Chapter 3: Step-two into the Void
Cho'gath doesn't hesitate and furiously charges at his nearest victim: Skarner. It took advantage of the ponies that were suspended in the air after being knocked up from Cho's tendrils. He resembled a serpent and a beetle, with having a spiny canvass that was blood-red with some stripes of purple. His head was long,narrow, and wide. It's eyes were burning red. It had 4 arms, two stretching from the side of his torso and two emerging from both his sides of his back. He had scythe-like hands that were sharp to the point. It slashed down upon Skarner, but wasn't enough to penetrate through his armour. Once the team of guards regained their balance after landing, they immediately tried to surpress the creature. Kennen transformed himself into a ball of lightning and dashed into the creature's face, causing it to wince and scream in frustration. It shot spike projectiles and one of them hit Caitllyn. Luio made haste to aid her leaving Ryze, Skarner, Kennen to fend off the beast. As Cho slashed down upon the Brackern, he quickly dodged to his left cuasing Cho to be vulnerable. He created a fissure using his magic knocking the creature off balance. Ryze quickly casts a prison spell binding Cho to where he is. Kennen then threw 2 lightning embed daggers on his chest canvass. It gave out a loud cry in pain, but Kennen wasn't finished. He unleashed an electrical surge that fed into the daggers that were acting like outlets.
"Ouch!" Caitlyn yelped as Luio touched her wounded left fore-leg, "Geez, this hurts more than the spike itself!"
"Relax and let the remedy heal it. It'll only be slower if you struggle." he calmly replied,
"Im not struggling! Im complaining!" she snapped at him.
Once the prison spell wore off, Cho'Gath swiped Ryze off his hooves. He tried to recover but the monster upper-cutted him. He is sent back, and landed gracefully. He limped back to give himself time to heal. Skarner quickly ran up under Cho to impale him with his stinger. As he did so, it didn't seem to be effective. Cho attempted to stomp the Brackern, but misses. Skarner tried again to impale him but he didn't see the incoming slash coming from his scythe-hands. The brackern was swept off his footings and landed hard beside Luio and Cait.
"Alright lets go!" Luio said when he took his glance of Skarner, he brought out a flask that contained combustible liquid and threw it at the monster. It screeched in pain as the acid sunk into his canvass. He then shook away the pain and was back in focus. Caitlyn shot a few fires at the beast, but they had no visible effect. As he drew closer, Skarner sneaked underneath him and slashed his leg, causing the monster to kneel down. Cho quickly slashed at Skarner forcing him to back off. It then grabbed Kennen who was charging at it, then brought him above his mouth. He dropped the agent but before he could reach his mouth, Ryze threw a bolt of arcane energy at it's head trying to interrupt it. Kennen swiftly recovered and swiveled around it's head. Cho also recovered and roared in frustration. The guards were exhausted and the beast seemed to not have faltered from any of their attacks.
"Fall back!" commanded Caitlyn, "We need reinforcements!" they all nodded in agreement and ran south into the forest. Cho'Gath gave another deafening roar in dominance as it gave chase. They galloped for a while, but the Creature was still hot on their tracks. They approached a shore port that had many ships and locals who inhibited the area. As they got clearer, the locals looked at them with questioning glances.
"Beware!" Skarner managed to holler as he panted, "An abomination approaches!"
They still looked at them as if they were crazy. They then switched their attention to the creature that followed them. Cho'Gath roared at the sight of the port causing the the locals to flee. All except two. As the group got nearer and nearer, they heard the two's conversatoin.
"...no way laddy! Thar be 'alotta mighty plunder! Ye can't just let 'er go!" said the red pony. He wore a captain's hat and his mane is brown. He is wearing a white under-shirt with a red and brown vest. His cutie mark is a fruit:an orange. They weren't sure what that represented anyways. He had a flintlock pistol holstered by his torso and a sabre on the other side.
"You fool! It'll cost us too many lives! You're lucky you're under protection or i would've blasted you right now!" The other pony said. She was a yellow mare with a mane that is a vibrant shade of red. She too wore a captain's hat, although slightly different to his. She has two pistols on both sides of her torso and she wore brown leggings covering her cutie mark.
"Imagine all our booty!"
"How do you know we will succeed?!"
"Where are yar hunger fer adventure?!"
"I lost it when i started working with yo..." they were cut-off by the sight of the creature stomping into the city. "What in Celestia is that?!"
"Yar har har! Thar be the mighty Cho'Gath!!" he pulled out his gun and shot up in the air causing his friend to wince.
"Ugh, was that necessary?" she grunted,
"Adventure calls upon ye soul!" and they both charged in.
The guards and Ryze noticed the two heading straight towards the creature behind them. At first they hesitated to go in with them. But quickly decided if those two are brave enough to face the monster, then they have enough reinforcements for now. The two ponies bombarded the monster with lots of bullets and cannon fire. Suppressed and crippled, Cho attempted to flee. They wouldn't let that happen so they hunted the beast down. Within moments, they already lost it after they heard a loud sound. So Cait was Cait, so she investigated, Luio was happy to join her. The two brave ponies introduced themselves before continuing. They were Miss Fortune, the yellow pony, and Gangplank, the red one. They stumble upon a large clearing in the forest, which at first appeared normal to everypony. Caitlyn had a feeling it wasn't.
"Notice the knocked down tree over there?" she pointed to the other side of the clearing, "What could've caused that? And the blades of grass are all pointing to..." she followed her gaze with her hoof pin-pointing the spot. "...there"
"What could that mean? There are no more tracks of Cho'Gath proving that he was here." Luio asked,
She took a moment to think. Ryze walked to the focal point and touched the ground with his palm. he closed his eyes for a moment, then they popped back open.
"It escaped through a portal to the void that was placed here... but no one knows the portal spell but me!"
"Perhaps somepony mimicked your actions, or managed to snatch a quick look at your spellbook."
"I guard the spell in this very scroll." he gestured to the largest scroll on his back, "No pony has ever been able to touch it."
"Until now..."
"This was very generous of you Gangplank!" Skarner said in gratitude,
"Dun mention it laddy!" and he gave a hearty laugh. "Ay gotta talk to missy, she been reeal mad at me." he winked. then walked out of their guest cabin. His ship rocked back... and forth...slowly swaying. It made Kennen queasy. Skarner decided to escort Kennen to the port-bow so he can "ease" himself. Ryze stayed in the next room. Which left Caitlyn and Luio together. For a long while, they sat in the awkward silence.
"So ah... how long have you been into the detective stuff?" he broke the silence,
"Since I was just a little filly..." she smiled and began to daydream, Luio snapped his fingers bringing her back to reality.
"Sorry!" she chuckled, "Well, when I was in school, I was known for be curious and finding out what was going on no matter what it was. Nopony dared to keep a secret from me... unless it was too personal."
"Ah, so what made you so interested in it?"
"One day, my father was rugged and came home with many bruises. It broke my heart to see him that way, so I sneaked out of my house to 'investigate'."
"Haha, a rebel in those days?"
"Indeed. Once I exposed them, the Royal guards immediately brought them into justice then that was when I got my cutie mark. To be honest, I was hoping it would be something like a...uh... magnifying glass. A few years later, i was old enough to enter the Royal Guards and i was paired up with anotherpony named Vi. We were the best in the group and nothing could stop us."
"Wow... what next?"
"When we were done our training, we were sent on cases and pony-hunts. Eventually, we gained so much reputation that we were asked to lead a lot of major cases! Of course Vi and I weren't backing down. One day, she fell into the 'wrong side' of the law and parted away without warning anyone. I ignored all the case requests i had to do, just to find her. She ends up in the Crystal Empire and i offered her a chance back in the law. She told me she found a new law. She became a criminal, stealing otherponies' stuff, but it was only the criminal ponies."
"Wow, talk about hardcore detectives huh." his eyes gleamed in admiration of Caitlyn.
"Yep, so what about you?"
"Wuh?"
she sighed,
"How did you get into the Royal Guards?"
"Seriously? Why doesn't anypony know?!" he sighed and began, "Of course, you know Queen Terra right?" she nodded, "Im her son." she made a loud gasp with eyes wide open.
"Then.... that makes you a prince!"
"Thats true, but i managed to make everypony know me as 'Dr. Lucious' you know~."
"Wow... then it's an honour to meet you! Prince Lucious!"
"Just keep calling me Luio, I like it that way."
She nodded,
"Why doesn't anypony talk about you?"
"Im a hermit, I live and experiment in my chamber. Mother does visit me, but she can never get me out of that room" he chuckled as Cait joined him as well. They sighed and turned to look deeply into eachother's eyes.
Luio leans in closer to Caitlyn, as she did as well.
She then looks around him and stared at the window behind him. A flash of a figure wisked by, apparently a spy.
"Stop fiend!" she got up and poked her head out the window...
So close. Luio thought.
"Come on! The..." she was cut-off by some substance splashing into her face. Luio gave her a questioning look as she slowly moved away from the window.
"Buck me... this better not be what it smells like." Caitlyn slowly said, Luio took a sniff at the air around her and his senses quickly regretted doing so. "I am not going to sniff... I am not going to sniff..."
"You wouldn't want to." replied Luio with a bit of choke in his voice, "I'll get you to the scrubs to clean you." she whimpered and followed the Dr.
Another wave of vomit hurled out of Kennen. Skarner patted his back to try to relax him.
"Guh... dear Celestia, help me no--"
"Stop fiend!" they heard Caitlyn's voice. At that moment, Kennen gave another wave of vomit. Sounding a nice unusual gush of contact, as if his vomit hit something... it concerned Skarner.
Ugh, all this crud makes no life easy. QuickPatch thought to himself, Poor fella is barfin' all over the ship. he observed to the port-bow side of the ship. He was hanging onto the rope that was tied around his waist, and was anchored to the top side of the port side. His job was to scrub the ship clean at night, then muster the sails in the day. Today was a very... unpleasant day as he cleans the vomit after the guest. He spots some bits of barf on the window near him, but if he were to go to clean it, he would be in the path of the vomit. So swiftly, he pushed himself and swung by the window, reached out his hoof with a cloth on it and got the dirty stain off as he swung back to where he was. All of a sudden, the window pops open and a mare poked her head through and demanded where he was. Oh no! Shes going to get... it was too late. He stared at the disgusting scene. Damn mare, Do I feel sorry for you!
"Thanks Luio, I can manage from here." they parted as she entered the scrub room for mares. She picked up a sponge in the bucket and slacked it on her face. She then scrubbed every part of her head and neck. Satisfied, she cleansed the sponge and put it back into it's bucket.
The guard group regrouped into their cabin and began planning for tomorrow.
"Has Shining replied yet?" Luio asked out of boredom,
"Neigh, Im sure he will eventually." said Skarner, "In the meanwhile, how about we discuss more of this tomarrow?" he noticed Kennen already fast asleep. They all nodded in agreement and shuffled into their beds. It was a very interesting day for Skarner; he had many many questions about both the blue mage and the void. Althought he will get his answers soon enough. Hopefully tomarrow.
"Psst~!" Luio called to Caitlyn, "Are you awake?"
She groaned, "I obviously am if you were the one who woke me."
"Sorry..."
"Its alright, so what do you want?"
"Well first of all, you still smell like vomit."
She frowned and crossed her brows,"Does it please you?"
"I do have to admit, it is hysterical" they both giggled, then sighed. The awkward silence went on.
"Why'd you lean in earlier this night?" she asked.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know..."
Speechless, Luio tried to make words come out of his mouth.
"What?" looked at him with concern. He sighed,
"You know i really like you right?"
"Of course! We're crime-busting-partners. Right?"
"We are?"
"You were the one who declared it." she smirked,
"I don't remember..."
"Seriously? Back before we saw Skarner, you were assigned to join me and Kennen, then we chatted for a while an..."
"Oh uh yea I remember now." he gave a weak smile. "But that wasn't what i meant... Caitlyn... I lo..."
"Yar har har!!" the captain barged in, jerking everyone awake, "Alas me mateys! Its time fer barrels of RUM!!"
"Eh, maybe tomorrow captain." Skarner replied with his eyes have closed, "We had a long day today."
"Ahh, are ye sure?! Its the best RUM IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!"
"Sorry, but we don't drink." said Caitlyn. The captain gasped in horror; he almost fainted. "Well, if ye want sum rum, we'd be hollarin' and hootin'." he winked, "May the night bless your soul!" he said as he swerved out the door.
*Ahem* Caitlyn signaled to Luio wanting him to continue where they left off.
He sighed, "I really like you Caitlyn."
She rolled her eyes, "You already said that Dr. Lucious"
"Eh, right. Actually I'll tell ya later. I think my eyes don't want me to tell you just yet. They're falling asleep."
"Well goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Luio facehoofed.
"Alas me mateys! Its time to set sail!" Gangplank's voice boomed from above their cabins, they were awoken by loud cheers of his crew.
"Mumph... What did he mean by that?" asked Skarner,
"Thats not good..." said Caitlyn, he was not sure if she answered his question. She stretched before she trotted out the door.
"Assuming that this isn't important, imma just..." Luio fell back asleep. So did Kennen.
Skarner shrugged at the two and went to find Caitlyn. He looked around in the ship; many large cannons were in place, as well as cannonballs and a tub of grog (poison). The lower bow was empty of his crew, so he assumed that some were either sleeping or the rest was above. It took him a while to figure out where the ladder leading to the poopdeck(hehe) was. He finds a crowd his Gangplank's crew surrounding their captain to see what he has to say.
"Tha Mistress and I has been flappin' tongues about the..." Skarner was interrupted by bumping into Caitlyn. They glanced at eachother and listen attentively to the captain. Unfortunately they didn't catch that part, "...an' all. Prepare to set sail! We leave tonight!!"
"Ugh, im going to confront him right now." Caitlyn trotted up to the captain and started a conversation. Gangplank wasn't quite quiet when it came to private talks. Skarner wanted to join them but felt it was best to leave it to the sheriff.
She muttered something,
"Why not? We be headin to Canterlot! Though ye would be excited!"
She then replied with some foul language
"Daw! But it'll be an adventure for all me mateys!" he replied loudly, she then raised her gesture seeming as she was a bit frustrated. Again she said something to the captain that he couldn't hear. The captain then told her while leaning towards her ear. She revolted at his words then snapped back.
"Ye now tham 'hoity toity' ponies?!" he was a bit shocked at her words, "Let me to offer ye a 'parlay'." he winked.
"I do not negotiate with terrorists!" she yelled out loud, it brought silence after she said it, getting all the attention from everyone. He gave a hearty laugh,
"Now now missy, thar be no need to holler. How about I let ye and yer mateys trail along?"
"For what?! To keep us hostage?!" she snapped back, Skarner made his way to Cait to try to calm her down. She nudged him to leave her for now.
'Well if ye keep quiet about the whole thang of course."
Then Miss Fortune, Kennen, and Luio popped out into the scene and exchanged confused glances.
"Whats going on here?" the red-maned pony asked.
"May my crew leave us alone for a while?!" at first his crew wasn't moving much, rather confused, "Tend to yer quarters!" the captain rolled his eyes as they left the guards and pirate captains alone.
"What is happening here?" Luio asked,
"They're planning to ramsack Canterlot!" Caitlyn blurted. They all gasped, excluding Gangplank and Miss Fortune of course.
"Well hay now, we ain't doing that sort of thing." he replied
"What do you mean?!"
Fortune sighed, "We're meeting up with my 'client' there; and they're in Canterlot."
"Then what was with all the pillaging talk back there?!"
"What do you think? We're scamming another captain!" Fortune bursted, "Im acting as a hostage and their captain offered a deal to set me free. Do you see where this is going now?"
She sighed, "As Head detective, Major of Royal Guards of the Crystal Empire, and loyalty of her Princess, I must intervene." she stomped her hoof.Gangplank and Fortune were both shocked, "This is an act of felony,scam, potential violence, and munipulation."
"This captain that we're talking about is Urgot! We too work in the royal guards as former pirates." she gestured to Gangplank and herself, "Urgot is a highly wanted pony!"
Caitlyn just stood, stunned, defeated.
"I-Im sorry..." she drooped her head.
"Now now lad, ye and yer friend 'dint know nothin' about the situation. To be frank with ya, my crew doesn't know either sweetheart." he winked.
This put a smile on her face,
"HOW ABOUT WE BREAK OFF DIS TENSION WITH RUUUUUUUMMMMMM!!" Gangplank hollared so that his crew heard too. They heard them cheer and brought out barrels of the alcoholic beverage. The guards decided to give up their alcohol-virginity for the sake of merry times. They danced, they sang, they laughed, and they tumbled.
"Woot!" Luio leaned onto Skarner for support but he too was unstable, "Ya know? Why did you have to be a pony?! I mean come on! You could've been an actual crystal scorpian! That would've been bucking awesome!"
"Oh my stars... Luio.... I swear.... You have the best ideas ever!" He swayed and paused at moments, "Also... Also, why haven't you made a move on her huh?" He waved to Caitlyn.
"Move on me? Wuh?" She too was intoxicated.
"Shes a very scary mare!" Luio joked and they got into a large fit of laughter. Gangplank gave a hoarse laugh on how the guards reacted to their drinks. He then continued to cheer on Kennen to participate in the glug-down.
"Oh my stars, lets watch Kenny get bucked!" Caitlyn suggested, Luio and Skarner nodded excitedly. They hurried to the crowd that surrounded Kenne and Gangplank.
"3! 2! 1! Go!" Gangplank's major in command and really short, Drift, declared Kennen and Gangplank's drinking contest to begin.
"GLUG! GLUG! GLUG!" his crew said in unison; it took no encouragement to get the guards to join in too. Kennen started off strong, gulping his cup in 3 swallows. But that couldn't compete with Gangplank who glugged his drink in a swift gulp. His crew generously refilled their drinks each time they finished. On Ken's 6th cup, he started choking, but regained himself and bravely drank another. Gangplank looked onto Ken as impressed, but it didn't stop him from getting far ahead than him.
With the scores 12/8 in the favour of Gangplank, both looked like they were morphing into frogs.
"Yar -hic- har har! -hic- Ye hast a mighty soul! But not mighty enough! -hic-" the captain taunted. The agent blushed in furiousity, not going to give up! He swigged his drinks one 2 thorough gulps, then slammed down his cup indicating he will take on another. Quickly he caught up to the pirate with 15/13. Unfortunately, they both passed out on their next cup. The crew helped them up into concience and cheered.
"Hoo-wey! 3 cheers for the second rum-champion!" Drift yelled. Both gangplank and Kennen smiled as they leaned onto other ponies for support. They shook hooves then dashed to the side for a fit of vomit.
"Haha! Never knew Kennen had that in him!" Luio hollered, "I can never get to 4!"
Cait giggled, "Wanna test that out?" she winked.
"Rather not." he burped, "Excusez moi." they giggled. She tripped over but Luio caught her before she fell. "Whoa there Caity!"
"Caity?!" she bursted into laughter, "Thank you Lucy!" they both bursted into laughter, then fell onto the floor. Once they began to calm down, they rolled over to see eachother's eyes. Luio leaned in, she leaned in, Gangplank leaned in... (lolwut?)
Caitlyn and Luio launched themselves back, revolted by the appearance of Gangplank.
"BLuh, I don't feel so good..." he dashed to the side that was beside Caiitlyn and barfed. Luckily not on her again, but she wrenched at the smell that reminded her of last night. Caitlyn hurried over to Luio and drowned herself into his mane.
"Cait? What are you?" Luio stuttered
"Getting this stench off my nose!" she took in another whif, "I'd rather smell greasy and sweaty mane than rum-vomit!", she relaxed a bit but didn't take her muzzle off, "Actually you smell nice?"
He gave a weak laugh, "I dunno what it smells like from here ya know"
"Smells like... buttermilk..."
"I take that as a good thing?"
"Very good..." then she fell asleep in his mane.
"Caity?" he nudged her, "Up 'n attem!" she made no movement except steady breathing. He sighed and stumbled his way to their cabins to let the mare sleep properly. When he laid her down on her bed, he fell to sleep without the intention and snoozed like a 150-pound filly beside her.
Earlier today, the crew had already set sailed towards Canterlot while the guards are still sound asleep. Kennen laid on a crate near the spot he passed out. He was generously given a pillow by somepony. He too was still asleep. Except for Skarner.
"You didn't sleep last night?" Miss Fortune asked the daydreaming Brackern as he looked at her from his gaze at the sea.
"No, my two friends' snores are atrocious!"
"Understandable." she nodded.
Their ears perked up to hear a door open.
"Mornin' lads! We be due at mid-moon tanight!" the captain declared.
"Thats good news." she smiled, "Remember, we have to drop off the guards just beyond the port so they don't get suspicious." she winked at Skarner.
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Always thought MF and GP were rivals (mf is the pirate hunter after all). Also i like to think of vi as a more corrupt cop than a criminal (shoot first shoot second ask questions when everybodys dead) all in all though a solid read.
No!!!!! They sent cho back to the void! Great.
