For the Emperor and the UNSC! (Rebooted version)

by Titan Commander Sebaste


Displaced Arc, Chapter 10: A Legend rebuilt (Pt 1)

Warning: contains spoilers for The Legend, Rebuilt. Viewer discretion is advised

Sebastian grunted as Viktor landed a blow to his midsection before he retaliated with a backhanded strike that sent the Spartan sliding. The two had been training for four hours now and were starting to tire out.


“Nice reversal, now attack while he’s recovering!” Sebaste called out, Alex and Rainblade standing next to him. The Astartes charged and slammed into Viktor, knocking both of them into the ground.


“Alright, that's enough for today. Let’s head back and- FAUST DAMN IT!” Sebaste yelped as a portal opened beneath him and Alex, Rainblade being dragged along for the ride.


“Seb! Hang- WHOA!” Viktor yelled as another portal opened beneath him and Sebastian, the two of them falling through. With a twin hiss, the portals then closed. In seconds, the five were spat out onto floor tiles in a heap and left groaning.


“Ugh… Next time, I’m gonna have a chat with whoever decided portals were a good transport choice….” Sebaste grumbled as he pushed the others off him and looked around, only to freeze as he saw they were not alone. “Guys…? You might want to get up… Now…”


“Wait… where’d they come from?” an unfamiliar voice asked, belonging to a biomechanical figure in brown armor, wearing a bullet-shaped mask.


“They’re my Hail Mary… I hope…” said another, whose armor was mismatched.


The other four stood up and stared in shock. “Okay… Anyone have a clue as to why I’m seeing the Toa Mata and the Mane Six in armor?” Viktor asked. “And what's with the walking crystals?!”


“I’m not so sure myself,” said the figure in black-and-white armor, “but we can explain later. Right now, we gotta fight these ‘Shardlings’ off…”


“Don’t you mean Changelings?” Alex asked as a spiker materialized in her left hand and arcane energy began to charge on her gauntlet, causing her palm to glow. Sebaste and Viktor each summoned a different weapon, with Sebaste opting for a heavy machine gun while Viktor went with dual SMGs. Sebastian settled for two Heresy style lightning claws while Rainblade flew up, her left hoof splitting open with a hiss, and aimed her built-in bolter at the foe. “And I’m guessing you’re the Displaced that summoned us?”


“Wait!” Cried the unfamiliar Toa. “Some of them might still have captive ponies inside them, like the Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3, but we can't tell which are which! And how did y--”


There was a dark chuckle from someone amongst the enemy lines. “Ah, yes, and now you see the beauty of our plan!” They said, their voice both familiar and strange at the same time. “The crystal armor also serves as a walking energy source for our hive, feeding off the very ponies who serve as our hostages! They’re unable to do anything but watch as the black crystals rob them of even their very will, and forces them to destroy their own homes and families, who themselves are loathe to fight back! It’s the ultimate weapon!” The large, crystalline-looking copy of Chrysalis then submitted to a short batch of maniacal laughter, standing momentarily on her back legs as she spread her forehooves to the sky.


“Seriously? You’ve got us practically where you want us, and you chose now to start monologuing?” The outspoken Toa asked, incredulously, as Pinkie tried and failed to stick a lampshade on his head. “I mean, now that we know about it drawing power from the folks trapped inside, all we have to do is overload them or something! Not to mention the fact that you're essentially using baby armor, or whatever you’d call it here, to hold us off...”


“I forgot to mention earlier, but they also regenerate damage really fast!” Supplied the resident Twilight.


“And does anypony wanna tell me why there's a robot version of me flying around?” The resident Rainbow Dash demanded.


“Look,” Tahu growled, “are we going to fight, or not?”


“Oh? Tell me then, stranger…” the crystalline figure said, “how can you 'heroes’ possibly fight me, when you're already so busy fighting yourselves?” With that, one of the Shardlings blasted Lewa in the face, and dark crystals slowly began to poke out of him in odd places. The Toa of Air turned and looked at the others, his eyes now vacant and glowing red.


“Shit… Alex, bind him before he can attack!” Sebaste ordered. She nodded before a burst of magic lanced out from her hand and slammed into Lewa, forming binds on his hands and feet that caused him to topple over. Sebaste then looked over at Chrystalla, and when he spoke, there was a note of steel in his voice. “If there’s one thing that ticks me off… it’s lording it over others and taking away their free will. And you…. just crossed that line.” he growled as he dismissed his machine gun in favor of a pair of CE magnums. He turned to the unknown Toa. “Keep those bugs busy, I’ll deal with Ms. Crystal over there.”


“Actually, I think she might be a fusion between Chrysalis and Sombra,” the seventh Toa remarked, “but I could be wrong. Name’s Caldoric, by the way.”


“Eliteslayer.” Sebaste then activated his suit’s thrusters and charged forward, knocking a good majority of the Shardlings out of the way.


“Rainblade, give us some covering fire!” Viktor yelled as he tossed an energy drain bomb at a group of shardlings. As soon as it activated, the shardlings around it were suddenly weakened as their magic was drained by the alien device faster than it could regenerate.


“Alright,” said Caldoric, who summoned a Bruteshot (of all things,) and stepped forward… only to freeze for a second. “Shit, I don't have a Gunkind abstratus…” he then growled, re-summoning his sword and teleporting after Eliteslayer, with Tahu on his heels. “EULALIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he cried.


Rainblade meanwhile, was swooping over the shardlings, laying down suppressing fire from her built in bolter. “The heck’s wrong with the rest of you?! Do you guys want to be like greenie there?” She asked the others.


That seemed to snap everyone into action, as Onua and Gali moved over to their fallen brother, along with Fluttershy and Twilight, and tried to bring him back to normalcy. Gali, however, caught Onua muttering something about a “second time,” but filed it away for later. Everyone else from Mata Nui and Equestria charged into the fray, tossing spells, kicks, and elemental blasts as they went.


Sebastian landed two slashing blows with his lightning claws before punching the shardling he had been fighting unconscious. “And I thought the Zerg were bad enough!” He taunted. “But I guess all you guys really do is just bug ponies!”


“Hah!” Exclaimed Pohatu, nearby, as he punted a Shardling into a wall. “Nice one! Kopaka would approve!”


The Astartes gave him a thumbs up before he dismissed a lightning claw for a bolter, and opened fire. “I’d say let’s rock, except that pun’s beneath me... but I’m gonna say it anyways; let’s rock!” he roared as he gunned down a group of Shardlings that were headed towards him.


Pohatu chuckled lightly as he charged towards a group of Shardlings that had begun to recover from their energy drain. “How 'bout we kick this into high gear?” He suggested. Leaping forwards and landing on his hands, he spun on his palms and Shifted into an Earth Pony slightly bigger than Celestia, and delivered a devastating kick with his new back legs, then Shifted back and punched another 'ling in the face. There was an audible crack from the impact.


“What in Holy Terra?!” Sebastian exclaimed, a dumbfounded look hidden behind his helmet, though his body language transcribed it perfectly. “That…. That shouldn't be possible! Since when did the Bionicle universe have that!?”


“Since forever, or so I've heard,” returned the Toa of stone, who abruptly stamped on the ground in the Astartes’ direction. “Heads up,” he added, as a spire of rock shot from the ground near Sebastian and pinned a 'ling that had been sneaking up on him to the far wall. “Maybe you should use that Kanohi Hau built into your helmet more often,” he finished, turning back to the 'lings around him. Sebastian facepalmed at that, muttering something that the Toa didn't catch, but it seemed to annoy the Astartes greatly.


Kopaka just rolled his eyes, and fought on silently.


Meanwhile, Alex and Viktor were fighting back to back, both having resorted to melee weapons. With a flick of her wrist, Alex wrapped her snake blade around a snarling Shardling and slammed it into one of its fellows, knocking them unconscious. “I’m really starting to hate bugs right now!” She growled. She raised her hand and unleashed a massive arcane blast that sent a majority of the Shardlings flying. She noticed Rainblade fighting alongside the resident world’s Rainbow, her wingblades slashing at a ‘ling and her bionic eye glaring at it.


The expresionless 'ling, in desperation, tried charging up a spell, only to be knocked sideways by Rainbow. “Don’t give 'em a chance to fire off a shot!” She chided, jokingly. “Haven't you fought Changelings before?”


“No… I had to fight and sometimes even kill other ponies.” Rainblade replied, as she blasted another Shardling with her sonic shotgun. “It’s not something I like remembering…”


“Oh, man, that sounds--” Rainbow began, only to be tackled by a crystalline Twilight-lookalike, which quickly brought its fangs to bear, ready to tear her throat out.


“RAAAAAAAH!” Rainblade roared before she smashed into the Shardling, her wingblades slicing into it. She kicked it back and flared her wings, both her organic and bionic eye glaring daggers at it. A ray of sunlight glinted on her metal wings as she displayed the built-in blades that gave her her name.


Rainbow took the opportunity to buck the 'ling off of herself and into the air, where Rainblade then grabbed it and it found itself staring down the barrel of the bolter sticking out of her forehoof. “I’m not letting anypony get hurt… Not after what I’ve gone through!” She shouted before she fired and let the Shardling fall, a massive wound showing where the mass reactive bolt had hit. She panted before she flew back down, the bolter retracting back into her hoof. The Shardling, however, merely crumbled into a useless (and distinctly smaller) pile of inert black crystals as it landed on the floor.


“Th-thanks, man,” Rainbow said, as she shakily regained her footing, then took to the air once more.


Alex shook her head as she knocked out another Shardling, Viktor stunning another with a Spartan charge. In a way, both Seb and Rainblade are the same... She thought, but I need to focus on this battle! If what Caldoric said is true… I don't want to risk killing any of the ponies this ‘Chrystalla’ enslaved.


Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rarity were holding their own in the crowd of foes, with the seamstress firing blast after magical blast, and the party-planner following suit with her party cannon. “Rarity,” asked the latter of the two, a bit of concern edging into her voice, “I've been wondering… d’you think Changelings have parties? I mean, I didn't get the chance to ask Thorax before he went into hiding…” She then blasted another group of 'lings.


“Pinkie, darling, I think that’s the least of our concerns at the moment,” Rarity replied, blasting three 'lings with magic and kicking a fourth with her hind legs, “but if I were to guess, they probably didn't do anything of the sort under Chrysalis’ rule.”


Pinkie halted for a moment, firing off one last blast. “Well then,” she stated, her voice going a bit weird as she stowed her cannon in her flattening mane, “let’s show them a party they won’t soon forget!” And, with that, Pinkamena Diane Pie pulled a very strange device from her straight, cascading locks of hair: it looked like a cyborg dolphin, into whose mouth had been shoved the mechanical workings of some form of gattling gun. This was Terraria’s legendary Space Dolphin Machine Gun, and it was equipped with the former rock farmer's favored ammunition.


With a whirring sound, the barrels spun up to optimum velocity, and Pinkamena pulled the trigger, deploying endless waves of tightly-packed, confetti-filled capsules at the horde of Shardlings, each shot exploding on impact with a small cloud of colorful bits of paper. She began to laugh maniacally, and pressed forward into the throng of crystalline bodies, walking on her hind legs as she cut a swath through the foes before her. Rarity, for her part, turned and cast a shield spell about herself and her presently less-than-sane friend, and followed behind the pink tank as she shouted “Waaaaaah! Cry some more, it makes me happy!” at the 'lings in a heavy Slavic accent.


Seeing this, Viktor facepalmed. “Really…. A TF2 reference?” He asked as he delivered a ground pound, the impact sending a few Shardlings flying. “What’s next, Nightmare Moon shows up?! Or a dragon does a song and dance number!?”


Almost in answer to his question a huge blast of wind raced around the room, unbalancing several Shardlings and throwing others on both sides somewhat off-guard while they braced against it.


“Wahoo!” Cried Lewa, getting up, “I'm back in the battle-fight!” he then sent out another bust of wind, blowing a channel of 'lings against the wall. This was followed up with a beam of water from Gali, and several magic blasts from Twilight. Onua, however, seemed to have vanished...


“Kyra, activate music file 9091, keyword: For freedom, we rise.” The Spartan said before a single song began blaring from his external speakers, accompanied by a “Hell yeah!” from Caldoric's general direction. Viktor then paused and concentrated before a single large mech with a heavy machine gun mounted on the left arm appeared next to him. “It’s Cyclops time!” He said, before he leapt in and sealed the cockpit. The walker then stood up and slamming a metal fist into its palm. With a roar, Viktor then opened fire with the heavy cannon, targeting only the non pony shardlings with help from his scanners and striding forward.


Meanwhile, Caldoric, Tahu, and Eliteslayer were practically fighting for their lives against Chrystalla, the four of them enclosed within a circle of magical, color-changing flames.


Caldoric momentarily took notice of the giant, unfamiliar mech's appearance as he fought, and did his best to speak without breaking his rhythm. “What the hell,” He began, dodging to one side and delivering an upward slice to Chrystalla's abdomen that merely glanced off, “is that thing? It’s not a Mantis, and I’m pretty sure I--” Again, he rolled out of the way, and attempted another attack, “that I’ve never seen one of those before!” He finished, to nobody in particular, then lunged forward alongside Tahu for a double thrust, which failed to do more than scratch her crystalline hide.


Just outside the circle of flames, a black, three-clawed hand shot up from beneath the flagstones and seized a Shardling by the leg, pulling it under before it could blink. The whole was almost immediately backfilled, as another few 'lings were sent flying over their heads from somewhere else in the room.


“Heh, Vik always did like using the Cyclops…” Sebaste replied as he leapt into the air and fired round after round from his pistols, the armor piercing tips easily negating Chrystalla’s crystal armor. “So I’m guessing you bought something from an unknown vendor at a Con, dressed as a character from a video game or some other fandom and got sent to Equestria as said character?” He asked as he landed, his pistols raised and smoking.


“Uh…” Caldoric replied, a little confused, “more of an OC, but…” He ducked a wild kick from the now-enraged Chrystalla. “I’m not exactly sure what I'm capable of! I mean, I'm afraid to find out, really!”


“Most new Displaced are like that. I know, I was like you once…” Sebaste responded as he flipped over a swing and fired at Chrystalla before slamming into her with a Spartan charge.


“Wait, you were human too?” Caldoric asked. “Were you ever familiar with a webcomic called 'Homestuck’?”


“I’ve heard some of my friends mention it back before I was Displaced, but I never really got into it, and to answer your other question, I’m still human, just augmented!” He said as he jumped back, a massive hammer that crackled with energy now in his hands.


“Still human? Oh, you lucky bastard!” Caldoric replied, putting extra stress on the final word as he attempted a drop kick on the Shardling Queen, then rolled out of the way of her retaliatory stomp. “I’ve got some questions for you, assuming we make it out of this…!”


“And I’m assuming my friends might have a few questions for you, judging by Sasha’s startled yell earlier.” Sebaste chuckled before he swung his weapon. As it hit, a massive shockwave sent Chrystalla skidding backwards. “Now then, call off your bugs and release the ponies, or I’m bringing the hammer down!” he growled at the queen.


“I’d be careful with him!” Caldoric added. “He really loves his hammer…!”


“Less talking, more fighting!” Kopaka snapped as he skated by, momentarily leaving a trail of ice on the floor, and a more permanent trail of angry Shardlings hot on his tail.


“Sounds like a pl--!” Caldoric began, only to receive a solid kick to his back from Chrystalla, which sent him out of the flaming ring and slammed him against the nearest wall. He sat there, dazed momentarily…


~~~~
Ian shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and looked at the battlefield around him. Things didn't look good, and there were always more 'lings pouring in from the various entrances, though it did seem to be slowing slightly… He sighed, and looked at his sword. He really shouldn't have allocated his Strife Specibus to Bladekind, as cool as it was… he had nothing that could do more than scratch her.


An idea came to him, then. A stupid, crazy idea, which had no chance of working, but… maybe. Summoning the two lightsaber replicas he'd been wearing at the convention from his Sylladex, he pushed it’s “on” button, and was rewarded with a lime-green blade of light springing from its emitter.


“Oh, now we’re cooking with uranium…!” He exclaimed softly, as he ignited the other, blood-orange blade, eager to return the fight.


~~~~
“Y’know, you’re really vexing me!” Sebaste growled as he dodged another swing from Chrystalla. “But I bet you can't tell which is the real me!” He said as two duplicates of himself appeared on either side,each armed with the same weapon.


With an unfamiliar battle cry, the three combatants who remained in the circle turned to see Caldoric, back in action, swinging two glowing and humming blades around himself in a simple yet mesmerizing “X” pattern, carving a bloodless path towards the circle. Any Shardling near him backes off, unsure what to make of these strange weapons…


With a triumphant yell, he leapt over the Technicolor flames and performed a scissor-cut with the two blades in empty air. “C’mon!” He challenged. Tahu raised an eyebrow.


“Oooookay… Moving on…” Sebaste said just as he received a blow from Chystalla, sending him skidding on the floor, and knocking his helmet off in the process. He turned his head to reveal a mop of short reddish brown hair, green eyes and most distinctively, a face that had two slash scars over his left eye. Locking onto Chrystalla, Sebaste’s eyes narrowed into angry slits and with a growl, he summoned a pair of energy swords and charged forward.


Caldoric followed his lead, with Tahu not far behind, his Flame Sword ablaze. Soon, the three of them were landing flurries of blows upon her that bit deeper into her crystal-built body than anything had before. No blood came from the wounds, but they still pained her nonetheless.


“Time for you to pay for your crimes, Chrysalis…” Sebaste snarled as he stalked forward to land another blow.


“No… no!!” she cried, creating a thaumic shockwave that pressed all three of her foes nearly to the edge of the circle. “I will not be bested by the likes of you… you… you alien freaks! I will see this world fall to my whim! And you have no chance of stopping me!”


“I’ve heard that so many times, it’s gotten old! I’ve fought Chaos Marines, Covenant, even a Daemon Princess version of Twilight and won! I’m a defender of Equestria, and I don't give in, no matter what!” Sebaste roared before his thrusters activated and he slammed into her, sending her skidding and disrupting her spell.


Tahu tried to take the opportunity to attack her from behind, only for his blade to rebound off of her hastily-cast shield spell, which sent him flying backwards. Meanwhile, Caldoric was circling the errant Queen, with small green electrical arcs beginning to cascade up and down his frame, as he shook slightly with… was it anger? Fear? Suddenly, he stopped his pacing.


“Do you know what your sins are… Chrysalis?” He asked, slowly, calmly. “Pride. Envy. Wrath, and Greed. And now, you feel that sensation on your spine? That tingling feeling creeping up beneath the hair on your scalp?” He settled into an aggressive crouch as the small lightnings seemed to intensity. “Those are your sins, crawling up your back. Chrysalis, you have failed this world, and have forgotten the face of your father. For this, and the harming of innocents across nations, you're gonna have a bad time.”


Sebaste jumped back and summoned what looked like a massive closed missile launcher, but as he pulled the trigger, the front of the weapon opened up, and a whine was heard as a small laser locked onto Chrystalla, and energy began to build in the barrel.


“It’s a terrible day.” Caldoric stated, with that strange calm. “Birds are starving, flowers are wilting… on days like these, bitches like you…” purple smoke began to filter through his mask's eyeholes as the electricity around him began trying to discharge to the ground around him, playing a familiar tune (MeGaLoVania,) and small bits of debris began rising. He held his hands off to one side in a pose anyone familiar with Dragon Ball Z would recognize, as his deactivated lightsabers hung in midair.


“Ş̕͡HO̴U͏̷̵L̷͡D ͝BĘ B̧UŔ̢N͟IN͝҉G̛̕ ͏Ì̷͏N͞ ̕H͢͠E̴̕Ĺ̢Ļ̶!” He exclaimed, his voice going wierd. “̕ KA͘M̶҉̧É.͢.̶.͏ ̴̵̵R̕͠AS͜E̴̡͟N̢͠.̸̀͝.́̕.̧͏ ҉Ḩ̸͡A͘M̀E̵̛,̀ ͏G͝AN̸͠,҉ ́̕H̴A-DǪ͢͏ƯK̕E̴̶̛N ̡͟F̸U̢C̵̨K͘Y̴͟O̸U̕̕͠Y͠O̴̧U̶M̧̨O͡͡T͏HÉRF͘͏UC̨̕͏K̨͡IN͜͠G̛͘B̸ÍT͝Ć̴̢H̴͡͞!҉͢!͢”͢


At that moment, both Caldoric and Sebaste released their pent-up attacks, which shattered Chrystalla's shield and sent her flying through a wall. The smoking hole she’d left allowed a bit more of the grey daylight to enter the room, but it didn't do much else.


Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to see what had just happened, with Onua popping his masked head up from beneath the floor to join in.


Caldoric, bent over and panting from the apparent exertion of the combined attack, held up a hand, in which appeared a swirling ball of energy, the color of which matched his eyes and heartlight. “Y̶o͟u Sh̵a͏rdlin͝gs h͜ave ͞ti͢ll thȩ ̧c҉óuņt ͏of ͟te͞n t̕o̕ ̵g̕e̕t ̢y̸ou҉r̢ lousy,̀ ly͢ing,̶ ̢n͡o͜-gòod̴ cąrcàsses͜ ͘ou͏t ̷o̵f̢ ̵t̢hi͜s c̛as͡t̸l͢e̡,̢ ͡b͢e̕fo̡r̴e ͜Ì p̧u̷m͡p̷ ́your g͘u͞t̕s ful͢la p̨l҉a̵sma̸.” He stated,the lightning dying down, though the song it had produced was still going.


“O̧ne̢.̛” he said, and the Shardlings began to scatter, going any way they could before Caldoric could--


“̷́T̨ẁo̴͘.͏.̶̛̛.͞” There was an increased intensity in his voice, which the everyone present seemed to pick up on.


“̛T̵E̸̷̵N̶̨!́͟͏!̷!͘͢” He cried, and slammed the ball into the ground. Immediately, more green electricity lanced out from the point of impact, skittering across the stonework and leaping through the air, striking each and every Shardling in the room, with other tendrils snaking off into the rest of the castle. The arcs of energy totally ignored the Toa, ponies, and former humans, instead latching onto every Shardling present, encasing them in an electrical prison, and they began shaking, some more than others.


“Caldoric, stop! You're hurting--!” Gali began, as Twilight charged up a spell and Tahu made ready to hit him with the pommel of his sword, but then everything changed. The crystal of the Shardlings began to crack and fall off, some of them revealing different colors underneath, while others merely began to crumble from the inside. Soon, the trapped ponies (and a couple of captured Changelings,) were taking in gasps of air and retching, as Lyra had done, while the fully-crystallized Shardlings merely disintegrated.


The floating debris around Caldoric dropped to the ground again, as did his lightsabers. “Keep the change, ya filthy animals,” he spat sarcastically, then joined his lightsabers in a heap on the ground. The electricity that had danced across his armor moments before was gone, and the colors thereof seemed almost... faded.


“Holy Tartarus, the hell was that?!” Sebaste asked, having grabbed his helmet after spotting it lying nearby. Rainblade then flew up to him.


“I don’t know, but his power levels spiked to over 10,000.” She remarked, earning a facepalm in response.


“Of course you would have the equipment to make that particular meme….” the Spartan muttered, earning a confused look from the Cyberpegasus.


♪Mmmm, whatcha saa-ay...?♪ Pinkie intoned, sitting next to Caldoric's prone form, a forehoof resting next to his unblinking heartlight. ♪Oooh, that you only meant well? Well, of course you did...♪


Caldoric, for his part, suddenly sat up, jabbed a finger in her face, and said three words: “Too. Fucking. Soon.” His hand then delved into his chestplate, where it fiddled about a bit, before the heartlight finally flickered to life once more.


“Faulty wire?” Viktor asked as he walked up, with Alex and Sebastian behind him, the Cyclops having vanished. “Those can be a real pain. I’ve had to fix Alex’s arm more than once because of those!”


“Well, it’s more loose than faulty, but yeah,” Caldoric said, retrieving his hand from his armor, “though it’s been doing this since I put the costume together. Could've gone with a steady blinking light, but nooooo, I decided to have it so it actually picked up on my heartrate for the added realism. Stupid me.” he looked over at the Toa Mata and the Mane Six, who were gathering and comforting the former Shardling captives.


There were a few blasts of green magic that flew in through the Chrystalla-shaped hole in the wall, though they missed anything important by a mile.


“Now that Chyssie got sent flying Team Rocket style, those Shardlings can't hit the broadside of a barn!” Sebaste chuckled as Alex face palmed with her right hand, servos whirring.


“Come out and face me, you cowards!” Chrystalla’s voice commanded, from outside the castle walls.


“Yeah. I thought she might still be alive…” Caldoric complained, coughing slightly and attempting to get to his feet, his armor still paler than normal. “The bad guys have a nasty habit of doing that. But hey, that’s the Narrative Imperative for ya… what’s it look like out there?”


Alex quickly teleported to where the hole was, and peeked out. “We’ve got more Shardlings, along with Chrysalis and… what the….” She sounded confused.


Caldoric staggered over to the hole, and his eyes widened.


“What… what are those?” She asked.


“Shale imps,” he said, as if in explanation. “Basically cannon fodder, they’re from Homestuck, though they can be potentially problematic if there are too many ganging up on you unawares… I'm more concerned about how they got here… I only hope she doesn't have anything worse.”


“That's another thing about Displaced… you get enemies from the series you dressed up as in the same world.” Alex said grimly as she unsheathed her sword, before reconsidering and resheathing it and pulling out her sniper rifle.


“Hey, how d’you keep doing that, by the way?” Caldoric asked, looking askance at her. His armor seemed a bit less faded, but it was still faded nonetheless...


“Our weapon summoning? It’s my only power, besides being able to use magic. I can also use different armor abilities, but that's the extent of what I can do. Seb and the other two are able to summon different vehicles from their respective game universes.” She explained. “Honestly, I don't know how it works, but from what I can guess, whenever we think of a certain weapon, it appears in our hands.”


“Hmmm…” Caldoric said, gazing off into the distance. A second later he held out a hand as he leaned against the wall, and a simple-looking ring with four pearl-white orbs on it appeared in his palm. “Nice, but what about…” the ring disappeared, and was replaced by a strange, somewhat cylindrical object, half black and half silver.


“Yeah, that’s cool. I can pull from both realities…!” He began, before Chrystalla's voice cut through the silence again.


“Answer me, or I will bring that blasted castle down around your ears!” She demanded.


“Kiss this, Chrysalis!” Alex shouted back before a sniper round grazed the Shardlings Queen's side. “Next shot I fire will be in your skull!”


“Not if I can help it…” Caldoric muttered, as the large object vanished, and was replaced with a slightly smaller and stockier six-barreled apparatus. “Eat Cordak missiles, assmunch!” He exclaimed, and fired off six shots. Six missile-like objects flew from the barrels, but none flew straight at the intended target. Instead, the projectiles slammed into random sectors of the amassed army in the streets, leaving behind craters, dead 'lings, and… large Gusher-looking objects.


“Oh I forgot, those were torpedoes. But hey, they drop grist!” Caldoric noted, before the army responded with a barrage of their own. “Pohatu, seal this hole!”


Alex quickly ducked behind the wall as it hit before peeking back out and sniping a few shardlings from their perches. Sebaste and the other three quickly ran to some of the holes punched by the blasts and returned fire with their weapons.


A second later, the hole in the wall seemed to melt and seal itself, and Pohatu gave a grunt of satisfaction.


“Toa and Elements, I have an idea!” Caldoric said, remembering something. “To the door!” Everyone minus the Spartans, the Cyberpegasus and the dark green Hulkbuster-lookalike made their way to the door, where Caldoric revealed his idea.


“Alright, you ponies put a forehoof against the doorframe. Good, now…” he turned to the Toa. “Do the same with your weapons.”


“Why?” Asked Onua. “What will this accomplish?”


“Just do it and see, it’ll be aweso--” Caldoric was cut off as the castle shook, raining dust on their heads. “Do it! Do it now!”


As one, the Toa Mata placed the ends of their weapons against the doorframe, (with Pohatu merely placing his foot against it,) and it glowed momentarily with energy. Soon, so too did the whole room, as did the entire castle, presumably.


“Caldoric, you’d better hurry! I'm not sure how long we can keep this up- AAH!” Alex cried out as a lucky shot from a shardling hit her right arm, the pain sensors built into it alerting her of the hit. She fell to the ground, grasping her now damaged arm. Sparks spat from where the shot hit.


“Blast…!” Tahu cried, and hurried to her side, as the glow from whatever had happened faded. He saw, through the few remaining holes in the walls, that beams of energy were now shooting off from somewhere else in the castle, bathing the enemy army in swathes of fire, or ice, or having small chasms open beneath them. What in Mata Nui's name is going on? he wondered.


“Alex!” Viktor yelled as he ran over to her. He skidded to a halt and stared at the damage the blast had done. “Kyra, I need you, now!” He said before a small blue glowing humanoid figure armed with a high tech laser rifle and flakk armor appeared in his hand. “I need you to scan her arm and tell me the damage report.” He ordered.


Right away!” The AI said before she vanished.When she came back, her tone was grim. “She’s lost part of her motor functions in her arm, the blast somehow hit a major power line. I recommend fully replacing the entire thing, and fast.” Viktor slammed a fist into the wall, leaving an impression of his fist in the stonework.


“Damn it! Alex… I need you to stay here for now. I’ll be back to fix your arm as soon as I can. Will you be okay until then?” He asked, getting a nod from her.


Caldoric came rushing over too, and tried to slide to a stop, only for him to trip over a bit of rubble and slide the rest of the way there on his mask. “I may have a solution or two, if there’s a problem,” he groaned, his voice slightly muffled by the floor as he held up a finger. Tahu got up and joined his fellow Toa in providing defense through the holes in the wall.


“Unless you know how to fix a prosthetic arm, and a custom one at that, I don't think we can really do anything.” Viktor snapped. Sebastian put a hand on the Spartan’s shoulder.


“Let's hear him out, he might be able to get this done faster.” He said.


Caldoric sat up, and looked at the damaged prosthetic. “Oh dang, that's some damage. There’s a Mask for that, though, if I remember correctly.” He then held up his right arm, indicating the plate of slotted silvery metal on the forearm. “And if that fails… I could always try to simulate Alchemy from FMA!” He then held his hands in front of himself, and a Kanohi Mask appeared between them. He then put it on, and his armor immediately brightened back to its original luster as he nearly fell over.


“Whoah, head rush,” he muttered, as he then held his hands over the damaged arm. “Alright… fix!” the new mask began to glow with an inner light, and then, with a slight grinding of metal and a few sparks, the arm glowed too, beginning to stitch itself back together. In seconds, it was done. Caldoric was ecstatic.


Alex flexed the arm a few times before she stood up. “Thanks.” She said, giving the Toa a nod of appreciation.


“No problem,” the Human-turned-Toa replied. “So, an actual prosthetic, eh? What’s it based off of? I mean, assuming it's not a custom… design… that is.” He finished awkwardly, and switched to his original mask. “Probably a sore subject, I shouldn't've mentioned it… bad Ian, bad!”


“It's okay. I had it based off of Ivy Valentine's right arm armor, I’ve always been a bit of a Soul Calibur fan, so after I lost my arm in a car accident, we saved up enough money to have a company make it.” Alex replied. “But… it was really hard for us during that time.”


Caldoric gave her a half-smile. “Never heard of either the character or the game, but they sound fun. I personally would've gone for an Automail replica, but that’s just me. Heck, there was this one time I heard that a kid got an Iron Man prosthetic, and Robert Downey himself was involved in making it happen… but that was a few years ago, before Trump got elected, and the war started…” He sat up a little straighter, oblivious to the others’ confused looks, and pressed on. “But enough about the past, we need to focus on the now. How’re we gonna take back the city?”

Sebaste rubbed the bottom of his helmet. "I may have an idea..." He said before revealing his plan.