> Seer > by Groupiegatalo > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Residence > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boxes lie in the main hallways of the three roomed apartment. Boxes marked by different labels to indicate what each and every thing is inside of them. From dishes to box of paper. The owner of the abode is currently not home. But who is home are some of the occupants. A rainbow blur flies through the living room that is the biggest of the three small rooms. The Bathroom is barely anything but a simple shower, sink, and toilet. The bed room is a bed and a desk pushed into the right hand corner along with small chest at the foot of it to put clothes in. Nothing more nothing less. It was boring and confined. Much to the rainbow blur's displeasure. She hated being confined into spaces like this. But since she didn't want to cooperate with the others that went out with the owner, she has to entertain herself. The only other creature with it is a girl that sits on the couch in front of the T.V, currently off, drawing on some paper with different colored pencils. She kicks her feet back and forth humming a song to herself as she draws her self, red dress, cute re-dyed red head band cat ears, and pink and white backpack. Her hair is a bit more flowey than it actually should be, but the bear she talks about is under her as she rides on its flaming back pointing forward as if she's commanding it into battle. The rainbow blur slows down above the girl as she draws to reveal itself as a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane of red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple. Both her mane and tail is like this in different variety. Her coat is smoothed down from grooming of her friend that isn't currently here. She has a tattoo on her flank that resembles a white cloud with a tri colored, red, yellow, blue, lightning bolt coming out of it. The pegasus floats above the girl as she starts drawing more figures around her and her bear. She can tell by the first bit of the drawing that she's drawing the owner. The only one who seems to give any of them notice. She's currently drawing his shoes. Classic black tennis shoes. "So what are you drawing this time?" "Our battle team!" She cries out happily looking up at the pegasus flying above her. "Our battle team?" the pegasus asks curious. "Yea!" The pegasus doesn't really want to know why they need a battle time so she continues to fly about wishing the crew that has left would hurry up and return so she can entertain herself. Sure the place has no kitchen, but who really needs to eat anyway! All that unimportant stuff is down stairs. She sighs and flies into the bathroom for the umpteenth time to stare at her own reflection. She grimace at the face that looks back. She can admit she's seen better days. Her right eye is a dark blue and her other eye is a light blue color from the magic effect and she has a long scar running down her nose. From her temple all the way down. Sometimes she asks herself how is she even alive and she starts feeling funny all over, but it doesn't matter. She's here and she'll keep being here. It takes another twenty minutes before the door sounds it's lock being unlocked. The first to immerge from behind the door is the purple unicorn that managed to help her out with her injuries. The unicorn's horn is long and pointy, she has dark purple and light purple mane and tail, and currently has a bandage on her right cheek. She probably hurt herself again. She's always been the klutz of the group. "Thank god you guys are back! Annie is sooooooo boring!" The pegasus cries out flying in front of the door. "That's not nice Dash." the owner, five eight, brown and silver hair that comes down his back in dreads, wearing a black button up shirt, blue jeans, glasses with a very large black outline, a necklace around his neck that is a guitar pick with a skull on it, and is carrying four bags filled with groceries, "We're all living together so we have to get used to each other not liking the same things." "But Zak!" Rainbow complains. "No buts. Plus if she did get into all the stuff you like I'll have to explain why there are fires everywhere..." Zak says walking to his bedroom after placing the bags down on the countertop cutting off the kitchen and living room. The rest of the crew that went follows suits entering into the apartment. Behind Zak is a pink mare with swirly puffy hair. She has a red eye path on her left eye from a party incident when Zak was ten. They don't talk much about that. It's always been a sour subject for everyone. Zak's mother mostly. Behind her is a robot just barely shorter than Zak at five three. The robot has a teal and whitish color to it and walks like its a human being. A "tattoo" runs down the side of the robot that reads war and peace. She got it when Zak was nine and he wanted to become an artist. Which would explain why he envies Annie so much. Behind her is another mare walking side by side with another uniron. The mare is orange and wears a brown leather hat, otherwise known as a stenson, on her head proudly. It has an arrow through it from a practical joke played once upon a time ago. She never could bring herself to pull the arrow out. It means something to her on the matter of dying. The unicorn next to her is mare like the purple one and has a fancy mane and tail that complements her white fur. Her mane and tail is purple and swirly towards the end. A truly beautiful mare. The only offset is the crack running through her horn from a magic test. A very tragic incident, but she has recovered. Mostly. Behind them is a green man with tusks coming out of his bottom part of his mouth and people would find him ugly in the sense. On his back is a stone axe and in his arms is a sleeping yellow pegasus with a pink mane that covers the creatures face and a pink tail, and she also wears a collar around her neck that is black. "That's everyone right? Grunt?" Zak says coming back from his room. The orc looks at Zak and nods his head, "She feel asleep on stairs so I brought her up." "Good, lay her on the bed." He says sitting on the couch next to Annie. He looks down and smiles at the drawing, "Getting better every day!" "Thanks!" She says focusing on the drawing and also appreciating the praise for her work. This is what life is going to start to be. Normal. Or at least as normal as he can get it. He was glad his parents kicked him out of their home as soon as they could. He needed the change. Actually everyone needed the change. Its been the same routine for a long time. Twilight was the one that pointed it out. Lately she's been giving a lot of good advice except about girls. Every chance she gets she nags at him about getting a girlfriend. He would if he could but giving on how crazy he considers himself... I mean he's seeing T.V characters! Wouldn't you think you're crazy? And he doesn't have doubts that she would find him talking to nothing like something is there. He learned very early on only he could see the creatures around him. From the ponies to the footmen soldiers trying to kill the Lich. At first he thought it was his over imagination. Than he saw that they could interact with the world, but not people physically. Mentally? Well Zak doesn't consider himself the stable type of person. "So! What is on today's agenda list?" "Well." Twilight says taking her seat by laying down in Zak's lap, "You have that meeting to go to at four about the college you want to go to." Zak nods his head and starts stroking her mane, "Anything else?" "Well there is the fact that you need a girlfriend." She pipes up relaxing in the soothing mood. Zak sighs Here we go again... Zak flops down on his back on his bed. As far as he feels he thinks he might of gotten in. But only time can tell. He reaches over to his right and into a white bag. He pulls out a bag of chips, pops them open, and begins eating. He doesn't like to eat downstairs with everyone else. He's afraid they might think he's crazy if he mumbles to his friends. Or to them nothing. He sighs thinking back over everything. "You okay?" A female voice says walking into the room. Zak looks towards the voice to see its the robot girl, "Yea, I'm fine. Just... How long have I lived like this. I keep thinking maybe there's a reason I can see you guys, but lately..." "I know how you feel. I question my existence too. We all question it. We don't know why we're here. We just are." She says taking a seat next to him, "You know we'll always be here for you." That's what I'm afraid of... "Thank you, Jenny" > Out in the town. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Whew! Didn't think we would get all this together!" Zak says standing in his stripped blue and black boxers and t-shirt. He looks at the shelves of books, on the recently built bookshelves, and the desk that holds his prized laptop that he's taken care of for nearly five years. Now he can finally settle down and get back to writing and making music, that one really reads nor listens too, and get back on track with his life. He takes a sit in his black rolling chair and spins around in it to only have it stopped by a particular purple glow. The chair stops him in front of the source of the glow. Twilight stands looking at him with a cocked head. "What?" Zak asks holding onto the front of the chair a bit dizzy already. "There's someone knocking on the door." She says motion her head towards the rooms door. "And? Why should I care? Might be some person looking to sell me something or just annoy me. Can't I just ignore it?" He says leaning back into the chair. "No! That's not the right thing to do. Now go answer the door." Zak sighs, gets up, and does as Twilight commands. Sure he might not want to, but he'll do it just cause he doesn't want to listen to Twilight's incisive pestering. You wouldn't think that a pony would do so much of it when they can talk, but oh my god. Zak goes to the door and opens it to find two things he never thought he would see until class. People who look to be about his age. A male and female standing out in front of his door. The male seems a bit older than the female. And all Zak could do was stand there and stare. Behind him, unknown to the visitors, Twilight face hooves before Annie kicks him the back of the leg making him jump a bit and look back. "Hey!" He says shaking his head at Annie. "Uhhhh hey?" The female asks a bit nervous of the neighbor. Zak snaps back at attention and coughs, "Uh hey, what uh what do you guys want?" "Just thought we stop by and say hello, but if this is a bad time." The female says. "Don't worry about it. I got things to do. We can talk later." He says rapidly not wanting to talk to them for a long period. The conversation was getting tense enough from his out burst at the girl who just kicked him. He hastily backs up and closes the door before another word is said. He turns around and heads for his room that is being blocked off by a certain teenage robot. She raises her right eye in a "what was that" type of way. "What!? I don't want to talk to them. Plus them coming to see me is freaky. Like beyond freaky. Plus I made an outburst towards people they can't see." Zak says trying to get behind her into his room. Twilight shakes her head from the couch, "You really need to stop being like... you." "Hey! If I wasn't me than nobody else would..." Zak says defiantly still trying to get in. "Jenny... Would you please?" Twilight asks. "With pleasure." Jenny says talking a hold of Zak and taking him into his room. "Wait? Please what? What's going on?" "You're becoming social whether you like it or not!" Twilight says following the two in, "But first you're getting dressed for going outside!" Zak squirms and fits trying to get out of her grasps, "Why do you have to be a damned robot!" Jenny shrugs, "That way I can hold you against your will." Zak growls as Twilight's horn ignites. By now the others are looking at Zak's door with curious looks wondering how it will all go. By the sound coming from within... not pleasant. Outside of the apartment a man dressed in a gray hoodie and matching jogging pants with a hat that covers part of his messy red hair stands beside a woman that's two years younger than him who wears a pink tank top that doesn't cover her belly to show off her belly ring, a red skirt, and has a band to hold her bronze like hair back in a pony tail. Easy to say, they don't really look like they belong together. But the woman managed to convince him to come greet the new neighbor which she considered to go over great. "So this went according to plan huh?" The man says shoving his hands into his pockets, "I say we're friends with him already." She rolls her eyes, "He's just busy probably unpacking and everything and you know it!" He's about to say something else when they hear the resident's muffled shout from inside. He yells something every few seconds and responds to some type of banging. "What's going on in there?" "Not really sure... I think I should go in and see." She says reaching for the door knob. "Sure entering where you're not wanted. Just like a woman." He says a smirk coming across his face. "Now you hold on one second! What do you mean just like a woman!" She stands bending a bit towards him and putting her hands on her hips in a fierce way giving him a glare so hard that it might even break a rock. Luckily he isn't a rock. "Hm?" He starts whistling and walking towards his room further down the walk way. "Hey get back here! Answer my question!" She says walking behind him angrily. {Few minutes later} Zak stands dressed in a blue short sleeved shirt, long jeans that have holes in it towards the bottom, his guitar chocker, and a black arm band on his right wrist. He stares down Twilight as Twilight stares him down. Over the years of being with her, Twilight has really turned into a cold hearted mare over some time. "Its like staring into a mirror." Jenny says looking between the two, "Now, how do we change you into a pony or you into a human." Twilight and Zak both glare at her and than at each other again. The mental attacks on each other have gone down in history! Or at least they would have if Zak won for a change. "Fine! Where do you want me to go than!" Zak says turning away and crossing his arms. "One of the best places to meet nice woman." Twilight says opening the bedroom door making every other house member fall into the room, "The library!" "No. How about a park or something. You know where less boring people are. Plus the only people I know that come from libraries are you and you are defiantly not a nice ouch!" Zak exclaims getting hit in the back of the head by Jenny. "Be nice." She says shaking her head, "You're already making a bad impression of yourself." "Hey I'm just saying what's on my mind!" Zak says walking out of the room by stepping over fallen bodies, "Anyway. Guy's don't burn down the house while I'm gone. Oh, and Annie... pleasssssssssse don't bring back home any more ponies like Twilight. I don't think I could take a second her around this place." "Okay!" Annie exclaims dusting off her dress and going over to the couch. "Now remember Jenny is in charge and what she says goes. Right Rainbowdash?" Rainbowdash shoes at him, "Go ahead and go so we can party." Zak sighs and follows Twilight outside while mumbling, "That's what I'm afraid of..." The walk there was unbearable. Twilight's constant pestering with how he should approach people and how he should accept offers and stuff that are safe but fun. Its times like this when he wishes that he couldn't actually see or hear them. "Are we almost there? I think I hear my computer calling me." Zak says glancing backwards towards the apartment. "Well I don't. And I'm not suppose to be real. So if you're hearing your computer from all the way here you have even bigger problems." He leans down closer to her, "Tsk. Getting talked about bad by a figment of my own imagination... I don't know why I thought you were real before... is it possible that you." "No I will not disappear." Twilight says shaking her head. "Hehe can't blame a guy for trying. Anyway, do we have to keep trying so hard. I still have years ahead of me..." "Yes, Now shush we're starting to walk by people." Zak mumbles something inaudible to himself before leaning up and walking like normal. He passes a group of people that are horsing around with each other. They push and shoves while the females giggle and chat to themselves. Just everyday actions he's never experienced before. Sure at first before all of this mess of dealing with ponies and cartoon characters, he lived some what like that. But that was with family. And even than he felt secluded from them as well. As they walk past, Zak speaks up. "Hey Twilight?" He stops and looks down at her. "Yea?" she stops and looks back at him. "Forget about what I said before okay? About disappearing... I don't want you guys to disappear at least without letting me know first." Zak says sighing afterwards, "I would miss you guys a lot." Twilight smiles and nuzzles his leg, "Don't worry we're not going anywhere without letting you know first." {Meanwhile} "We probably should've told him where we were going to go first..." Annie says laying on the orange ponies back. Meanwhile the two along with Grunt and the yellow pegasus shake their heads at the predicament they're in. {Where the story is} "Well we're here! You ready!" Twilight says looking back at Zak. "Yea... as ready as I'll ever be..." He says walking past her up the stairs to enter the library. > Results > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zak walks through the front door of his home with Twilight right behind him. His house members are all sitting around in a circle. He figures they're all just playing a game of truth or dare till he notices who's sitting in the middle of it. "Why the hell are the power puff girls sitting in my house. No, more importantly how the hell did you find them. Wait no actually." "Calm down there big guy!" Rainbowdash flies flying up, "We found them while adventuring around the town. We got lost and they helped us get home." "You got lost... So you left the house with out letting me know..." Zak says walking around and sitting on the couch, "At least tell me you didn't do anything to raise attention." "Oh come on! When have we ever!" Rainbowdash gets cut off by Twilight, "I would hold your tongue unless you want me to count the times." "Don't worry about it..." Zak says sitting up more before placing his hands on his face, "I don't really care at this point." "What's up with him?" One of the three girls that sit in the middle of the circle, red dress, shoes, hair, and eyes; says, "I thought he's suppose to be happy?" "He normally is..."Says the yellow pegasus resting in Grunt's lap, "Did something happen Twilight?" Twilight shakes her head, "Don't worry about it. He'll feel better later on today... I think..." Zak turns on the T.V to see a news broadcast of more blown up buildings. Lately things have been a lot more dangerous outside of his room. People are getting hurt and things are happening without much of a reason. It has even been going on before he was born as well. He never put thought into it. Even now he doesn't put thought into it. *** "Zak?" Annie asks sitting on his bed. Zak looks over from his computer that holds a blank word document, "Yes?" "Are you okay?" She asks simply looking a bit sad. He never likes to see any of them sad. Especially when he's upset as well. It always seem to do him good to have them around when they're happy, but when they're sad. "Of course Annie. No need to worry... Just... Just dealing with some stuff." Zak says getting up and sitting down beside her. He picks her up and sets her in his lap where she begins softly kicking her feet, "Did something happen?" Zak looks forward at the wall and slowly nods his head, "You can say that... But you don't have to worry about it. It's just between me and Twilight right now. Now cheer up!" Zak begins tickling her sides making her turn from a sad little girl to a girl who is having a mad giggling fit. It brings a smile to his face every time she gets like this. Her cuteness has a way of getting rid of all the bad things in life. Its what distracted him back when he was younger from all the pain he went through. His mom would just say that's his subconscious trying to help him cope with the pain when he would say a real girl was there. She acted like she knew but he knew better. No one ever knew. But that's all in the past. Right now he's looking forward to the future and right now, as his stomach growls, he needs food. His stomach growling gains more giggles out of Annie, "Looks like someone got the grumbles!" "Yea yea. I'm a go and get something to eat. Are the others still awake?" Annie nods her head. "Twilight went outside, but she hasn't come back yet." "She's a big girl so she'll be fine. For now you need to get some sleep alright?" "Can I sleep with you tonight?" "Having bad dreams again?" She nods her head. "Alright. You can for now." He says moving her off his lap and laying her on the bed, "I'll protect you from the bad dreams." She gives a big grin and nods her head before getting under the sheets. With that Zak gets up and heads out his room and home heading for the shared kitchen area below. In the kitchen area below he grabs, washes, and bites into a red apple enjoying the taste it gives that only last seconds. He eats slowly thinking over the day over and over again. How things could've played out and how it ended up like it is now. "Hey! Something on your mind?" A voice calls out dragging him from his thoughts. "Hm?" He looks up to see a girl dressed in blue long legged pajama pants and a tight t-shirt. Her hair is done up in a ponytail that adds to her peach complexion. "Do I know you?" He asks feeling nervous as she walks around him. "No, But I know you and that's all that matters really. So what's on your mind?" She says stopping in front of him. Zak thinks back to what the woman said and holds a straight face not answering her question. The blonde giggles before going to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water, "You know something tells me you don't wanna talk to me." "And what makes you think that? A stranger comes up claiming they know me. That seems like an average day where I live..." Zak says watching her the entire time. "Well that's not the normal stare I get from guys." She states pressing a finger under his chin, "Plus It seems you've found out today about a lot of things." Zak swats her hand away, "Stay away from me and my family. I don't want anything to do with this mess." She chuckles as he walks away, "You know you can't walk away from everything like this." "Just watch me." He whispers back. He's walked away from a lot of things. And this. This is another one. Annie breathes softly her small chest rising and falling as she's snuggled into Zak's side as he lays on his back staring at the ceiling. He continues to wonder how things have gone from strange to down right bonkers. Almost anime like. The more he thinks of it the more he hates the world. The hate that boils inside of him will continue to boil up more and more. He sighs and looks down at Annie as she sleeps. He already knows his answer when it comes down to it. No matter what, he's not letting any of them get hurt. They're all his family and he's not giving up any of them no matter how much they provoke him. They've all helped him through a lot and he's not about to let any of that go. Zak doesn't consider himself a bear. A tiger, a shark, or any predator. He's always considered himself as a type of rodent, a pest even. Something that people rarely think about or even talk about. Something that people don't want near them. Something that can be sneaky and worm its way out of danger just by pretending its not even there. He chuckles to himself, "What have these guys gotten me into..." He closes his eyes and start to drift off into a troubling dream to only be awaken in the morning by the smell of smoke and screaming. > Friends and Enemies > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A week has gone by without any sort incident involving him or the imaginary creatures. School has been a fair and nice distraction from the world he constantly lives in. Well, outside of sharing his life between the imaginary in real distracting. He currently sits without a care in the world scanning over recently typed words in order to figure out if he's made any sort of mistake or grammar error. Thought Twilight scans much faster whilst looking over his shoulder. She occasionally takes a pencil and writes down mistakes and errors outside of the document. "Looking good?" Zak asks looking over his shoulder at his number one critic, editor, and fan. "Well, you've put a few mistakes here and there. Misspelled words that shouldn't have been misspelled, but they're mistakes that everybody makes." She says igniting her horn once more and covering his key board with a faint lavender glow, "Now, here are points I'd like to edit and change." Twilight types away using her magic leaving Zak to sit there and watch only commenting about something every so often. They keep at this until the door to the room opens revealing Annie in a pink dress dragging her bear behind her sleepily, "There's someone at the door..." She yawns and walks back out. It makes Zak's heart twinge a bit. Zak sighs, gets up, and walks to go answer the door, "Keep writing. I'm sure its nothing important so I'll be back soon." "Right." Twilight says the sound of typing re-entering the room. He walks to the door and opens it seeing the girl that has been stopping by almost everyday. He mentally rolls his eyes wondering what she wants now. She's currently wearing blue leggings that hug her lower half beautifully and a white t-shirt. Her hair is held back in a ponytail and she has a giant smile plastered on her face . "Hey Zak! So I stopped by to." "No thanks. I don't want to hang out today..." Zak says simply before he starts to shut the door. "Wait!" She says blocking the closing of the door with her foot, "I know you seem like the loner type but I'm concerned for you. You never come outside unless I drag you and." "And I should probably be more active and none of this is healthy for me. I know I know. I've been told that by everyone so far in life." He says looking over his shoulder shooting a glare towards a hovering Rainbow dash who's currently playing catch with the green, buttercups?, flying girl. Rainbow pays him no mind as they continue their game. Zak looks back at her while shaking his head. "Look. I'm sorry that I can't be your friend and such." Zak says shaking and lowering his head. "That's a lie!" Twilight yells out from within his room her friendship senses tingling. "But I think you would be better off not messing with me." He rolls his eyes at Twilight's comment wondering how she always knows when he's not trying to make friends. She shakes her head, "I'm not taking no as an answer." "You never do." He says chuckling. "Soooooo." She says removing her foot and tapping it impatiently. "Give me a moment..." Zak says hating at how persistent she is sometimes. He closes the door and heads for his room his two new companions, Bubbles and Blossom, floating around him the entire time. "Someone seems to have a hot date." Blossom, the red one now in a tank top and red jeans, says sitting on the bed. Bubbles, sporting on a short sleeve blue shirt and short legged blue jeans, floats upside down waving her legs up in the air back and forth. "Not a date. Nor will it ever be. She can always do better. If she's after me than she wants something other than my good looks." He says walking to the closet. "What good looks." Twilight scoffs her sight never leaving the computer. "You're just jelly baby doll." He says striking a pose before grabbing black jogging pants and a t-shirt with black wings on the back of it. The pose causes the two girls to giggle madly. He quickly gets dressed with the closet door closed before walking out, "Try not to ruin my story Twi." Twilight stops and turns around with her right eye twitch, "Ruin it!? How dare you insist that I Twilight Sparkle would dare ruin a story you." "Whatever you say baby doll." Zak says a smile on his face, "Also watch the language the kids are around." Twilight puffs up her cheeks before giving a horse like snort. She turns the chair back to return to her task at hand or well at hoof. He chuckles to himself loving how he messes with Twilight. He makes his way to the door and leaves out a frown plastered to his face again due to having to deal with outside world again. "Come on and smile!" she says giving herself a big smile. Zak just shakes his head and starts walking for the stairs to the right of the room, "I'll only smile when I'm happy. Not exercising." "But exercise can be fun!" She says following behind him. Zak sits drinking a Dr. Pepper and the girl, Shell or her full name Shelerby(Shell-a-bee) sits across from him as she sips on her steaming caramel coffee. He once tried it to see what the craze was all about but couldn't find anything good about it. Now they sit here as they usually do. Her enjoying the atmosphere of being surrounded by people Zak hating the feeling of being surrounded by so many people that can actually be seen. Even with his "imaginary friends" they don't surround him because they know how he is. Someone real, of course, doesn't. "So what does this make it? Three days now... How long will you keep dragging me here?" Zak asks putting his Dr. Pepper down once again. "Until you start making more friends." She says matter-of-factly. He shakes his head wondering why she keeps acting more and more like Twilight. He sighs before standing up and drinking the last bit of his drink. "So where does your grand scheme lead me to this time?" He says throwing away his can successfully bouncing it off the rim of the trashcan before luckily making it in. "To the park and than back to my place for a movie." She says getting up and following behind him. Zak's mind thinks of that again. Oh great. Again with inviting me to her place. She knows how he feels about it and yet she keeps talking about as if to get him out of his comfort zone. He likes his comfort zone because he feels, you know, comfortable. But she just keeps pushing it. He made the mistake of telling Twilight and ended up with a long talk about the birds and the bees and how he should approach her. She even brought him a book of different positions and how to... He shakes his head ridding himself of those disturbing thoughts. Twilight's face appears in his head from that all creepy and scary. It was a face of pure lust and happiness. She was even drooling. Drooling! He sometimes worries about his stories when he has to leave them at her hands, er hooves. She has even made her own fan base based off of one of his stories. They all love her fan fictions as much as the actual story. They especially love, what she calls them, her clop stories. Zak read one and never did again. From that point on he promised to never let any of the younger residents ever read anything Twilight writes. He felt especially bad when he found her "secret" stash of shipping stories involving everyone they live with. No matter how many showers he takes he can't stop feeling dirty. She continually spouts that its healthy, but he isn't too sure if its health to this much of a point. "I don't know. I keep telling you I don't." "Want to be out of my comfort zone I know I know. But you won't let me into your room so I just want you to come to mine. So we can get to know each other better over a free movie and popcorn." Zak chuckles at the very thought of her being in there. It would cause so much trouble for him and she doesn't even know. Lately he's been using the same excuse of his place is a pig sty. So far she is buying it, but he's not sure how much longer she will. Or even worse, if she offers to clean the place for him! "Well we'll worry about that after we go to the park! I really want you to push me on the swings!" She says finishing off her coffee in a few big gulps before tossing it into the nearby garbage bin. She starts jogging and grabs his hand forcing him to jog as well in order to keep up with her so she wouldn't rip his arm out of its socket. He finds a lot of the time how ridiculously strong she is. Than he considers the thought of how weak he is. When they get to the park there is already other people running around with dart guns or just horsing around. A lot more people here than he thought would come. Surprisingly the majority of them were all people he's seen at school. He looks at her, "Are you serious?" She scratches the back of her head her tongue out the right corner of her mouth, "What ya talkin about?" Zak groans and starts walking away from this mess. He should have guessed she would take him somewhere where there's a bunch of people around. He keeps reminding her that he's not good with big crowds and yet. "Come on Zak! Can't you at least try! For me!" And there's the for me crap. He doesn't know why she keeps trying to pull him into being more social. She says its both healthy for the mind and the body. But over the years its always seemed more of like a poison. "Shell. ... I don't what to do this... I don't want to immediately go into big groups." He says though in the back of his mind he wishes he said he doesn't want to be a part of any group. "Okay. I understand. That's why I was going to take you to where my friends are at!" She says grabbing his right arm and pulling him back to the park. He wonders at that point why he keep letting her do this shit to him. But than again, things have gotten kind of better because of it. He has managed to get a lot of things out of his head because of her. Only when he really starts to think about it does he start to worry. "Fine." He says giving up resistance and slumping his body. She jumps up and down in joy and hurries off motioning for him to follow. He shakes his head and follows behind her wondering what all he's going to get himself caught up into today. "I really hope this is worth this torture..." > Hiders and Seekers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zak sits on a hill as the sun dips towards the horizon shared by the blazing forest in front of him. He holds his legs close against his shaking body. Blood cakes his hands and face as tears roll freely down his face. Beside him, Jenny sits her head laying against his shoulder and her arm around him and Annie. Behind him Grunt stands head held high with his axe, almost as blood covered as he is, on his shoulder. Above him the ponies who can fly, Fluttershy and Rainbowdash, float along with the small girls who seem to be trying to face reality but failing.. To the sides of Grunt is Twilight, Rarity, on the left; and Applejack who all try to look strong for the others. To Zak's right sits Annie as she clutches onto him and cries into his side her right side and back covered in scars and blood. A giant bear lays to her side as a pet would. In front of them lay what once was considered a playground. It has been turned suddenly into a battlefield unlike any other. It is now nothing more than a half destroyed play ground with fires blazing across the nearby trees. Firefighters have since shown up to take care of the every increasing flames. The police soon followed afterward to check for survivors and provide protection from whatever caused this in the first place. At the same time the paramedics showed up to give medical attention where they could. Anyone not unconscious are currently being interrogated and questioned. "I-I wanna go home..." Zak says softly through his sobs clutching his knees harder against his body to try to bring him a little bit more comfort. "We all do." Jenny says rubbing his back trying to sooth him over as she watches the failing attempt of battling the magical fire. With what just happened none of them really expect to sleep well tonight. If they even sleep at all. It all happened so fast that there was no way to tell that the outcome would be something like this. No way at all. At least all of them weren't involved. Only a few. But the blood of the innocent and guilty... It's too much. It cakes all of their souls like a smothering sandpaper sheet. "What we do now?" Grunt asks his eyes never leaving the battlefield or fire as he shifts the weight of the axe. "We can't go home..." Twilight says looking away first., "We have to leave... Before the cops come to us." "Twilight I don't." Applejack start. "I know he's in no condition! We just bring him along. I have the brains and I know what's best. Jenny, Can you grab them both and bring them along?" Twilight cutting away Applejack. Applejack keeps quite as Jenny nods and picks up Annie and goes for Zak. Zak stands still crying, "I can walk..." Twilight nods her head and starts walking, "I think I have an idea..." "You always do egghead." Rainbowdash says trying to lighten up the mood a little bit thought her voice is still sad which only makes thing seem even tenser than they already are. "Well someone does Rainbowdash." Twilight replies smiling a bit before thoughts impede on her mind which makes her smile disappear once again, "There's always someone there to make sure the weak become strong in the times of need..." "Do you think she got out?" Zak asks wiping away more tears, "I know I didn't treat her like a friend but." "I don't want to lie to you Zak. If she did than it's out of our hands. If she didn't than..."Twilight says shaking her head, "Don't think about it too much." Zak nods his head and starts walking away, "Lets go. I can't stay here..." "What about school?" "Let them think I'm dead. Its for the best right?" Zak asks not putting much thought into it as he continues to walk. The other takes one look back and start following behind Zak and Twilight. Grunt puts away his axe and picks up Fluttershy where he starts stroking her mane. Sometimes Zak wonders if he's helping Fluttershy out or whether she's helping him out. Though the thought doesn't last long as its assaulted and beaten like a child who can't fight back. He considered that something like this would happen at some point. Just not something this extreme. He knew his days of peaceful living were numbered, but he didn't think they would end like this. Thought he tries to keep optimistic about it. Like Pinkie saysIt can always be worse! At this point he highly doubts it, but he rather not push his luck. After all he's been pushing it since he started hanging out with that girl. If only he had said no and walked away and Twilight didn't persist on being more active. Was this unavoidable? After she. "Zak!" The voice snaps him out of his trance. He looks to his left to see Shell coming at him in full speed. She has a bandaged left arm and right leg. She winces every so often but the further closer she gets the further back Zak tries to back up. Of all the times for her to show up, now would have to be the worst. "What should I do." Zak asks looking towards Twilight. Twilight doesn't attempt to answer. This time Jenny does. "Like you said. We have to leave. We can't stay here if we want to be safe. You want to keep the others safe don't you?" Jenny asks turning him around, "As long as you don't look back you don't have to face her." "I should be good at not looking back huh..." Zak says chuckling sadly. "I know." Jenny says turning around and placing her arm around him and making him move forward. "Zak!? Where are you going!? Zak!!" She continues to screaming following behind. Jenny presses on, "Don't look back. Close your ears if you have to. Some things you just don't go back to." "This is one of them." Zak finishes moving forward at his own pace now, "Right Twilight." Twilight slowly nods her head. So with the new resolve of getting away from this bad area, Zak keeps walking ignoring the desperate calls from the girl. Eventually they stop. He's not sure if she just stopped chasing or if she just stopped calling out to him. "She still follow." Grunt says stopping. Zak almost stops and looks himself but he decides better. Right now he's walking towards a forest so if she keeps coming she'll get lost as well. Something hits him in the back which makes him stop. He turns around and looks down to see a rock. "Zak!" Shell yells. Zak can only stare at her for a moment. He couldn't believe it. She's too persistent. "It's fine Zak." Jenny says shaking her head, "Just see what she wants real quick then we'll leave." "Okay." Zak says walking towards her to meet her halfway. There Shell stares into his eyes and he stares back. Her eyes cold and serious his eyes cold and dead. It could be worse. They could both be victims of the event. Well, in a sense he's a victim. But it's hard to fight what can't be stopped. "Zak..." She says, "Why?" "Cause I need to leave. I won't come back. It's too dangerous now." He says simply looking behind him to see if he's getting the approval he needs from everybody else about what he's saying. "So you're running away? They'll think you're a criminal! They'll hunt you down!" "Not if they think I'm dead." Zak retorts turning and walking towards the forest. "No! This is a serious problem!" She yells grabbing him by the shoulder and turning around, "I'll make sure they know you're alive!" "Look, don't. That'll only cause more trouble for me." Zak says finding this situation annoying. "But you can't just fake your death like that! Plus with what she said about." "I know what she said!" Zak yells his eyes lighting a bit, "Just shut up and leave! And keep your mouth closed!" "Not unless you're coming back with me... I can't let you throw your life away like this." She says with conviction despite taking a step back from the sudden outburst. "Too bad." Zak says turning again. "Zak! Damn it! I'm not goin-" He words are cut off by the sound of a blast. A very familiar sounding blast too. Zak looks down to his right to see Twilight standing there her horn a lit. Zak turns around to see Shell backing away staring down at the new addition to her scares. A hole goes through her. Blood flowing out of her faster than Zak reaction. Zak goes from calmness to a sense of panic and sickness. She doesn't even scream. She opens her mouth and releases no noise. She falls back and simply stares up. Zak says nothing and Twilight envelopes her with her magic and moves her from the spot. Zak can only stare at the spot where she once laid. "Twilight..." Fluttershy speaks out for the group. "She's not a very caring friend. No... she's not a friend at all. Even if she was, she's betraying you now. Friends are meant to keep each other's secrets. Not threaten them with it. Isn't that right Rarity." Rarity nods her head emotionless. "Oh... my god..." Zak says falling to his knees and finally retching as all the bodies come back to his mind on top of this. "I'm sorry." Twilight says looking away from everyone, "It had to be done. We all know what needs to be done! Its the right thing to do!" Zak doesn't say anything or even do anything. He just stays there on his knees shaking, crying, and remembering all the little details and all the big details of what has transpired today. This horrible bloody day. The horribly terrifying day. Looks like she's right. He is a Hider. He could never be a Seeker with how they seek out their victims. He's been hiding everyday and now the Seekers are looking for him. He would wonder just how long they'll be able to hide, but Twilight already has that covered as she moves the group away from Zak so he can't hear her and her plan. They talk for a while and than nod their heads in agreement. This is the first of many unknown plans to be made without Zak. > In the night > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zak sits in front of a blazing fire with the power puff girls laying in his lap as Twilight and her group look around the area for any signs of trouble. He group consists of only the Mane Six while everyone else recovered. Jenny and Grunt are off to the side recharging themselves while Annie sleeps clutching onto Zak's arm. But Zak can't sleep. Despite how his body feels, it won't let him sleep. His thoughts are swirling with everything that's happened yesterday and today. It's been an entire day since that bloody day. He would shed more tears if he wasn't sure that all of his tears were gone. All that's left is just a shell of what was once his life. Or what could have been considered a life. But now that idea along with so many others lie six feet under riddled with holes or burned up in the never ending fire. So now he wants to just stay away from everything. If he can. If not than he'll make everything stay away. Through fear or force. It doesn't matter anymore does it? He walked away from the corpse of his friend so why not everything else? He's forever changed. He looks deeper into the fire and can make out the many faces and images within it. Its merely a trick of the light, but he knows better than that. He's imagination is just to good. His brain is too far gone and his life is destroyed. Perhaps he could end it now and... Zak sighs and looks away from the flames wishing things could go back to what they once were. He talked to Twilight the other day about it and she said if they can elude things and wait for the heat to die out, maybe they can come back under a different guise. Not to where they were before but close to it if he wanted to. "Hello there traveler." A voice calls out lowly from behind him. Zak jumps and looks behind him to see a man wearing a black mask over the bottom portion of his face. His piercing red eyes seem to glow and his black hair that waves down in front of him gives him a fierce expression. He wears a black jacket and black jeans that hug his form snuggly. Zak looks at the others who stir a bit before settling back in. "Now, let's keep them out of this or I'll have to call my friends." He says letting his arms out presenting the shadows around him. Something gleams in the darkness. It was barely noticeable but it was certainly there. There are most likely a dozen or so trained on him and his friends. No, his family. Zak mood only worsens upon seeing the way the person moves about cockily. "Soooo... How's it going man?" He asks a smile obvious in his tone of voice. "Could be a lot better." Zak replies doing his best to stay still while following him with his eyes. "Oh cheer up. I noticed the big royal yesterday and let me say buddy. Hehe you are out of your league." He says walking closer. "Yea. I'm not in any league either. I'm not part of this at all." Zak replies not liking where this is all going. "Yes you are." He says taking a seat beside him, "You're just prey as you are though. Like so many others I've seen as well. In fact, if you were serious about this you would've known to stay out of my forest." "Your forest?" Just being near him makes himself want to run for the hills. Though he is pretty sure that if he tried things would end up... badly, "So your forest huh... mind letting us pass?" "No. I do mind that you guys aren't being more careful. I'm going to hunt down each and everyone of you guys in my forest. So you best watch out buddy. In the morning you'll be safe unless you try to leave. At night though hehe." He gets up and starts walking away. Zak only continues to watch for a moment before his attention turns back to the three girls in his lap. He shakes his head feeling tears starting to form in his eyes. They don't fall cause he already knows he's been crying for way to long. He rather focus his energy on tomorrow if this guy is being serious. "Oh yea! Before I forget... I'm guessing you're Zak?" No reply. "Well, if you are or if you stumble into a Zak before me than let him know his girl is looking for him. " He says followed by the rustling of the leaves and shaking of branches. Zak's eyes grow wide in fear and rage. He clenches his teeth together and his hand grip into tighter fist than before. Deeper in the forest Twilight and her group slowly moves about the underbrush to avoid unwanted attention. So far Twilight's plans have gone to awry pretty fast. So fast in fact, that the flash would be pretty impressed. It was supposed to be a simply scouting mission to make sure that they have a safe spot to discuss and figure out where to go from here. But now its turned into a fight or flight situation. So far they have chosen the latter. "Keep your eyes out girls..." Twilight says softly, "We don't know when he'll appear so we have to be ready for any sort of attack." No one says anything but she's sure they're all probably nodding their heads in agreement. They approach a path and prepare to cross it when a muffled scream is heard behind them. They all quickly turn to find Fluttery wrapped in a bola with a gag in her mouth. Rainbowdash is the first to act and quickly scoops Fluttershy off the ground and back to the group. From the bushes where Fluttershy way a fully white and gray furred man walks out from the bushes wielding two wicked looking daggers that both curve towards his body. Spikes are aligned on he left one and he has a eye patch covering one of his eyes. He resembles that of a lion and has dreads hanging from his head and face. He growls and speaks lowly, "None shall escape my hunt." He roars and throws his arms back before leaping out of the bushes towards the group. > The Hunt > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight jumps over a fallen log as a bola goes under her. She lands and stumbles a bit before flashing her magic behind her and ward off or slow down her attacker. He hooves crash through the river and she soon finds herself in an opening by herself. She stumbles forward and looks behind her to see her pursuer coming out with a predator's smile painted on his face. "Your head shall adorn our wall. Every trophy, a victory." He says sliding his claws together as he stalks towards the cowering Twilight. He horn sparks and the cat man lets out a roar as he rushes forward. He jumps out of the way as a spear flies over Twilight head nearly hitting the monster. He rolls and stares past Twilight towards something unseen by her. She doesn't take her eyes off of the cat man as a voice speaks up, "Hello Rengar." "Nidalee. I see you have come far from home as well." Rengar says licking his lips, "No matter. I shall leave bodies in my wake." "You think too highly of yourself. You couldn't even kill Kha'zix." Rengar roars as her rushes forward on all fours. Nidalee laughs and magic is heard as the two rush each other. At this point Twilight takes the distraction and makes a run for it hoping to get away from them. As she runs she can only hope that the others are having some better luck than her. Her thoughts soon turn towards Zak hoping he hasn't run into too much trouble. Zak waits patiently as the new comer studies him closely. It's a man with a rifle on his back with a very gruff beard and shells around his neck. The man showed up some time after the first person came with his allies. Zak isn't sure if this one has allies hiding in the bushes too, but he won't take his chances. "Seems like you're not really made for the woods buddy." "Yea..." Zak replies never breaking his sight away from the others around the camp, "Not really made out to be... whatever I am." "A seer. Though I guess ya never had someone tellin ya that." The gruff man says sitting down beside him, "Though you got quite a group with ya that I can say fer sure." Zak can barely smell the scent of garlic and pines emitting off of his breath and clothes. Zak quickly comes to the decision that this guy has been in the woods way longer than anyone else he has met. This guy could be a real mountain man for all Zak knows. Zak moves a hand through his hair a few tears coming down his face, "I don't like it here." "I can tell youngin. Yer a novince as they all come. Many come here in these woods hopping to get away ferum all the thing sthat lay in their way. But here they don't know. Like you. Yer findin out and not likin it aint ya?" Zak only nods his head. The man reminds him of a father he never had. A father he wished he had. Zak unclenches and clenches his fist more and more his finger digging deep into his hand. He really hates being like this. Being forcefully put in situations he doesn't want to be in. He tried to deny everything and keep quiet, but it's the same as always. Found out and running away. Except this time he has no escape plan. The only thing he can think of his continue moving and hopefully make it somewhere safe. "Are yer not gonna fight?" The old man says standing up using his rifle. "I don't want to. But there doesn't seem to be much of a choice." He says giving a heavy sorrowful sigh and looking at his group. "There's always two road to be taken." He says reaching into his pocket and laying a small metal box next to him. The man starts walking away as Zak stares into the fire only glimpsing at the metal box. He shakes his head understanding day in and day out he's going to get pulled more and more into this mess. He fumbles with his thumbs as he knits his hands together. Things have truly changed into something far beyond what he thought would happen. "Thank you." He says quietly to himself as he sits there still staring into the fire wondering if the ones who aren't here are all right. He knows they're all strong and he's pretty sure that they'll stop at nothing to get back here. Though he worries none the less. It's only natural to worry. If he didn't, things would be so much worse. Worse in the sense that things can be. "Twilight... Please get back safe..." Morning slowly breaks above the canopy of trees. It sets a sign of many things seen differently all around the world. Currently in the forest is shows a sign of another successful night that they have lived through. It's a interesting notion of thought for Zak. He has always looked at each day as if he shouldn't be alive and thankful that he is. Now he knows it really is a blessing. After everything he just witnessed and the talks he has had... Zak stands up pocketing away the metal box into his right pocket. Jenny and the others start to wake from their slumbers. "Batteries at one hundred percent." Jenny says mechanically, "Good morning everybody." Jenny stretches as Grunt sits up and uses his axe as a prop to raise himself up, the girls fly up into the air stretching their tiny bodies, and Zak simply watches all of them as he fumbles with the metal box in his pocket. "Good morning Zak!" The three floating girls says in union. "Morning guys. As you can see Twilight and company aren't with us right now due to them finding a safe place to set up for tonight. I know you guys don't want to continue sleeping in the forest." Zak says trying to be casual and calm about it. "Oh. Should we go look for them?" Blossom asks flying up higher. Zak nods his head, "Yea. If you want, but be careful okay? We don't know what's all here." "Right!" Buttercup yells flying after her sister with Bubbles right behind her. "Are you sure they should-" Jenny starts. "Well. I trust them to stay out of trouble really. So why not." He says shrugging his shoulder even though mentally he's trying to figure out what to do about this situation. His body and mind aren't acting together well and he's sure it's making him make poor decisions. He looks at grunt and motion at the small fire. Grunt nods his head and puts it out with a few stomps of his foot. He hefts up his axe and walks over to Jenny and Zak. Zak nods his head, "Alright. Now we just need to wait a bit while-" An explosion cuts him off and he quickly looks off to where the girls flew to see smoke coming from their direction. "That could be from the girls!" Jenny says her feet turning into rockets and flying off, "I'll go ahead! Meet me there!" "Jenny!" Zak yells before cursing seeing as she's still going, "Alright Grunt. I hope you've recovered from the last time." Grunt smiles and points at himself, "For Hellscream!" > A new dawn a new mind > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zak rides on the back of Grunt as he runs through the forest knocking away limbs and bursting through bushes like nothing. The sound of Jenny's jet feet start to fade out as she flies towards the giant plume of smoke just a head of them. It takes them a while, but they manage to get there to find a giant crater that looks to big to be made by any normal meteorite. Jenny and a few other creatures, all from different shows, fly above as well. Even a few flying type Pokémon can be seen. Zak can see other people like himself standing around this giant hole waiting to see what it is as well as asking others what this could mean. Grunt keeps his axe up as a familiar face walks up to him. "Zak?" The butter Pegasus asks with both happiness and sadness in her voice. "Fluttershy!" Zak exclaims while hopping off of Grunt's back who's still watching the hole with determination. Upon realizing who's here, Grunt walks over and picks up the dirtied and scared pony and quickly brings her close to his chest. He strokes her mane which seems to calm her down. To the right of Fluttershy, or at least where she did stand, stands Pinkie and Rarity both looking just as bad as Fluttershy. Yet the others aren't here with them. Though he's pretty sure the girls are coming towards this explosion anyway. Especially Twilight. Always so curious. "What happened to you guys?" Zak asks as he starts helping Rarity get the branches and twigs out of her mane. "Oh it was awful! Monsters tried to kill us! But people came and saved us when we needed it the most." Fluttershy exclaims from Grunt's embrace. "I... I see... I'm sorry for bringing you guys out here. I really thought everything was going to be nicer... but..." Zak turns around and walks to the edge of the burned forest, "I guess this place is more dangerous than our home..." Zak stares down into the dust filled center. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary... Though... it almost looks like something is... "Zak... everything will be okay. We just have to be more careful. Though I do agree with the idea of getting out of this forest... All of this dirt is positively no healthy." Rarity comments while knocking some twigs out of her disheveled mane. "Yeah... I guess that would be for the-" HIs words are cut off by screaming and the sick sounds of flesh, organs, and bones being crushed and ripped apart. A giant explosion soon follows after it. Zak looks towards the sound to see the entire side of a forest blown apart by something invisible. People and characters start backing away from the crater fear evident in their eyes. That includes Grunt and his entire crew as well. What's ever down there, it's not happy with being surrounded. "Maybe... Maybe we should leave..." Fluttershy eeps out her eyes as big as saucers. "What about Twilight? Shouldn't we look for everyone first before leaving!?" Pinkie asks bouncing nervously as her tail shakes. An easy sign that something is a foot. "You're right. As usual Pinkie... We can't leave our friends behind..." Zak says looking back to the wide crater, "Jenny! We're leaving!" It takes her awhile, but Jenny lands with the Power Puff Girls right behind her. The rest of the air characters have left as well. Some faster than others. "Zak... The girls said that they were flying when something big came flying by them. It nearly crushed them, but they go lucky." Jenny says as the small girls hug onto her legs. They're practically scared. Zak doesn't blame them either. They're practically surrounded by danger right now. People who are full of blood lust, people who are crazy, and characters that are even crazier. Worst yet, something just landed in the forest and it wiped out a whole group with an invisible force. "J-J-Jenny..." Fluttershy stammers out as she points her hoof. Zak looks beyond Jenny to see some weird dripping creature. It's like nothing they've ever seen before. Tentacles rise out of its back and swifter than anything they've seen, Jenny is torn apart and thrown to the side. Leaving the girls holding on to disconnected legs. Zak screams out as the creatures lurches out at him. An axe comes from his side and slams into the beast making it stop. The beast looks up at Grunt who's no longer holding Fluttershy. Fluttershy has taken to the air and is leading the others away despite how scared she is. Grunt leans down and glares into the monster's eyes. The monster growl and Grunt growls right back. Zak moves away and grabs the girls who are standing their petrified holding on to those same legs. He makes a b line for Fluttershy and the others who are running in a different direction. Zak has tears running down his eyes as he hold on to the girls and run. Twilight and them will have to wait. Right now, something horrible is happening. He can hear it. Not Grunt, but others dying around him from unseen creatures. Or worse yet... Each other. Zak looks up to see Fluttershy flying just at the canopy of the trees. He has never known her to be able to get anything down under pressure. Than again, she has gotten a lot of influence from Grunt over the years... "God damn it Grunt..." Zak mutters out as he runs behind the ponies, "Why?" Somewhere deeper in the forest, Twilight looks up at the giant dust cloud rising from the forest. At the same time Rainbow and Applejack are doing the same thing. The dust bring about screams soon after and a dreadful feeling through them all.