Submersive Exploration and her friends find new evolutionary pathways humans took in their search for the pale brown man.
Submersive Exploration and her friends have been searching everywhere for the pale brown man. Fortunately, it's winter vacation, and they can travel. They come across the next alternate evolutionary pathway that humans have taken far from their home, in the depths of Antarctica.
It had been a couple of months sense the pale brown man had escaped from his watery prison and disappeared. Submersive Exploration was pacing her room, thinking about the upcoming winter holiday. She had noticed that it was getting colder, and hoped that that wouldn't freeze her legs, which because of her physiology, were always wet. Her mom, Broiling Striker, would've teased her about it. Besides, it just would've been embarrassing. So she, Flash, Broiling Striker and her other friends had spoken about when and where they would look for the pale brown man. They all had researched and looked through old books, and through the couple of months that they were on the surface world, Submersive Exploration and Broiling Striker had found some other old legends about creatures that were half human, and half some other creature. Some of them were more ridicules, like the bovan's, which were half human and half cow, and the micro sapiens, which were humans so small you needed specialized equipment to see them. But some of them, like centaurs and cyclopes weren't as ridiculous. Thanks to Twilight, they had gotten a free ride all the way to the Antarctica, which was where the pale brown man had last been seen. Of course, that was a while ago, so he was probably gone by now, but it was still possible that he was still there. Submersive Exploration heard the door open and close. She opened the door and walked downstairs, and saw Flash and Sunset Shimmer.
"Are you two ready?" Submersive Exploration asked. Flash and Sunset Shimmer nodded.
"Are you and your mom?" Flash asked. Submersive Exploration nodded.
"Mom's finishing up," she said. "Are you guys ready? We may have finally found him." Flash nodded.
"Oh, I'm totally ready," he said. They heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see Broiling Striker walk down them, wearing a purple shirt and black pants, her blue and purple striped scale covered feet hitting each step, her E cup breasts bounce a little with each step. She never liked wearing bras, just like her daughter, but Broiling Striker occasionally liked to tease Flash with them. But that was only sometimes, and only happened, like, once a week. As Broiling Striker walked down the stairs, the started talking as well.
"So what are these airplanes like?" she asked. "We have no need of them underwater, because everyone can float." Flash launched into a description of what plans did, and assured both Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration that they were safe-mostly.
"When does everyone else get here?" Sunset Shimmer asked. As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Submersive Exploration pulled the door open, letting Rarity and Twilight in, as well as the cold air, sending shivers up her water coated legs. Flash clapped his hands together.
"Well, now that everyone is here, let's get going," he said. "Our flight is in a little more than an hour, and I want to get through customs with enough time." Everyone pilled into two cars: Broiling Striker, Submersive Exploration, Sunset Shimmer and Flash into Flash's car and Twilight and Rarity getting into Rarity's car. The car ride was quick and silent (fortunately there was no farting) until they got to the airport. They packed up all there stuff, and waited at their departing area. Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration stared in awe at the airplanes that slowly drove up to the connecting air things.They sat there for a while until the announcer said it was time for them to board the time. They boarded and sat down
"So, this is the inside of an airplane," Broiling Striker said. Flash pointed out the window.
"If you want, you can look out the window and see what's happening outside," he said. Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration moved closer, squishing Flash into his seat. But then the pilot started speaking, so they had to return to their seats. After he was done talking, Flash had to help Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration get their seat belts on, which was surprisingly difficult because of the duos large breasts. Then the plan started taking off. Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration watched from the window as the landscape fell away. Broiling Striker looked at Flash and asked something.
"What was that 'turbulence' thing that the pilot mentioned?" she asked. "And should we be worried about it?" Flash shook his head.
"Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous," he said. "Turbulence is when the plane encounters strong gusts of wind, and the plane starts shaking. But don't worry, we're safe." Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration both suddenly looked scared.
"We're safe," he said. "We should be having some soon." As if on cue, the plane started to shake. That wasn't the only thing to shake. Broiling Striker's and Submersive Exploration's boobs started to jiggle, shake and bounce around with the plane. They started to blush and Flash snickered.
For the next 20 hours, they flew towards the UK, where they would catch the plane to Australia, and where they would catch another plane to Antarctica. It took a long time, but they finally landed on a landing strip somewhere in Antarctica. The small plane unloaded the bags that were in the storage, and the small group of friends trekked to the small airport, where they waited for a taxi. It was small and black, and probably had a really good heater. Submersive Exploration and Broiling Striker shivered. The insides of their pants were covered in a thin layer of water, but there wasn't enough to soak through the cloth. Of course, it was still cold on their legs. They pilled into the taxi, which did have a good heater, and they drove to the cabins that Twilight had reserved. They all shared cabins: Rarity and Twilight were in one, Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration were in another, and Flash and Sunset Shimmer were in another. As the unpacked and got themselves ready in the cabins, Submersive Exploration turned to see Twilight in a little main meeting house. Submersive Exploration followed Twilight into it. It wasn't a house, per say, but it was still a building, and it had a fireplace.
"Are you ready to find this guy?" Submersive Exploration asked. Twilight turned around and nodded.
"I have a way of tracking him," she said. "It should work. It hasn't been tested in an environment like this." Twilight gestured out the window at their surroundings, with the wind howling around them, whipping snow everywhere, and there was the thick amount of snow falling from the sky.
"How does it work?" Submersive Exploration asked. Twilight smiled. One thing she loved about inventing stuff was getting to explain how it worked.
"It has a radius of several miles, and it searches for specific things that can be found in living things, like body heat, movement, it can even detect speech!" Twilight said. "This will really be able to help us find this guy!" Submersive Exploration smiled. She really wanted to find the pale brown man and make sure he rotted in prison. He had trapped her on a coral reef for five years, and had killed her father, Jagged Pierce. And with this, it would be a lot easier to find him.
"That's awesome," Submersive Exploration said. "Hey, how did you even find this place?" Twilight lightly blushed.
"Let's just say that some people owed me some favors," she said. "A lot of big favors. They still do, actually, but that's not important." Submersive Exploration smiled.
"Well then, why don't we finish unpacking, and get started on our search?" Submersive Exploration suggested. Twilight nodded.
"Sounds like a good idea," she said.
Meanwhile, several miles away on top of a snowy drift, a pair of eyes watched the group. Humans wouldn't have been able to see as far through such bad visual conditions, but the pair of eyes wasn't human. The owner of said pair turned away and trotted away, back towards her superiors, to tell them about what she had seen.
Once everyone had finished unpacking their stuff, and had put on some better clothes, Twilight gathered everyone in the central building, and explained how they were going to hunt for the pale brown man. Specifically about her new tracker. Sunset Shimmer was a little worried about it having never been used in a snow storm. Of course, Twilight was still confident that it would work, and showed them their own traceable signals.
"So yes, it'll work," Twilight said. "Anyway, I only made two of these, so we'll need to split into groups of two. Any questi-yes, Rarity?"
"How are you able to afford all of this?" Rarity asked, pointing at the two heat trackers. Twilight smiled.
"I'm on the school's top grades list, at the very top," she said. "I've already gotten scholarship requests, and I've been given a bit of a free reign on inventing stuff by the government. They pay for pretty much everything. Any other questions?"
"How are we going to know where to go to get back?" Flash asked.
"I've set down a tracker that these things will guide you to when you press the home button," Twilight said. "It also has a clock on it. Any other questions?" No one else had a question. "Okay then, let's get going." Submersive Exploration grabbed the other thermal tracker with her gloved hand, and walked out of the building. She was joined by her mom and Sunset Shimmer. Rarity and Flash joined Twilight.
"When do we come back here?" Broiling Striker asked, having to shout over the wind.
"Let's make it two hours," Twilight shouted back. "Maybe sooner, but no later than that. We'll go that way." Twilight pointed towards the north behind her. "You three should go that way." Twilight pointed towards the north behind Submersive Exploration. Everywhere was north, except if you pointed in towards the center. That was south. Submersive Exploration nodded.
"Well then, I guess we'll see you later!" she shouted at Twilight. They turned around and started walking in the directions the had been given.
Nothing much happened. Submersive Exploration and her group slowly trekked along, bored, climbing over the occasional small snow ridge. They would glance at the thermal tracker every so often, but the only thermal signatures where from them, and from Twilight's group, but they were far away from them. As they continued walking, Rarity pointed out a large, mountain-sized snow ridge.
"Oh, let's go around that," she said. Submersive Exploration and Broiling Striker made agreeing noises. They started walking around the sides of the mountain, when the thermal tracker made a ping. Submersive Exploration looked at the screen in surprise. There was a new thermal signal on the screen. And it was on the mountain.
"Oh, we'll need to go on the mountain, Rarity," Submersive Exploration said. They turned to face the mountain and started trekking up the side. It wasn't very steep, but the snow, and the thick clothing made it a little difficult. But it did get more difficult as they got higher. But they finally got to a ridge where they could walk easily. It was a flatter area, and it gave Submersive Exploration the opportunity to look again at the screen. Submersive Exploration looked around at the snow blocking their view.
"It should be beyond that corner," she said. As they started walking, Submersive Exploration tried to make her foot steps quieter. If it was the pale brown man, and she was guessing it was, then it would be terrible if he heard them and started running. But he didn't run. Nor was it the pale man. As they rounded the corner, they saw something that shocked them. At first, Rarity thought it was a person on a horse. But it wasn't. The person and the horse were the same thing. It was a centaur. It's snow covered tail flicked and they heard a snort. It sounded feminine. But then it turned around, and they realized that it was female.
"About time," she said. "I've been waiting for you."
They had gone back to the central building, waiting for the others to come back. But they were talking with the centaur, who's name was Ethereal Whisper. She was like a ninja in the snow, able to disappear even thought you were looking directly at her, which pleased Rarity, because Ethereal Whisper wasn't wearing a bra. Apparently she didn't need one. Her upper body's layer of skin had adapted to make her not feel too cold, and centaurs apparently didn't have bra's anyway. Or clothing in general. So of course Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration liked her right away. Ethereal Whisper's fur coat was white, as was her human chest. As they waited, they talked. Ethereal Whisper had been waiting for them, even though no one had known she was there, or even existed. Ethereal Whisper had known about the thermal trackers, though she wouldn't reveal how she knew of them. She did say, however, that there was an entire village of centaurs, and that strange things had been happening recently. After a few more minutes of talking, the door opened, letting Twilight's group, and snow and cold air, into the main house. But they froze, much like anything and everything in Antarctica, as they saw Ethereal Whisper. Flash's eyes were frozen on Ethereal Whisper's chest for a few seconds before Sunset Shimmer playfully and lightly slapped him, mostly just pushing his face away from Ethereal Whisper. Twilight started taking her goggles and headgear off, her excitement clear on her face.
"You're a centaur!" Twilight said. "You're also naked, but that's not important. Actually, that is important. You're not wearing anything! Do you not feel the cold?" Ethereal Whisper looked at Twilight with a curious expression.
"No, I do not feel the cold," Ethereal Whisper said. "My skin is thick enough to take care of that."
"Oh, your species existence is revolutionary!" Twilight squeed. "There are so many questions I have!"
"Already?" Flash asked. "You just met her." Twilight glared at him.
"And? When I met Submersive Exploration, I had a ton of questions," Twilight said.
"I told you about her and to come meet her," Flash deadpanned. "You had the time to think about it."
"Whatever. Anyway, would you mind if I ask you some questions?" Twilight asked Ethereal Whisper excitedly.
"Ask away. I like this level of curiousness," Ethereal Whisper said. Twilight blushed lightly and nodded.
"Okay, first question, how did centaurs evolve into centaurs?" Twilight asked. Ethereal Whisper shrugged.
"I'm not sure on the science behind it all," she started. "But there is a legend. A very interesting legend."
"Is this relevant to the plot-line?" Twilight asked. Ethereal Whisper nodded.
"Don't worry, of course it's relevant," she said. "Anyway, a long time ago, there was a nomad. He wandered everywhere without concern for what was rumored to be in the area, or what the ancient shamans predicted the weather to be like. This got him into trouble, for one night as he set up camp, a mighty wind storm set in. It was already snowing and cold, so the wind turned into it into a blizzard. The mans camp quickly came crashing down, and without restraints, it blew away. Without only an animal fur to keep him warm, he tried digging to get out of the wind. But that only made it worse. Finally, one of the goddesses took notice. The great goddess Demena. She saw his struggle, and pitted him. So she gathered her celestial energy and embedded it into the man. But it also got into his coat. It was made from the skin of a horse. The man started to mutate, and his legs took on the form of a horses. Demena hadn't meant to do this, so she, and the other gods, were surprised to see a half man, half horse wander the snowy tundra unaffected. The king of the gods, Eclipsim, asked her why she had done that to the man, and she replied with how she had accidentally blasted his coat with some of her celestial energy, and that had caused him to become what he was now." Flash raised his hand, his head still looking out the window, away from Ethereal Whisper.
"Yes?" Ethereal Whisper asked.
"Is this mans name remembered?" Flash asked. Ethereal Whisper shook her head, her silver hair bouncing around, despite him not being able to see.
"No, we can't remember that," Ethereal Whisper said. "No one can remember any of the others names, except for the gods, of course."
"There are others?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, yeah," Ethereal Whisper said. "Any other questions?" No one else had a question. "Good. So Eclipsim asked what Demena was planning to do with the man now. Demena decided to make three more creature just like the man. One male, and two females. She sent them to the man, along with an order: Breed with them, create a society away from the normal humans, and adapt the surroundings to them."
"That's a lot like what happened with merfolk," Broiling Striker said. "Our goddess Tanggong granted the first merman under very similar circumstances." Ethereal Whisper glanced at Broiling Striker's and Submersive Exploration's legs.
"Right, you two are mermaids," Ethereal Whisper said skeptically.
"We can change our tails into legs," Broiling Striker said. Ethereal Whisper perked up at that.
"Surprisingly, I can actually do something very similar to that," she said. But then her perkiness disappeared, and she became kinda shifty. "Not that it's very important, or anything."
"Really?" Twilight asked. "How convenient."
"I know, right?" Ethereal Whisper said. "So, anyway, Twilight, please continue with your questions."
"Do you really have two rib cages? Do you have multiple organs in the human and horse bodies? How do you sleep? How do sit?" Twilight asked. "What ni-"
"Whoa, slow down there," Ethereal Whisper said. "I'll forget anything after four questions."
"Okay, sorry," Twilight said.
"Anyway, yes, I have two rib cages. I have two hearts," Ethereal Whisper said. "Where they are isn't important. I also have two stomachs. As for sleeping, it's not like normal horses. I sleep on my side, or with my legs tucked under me. And I sit with my legs under me. What was your other question?"
"What set of nipples do your kids suckle from?" Twilight asked. Ethereal Whisper squeaked and her face erupted in a blush.
"Do I have to answer that?" she asked.
"You can answer that later, although I would like to know if one set of nipples isn't functional, or if both are functional" Twilight asked. "Also, what are your babies like?" Ethereal Whisper giggled.
"Ah, now they are funny," she said. "I'm not going to say what their like when they are born, but it's funny." Twilight stared at Ethereal Whisper.
"You don't trust us, do you?" Twilight asked. Ethereal Whisper shook her head apologetically.
"Sorry, but I was raised to be skeptical, especially around humans and people I don't know," she said. "I'm aware that we will need to trust each other in the future, but we still don't know each other very well. Now, I have some questions of my own."
"Please, ask away," Twilight asked. "Besides, I get the uneasy trust thing."
"Have you come looking for a pale brown skinned man?" Ethereal Whisper asked. Everyone gasped, and the atmosphere seemed to become colder, much like the air outside (and technically inside, but that's not important).
"Yes," Submersive Exploration said hesitantly. "How do you know of him?"
"He's the only other human that I've seen in the past few years," Ethereal Whisper said. "There's a reason why my tribe lives here, in Antarctica. It's because other most people don't want to live here. That's why most tribes live where they do." Twilight's face was clear with understanding.
"Oh, that explains a lot," she said.
"Yes, thank you!" Ethereal Whisper said. "Anyway, I still have some questions, specifically about him. Who is he? And why is he here? He's a little creepy wandering around in the snow."
"Well, we don't know who he is, but we know what his game is," Sunset Shimmer said. "He's trying to destroy the world. The last time he tried to take over the world he stole something called the-"
"Do we really need to tell her?" Submersive Exploration said.
"Yes," Sunset Shimmer said. "Come on, Ethereal Whisper is where we get our help from while we're here. And like she said, we're going to know we can trust each other."
"You don't have to tell me the name of whatever it is that you're talking about," Ethereal Whisper said. "I understand why you want to protect the information."
"Thank you," Submersive Exploration said. "But you're right, we do need to trust you, so I do need to tell you about this. We'll need to trust you, and to get it, you need to give it. It was a device called the Ultimate Manic." Ethereal Whisper hummed in recognition.
"That sounds familiar, for some reason," she said.
"Well, there should be a town of merfolk living in the ocean near here," Submersive Exploration said. "There were always rumors of a town that had contacted someone on land. Maybe our governments met and made some kind of treaty. My mom actually works pretty high in the government." Everyone stared at Broiling Striker for several seconds before Ethereal Whisper started talking.
"That would seem logical," Ethereal Whisper said. "One day, a group of our leaders came back with strange technology that they had just found. Do you know anything about this, Broiling Striker?"
"Well, I'm not technically supposed to talk about this, but you've pieced it all together, so I don't see why not now," Broiling Striker said. "Yes, our governments made contact, and came to an arrangement of sorts. We've been pooling our resources and intelligence's to make technologies that would make both our species lives easier, including a sort of plane phaser."
"A what?" Rarity asked.
"Well, we discovered that our universe has several planes, or layers, you could say," Broiling Striker said. "Our think tank managed to figure out how to aces these different planes."
"That is awesome," Sunset Shimmer said. "How about a interdimensional transporter?"
"We were close to discovering how to do that, but we had to stop due to the Ultimate Manic being used," Broiling Striker said.
"What else have your think tank come up with?" Ethereal Whisper asked.
"Well, one was close to making a device that could help fuse together members of our races," Broiling Striker said. "I never really heard much more about it, but supposedly, the two people would wear a sort of chest plate, and these chest plates would fuse together whoever was wearing them when the two people touched."
"That is so awesome," Sunset Shimmer said.
"You bet it is," Broiling Striker said. "Anyway, we're getting off track. What has the pale brown man done since he got here?"
"He's looking for something," Ethereal Whisper said. "He's tried to contact my tribe, saying that he's only looking for a place to stay for a day or two, but we rejected him. He's trying to find something, probably one of our weapons."
"What kind of weapons do you think he's looking for?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Could be anything in our stockpile, but all of them are pretty dangerous," Ethereal Whisper said. "But, if he's after the worst of them, the most dangerous of them all, which he probably is, then he's probably after the Celestial Nebula."
"What is that?" Rarity asked.
"It's a gas cloud that, if released, would take the world and returned it to its star dust state, before it was made, and long before life existed," Ethereal Whisper said. "Point is, if he releases it, the end of the world is upon us, and there is no stopping it." The fear in the room had thickened, everyone scared, clear by their expressions.
"But he might not be after that," Flash said worriedly.
"We don't know if he is or isn't, but if he is, then there is no stopping it," Ethereal Whisper said. She turned to the door and beckoned at it. "Either way, if we are to stop him, you must meet my tribe. They will let you in. Follow me."
Ethereal Whisper led the group towards the mountain that Submersive Exploration's group had found her on. As they neared it, Ethereal Whisper turned her torso towards the group. Flash's eyes had already been averted because the wind was blowing Ethereal Whisper's tail all around, and she was wearing nothing at all, practically giving him a clear view of her.....thing. But that was if he was already looking at her.
"One last thing," Ethereal Whisper said. "None of you can tell anyone, and I mean anyone about this, okay?" The group made noises of confirmation. "Good, because we're here." Ethereal Whisper started digging into a small indent in the mountain side. After a few seconds, her fingers wrapped around something and she pulled a length of rope out. As she did so, a part of the snowy mountain side pulled away to reveal a tunnel. They started walking in, with Ethereal Whisper entering last to close the stone door after them. Ethereal Whisper guide them down the hall, were torches every few feet to help light the way. It was warmer. They didn't hear anything, until the turned past the second corner. As they did, the sound of yelling and music started to fill the air, although it was very quiet. At first. The more corners they turned, the louder it got, and the warmer it got, until they made a final turn. The center of the mountain was not at all what they were expecting. For one thing, it had been almost entirely hollowed out, and by the looks of it, had been dug down into the rocks below. The city was huge, and filled with centaurs. And almost every single one of them were partying. Somewhere, music was playing, and all the centaurs in the streets were dancing, laughing, and just having a good time in general. Everyone in the group, except for Ethereal Whisper, were surprised.
"Wow," Flash said. "What is happening?" Ethereal Whisper sighed with content.
"This is life under the mountain," she said. "It's basically a nonstop party."
"Oh, Pinkie would love this," Sunset Shimmer said. Ethereal Whisper looked at her uneasily.
"Why?" Ethereal Whisper asked.
"Oh, Pinkie loves parties," Sunset Shimmer said. "She's easily the most energetic person I do, in this universe or in any other." Ethereal Whisper looked a little relived, especially as Sunset Shimmer said "Not that I would bring her here without talking with you first, or anything."
"Good," Ethereal Whisper said. "Good. Anyway, follow me, I need to take you to the tribe's hall of elders." The group followed Ethereal Whisper through the city, seemingly sticking to back roads to not draw attention, although it was hard to tell if it was a back road or not. They were still pretty crowded. but no one paid them any attention.
"Is this a back alley?" Rarity asked nervously. Ethereal Whisper shook her head.
"Not really," she said. "But this road has the people that drink the heaviest."
"So, they're alcoholics?" Rarity asked nervously. Ethereal Whisper shook her head again.
"I wouldn't say that," she said. "They just drink strong beer. Don't worry, nobody in this tribe is that depressed." As they continued to walk, they got an occasional glance, but nothing more than that. But that was in the drunk street. As they turned into a new street, they started getting more and more looks, until finally, one of them stepped up and started talking. His stallion fur was a sleek, grayish color, and his skin was silver.
"What have you done?" he asked fearfully. "You have brought humans into our tribe!" Ethereal Whisper sighed.
"C'mon, really?" she said. "You know that if the elders are right, we'll need outside help."
"Yes, I know," the man said. "But they've been wrong in the past! What if you've brought them in for nothing, and have just revealed our tribes position to the outsiders?"
"Don't worry, I've observed them since they got here!" Ethereal Whisper said. "And I talked to them before I brought them here. They're after the pale brown man as well." The man looked at them fearfully.
"What do you know of him?" he asked. "What's his name? Why is he here?"
"All we know about him is that he's trying to destroy the world," she said. "He's already attacked Rippling Horizon, the merfolk's capital." The man's eyes darted around, and he started muttering incoherently.
"Okay, that makes some sense, but still, it may have been dangerous bringing them here!" the man said. "It still might!" He turned round and trotted away. Some of the people who had watched the conversation unfold turned back to their fun.
"Who was he?" Flash asked.
"That was this tribes most paranoid person," Ethereal Whisper said. "Possible Paths."
"Are there any others that we should be worried about?" Twilight asked.
"How so?" Ethereal Whisper asked with a frown.
"Any other paranoids that might not like us being here?" Twilight specified.
"Oh, not really," Ethereal Whisper said. "Centaurs, as a species, are usually fairly skeptical about new comers, especially if said new comers are humans."
"Why specifically humans?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Demena had told us to avoid humans," Ethereal Whisper said. "Besides, we've always grown without help from anyone. We're stubborn like that." Rarity snickered.
"We have a friend like that," she said. Ethereal Whisper smiled. They continued walking for a while in relative silence, until Ethereal Whisper stopped. They were in front of tall building, covered in torches.
"Well, we're here," she said. "The tribes hall of elders."
"Is this where those cool inventions were made?" Submersive Exploration asked.
"No that hall is much lower than where we are," Ethereal Whisper said. "Now, let me do the talking, okay?" They entered the building, which was noticeable darker, and had an odd smell. There was a small hallway, ending in what looked like a circular room with old centaurs sitting with their legs under them. As Ethereal Whisper softly started walking towards, one of them sighed.
"Welcome back," he said, his voice soft and gentle. He opened his eyes. They were cloudy. His fur was a dark grey, and had probably been a very nice color, but not anymore. He was balding, and only ha a few tufts of hair left on his shiny clay colored skin. "Who are your friends? I can't see as well as I used to, but they seem short."
"That's because they aren't centaurs," Ethereal Whisper said. The man gasped. He was the only one to.
"What have you done?" he asked. "They're humans, aren't they?"
"Only four of them. The other two are mermaids from Rippling Horizon," Ethereal Whisper said. The man seemed to perk up at the words Rippling Horizon.
"Really?" he asked. "Has the reconstruction gone well on your city?" Broiling Striker stepped forward.
"It's going better than expected," she said. "But we aren't quiet ready to start coming to the think thank sessions yet, unfortunately." The man hummed in recognition.
"You sound familiar," he said. "You worked on the fusing device, didn't you?" Broiling Striker looked amazed.
"Yes, actually," she said. "How did you remember that?"
"I would hide and listen to you work," the man said. "My eyesight doesn't work too well, so I mostly rely on my ears. Which is how I know that all of my partners fell asleep a while ago!"
"Well, that explains a lot," Ethereal Whisper said.
"So, why did you bring everyone here?" the man asked. "Is this about that pale brown man?'
"Yes, that is exactly why we're here," Submersive Exploration said. "He's the one who destroyed Rippling Horizon. And he's somewhere here."
"You think he might try to destroy our tribe as well?" the man asked. "He would have a tough time trying."
"That's the thing," Submersive Exploration said. "He trapped me to the side of a coral reef and used my DNA to create a serum that turned him into a merman! He may have already created one that can turn him into a centaur!"
He hadn't. That would've taken to long, and would've taken time that he hadn't wanted to use. So he decided on an easier path. Let the centaurs spot him, hide away in the mountain snow, and wait till one opens the door from the outside. And finally, one did. One who was followed by the girls that had stopped him from using the Ultimate Manic and destroying Rippling Horizon. He growled, but was glad he had seen them. If he hadn't know that they were here until after he made his move, things would've gotten a little too intense. But he had a plan. He always had a plan. And now that he knew where an entrance was, and how to get into said entrance, his plan was about to leap forward. He knew exactly where to go, and exactly what to get.
"Now that is interesting," the man said. "But we haven't lost anyone recently. Actually, how long where you trapped for?"
"Five years," Submersive Exploration said. "He took away five years of my life."
"Wow, that's got to suck," the man said. Submersive Exploration frowned.
"That's an under-exaggeration," she said. "Anyway, the pale brown man is dangerous, and we don't know what he's after."
"I know, but don't worry, we have everything under control here," the man said. His arms rose dramatically. "We can protect ourselves or my names not Charging Cracker!"
"Uh, sir, that's not your name. That's her name," Ethereal Whisper said, pointing at one of the female centaurs to the mans right. The man froze for a few seconds before lowering his hands.
"Oh, right," he said. "We can protect ourselves or my names not.......wait, what is my name?" Ethereal Whisper sighed and turned to the group of humans.
"These are our leaders," she said.
"Only in title," the man said. "What was my name again?"
"Your name is Frozen Charge," Ethereal Whisper said. "You led an attack on the invading humans, remember?"
"Not at all," Frozen Charge said. "But we will continue to protect our tribe or my names not Frozen Charge!"
"And I'm sure that you will," Ethereal Whisper said unenthusiastically. "But Submersive Exploration and her mother have done battle with the pale brown man before! They know at least a little about his attack strategy."
"Then someone can fuse with one of them or something, I don't know," Frozen Charge said. "We have that technology available to us!"
"But it's not ready!" Ethereal Whisper and Broiling Striker said simultaneously.
"Oh," Frozen Charge said. "Well, in that case, take them back to wherever it is that they're staying. We don't need the help." Ethereal Whisper sighed. She turned back to the group. Flash's head turned away.
"Well, I guess I need to take you back," she said. She turned to look at Frozen Charge. "Unless you want them to stay?" Frozen Charge shook his head.
"No, we don't need them," he said. Ethereal Whisper sighed and turned back to the group.
"Well then, are you ready?" she asked. Everyone nodded. The group filled out after Ethereal Whisper. The next half hour or so getting to the hole to had come into went by pretty fast, and as Ethereal Whisper opened the door, she started talking again.
"Frozen Charge isn't usually this confidant with our abilities," she said. "Of course, despite all the partying, our parents train us in many different fighting styles."
"Speaking of which, you haven't really talked about your parents," Flash said.
"Eh, I've never needed to," Ethereal Whisper said. "Now, come on, I'll guide you back to your camp."
"I think we can find our way back, but thanks!" Rarity said.
"I know you can," Ethereal Whisper said. "But we still need to talk." For the two miles that the group walked back to the cabins, Ethereal Whisper talked about how Frozen Charge and everyone else on the council of elders had done something big and important to get onto it. Frozen Charge, like she had said earlier, had led an attack on a group of enemy humans. One of the others, Charging Cracker, had managed to kill a monster with an avalanche. Ethereal Whisper wouldn't say anything more about what the monster that Charging Cracker killed was, but it wasn't too important anyway. But as they saw the outlines of the cabins that they were staying in, Ethereal Whisper fell silent for several seconds.
"What is it?" Flash asked. "What do your centaur eyes see?"
"Danger," Ethereal Whisper said. "Into the center building, quickly!" As the group rushed to the building, Ethereal Whisper planted herself outside the door, in a ready to fight stance. All was still for a few seconds (except for all the snow flying around) until they saw the outline of something in the distance. A huge roar emerged from it's maw. It was on all fours, and looked like it had shaggy fur covering its body, and large, curly horns, although it was hard to tell because of the low visibility. And then it started to charge. Ethereal Whisper started to charge at the beast as well, and just as they were about to meet, Ethereal Whisper ducked under the beast and slid under it. As the beast stopped, the group inside the main building got a better look at it. It did have a white colored fur, and sleek black horns, ending in sharp points.
"Whoa," Flash said. The beast looked at the group inside the building before it turned around to face Ethereal Whisper and roared again. Ethereal Whisper started charging at the beast again, and the beast lowered its horns and charged. Ethereal Whisper leaped into the air, her front hooves crashing into the top of the beast's head, driving its horns deep into the snow. Something cracked, the sound surprisingly clear in the wind. The group gasped.
"Its horns snapped!" Rarity exclaimed. "How did she do that!" But that was where Ethereal Whisper's luck ended. As Rarity was talking, the beast had recovered from the pain and shock of having its horns snapped off, and flung its head back, sending Ethereal Whisper flying off of it, and towards the circle of cabins. As she landed, she let out a cry of pain as she landed and skidded towards the center building, where the group was. Several of them screamed, and the ones who didn't had just gasped.
"Sunset Shimmer, get to her!" Flash exclaimed.
"What?" Sunset Shimmer asked. Flash opened the door.
"You need to go help Ethereal Whisper!" he exclaimed. "Don't worry, I'll distract the thing!" And Flash started running. The beast noticed him, but kept trotting towards Ethereal Whisper. It only started taking interest in Flash when he started yelling and waving his arms. The beast's primitive mind decided that a moving target was better than an unmoving one, and started charging after Flash. Flash turned and ran, his legs pumping. Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer dashed out towards Ethereal Whisper's unmoving body, and started trying to see what was wrong. Her right arm was definitely broken, along with her legs. Ethereal Whisper's breath was uneven, and her face was contorted with pain.
"Use its horn," Ethereal Whisper said, her voice strained, and filled with pain.
"What?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Use its horns," Ethereal Whisper said. "Those can pierce its skin." Sunset Shimmer almost snickered.
"You're seriously injured, and your telling me how to kill it?" she asked. Ethereal Whisper's left arm managed to almost lightly slap her.
"Just yell that to Flash, then you can focus on me," Ethereal Whisper said. Sunset Shimmer nodded, stood up and turned around, searching for Flash. It only took a couple of seconds. He was running, the beast closing in on him.
"Flash! Use its horns to kill it!" Sunset Shimmer screamed at him. She didn't know if he heard her or not, but at that moment, the beast lunged at him, its fractured horn stumps just barley missing him, sending up a snow spray. But Flash appeared, his outline headed towards where the horns had been buried. But the beast recovered almost as quickly as he did. Sunset Shimmer gestured at the girls still inside the central building to come to her. As Flash continued to run, the girls helped Sunset Shimmer pick Ethereal Whisper up, and started heading back towards the mountain that Ethereal Whisper's tribe was in. Sunset Shimmer kept glancing back at Flash, who was almost at the horns, but then the beast managed to hit him. Its head ramed into his back, sending him flying into a small hill of snow a few feet away from the horns. Flash saw them, and both he and the beast froze for a few seconds. But only for a few. Flash started sprinting towards the horn, and the beast started charging towards him. Flash grabbed one of the horns and tried to lift it up, but it was buried into the dirt below the snow. He tugged and pulled, but the beast got to him before he could get it out. But Flash had still been holding onto the horn. The beast ramed its head into Flash, sending both him, and the horn into the air. The horn landed several feet away from Flash, and he scrambled to pick it up. As the beast started charging at him again, Flash rammed the bottom of the horn into the ground, and positioned so that when the beast was almost at Flash, the sharp point of the horn managed to crack through the beast's skull, and pierced its brain, killing it instantly. It covered Flash in blood and sent Flash backwards, but he had killed the beast. As he stood up, he looked around, looking for Ethereal Whisper. He noticed an outline that kind of looked like her, but she was floating on top of something else. Flash decided that that was probably her, and started running towards it. He was right. As he got close, he heard a sob of relief and Sunset Shimmer lunged at him, hugging him tightly.
"You almost died!" she sniffled.
"Yeah, you should see the other guy," Flash said. This made Sunset Shimmer giggled a little.
"At least you survived," she said. "Now help us get Ethereal Whisper to her tribe."
Almost thirty minutes later, they finally got to the tribe's mountain door.
"Where do I dig?" Flash asked. Ethereal Whisper managed to point towards a spot just a little to Flash's left. He practically dove into it, snow flying behind him, until his hand touched something. He grabbed onto it and pulled. The stone door slid open, and the group continued into the mountain, having to crouch a little so Ethereal Whisper could fit below the roof. As they exited into the city, a small group of centaurs noticed them and started freaking out. But not because the group was mostly made up of humans.
"What happened to her?" one of the asked. His fur was light brown and his skin was obsidian black.
"Some kind of beast attacked, and she distracted it long enough for me to kill it," Flash said. "Where do we go to get her healed?"
"Oh, damn, follow me!" the guy said. He started trotting in the direction the group was facing, so they started following. Fortunately, it was quick getting there. As the group gently dropped Ethereal Whisper onto a stretcher, the doctor there started looking over her wounds. The doctor had dark grey fur, and icy blue skin.
"What happened?" he asked, looking at the group.
"Some kind of beast attacked," Flash said. "I don't know what it's called."
"Well, judging by the look of the blood on you, I'm guessing that a burrow hound attacked," the man said. "Dang, you took it down?"
"Well, Ethereal Whisper managed to crack its horns off first," Flash said. "That's how she broke all these bones. It threw her off." The doctor nodded.
"Hmmm. Well, don't worry, I can fix bones relatively easily," he said. He suddenly paused, looking at Broiling Striker. "Wait a minute, you're one of those mermaids that helped work on those fusion harnesses, aren't you?" Broiling Striker nodded.
"I am, actually," she said. "Why?"
"We might need one for later," the doctor said. "Ethereal Whisper will need to be concuss for some of this procedure, and she's drifting in and out of it."
"Oh, they were never fully completed," Broiling Striker said. "And why does Ethereal Whisper need to be concuss for some of this procedure?"
"I need to know what she was thinking, information about medical history, what kind of medicine she can afford, and her heart beat is getting dangerously low, and I know her parents can't tell me any of the previously mentioned information," the doctor said.
"Wait, why not?" Submersive Exploration asked.
"I'll let Ethereal Whisper answer that," the doctor said. "Just go to the inventing hall at the bottom of the mountain. They'll have more information down there."
Broiling Striker rushed down to the invention lab. As she entered, one of the men standing working on something looked up and recognized her.
"Hey, you're Broiling Striker, right?" he asked. She stopped and stared at him. He had fire red fur, and his skin was the color of recently melted steel.
"Yes," she said. "Your name was Smelting Scorcher, was it?" The man nodded.
"What happened with Rippling Horizon? Is it finally fixed?" Smelting Scorcher asked. "Are you finally coming back for the think tanks?"
"Well, not exactly," Broiling Striker said. "But I'll explain it all later. I am here to finish the fusion harness." Smelting Scorcher grinned.
"Well then, you'll be glad to know that we've completed the centaur harness," he said. "Let's get started on the mermaid's harness."
Almost an hour later, Broiling Striker raced upwards on the back of Smelting Scorcher. As they neared the hospital that Ethereal Whisper was in, Broiling Striker made sure that her harness was ready. It was a circle in the center of her chest, held by four straps circling to her back, and clipping into a buckle there. Smelting Scorcher entered the hospital and slowed down. They made it to Ethereal Whisper's room in under a minute. Broiling Striker hopped off of Smelting Scorcher's back and landed on her feet. Smelting Scorcher started fastening the centaur fusion harness around Ethereal Whisper's generous chest, and with a final click, it was ready.
"Okay, are you ready?" Smelting Scorcher asked Broiling Striker. Broiling Striker nodded, and started taking her pants off. As soon as that was done, she changed her legs back into her normal mermaid tail. She then pressed the circle of the mermaid fusion harness to the circle of the centaur fusion harness. And in a flash of white light, it was done. They had successfully fused together. Fortunately, she was still wearing Broiling Striker's shirt. Broiling Striker's orange skin had mixed together with Ethereal Whisper's white skin, making a pale orange skin tone, and their animal parts had fused into a horse front and fish tail back, replacing the back two legs. The fur and scales had fused together to make a shiny, silver fur/scale combination. And their hair colors had made a silvery green color. Of course, their breast sizes had been pretty much the same, so there wasn't really any difference there. Her eyes fluttered open. They were a bright green color, yet they looked cold, somehow. As the now fused centaur/mermaid started raising, the doctor pushed her back down.
"Oh, no, you need to rest," he said. "Also, what were you thinking? Facing a burrow hound like that? You're lucky that Flash here managed to save you."
"Hey, I thought I could take it!" the girl said. "And I did. Kind of." The doctor sighed.
"Well, it could've been worse," he said. "Although, for some reason, now that you've fused with Broiling Striker, your wounds seem to have gotten better, but just by a little bit. Now, we do need to talk about what kind of medicine you can afford, and how fast you'd like to heal." Smelting Scorcher raised his hand.
"I'll pay, actually," he said. The doctor frowned.
"Are you sure?" he asked. Smelting Scorcher nodded. The doctor shrugged. "Okay, then. What speed of healing elixir would you like?"
"Max speed," Smelting Scorcher said. "This is for science! Lets get her healed as fast as possible!"
"Are you sure?" the doctor asked. Smelting Scorcher nodded.
"Science!" he said again. He seemed to like science. Twilight liked him. The doctor shrugged.
"Okay, if you're sure," he said. "I'll send you the bill later." The doctor turned around and exited the room. The group turned to look at the fused mer-centaur. She was looking at her new sea pony half, and feeling the new fur/scales. A few seconds later she looked up, and realized that everyone was staring at her. She blushed and looked at Smelting Scorcher.
"You didn't have to pay for my bill," she said. "I mean, thanks, but you didn't have to." Smelting Scorching smiled and nodded.
"Of course I had to!" he said. "I know what your financial situation is like." The girl scowled.
"I could've made do," she said.
"No, you couldn't have," Smelting Scorcher said. "Anyway, what does it feel like?"
"Strange," the girl said. "I remember everything from both Broiling Striker's and Ethereal Whisper's lives, all up to the point of the fusion. Plus, there's this." She gestured at her sea pony half. "This feels especially strange."
"May I touch it?" Smelting Scorcher asked. The girl started blushing furiously.
"What?" she asked. "Wait, for science, right?" Smelting Scorcher started blushing as well.
"I am so sorry!" he said. "Yes, for science! I should've phrased that better." He reached out his hand and brushed it against her side. After a few seconds, he said "Hard, yet fuzzy."
"Like a moss covered stone," the girl said. As Smelting Scorcher pulled his hand away, the doctor walked in with a small, thin vial in his hand. He handed it to the girl.
"Drink this," he said. "It'll heal all the broken bones in less than an hour." The girl pulled the cork out and downed the bottle in seconds. As she pulled it away from her lips, she shuddered.
"So bitter," she said. The doctor shrugged again.
"Since Smelting Scorcher is paying the bill, you can leave whenever you're ready," he said. He turned and left. Smelting Scorcher flipped him off as he left, not that the doctor saw. He turned back to the girl.
"One important question," he said. "Are you going to go by Broiling Striker or Ethereal Whisper?" The girl shook her head.
"No, that would make things a little weird," she said. "Especially with Submersive Exploration." Submersive Exploration blushed.
"Mom!" she whined. The girl laughed.
"I'm only half of your mom," she said. "I think I'll go by Elusive Mindstrike."
"Where did you get Mindestrike from?" Flash asked.
"Broiling Striker is smart but strong," Elusive Mindstrike said. "And Ethereal Whisper is is quite good at hiding." She was going to continue talking, but then she gasped and her face contorted with pain. She stared at her front legs, which she had started to clench, bringing them towards her horse chest. Smelting Scorcher hummed in recognition, however.
"That would be the healing elixir," he said. He suddenly looked worried. "Wait, it's not killing you, is it?"
"No," Elusive Mindstrike said, her teeth clenched together. "It hurts, but in that good kind of way. Does that make sense?" Smelting Scorcher nodded.
"Perfect sense, actually," he said. There was a pause. Suddenly, they heard something in the distance. It sounded like roaring.
"What was that?" Rarity asked.
"I think it was a burrow hound," Smelting Scorcher said. "Don't worry, we have defenses in case this happens."
They didn't work. There wasn't a burrow hound attacking: there were several of them, led by an alpha burrow hound, controlled by the pale brown man. One thing he had learned while observing the burrow hounds was that they would follow the alpha burrow hound to the death. Most burrow hounds were just a brownish white color, but the alpha had some noticeable differences. For one thing, it was larger, and more powerful. It also had silver stripes running down its head and paws. The pale brown man had been able to control the alpha by using a powerful mind altering dart he had shot into its hindquarters. And now he was inside the tribes mountain home. He knew what he needed, and where to find it. As he jumped off the alpha burrow hound, he pointed at the centaurs that had picked up spears and whatnot and yelled "Attack!" And as the alpha burrow hound and the others started attacking, the pale brown man was able to slip away, unnoticed.
Smelting Scorcher had joined the foot soldiers defending the tribe against the burrow hounds. He had spent a few minutes with Elusive Mindstrike and the group, telling them that the burrow hounds would be taken care of quickly. But when the roars of the burrow hounds didn't stop, Smelting Scorcher ran towards the entrance. It was worse than he thought. They were led by an alpha burrow hound. Of course, he knew that there was more than just weapons that they had to keep the burrow hounds from doing too much damage to the tribe.
He had grabbed a spear and was jabbing at the feet of one of the smaller burrow hounds when Frozen Charge, Charging Cracker, and the rest of the elders appeared. They all had been quite fearsome back when they were younger, but now, not so much. Especially with most of their armor out on backwards or incorrectly.
As the foot soldiers cleared a path for them, the burrow hounds seemed to sense that maybe the centaurs approaching them were more powerful than they thought. That assumption was quickly proved wrong when an elder near the back tripped, his spear rolling away from him and his chest plate coming undone. The alpha burrow hound roared, and the burrow hounds turned their complete attention on the elders. Saying it was a quick and victorious battle would've been an understatement...if you were rooting for the burrow hounds. They destroyed the elders. It was not a pretty sight. Frozen Charge had tried to take on the alpha burrow hound, but was ripped to bloody shreds. The foot soldiers started nervously stepping away from the hounds. Smelting Scorcher knew what was happening. They were going to retreat. He couldn't blame them. After all, no one had seen battle in decades, and were a little out of practice, to say the least. Smelting Scorcher knew that the pale brown man was somehow behind this. But he couldn't go tell Submersive Exploration that. She hated the pale brown man. Fortunately, Smelting Scorcher had a hunch of where the pale brown was headed.
The pale brown man had reached the laboratories without much problems. His distraction at the entrence of the mountain had drawn everyone towards it. As the pale brown man wandered among the tables of half finished inventions, his eyes searching for one device, he thought of his master plan. It had changed a little since he had destroyed Rippling Horizon, but he was still going to destroy the world. He was just going to rule it for a little beforehand. All of them. He wanted the world to hurt as much as he had as a child. As his eyes wandered back and forth, from table to table, he heard the closing of hooves, and he turned to face the entrance of the lab, stopping next to a table covered with partially completed weapons. In walked a centaur with fire red fur and skin the color of recently melted steel.
"You're one of the inventors here, aren't you?" the pale brown man said.
"Yes, I am," the centaur said. "But, more importantly, I'm the guy who's going to stop you." The pale brown man chuckled softly.
"That's what you wish," he said. "My plan is going perfectly. You, and no one else here, will be able to stop me!"
"What is your overall plan, anyway?" the centaur asked. "To destroy the world?"
"Yes, and I will be successful," the pale man said.
"That's going to kill you too," the centaur said. The pale brown man rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I am aware of that," he said dryly.
"Why do you want to destroy the world anyway?" the centaur asked.
"I'd tell you, but that would take up time that I'd rather not spend," the pale brown man said. "Then again, you could help me find what I'm looking for."
"Never," the centaur said. "Similarly, you could just let me take you too the jail house." The pale brown man grinned, his expresion very evil looking.
"Ah, but how?" he asked. His hand plucked a weapon of off the table that looked more complete than the others. It looked like he had to put his hand up inside of the hole in to use it, which is what he did. It looked a little like an arm cannon. "I have a weapon, you don't."
"I know how to use said weapon, you don't," the centaur challenged.
"Or do I?" the pale brown man retorted. He was bluffing. He didn't have the slightest clue how to work it. He felt several buttons on the inside of the arm cannon, and he guessed that those probably did something to fire it.
"I seriously doubt it," the centaur said. The pale brown man aimed the arm cannon at the centaur and pressed a button. The machine hummed and glowed a greenish hue. The pale brown man pressed another button and the glowing light changed to a red color. The centaur grinned triumphantly.
"Looks like I was rig-" he was cut off when the pale brown man pushed another button and the arm cannon fired a blast of energy at him, sending him into the wall behind him. A few seconds passed as the pale brown man stared at the crumpled centaur.
"Well, that was slightly anticlimactic," the pale brown man finally said. He turned around again and started searching the tables. Soon, he found what he was searching for.
Back at the hospital, the group of humans (and mermaids), they listened to the burrow hounds outside, roaring and centaurs trying to defend the tribe against them.
"Should we do something?" Rarity asked. Sunset Shimmer shook her head.
"Smelting Scorcher told us to stay here," she said. "Besides, what could we do to help?" Rarity shrugged.
"I don't know," she said. "I just feel a little guilty."
"Don't worry, I'm sure that the elders have taught some defenders well enough to defend against a few burrow hounds. Just look at what Ethereal Whisper did all by herself against one!" Flash said. "Of course, I helped kill it, but she's the one who did most of the work."
"Damn right I did," Elusive Mindstrike said. "Don't worry, we harnessed the power of a type of light that the burrow hounds don't like. Someone should be using it very soon." She was right. A few minutes later, they could see a bright, gentle light pouring out of what looked a little like a searchlight. That wasn't the only one to shine. There were several lights, shining at the burrow hounds. They couldn't see it, but the burrow hounds were being shepherded out of the mountain, which was rather ridiculous, considering how much trouble they caused.After almost another half hour, the lights finally shut off, and a little while after that, Smelting Scorcher finally came back in, talking about how he had faced off against the pale brown man before getting knocked out. All in all, it had been an unbelievable day.
It was finally time to go. It had been almost a day since the burrow hounds had attacked the tribe, led by the pale brown man, and the group was packing their bags. Elusive Mindstrike had defused back into Ethereal Whisper and Broiling Striker. Ethereal Whisper then asked about joing them on their quest to hunt down the pale brown man, and the group unanimously decided that she should join them, along with Smelting Scorcher, mainly because he had told them that he found that the pale brown man had stolen a reality phaser, and neither Ethereal Whisper nor Broiling Striker knew how to make a reality phaser. Both Ethereal Whisper and Smelting Scorcher had transformed into human forms, their centaur halves turning into giant fur coats. As they waited for the van to pick them up, Twilight had asked Smelting Scorcher about the reality phaser.
"Well, their are several different layers of reality in our universe alone," Smelting Scorcher was saying. "We haven't really tested all of the capabilities of the reality phaser, nor do we know how many planes there are."
"Fascinating," Twilight said.
"I know, right?" Smelting Scorcher said. "All of this untapped information! Who knows how much we can learn? Who knows what we'll learn?"
"I don't know, but I like the way you think," Twilight said.
"Is that the van?" Rarity asked, pointing out towards an outline of something coming towards them. It was, fortunately, and the van driver was different than the one that brought them there. As they drove off, they didn't realize that they had been watched by the pale brown man. Not that it really would've mattered, anyway. He smiled as he looked at the reality phaser he had stolen from the tribe. As he turned the dials and turned the machine on, he grinned as he thought how this would help him destroy the world.