"By the gods... What happened to you Jake?" I asked him, putting the whole traitor rant in the back of my mind.
"You kNow QuITe WelL whAT HaPpENeD! YoU BLoODy TrAItOR!!" He hissed.
"What do you mean "Traitor"!?" I yelled at the enraged monstrous draconoid mutant in front of me who was once a human and a friend.
He hissed as his eyes glowed an even deeper crimson.
"YOu rAn! RAn fROm yOUr rESponSiBIliTiES aS "KInG" aNd LEfT uS, yoUr bESt FriEnd ANd aLl oF yoUr suBjECtS tO EiTHeR DIE oR joIn aNOtHeR ClAN!!!" he growled, his voice getting more and more primal.
"What the hell are you talking about Jake!? I'm no king! I'm just a bloody paper pusher!" I yelled at my old friend, throwing my arms in the air for added impact.
"LIIIIEESSSS!!!" He screamed, his voice turning more and more demonic.
He then launched himself at me, swinging his long violet mutated arm in a wide arc, swatting me away like a flie, eliciting a couple of loud yelps, as I crashed into the group of ponies who had just gathered outside of Fluttershy's cottage.
"Oww! What the hay dude! Watch where you crash!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she crawled out from under my left wing.
"Just be glad that I managed to put up this barrier, or else those spikes on your neck would have hurt both the Princess and I!" Twilight huffed, lowering the light purple barrier around the Princess, Fluttershy, Rarity and herself.
I then felt something stir under my hindquarters.
"Would ya kindly get off of me? Ah'm not exactly happy about bein' ridden like this!" AJ's voice said from under me as she shuffled around some more.
"Sorry about that AJ, and as amused as I would normally be in this situation, we have much bigger problems right now." I said, my gaze locked at my old friends monstrous visage.
"What in tarnation is that thing?" AJ mumbled from under me.
"An old friend of mine.." I told them
Jake, or rather the monster he had become then let out an unnatural and blood curdling howl as he charged at us.
My guess is that these ponies aren't used to blood lust like his, as the howl locked them in place with pure fear.
Not that I was used to it either, but I still reacted to the oncoming threat faster than them.
I jumped up and charged towards Jake, preparing to punch him.
"SNAP OUT OF IT JAKE!!!" I shouted as I let my fist fly.
It connected with his chin, but nothing happened.
I tried punching him again and again, I kept on punching him in his grotesque mutated face.
But even after ten hits he didn't even flinch, his huge body took my punches like I take a mosquito bites, what with him being even taller than my 203cm right now and at least three times as wide.
A twisted smile formed on his face, as his burning red eyes changed to a chilling acid green.
"My my.. How the mighty Dragon of Draconica has fallen~!" He teased, all the rage and hatred gone from his voice, replaced with words that dripped with venom.
His human features started protruding more as he lowered himself to my eye level.
"You, my traitorous friend, shall suffer at the claws of our master, for all the bad things you've done to us! Your own people! And once you have paid for your sins.. Then I'll be promoted for sure, I may even get be a King~!" His venomous voice said with glee.
I was still lost and he could see it as his eyes shrunk a bit more.
"You.. You really have forgotten? You remember nothing of your sins!? TheN yoU aRE nOt wORtH CapTuRING!!!" He bellowed, his eyes glowing red from anger once again as he slammed his fists against his chest like an enraged primate.
I quickly tried jumping backwards to gain some distance, unfortunately I had forgotten about one of my new body parts, as I tripped over my tail, falling flat against the ground.
Jake instantly took this chance and brought both his fists down upon my torso with all his might, forcing me to exhale all the air in my lungs as smoke and embers blew from my mouth and nose
He reared back, howling from pain as the embers seemed to scorch him badly on his violet parts.
I clutched the area where my lungs reside, gasping for air as I heard AJ's voice.
"Ah can't take this anymore Princess! He's gettin' the stuffing beat outta him!" She shouted.
"I know, Applejack. But right now, I need you all to be ready with the Elements of Harmony, in the worst case scenario that his friend wins and doesn't leave peacefully." Sounded the Princess' answer.
"If I die here today, then I swear by everything holy, I will haunt you till your days end, Princess." I grumbled, finally getting back on my feet, eyes never leaving Jake as he trashed about, trying to get all the embers off of him.
"Please understand my place in all this. You are an outsider, one of them and some..one that I have only spoken a little with. Compared to the safety of my people, you have no priority." She said matter-of-factly.
"I don't blame you for your choice, Princess. But know this. I have no plans on dying for something that I know nothing of in a world where I don't belong! There's too many things that doesn't add up right now and I want to get to the bottom of it."
"But first we have to deal with Jake!" I said as I scanned him further.
"K..d...n..ou..ear..me? ca..yo...hear me!?" A familiar voice rang through my head.
"Oh great.. Now I have voices in my head as well!" I hissed under my breath.
"Listen up kid! Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and an early grave! So if you wanna live, then ya better listen!" It growled.
"Alright alright! I'll listen.. Geeze!" I hissed back in my thoughts.
"Good.. Now listen up. You see his color, right? Violet indicates that he's of the Metal element which is pretty weak to fire! As a pawn of Metallus, one of the Draconis Animus, we have him at an elemental advantage!" It said in a now gentle and wise voice.
Draconis Animus, Metallum..? Dragon Spirit of Metal? Why does that sound familiar.. No! This isn't the time to question the weird voices in my head! For all I know, it might be right.. It's certainly better than trying to punch him again.
"Judging from his reaction to my embers before and something weird that I just experienced, I think he's weak to my flames, so let's try going with that!" I said to the ponies who had all put on some sort of necklaces and Twilight had a tiara, ignoring their dress-up fun I started inhaling as much air as I could feeling the heat building inside my body.
I aimed at Jake who was still trying to get rid of the final embers and let loose a powerful plume of crimson fire in his direction, the intensity from the flame singeing him further as a wall of crimson fire sprung up in front of him. Feeding it more flames to keep it up, I kept on hoping that he would finally give up and turn back.
"YEEHAW! Did ya see that, Princess? It's working! Ah say we take this chance an' drive it back!" AJ shouted.
"Yeah! I'm with AJ on this one! Let's do it!" Rainbow Dash followed up as she took to the skies while AJ ran to my side.
I finally ran out of air to blow fire with and closed my mouth again, drawing in a deep breath of air through my nose.
"Thanks for offering to help me AJ, or rather, Applejack." I said, taking another gulp of air, preparing myself for another burst of fire, if need be.
"Ah, it ain't nottin' for ya'll ta be thankful for! Jus' defending mah home is all," she said as she smiled at me, "an call me AJ, that's what mah friends do." She said, focusing on the enemy ahead.
"Just.. Please be careful. I took a blow from him before and if it wasn't for the natural toughness of a dragon, I'd be mush on the ground right now and I really don't want that to happen to any of you." I said, shooting her a weak smile.
"Ya'll don't need ta worry about me. Ah haven't helped save ta world several times for nottin'! Ahm perfectly capable to handle mahself in a fi-!" She said but was quickly cut off.
"DRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN!!!" The monstrous voice boomed, like thunder rolling 'cross the plains.
Through the wall of fire, a violet dragon emerged, none of his human features were left.
I emptied my lungs, letting a more concentrated stream of fire tear through the air, hitting the rampaging beast straight in it's chest, causing it to flinch from pain.
"Now! Attack!" Rainbow Dash yelled from above, as she dove at the flinching dragon, placing a pair of hard hitting hooves in the side of his head.
Unfortunately it was even less effective than my punches from before, as the beast immediately flicked it's tail, hitting her side and launching her at the rest of the group.
AJ didn't take kindly to this as she burst off towards him swinging around to deliver a powerful buck to his groin.
This seemed to have some effect, as the enraged dragon hissed in pain, eliciting a nasty smirk from AJ as she looked over her work.
"AJ! Get away from him, now!" The Princess and I yelled in unison, having both noticed the seething hatred for the little pony in his eyes
It lifted it's scaly right arm with the intention of crushing the pony in front of it.
"Oh horse apples!" AJ yelled as she jumped backwards, dodging the right arm only to see his left arm flying at her from below.
But she was too slow at dodging this next move.
The world seemed to freeze, as his long claws dug into her side, the sound of flesh and muscles being torn apart resounded through the deathly silence as blood splattered out of her mouth as she screamed in pain.
"Applejack!!" All the ponies screamed as they saw her penetrated body at the end of the now smiling dragons claws.
It then swung it's arm nonchalantly in their direction while letting out a deep menacing chuckle.
Crimson colored the world, as her lifeless and bloodied body soared quietly through the air, towards the other ponies, so they could witness the end of their friend.
The six ponies and the baby dragon broke down into tears as both Celestia and Twilight were trying their hardest to help her with their magic.
The demonic dragon's chuckle turned into a crazed laughter as he looked over his handiwork.
Hatred seethed through my veins faster and faster for every second he laughed.
Deep.. Dark.. Painful.. Hatred.
I may not have known her for long.
"K..l"
*Thump!*
But she was nice.. A really nice individual.
"KI..L!"
*Thump! Thump!*
If not for her breaking the ice the way she did, I'd probably still be in the middle of freaking out.
"KILL!!"
*THUMP!!*
Yes.. Kill.. Kill the bastard that would harm such innocent creatures like that!
"Easy now kid! Don't let Tenebrae take control! Fight it!" the wise voice from before said.
"Why should I? Giving in is so much easier!" I growled in my mind
"Because we can still save her! You already hold the answer, it's just hidden away! Look inside you and you will find it!"
This knowledge cooled my hatred down a little.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? KILL HIM!" The dark voice commanded
"Don't listen to him! Listen to me instead, kid and we might just be able to turn this around. Now let me take over and I'll show you how."
"So, I can either choose to listen to you or the other voice who makes a rather tempting offer about killing the bastard who hurt AJ... *Sigh!* I don't even know why I'm accepting this, but ok, if we can save these ponies, then I'll do it! Show me how, old timer"
"KILL HIM!!"
"Would you please just SHUT UP!!!" I growled at the dark voice.
__________
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
"...just SHUT UP!!!" I shouted as I woke up from my weird dream.
I slapped the little noise maker as hard as I could, shutting it up for the day.
"Urk.. Bloody Alarm clock.. I fucking hate your mechanical guts.." I groaned as I tried to stumble out of my bed.
Unfortunately, my attempt at standing up came to an abrupt end as I flopped back down on the bed, groaning loudly while holding my head.
"That's the last time I go drinking with Jake on a bloody Sunday.. That bastard could probably drink Soviet Russia under the bloody table and still walk straight.." I grumbled, getting back up.
My bedroom was small and only had space enough for my bed and a small closet.
The tiny bit of floor space that I had in there, was littered with dirty clothes that did their best to try and trip me as I went over to the big blue bag by the door, which contained all my clean clothes.
I really should pull myself together and raid the laundromats one of these days.. I'm running out of clean lab coats.
Never really got why a regular paper pusher like me had to wear a coat, I mean, I only work in the office sections and my security clearance only allows me to go fifteen floors down out of the seventy underwater floors in total.
But it is company policy, so eh.. At least I look good in one o' these!
I stumbled out of my bedroom skipping a bit along the floor from a pair of dirty boxers final attempt at assassinating me on my way out.
Dragging my way over to the bathroom door which is on the same side as my bedroom, yawning all the way while rubbing my eyes, I opened it and went in.
It's not the biggest bathroom, just a sink some shelves with my toothbrush and comb, a shower cabinet in the middle which you had to go through to get to the toilet at the end, failed design is fail..
Finishing my business, I went back out in the living room and looked around.
My living room wasn't too big, only around 8M², but that was big enough for a single guy like me.
I had my couch, which rested by the wall separating my living room and bedroom, a little table in the middle of the room with a recliner on the other side of it.
A big LCD TV mounted on the wall at the end of the room with some shelves under it containing my PS3 and some games, movies and controllers.
I then went over to my table by the couch, picking up my iPod, wallet and keys, stuffing them all in my different pockets.
Grabbing the remote, I flicked on my TV and saw that it was in the middle of an episode of My Little Kitten.
It's a new show that started airing recently, created by renowned animator and writer, Laurent Faust VIII and had somehow managed to take off and become a major hit amongst men and women over the age of sixteen.
A few of the guys at the office was absolutely smitten with it.. What was it.. Duttens! Dudes for Kittens, that's what they call themselves.
And while I do not consider myself a dutten, I can at least appreciate the show for it's quirky humor and nods to popculture and I must admit that I have a sweet spot for both Fluffershy, YarnJack and Twilight Hairball.
Letting the show play in the background, I moved over to the kitchen corner which was just next to the front door and dug through the fridge.
"Let's see what we have here.. Bread.. Cheese wedge and ham! Hmm.. Lettu- Yuck.. Spoiled.. Oh well!"
Grabbing it all I threw the lettuce in the trashcan and made a cheese'n'ham sandwich which I dumped in the microwave and heated it up while watching silly Rainbow Scratch and Pinkie paw pulling a prank on Purrity.
*Ding~!*
Grabbing the sandwich, I started munching on it and turned the TV off just as Twilight Hairball was on her way to save the day and got ready to head off for another day at the office.
Making my way to the shoe rack by the front door, I slipped on my black sneakers and grabbed my old cellphone from the charger and went outside.
Shutting my door and locking it, I turned around and met the resident janitor, a little guy who barely reached my chest, but one shouldn't judge him from his height or age.
He could easily toss me around like a crumbled up piece of paper.
His name is Hideaki Masaki or Mr. Masaki and Sensei as I usually call him.
An old guy from Japan, who was always there for me when my father died a few years ago in an accident on the lower floors.
"Good morning Mr. Masaki, how are ya this morning?" I said beaming the old guy a smile.
Stopping his sweeping, he turned around to meet me.
"Aah, Ryuuji! How are you feeling today? It is the anniversary of his death today, yes?" He said, giving me a sad smile.
"You know that I'm over that, sensei." I said, returning a sad smile of my own.
He shook his head a little before turning back to sweeping the hall.
"Just be back later, my wife wanted me to invite you up for dinner." He said, chuckling a bit.
"Will do! Want me to bring anything?" I asked as I started down the stairs.
"Nope, she already bought it all, so you just make sure to come by tonight!" He yelled after me as I exited the complex.
Walking out on the streets, the merciless beams from the sun started beating down on me.
"They said it would be hot.. But this is just ridicules!" I grumbled as I made my way towards the tram.
I live on the most southern of the ten islands that makes up the island nation of Draconica, also known as Island #10.
Of course, this mean that I have to ride the local trams to get to work on time, seeing as the main company is located smack dab in the middle of it all.
Making my way down the streets, I was greeted by the friendly people who took care of the stores.
While most people on the island works for The Umbra Corporation, there are still civilians, like family members and those who man the stores, look after the towns and all the other menial tasks.
But I was a part of the Umbra Corporations staff, just like my dad who was one of their top scientists, until he died that is.
I was actually on my way towards the top as well, but after he died, I kind of got into a scuffle with the son of one of the chairmen, an arrogant little twerp who thinks he's better than everyone else, just because his dad rolls in cash.
Not that I mind, I mean, they could just as easily have fired me, so having been demoted to a regular office worker is fine enough for me.
I was walking towards the tram station, lost in my own thoughts, when a sudden slap on my right shoulder snapped me out of it.
Turning my head, I saw the brown haired top of my old friends head, so I looked down to meet his dark green eyes.
"Hey Jake, you bastard." I said with a smirk.
He just laughed and poked my forehead, "'Sup dude? Gotten over the morning hangover?" He asked, shooting me a smug smirk of his own.
"Hah! Yeah, just remind me to never go drinking with you again on a bloody Sunday.. I've had the weirdest dream, although I can't remember anything from it besides that feeling of "far out-ness" if ya know what I mean." I said.
He just shook his head and laughed.
"But it's so fun to tease you the day after!" He whined.
"Hardy har har.. Anyway, let's just get on the tram and finish up yet another day at the office." I said as we turned around the final corner before the tram station.
"Fine by me. You up for hitting the arcade on #6 after work? You know those Japs loves the stuff and I could use some good fighting game fun." He asked as we got on board one of the red trams that would take us to #1, the center island.
Finding us a seat amongst the many people wearing white lab coats, we sat down and waited for departure.
"Sure, I'll be sure to kick your ass in a game of Melty Blood! You can't beat my awesome Kohaku!" I taunted.
"Hah! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, boy! I'll tear you to shreds with Nrvnqsr Chaos!" He taunted back and we both brofisted knowing that this would be the epic battle of the century.
The tram finally departed and we spend the rest of the trip just chatting about small stuff as we were taken to #1 for yet another boring day at the office, as if anything exciting would ever happen there.
__________
A/N:
So yeah, here we have chp. 2.
A bit short, I know, but I can feel another slump on it's way, so rather than fighting it for weeks, trying to add more to the chapter, I decided to just end it on a good point and focus on chp. 3 once I'm back on top again.
I hope you all enjoyed it.
-Munck