The Changeling Hive
Chrysalis was viewing the latest footage of the Elements of Heroism. "Hmmm. They could present quite the obstacle to our plans. Time to see how my ambitions pay off." Chrysalis stared at the five cocoons that lay in front of her, and smirked. "Looks like you five finally get to come out and play." Chrysalis' eyes glowed green as eyes opened in each of the cocoons! Glowing the same green as Chrysalis' eyes! "Now. Awaken." The five cocoons burst open, and five changelings crawled out of the goo that had pooled onto the floor. However, these changelings looked different from the regular changelings. One changeling looked like it had a scorpion tail, and claws that he retracted and extended as he flicked his wrists. Another had four spider legs sticking out from her back, and multiple eyes. There was one that looked like a hornet, and had blades that looked like the stinger of a hornet on each forearm. Yet another one looked like it was similar to a centipede. Multiple small, insect-like legs wriggled along his torso as it seemed to extend and contract. Lastly, there was one who seemed to have a hide like a beetle and the bulk to match. And the last one had arms like a praying mantis. He flicked his wrists, and blades like the front legs of a praying mantis merged into his hands! "You five shall do quite nicely. But you'll need names." Chrysalis walked down the line of odd changelings before her. Starting at the one that looked like a scorpion. "You shall be called Stinger." She then started to move down the line. Naming each of the other odd changelings. "You are Silk Snare. Needle. Carapace. Constrictor." Chrysalis stopped at the one that looked like a praying mantis. "And you are Blade." Chrysalis returned to her throne.
"So why did you wake us up?" Blade inquired. "We're mutants. Freaks among our own kind. What possible use could you have for us?"
Chrysalis smirked once again. "Actually, I woke you up for what I can do for you. A chance to make good use of your...unique traits. I promise that if you complete your task, the reward will be great. You shall gain great fame as the greatest warriors of the hive!" Chrysalis used her magic to bring up an image of Burst and the guys. "They are called the Elements of Heroism. And they stand in our way. Eliminate them by capturing them. Once they are out of the way, nothing shall stand in our way!" The mutant changelings bowed. "Go forth! Heart of the Swarm!" And with that, the five mutant changelings vanished in flashes of green light. But as she was alone, Chrysalis' facial expression was split in two. One side had a smirk, while the other had a sad frown.
Outskirts of the Everfree Forest
Burst and the other Elements of Heroism were out training with their Duelist Arms. And since Tyrannus was the newest member to obtain his weapons, Burst saw to it that he got the most focus! "C'mon Ty! Keep it up!" Tyrannus swung at Burst with his Brachio Staff, but Burst jumped and landed on it! Tyrannus caught this move, and swung at Burst with one of his Raptor claw gauntlets! Burst blocked the incoming attack with his sword! "Good! You're getting better at adding quick follow-ups to your attacks!" Burst fired a shot from one of his Twin Burst blaster pistols! Tyrannus rolled out of the way!
"Time to see which of our blasters packs the bigger shot!" Tyrannus said with a smirk as he drew his Tyranno Magnum! He and Burst then fired charged blasts at each other, but Burst's overpowered Tyrannus'! Tyrannus smiled as the dust cleared. "Well, at least I'm not left out of the weapons group anymore." The two charged at each other once again.
Meanwhile, Ace, Ice and Shadow were engaged in their own sparring session. Ace raised his shield to block a strike from Shadow's spear Celestial Protector! He then used his scarf's ability to turn into dragon wings to give him some altitude and came down full force with his sword! Shadow raised his spear and blocked the impact! But both rolled out of the way as soon as Ice charged in with his claymore! Ice's swing was powerful, but that made him vulnerable! A fact Ace and Shadow made good use of as they charged at Ice! Ice smirked. "Nice try bros! But I've been working on that little weak point!" Ice then shifted his weight forward, and executed a spin attack with his claymore! Ace and Shadow leaped back to avoid the tornado of fury that was Ice! "Okay. It took me ten tries to pull that off without getting dizzy." Ice said as he struggled to keep himself standing. Ace and Shadow couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Ice falling over after the spin attack.
Steel and Akage were locking blades with each other for their training. "I always wanted to take on a ninja!" Steel said with a grin as he blocked Akage's blade with his shield before swinging at Akage with his own sword! "What other tricks do you have for this training?"
"I could teleport all over the place." Akage said with a chuckle. "But I wondered how my skills with the blade would fare against one of the fabled Elite Guard. And here I am sparring with their former captain. Let our blades resonate with our fighting spirit!" And the two renewed their clash! Venus and Fang in the meantime, were sparring with each other. Venus was blindfolded as he got into a fighting stance.
"Uh, Venus? You sure about this?" Fang asked. "You're kind of at a disadvantage without your eyes."
Venus chuckled. "Fang. You've got great hearing and great smell. But you're not the only one who has extra heightened senses. Now come at me!" Venus readied his whip, Rose's Wrath, and awaited Fang's attack. Fang shrugged as he got into a pouncing position, and soon lunged at Venus! Only to be met with the lash of Venus' whip flailing around like a ring of thorns protecting Venus! "I'm not as blind as you think I am." Venus said with a smirk. "The earth also serves as my eyes." At the same time, Inferno and North were going at it with their magic skills. Inferno was hurling fireballs while North was using his magnetism magic to push away Inferno's blasts and try to pull Inferno in for a quick attack! Venus was using the earth to sense the position of his friends, but he froze when he felt a small group of unfamiliar presences through the earth! Two were right below himself and his friends! "GUYS! Get clear of the ground now!" The guys were confused, but jumped off the ground just in time! From the ground, two figures burst forth! Once the guys landed, they noticed that the figures were changelings. But what was weird is that they looked like they were based off of different insects. Their leader looked like a praying mantis.
"So you're the guys we've gotta take down. I'm Blade." Blade then introduced each of the Heart of the Swarm respectively. "These are Silk Snare, Needle, Carapace, Constrictor, and Stinger. We're the Heart of the Swarm. But today, we'll be known as the first to beat the Elements of Heroism! ATTACK!"
Burst and the guys readied their weapons, and engaged the Heart of the Swarm! Burst locked blades with Mantis! "You wouldn't be the first to think you can beat us!" Burst forced away one of Blade's blade arms, and fired a charged shot right in his chest! Scorch marks were present at the site of impact! "Gotta say though. You're putting up a better fight than the first changelings we encountered."
Meanwhile, Venus and Fang were tangling with Constrictor! Fang charged at the centipede-like foe, but Constrictor expected this as his upper body stretched out, and coiled around Fang! Trapping him in an iron grip! Fang writhed as he tried to break free! "We won't be squashed as easily as those basic drones you fought! We're a different breed altogether!" Constrictor boasted as he tightened his coils on Fang!
"AAAGGH!" Fang screamed as more air was forced out of his lungs! However, Venus had other ideas! He coiled his whip, Roses' Wrath around Constrictor, and ignited its flames! Constrictor wailed in pain as the flames licked away at him, and released his grip on Fang! Fang gasped for air as soon as he stumbled towards Venus! "Thanks man!" He then narrowed his eyes. "Now for some payback!" Fang extended his gauntlet, Destiny Reaver, and its claws shot out! Fang then pulled himself forward and kicked Constrictor in the face! Then he bit Constrictor on the butt! The mutant changeling took off screaming and Fang watched with a satisfied smile as Constrictor fled.
At the same time, Ice, Ace, and Shadow were taking on Stinger! The scorpion mutant changeling's stinger kept any of them from getting too close! "Hah! Go ahead! Try to get close! All you'll get is a tail full of poison! It won't destroy you! Just make you stay nice and still long enough to get dragged back to the hive!"
Shadow noticed a small magical seal circle around the blade of his spear Celestial Protector. Wasting no time, he hurled it at Stinger's tail! The spear turned into a beam of light that pinned Stinger's tail to the ground! Soon, glowing chains of light sprung up from a larger seal, and bound Stinger in place! "Ace! Ice! Strike now!" Ice charged forth as his claymore was wrapped in power force flames! Stinger howled in pain at the sizeable wound the large blade caused! A pain only furthered by the flames that raged around the blade! He was then met with a shield to the face from Ace that was followed by a slash across the chest! The chains soon dispelled, and Stinger went off to join the equally wounded Constrictor.
Steel and Akage were busy tangling with Needle in the meantime. The wasp mutant changeling's speed was on par with both Steel and Akage. And the fact he was able to shoot a barrage of mini stingers from his left hand didn't help the matter! Steel raised his shield to defend himself and Akage! "Man!" Steel groaned as another barrage of mini stingers came flying at him and Akage! "This guy just keeps spamming that projectile move! When's he gonna try something new?!" Needle hovered in the air, and narrowed his eyes at Steel.
Akage's eyes widened when he saw Needle dive-bomb him and Steel with his stinger blade! "I think he heard you." Akage's face then lit up! "And I think I know just how to swat him!" Akage got into a fighting stance and stared down Needle! Needle hovered before simply shrugging and diving right for Akage!
"Akage, are you nuts?!" Steel cried out!
Akage simply smiled as Needle got closer to him. Akage then jumped over Needle, and removed his scarf from his neck! He then landed on Needle's back and tied his scarf around Needle's head! Blinding the mutant changeling! "WOOOOHOOOOOO!" Akage crowed as he rode the panicking mutant changeling that was flying around in a panic! Steel couldn't help but laugh at the sight before him.
"Way to make the serious silly dude." Steel said with a thumbs-up. Akage then forced Needle to the ground before reclaiming his scarf! Needle skidded across the ground as his mouth filled with dirt!
Akage nodded with a satisfied smirk. "And I stuck the landing too."
North and Inferno were standing completely still as the beetle mutant changeling Carapace loomed over the. "You want the first hit, or me?" Inferno asked.
"This is my first fight." North said with a chuckle. "I think it's time to show you lads what I've got!" North's hands glowed as his magic. One hand cloaked in a red magic aura, and the other in a blue. North fired a beam of magic at Carapace, but it had little effect besides covering the mutant changeling in a slight red glow.
"This is all you've got wimp?" Carapace asked with a smirk. "It'll take something with a lot more punch to send me reeling!" He then pounded on his chest. "My hide's as tough as armor!" Carapace sneered down on North. "Heck, I'll even let you get in a free shot since your first attack was so pathetic!"
North smirked. "You want a punch?" North ran up to Carapace, and slugged him with his other fist! Sending the mutant changeling flying! "Was that good enough?" North asked as he cracked his knuckles. At the same time, Tyrannus was blocking off stabs from Silk Snare's dagger-like extra legs! The spider mutant changeling's face twisted into a savage grin!
"All you fools are flies caught in our web!" She hissed! She then extended her arm, and fired out a stream of webbing! Tyrannus was shocked when his arm was caught in the webbing! Silk Snare sneered, and yanked Tyrannus to the ground! "Literally AND figuratively!" Tyrannus growled as he used his Brachio Staff to swat away any of Silk Snare's extra legs that tried to take a stab at him! Then, an idea came to him! Tyrannus flicked his right wrist, and the claw blades of his raptor gauntlet deployed! He then cut the line of webbing, and deployed his other gauntlet's claw blades! Tyrannus slashed repeatedly at Silk Snare's belly! A shower of sparks flew as blade clashed against chitin! Silk Snare clutched her torso in pain as she fell to her feet! Burst had just sent Blade flying, and the Heart of the Swarm staggered to their feet!
"You...how can this be?!" Blade fumed! "I knew the Avatars would give us trouble...but the rest of you are just human! How can you compare to us?!"
"Because we don't fight for ourselves." Burst answered as he summoned his Chaos MAX Cannon. He then aimed it at the Heart of the Swarm. "And you made the mistake of trying to mess with our home. I'm afraid I'll have to show you the door." Burst charged up a single shot from the cannon, and fired! The Heart of the Swarm were hit with a massive blast of chaos light energy! Causing cracks to appear on their exoskeletons as they were repulsed all the way back to their hive! Burst let out a sigh of relief. "I'd say all our off-screen training's paid off quite well boys. But we'd better let the girls know about this. Something tells me things are escalating. Quickly." And with that, the guys left to inform the girls of the recent attack and their victory. Needless to say, Twilight freaked out.
"WHAT?!" Twilight screamed! "You guys were ambushed by mutant changelings?! Why didn't you tell me and the girls?! We could've helped!"
"Twilight, calm down!" Burst said. "We sent them packing. Especially since we outnumbered and out-skilled them. But the weird thing is, Narico wasn't the target this time. It was us."
Ace scratched his head in thought. "Maybe...they consider us a threat. I know we're boasting considerable power, but we haven't had any conflict with them besides that small group that tried to take Narico."
Burst narrowed his eyes. "Then that brings up something more troubling: What could they be planning that they'd feel the need to take us down?" The group simply stood still. Contemplating whatever scheme the changelings had in store.
The Changeling Hive
Chrysalis gazed at the Heart of the Swarm as they lay still in healing cocoons. She reached out to caress the surface of one cocoon with a sorrowful expression on her face, but something made her halt her arm. She then clutched her chest in pain! "They failed. They deserve nothing! They have no place in the hive!", a voice screamed in her head! "Not you...not now!" Chrysalis groaned "SHUT UP!" Several changeling drones rushed as they heard Chrysalis scream! She had recovered. "You needn't concern yourselves." Chrysalis said flatly as she returned to her throne. She anxiously looked over the plan she had concoted. "If this doesn't rid me of you, nothing will!"