
Somewhere in space, Ix's spaceship was just hovering in orbit around Jupiter. Ix was standing alone in his quarters in the dark, disappointed that he didn't get what he wanted. Just then, a screen came in, and on the screen, Opaline was giving a sly smirk.
"So, you tried to get the Master Emerald and failed due to those Freedom Fighters," Opaline said.
"You knew my troops would fail," Ix said.
"I told you not to underestimate them," Opaline said. "So, about my proposition?"
Ix groaned and said, "To get what I want, I could not be more in. My army will fight by your side when the time is right."
"Excellent," Opaline said.
Back in Freedom Fighters Mansion, the Freedom Fighters and the Mane 6 returned. All of them were exhausted.
"That was a tiring fight," Twilight said.
"You said it, Sparkles," MC said. "I better see if Misty has found a job." He then headed towards Misty's room at the guesthouse. He knocked on the door.
"One minute!" came Misty's voice. MC then waited right outside the door, waiting for Misty to come out. She eventually did. She was wearing a vest that came with the position of working in a movie theater. "H-hey, MC."
"Where did you get that?" MC asked.
"I... I got hired at the movie theater at the mall," Misty said. "The manager gave me $100 for working there today. Technically, it was 50, but Alex gave me his payment since I needed the money."
"Okay, so you've got a job at the movie theater," MC said. He then sniffed Misty. "Concessions?"
"Yeah," Misty said. "How can you tell?"
"You have the scent of butter on you," MC said. "Not a bad start. So, how much are you getting paid?"
"$14 an hour, six hours a day, five days a week," Misty said. "I'm gonna be paid bi-weekly though."
"Good," MC said. "That'll get your rent payment, and extra money for clothes or personal things. You might as well save up for getting a driver's license. Which days are you working?"
"Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays," Misty said.
"Okay," MC said. "I expect your first paycheck as soon as possible." He then walked away. Misty then sighed in relief. She then headed for her bed after closing the door.
"Oh, boy," Misty said. "This is gonna be so much more harder." She then pulled out her necklace, looking at it with a nervous face.