//------------------------------// // Interlude 2 // Story: A Golden Drive Through Equestria // by Psyga315 //------------------------------// Despite the Roidmude King’s warnings, the war didn’t seem to resume immediately as I had thought. Even after a patrol with Soarin’, I noted how quiet the streets were. If the Roidmude were gonna invade, I’d expect the streets to be crawling with them. Though there were the occasional creatures of Grimm. Perhaps the only time where deliberately running over an animal was encouraged by a cop. After a good night of hunting, I returned to the school, parking the Tridoron in the process. That’s when I noticed the statue, the apparent portal to Equestria, shimmer. Wasn’t the portal supposed to be closed for thirty moons? How long is thirty moons anyways? I inspected the statue… Suddenly, two girls came out of the statue. Their hairstyles were distinct, as were the outfits and belts. I recognized one of them instantly. Mach’s belt. Well, I’m glad Mach’s a Displaced and not Gou. I asked for their names. We had a brief conversation regarding who they are and where they came from. Apparently, they were encased in stone for a few thousand years and were from the same realm Twilight came from. How she never mentioned them is something I must ask, though I presume it was the similar case with the two brothers knowing Pinkie, yet she didn’t know them. Perhaps the Twilight and Pinkie they met were not the same ones I met. We discussed a bit regarding the situation, to the point where we began to discuss Grimm. Thankfully, I knew a guy. “Thanks for coming with me, Fluttershy.” Ross said as Fluttershy patted his back just as they were about to enter the pet store. “Sunset’s just being too hard on herself. She’ll come around.” Fluttershy just smiled as they entered the shop. Ross turned his head and saw Miss Oxton chat with Joey, no doubt talking about his request to join the Wonderbolts. That’s when he noticed a third person: Flash Sentry. Ross remembered how Flash used a device like what Kelly ended up using at the climax of her fight with Banno. He had no idea what differentiated the two though. Flash’s device gave him weapons while Kelly’s gave her armor. Yet… they looked the same. This was something he had to check with Kelly. “You coming? Pets can be very relaxing.” Fluttershy said. “O-oh, yeah, of course.” Ross said as he entered the store. In the shop, they looked at various animals, eventually ending with looking at Corgis. That was when Kelly came in with two girls. The situation was explained to Ross. The girls were Displaced and wanted to know what Grimm and Grimmudes are. The result was the two girls transforming into Kamen Riders, much like Kelly, and rushing off to fight such a Grimmude. Double Diamond returned to his new base, smirking at the data he had received. His Grimmude creation, a Cobra-Class Roidmude fused with a Beringel, was defeated at the hands of two ZECT Riders. Mass Produced Roidmudes seemed to be weaker than the 108 that Banno made. He looked through the notes to wonder why that is. He was able to make the two fuse, so why was it significantly weaker than the Raven Grimmude? He splayed the notes out and looked through it. Banno’s collection of notes from when he pitched the idea to Foundation X, back before he grew insane from his constant failures. He would create groups of robots that would grow and adapt with humanity, eventually bridging the gap between man and machine. There were hitches though. Even before the Core Driviars needed to give them the powers they have, they were considered imperfect. Just machines that obeyed a human’s orders. While ideal for Foundation X, Banno didn’t seem to like the results. He wanted the Roidmudes to be more man than machine. He wanted to give them… Personality. Was that it? The Mass Produced Roidmudes were just the Roidmudes that Banno first pitched. Subservient machines that obey orders. And yet, they were easier to destroy than the usual Roidmude. They had no personality. They had no numbered Core. … They had no soul. Souls… That’s it. He needs souls to power up his Roidmudes. Give them a personality beyond that of obedient. Even if it would cause them to take over, perhaps them succumbing to their emotions and desires might indeed power them up. That’s what seemed to be the key to unlocking Super Evolution, after all. That settles it then. All he needs to create the weapon he desired… All he needs to acquire victory… Is in a simple soul. Niko tossed the geode onto the desk of his hideout. He sighed. He already had a client who desired the stones. He arranged payment of a hundred US dollars per jewel. Seven hundred. Enough to support his sister and nephew for a month or two. That’s when he heard a zipper. “You…” Niko turned around to see a woman with bleached blonde hair covering one of her eyes, a blood red left eye, and a white silk outfit that looked like Tetsuya Nomura had designed it. “You gave her the wrong belt.” She said. “I gave her a belt! Like you asked.” Niko glared at her. “Why did you let her take that belt, though? You should have declined.” She said. “Hey, your little problem’s taken care of because of her decision to get the belt. If I had given her the Sengoku Driver like she wanted, the Roidmudes would have killed her and we’d be back to square one!” Niko shouted. “When I let you give those belts, I intended you to give at least one of them Drive’s belt. But instead, you gave the belts of two of the most villainous men I have had the displeasure of seeing to someone who might be toeing the line to evil.” She said. “And yet she managed to stop Banno anyways! I don’t get why you’re here. As far as I know, my work with you is done. Now, if you excuse me, I have a client from Universe C-137 who is requesting big money for some tiny little jewels.” As Niko said that, he heard several zippers open as vines came out from what appeared to be portals to a forest, all with a zipper-like outline. The vines grabbed Niko by the arms and legs. “I hate to use force, but you left me no choice. Your actions almost caused the creation of a monster tonight. I’m not gonna take any chances with you. There are two people that I have selected to be Kamen Riders. You will be taken to them and you will give them their belts. In the meantime, I’ll explore the multiverse and try to find the other Riders. When I do, you will give them back their belts. Do we have a deal?” She asked. The vines tightened. “Do I have a choice?” Niko chuckled. She shook her head. “Fine. I’ll do it. Tell me who and I’ll do it.” With that, the vines let go and zip away into the portals. “I’ll give you the coordinates.” The woman then opened a zipper behind her and walked off. As the zipper closed, Niko just sighed. “Crazy bitch.” He took out something. He was gonna give his nephew something once he’s sold the geode. An orangeish-yellow coin that had a tiger’s face engraved on it. Later that night, Ross and I dropped off Fluttershy. Ross seemed like a good kid despite siding with Sunset for a good chunk of the Formal. Eventually the two girls returned, and I handed over some Shift Cars and Signal Bikes to them, including my own Token. It gave me time to test out using the Lapis Lazuli Program on Banno. I twisted the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive, going right into my control. I used the power of Gold Conversion as well as Dream Vegas to turn what seemed to be currency in Equestria into money for this world. After figuring out what to get for food, we went for Canterlot Sushi. The Beowolf howled before the moonlit sky at a parking lot. It looked around, snarling. There was so much negativity that night, more than it could ever sense. There were other times where the negativity got high enough to catch their attention, but they were usually killed by what it might consider Huntsmen. Huntsmen… Their old enemy. It growled. It wanted to feast on just one of them, strike fear into the hearts of those foolish humans… Without a leader to tell its kind what to do, it was, for lack of a better term, a lone wolf. Finally, the Grimm found an easy prey. A man with bleached white hair and a black leather jacket. It licked its chops and began to pounce… STAB! Only for its skull to be impaled by a silver wavy-bladed dagger. It only had a moment to see that the man in the leather jacket held it before dying to the wound, fading away into smoke before being sucked into the dagger. The Dark Swan held the dagger in front of him as the rest of the smoke seeped into the blade. He stared at the black carvings onto the metal, including a name carved into the dagger: Emma Swan. He sighed. “Why… Why isn’t it working?” He glared into the dagger. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, dearie, then I’m gonna tell you to just give up.” The Dark Swan turned to see a pale golden skinned man with curly, dirt brown hair, wearing a reddish-brown leather robe sitting on a bench.  “The Grimm are creatures of darkness, right? So if I were to kill them and let the dagger absorb the darkness, then I could gain more power! So why… Why hasn’t the blade-” “Turned black? Well, I see that I was right. You’re trying to do what another version of me did. But, here’s the thing, dearie…” He got up and walked to the Dark Swan, his amber, almost reptilian-like eyes glaring to him. “He managed to absorb the darkness of all the Dark Ones. If you think a simple werewolf will be enough to create that same amount of power… Well, hate to say it, dearie, but you’re doing it wrong.” The Dark Swan just glared back. He held the dagger out. “I doubt you’d be able to stab mental illusions, but you can give it a try…” The man giggled. “Shut up and let me talk with her.” The Dark Swan growled. “Oh, alright.” The man rolled his eyes as the name on the dagger began to shift and change, almost like a slot machine. It shifted through many names before it landed on one: Nimue. The vision of the man faded and in his place was a robed woman. However, she had the same skin and eyes as the man, scaled as though it was made of metal and amber snake eyes. The Dark Swan bowed before her. “Nimue, I have failed you. I thought that by having the Fall Maiden by my side, I would be able to lay waste to Equestria.” The Dark Swan said. “Your failure was only because of the intervention of a third party you had no idea about. Rise, brother. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” With that, the Dark Swan got up. “Is that why you seek power on par with all of us combined?” Nimue asked. “Yes. If I have enough power, I can help you to my full extent! You want me to snuff out the light, right?” He asked. Nimue just touched the Dark Swan’s face. “Yes, I do… But you have enough power as it is. You just need… help.” With that, she smirked. “You’re not the only being who benefits with magic entering this realm. I detect three beings in this town who may become your new allies. With their help, I believe you can achieve our goal.” The Dark Swan just smiled. “Show me where they are, my queen.” He said. Our dinner was short lived as a Roidmdue came to attack us. Surprisingly, it was a mass produced Roidmude, eventually revealed to be made by Foundation X… Not only that, but it seemed they had been busy with a Shocker-Zangyack union… As well as Grimm attacks. It was just a clusterfuck of monsters. Thankfully, we had our own clusterfuck: the Kamen Riders. It was a quick, dirty battle, all things said and done. With the dust settled, there were a few remaining monsters to clean up. While I helped settle the girls with a hotel, the girls gave Ross the Sasword Zecter. It was a purple scorpion machine from an old Kamen Rider show back in 2006, five years before I got into Kamen Rider. Apparently, his gimmick is that he can move very fast, a perfect counter to Slowdown. With Ross’ Semblance, that would create even more speed for him. I modified Crescent Rose to cooperate with the Zecter via Banno’s ability to create seeming from his data. With that, Ross transformed into what was basically a pink Kamen Rider with a rose blooming on his head… He will never fucking hear the end of this, I swear. We then departed to clean up the streets of monsters. Ross rushed into the town slashing away several mooks with just his normal speed. Rose petals scattered about as he used his scythe to cleave through the clusters of monsters. Eventually, he stopped and saw a horde of freakish looking green husks. Their faces looked like an extra pair of hands were holding it as they were crying. However, they just rasped and ran to attack Ross. Ross shot one and then dug his scythe into the ground, spinning on the pole to kick the other monster down. Both exploded into green fire. The last one, though, turned bright red before molting into a silvery-gray monster with several small holes around its armor. He had a blade mounted on his left arm and his helmet looked like that of a scorpion. He roared and ran to attack Ross. Ross parried with his scythe, blocking the stinger-like appendage before trying to fire point blank. However, the monster just turned into a blur and ran off, appearing behind Ross and stabbing him in the back. “Gah!” Ross fell down as the monster began to run circles around him. “… In that case…” Ross looked for any sort of button to give him the advantage. These Rider doohickeys have to have some kink to them… Ross thought. He then found a small button on top of his belt. He pressed it. He pressed it. CLOCK UP! Time began to slow down for Ross, but not in the same way that involved fighting Roidmudes. Instead, he saw the monster slowing down to normal speed… or rather, he was moving up to his speed. Ross smirked and flew off, using his own Semblance in tangent with the Clock Up, out-maneuvering the monster and giving him multiple slashes. Indeed, he was giving the monster a beating unlike any other. And just as he was about to lay the final blast… CLOCK OVER! He slowed down. “What?!” Ross muttered as the monster realized that Ross was no longer faster than him. Ross managed to use his Semblance to reach his speed, though, but the two were fighting at the same speed now. And unfortunately for Ross, the monster managed to strike a few more blows with its stinger-like appendage on his arm. With one last stab, Ross could feel his Aura breaking as he is knocked down. “Shit…” One more hit, and Ross would be done for. He struggled, trying to keep his guard up, but he stumbled down. He could feel some of the poison seeping through his blood stream. The monster, disabling his ability to clock up, took its time to attack… And then suddenly he is shot in the face. Ross got up to see a masked woman wearing a white long-coat holding a long sword with a smoking gun built into the hilt. Ross blinked as he recognized her. “No way…” Ross muttered. She just ignored Ross and rushed to the monster, swinging her sword at him while it clashed against his silver armor. He tried to get a strike in, but as he hit, he saw that the woman faded into a shadow, with the real version just behind it. She fired at the monster as sparks flew. She then looked to Ross. “Rest. I’ll deal with him.” She said. Ross shook his head. “No! This is my fight too!” Ross stood up as she just sighed. “Your aura’s depleted! You can’t use your Semblance anymore!” She readied herself as Ross ran to the monster, leaping into the air and bringing down his scythe upon it. “I don’t care! I’ll protect this city with everything I got!” The woman just smiled for a bit. “Heh… Of course.” She then rushed into the fray as well. As soon as Ross was done his strike, the woman leaped in with her cut. The two did not let up on their attack. Whenever Ross landed a hit, the woman would follow up with a strike of her own, and vice versa. They kept at it for a bit before the monster staggered. The monster tried to speed up, but Ross managed to cut into him and stop him from going anywhere past him. “It’s funny, the more time you spend going fast, the slower everything feels afterwards…” Ross chuckled. He unloaded Crescent Rose and noticed that the stinger on the Sasword Zecter looked like a lever. So, he flipped it, then pressed it down. RIDER ROSARIO! Red currents of lightning course up Ross’ arms and all over his body. Once the lightning reached the rose part of his helmet, his silver compound eyes glowed and he ran towards the scorpion monster. The scythe’s blade propped itself up, acting more like a halberd than a scythe. The woman saw him charging up and decided to do her own attack. She took out a padlock with what appeared to have a strawberry designed on it. She placed it in in a slot that was on her sword. LOCK ON! 1… 10… 100… STRAWBERRY CHARGE! The woman swung her sword, creating dozens of tiny aural daggers that flung to the monster and stabbed him, the daggers exploding on impact. Ross then ran to the monster and preformed a series of ten stabs, five of them diagonally from top right to bottom left, and the other the complete opposite direction, top left to bottom right. Ross noticed amounts of red, vicious liquid seeping from the blade of Crescent Rose. Venom? Blood? He wasn’t too sure. All he knows is that, with one last slash, he would have defeated the monster. Well, that was the idea. Ross did land the final blow, but as the monster landed on the ground, he didn’t explode. Instead, he got up and, after turning his head to both him and the woman, ran off. Ross tried to catch up, but he fell onto his knees and panted. As he did, the Zecter pulled itself off of Crescent Rose and scurried off. “H-hey! Where are you going?” Ross shouted. The woman then approached him. “So… You know how to hold her weapon?” Ross remembered her voice. Ross looked at the masked woman. She sounded so much like her. Displaced tend not to match voices, which led Ross to one of two conclusions, helped with the fact that Ross eyed her sword. It was not the sword he remembered from the show. Instead, it was a simple sword with a silver edge to one side. There was a golden strip that was lit with red juices, a padlock that was plugged onto the hilt, a gun built right into the hilt, and a symbol of a yellow lightning bolt in the middle of a blue sticker placed on the barrel of the gun. “And you don’t have Gambol Shroud.” Ross took a gamble. “… So you know who I am.” And he won big. “Yes, I do, Blake.” Ross stood up as the woman sighed. She took off her mask as Ross saw her face. Sure enough, Ross recognized the face of RWBY’s brooding, serious Blake Belladonna. Blake then turned around and walked away. “I’m glad… and yet, I’m disappointed that you’re not Ruby.” Blake said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “I… I don’t know what I’d do if you were really Ruby. I don’t want to face her. Not after what I did.” Blake said. Ross was about to ask what she meant, but a voice rang in his head. “And Blake ran!” A mixture of anger and sorrow twisted the woman’s tone of voice, but he still knew it belonged to Ruby’s sister, Yang. Ross just stood still and lowered his head. “I’m not Ruby. I admit that. But I’m trying my hardest to be like her.” Ross said. “Don’t. It pains me just to see that you’re dressed like her and hold her weapon. I don’t want you to pretend you’re someone you’re not.” Blake said. “I want to be a hero. Are you telling me that’s not who I am?” Ross asked. “No… I’m saying that… maybe you should step back and look at what you have to lose before you make some stupid decision.” Blake looked away with a frown on her face. “Do me a favor… Don’t join the Wonderbolts. If not for me, if not for you, then… Do it for her sake.” With that, Blake leaped off, landing on a rooftop where she ran off. Ross took a moment before he concluded what she meant. “Sunset…” Ross said, with any amount of joy in his voice gone. My fight with the combined armada led me to the Canterlot High field. There, I saw three monsters stand before me. The one in the middle was a man with a large baseball for a head, wearing a baseball uniform. The other two were just an oversized armadillo and an oversized rhino. “What’s the matter, Rocksteady? Bebop didn’t wanna join this?” I chuckled. “Fear us, Kamen Rider! We are the Sportsmen Three!” The Baseball monster then posed with a baseball bat. “The Legendary Baseball Star… Baseball Mask!” “The Mythical Soccer Star… Soccadillo!” The armadillo posed by curling up into a ball. “The Fabled Football Star… Rhinoblaster!” The rhino touched the ground with his hands, as though he was an actual football player. “Together we are…” Baseball Mask extended his arms outward like some sort of generic Sentai hero. “THE SPORTSMAN-” Yeah, enough of that. I shot him in the face with the Door Gun. “H-hey!” “That’s a red card violation!” Soccadillo got out of his ball form and wagged his finger at me. “Yeah! You should be playing by the rules!” Rhinoblaster said. “You guys are kinda late to the silly contest because pony princess won that loooooooong ago. Really, I just wanna get this over with.” I said. “Very well. We challenge you to a game of baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “What? N-no! I wanna challenge her to football!” Rhinoblaster got in front of Baseball Mask and glared at him. “I thought we’re playing soccer! You said yourself that we were playing football!” Soccadillo said. “WE ARE! AMERICAN FOOTBALL, YA DINGUS!” Rhinoblaster bapped Soccadillo on the head. “How about a nice game of ‘I win, you die’?” I asked. “No! We refuse to play by the rules of the standard monster of the week! If you wanna fight us, you’ll have to play baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “Football!” Soccadillo and Rhinoblaster shouted. “Actually, I wanna play soccer.” A new voice was heard as I saw two men approach me. Both of them roughly teenage. One teen wore a beige jacket with a light blue shirt, the top part of it looking more like some ancient vase than anything. He had a bracelet on his right wrist. The other teen wore a brown biker jacket, a dark red shirt and black pants. Both had short black hair. “And if you wish, I’ll play baseball.” The teen in the leather jacket spoke very gruffly, almost sounding like he could double for Kamen Rider Ichigo, the first Kamen Rider. I knew at least one of the two teens, Lapis from Kamen Rider Gaim’s movie, but the other teen I couldn’t recognize. Sure enough, the two of them were Riders, as they got their belts ready. Lapis had a Sengoku Driver while the other had a black belt with a red center, a callback to the old Showa Riders, though the texture made the belt sort of akin to a volcanic mountain. Lapis took out a silver Lockseed that had an apple design on it and raised both it and his free hand over his head. SILVER! It summoned a large, blue and silver apple over his head. Meanwhile the other teen just preformed a weird move with his arms, where he slowly waved his hands higher and higher until they were over his head. “Riiiiiiider…” He bellowed. “HENSHIN!” They both said. Lapis placed his Lockseed into the Driver and cut it while the teen just exploded into flames. LOCK ON! SOIYA! SILVER ARMS! THE SILVERY… NEW STAGE! The apple came down upon him, folding outwards to make a silver and blue armor. As the armor “splashed” he held a large fanned staff, then struck a combat stance. I, however, merely looked at the black and crimson clad Rider with vents built into his chest, gloves, and boots. “I don’t think I know you…” I tried for the life of me to recall all the Showa Riders, and this guy was not ringing a bell. “Worry not, for you shall know… I am the divine fires of justice! Kamen Rider… Dante!” With that, he too struck a pose. “... A little on the nose, huh?” I sighed and readied my own battle pose. “Very well! We shall commence our sports game!” With that, Dante and Baseball Mask ran off to the baseball field while Rhinoblaster raised his arms up. Five large golems clawed their way out of the dirt below us like they were zombies. Their appearances looked as though they were made from the very ground. Soccadillo ran to Rhinoblaster and curled up into a ball. “READY! TEN! HIKE!” With that, Rhinoblaster kicked the ball towards me. I tried to kick back, but Soccadillo managed to hit me with his body, knocking me back. As the ball landed, Lapis ran over and kicked the ball a bit, dribbling it until he kicked it up into the air, leaped over, and cut his Lockseed once. SILVER SQUASH! With that, his leg glowed blue as he kicked the ball towards the golems. The sheer force ripped through the golems and broke them apart. “H-hey! No fair!” Rhinoblaster shouted as Soccadillo returned to his leg. “I think I overdid it…” Lapis muttered once he landed and saw the destruction of his kick. “Well, it’s still pretty good. The field’s now evenly matched.” I said. “Look! The goal!” Lapis pointed to an empty net on Rhinoblaster’s side. “It’s unattended!” “Aight, let’s win this!” With that, Lapis used his staff to turned himself into a ball… Yeah. I still can’t believe that. “WHAAAT!? WE CAN’T HAVE TWO BALLS! THAT’S AGAINST THE RULES!” Rhinoblaster shouted.  “Screw the rules, this joke’s overused!” With that, I turned the throttle and shifted over to Banno. “You’re summoning me to play soccer? Is there no lengths to how stupid this can get?” Banno asked. “Again, Pony Princess!” I said. Banno kicked Lapis a few times before turning the throttle and pressing the button on his Shift Brace. “FINISHING MOVE! FULL THROTTLE!” Controls were passed to me as I kicked the ball right at Rhinoblaster. The golden energy overwhelmed Soccadillo and as he hit Rhinoblaster, both exploded. Lapis harmlessly rolled into the net. As soon as he entered, he morphed back into his rider form and cheered. “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL~!” Lapis exclaimed.  I sighed as Lapis came to me. “Hey! We should watch Dante’s match!” Lapis ran off as I followed him. “HEEEEEY! DAAAANTE! HOW’S YOUR MATCH?” He asked. “Well, I managed to get three outs on Baseball Mask…” I saw Dante standing up to the plate while Baseball Mask stood at the pitcher’s plate. “I will avenge my loss by making you strike ou- Hey, where’s your bat?” I noticed Dante doesn’t even have a bat on him. “The only bat I have is my fist, blazing with a sense of burning justice!” … What. The. Fu- “ENOUGH OF THIS! DIIIIIIIE!” Baseball Mask then threw a baseball that turned into a grenade. “Secret Technique: Black Cross Bomber!” He said. “RIDER PUNCH!” Dante’s hand caught on fire as he punched the grenade right back at Baseball Mask with double speed. “OH SHI-” The grenade impacted Baseball Mask and he exploded into a firey ball of doom. “Let justice be burned into all those who are evil.” Dante’s armor then turned into ash and broke apart, scattering into the wind. Likewise, my armor’s timer went off, disappearing into a glow of gold data. Lapis took off the Lockseed and cancelled his transformation as well. “We make a good team! We should do this again sometime.” Lapis said. “Yeeeeeeah…” I shifted eyes for a second as I chuckled. “Right, introductions. I already know Lapis, but I don’t quite know you.” Dante asked me. “Oh… I’m Kelly, Kelly Randall, but most people call me Professor Silverbolt now.” I said. “And what do you fight for?” He asked. “Oh… Well, mainly to survive. I mean, people want me dead every day. Just last night, some bitch became a demon then took my belt to become a Kamen Rider. It was nuts! Guess I’ll bite and ask you.” I begin to regret doing so. “My name is Hotaro Dairou and I fight a never ending battle against the evil forces of Re:Shocker to avenge my girlfriend, Yuna, who died by their machinations. Using the Volcano Belt, I become Kamen Rider Dante, the Divine Inferno of Justice, who blazes with the fires of Prometheus and-” “Okay, I’m gonna stop you there before you make me invent a drinking game.” I said. “Drinking is wrong!” Hotaro said. “Trust me, once you hit that age, you’ll want to drink. Well, seems the threat’s gone for now. Guess we’ll go back to our worlds.” I said as I walked away. “Kelly, I have the feeling like we’ll meet again in some way.” Hotaro said. I just shook my head. “In your dreams.” I chuckled. Morning broke and we reconvened, discussing our various exploits. I mostly kept the fact that I had help to myself while Ross vaguely mentioned someone helping him. I could tell just from how he described her mask that he knows something about her. I told him about how she’d be our ally and that’s when Ross just insisted I don’t get involved. Well, that confirmed him knowing who she is and that she doesn’t want me or the others to know. I then got the tokens from the two Displaced and made a Shift Car out of them. Well, they were two Shift Cars that fused together into one. Then Niko showed up and told us about how he’s not gonna be helping for the time being because his nephew ended up displacing himself. After trying out the new Shift Car, the two girls departed and me and Ross went back to our homes to sleep. Thank God that this night’s over. Now I can look forward to tomorrow. Nimue led the Dark Swan to a 24/7 diner full of people. He looked behind and saw the numerous smoldering corpses of Grimm he had to cut through to get there. “A lot of negativity here…” The Dark Swan felt uneasy. “You will find them here.” She said. “And if they don’t bend a knee?” The Dark Swan asked. “Then make a deal with them.” The Dark Swan’s hand’s trembled a bit. “A Dark One always makes a deal.” Nimue then faded away as the Dark Swan entered the diner. As he did, he heard an enchanting song. Not enough to bring him into the same noticeable trance that the other patrons were in, however. He looked at the customers. They bickered amongst themselves, arguing and yelling. He’s heard this kind of song before. It was the song of sirens, magical sea creatures that would enchant men to ram their ships into the rocks and sink them. There was one such legend of Poseidon using his own daughter to do this exact thing as a means to exact revenge upon humanity. He followed the trio of songs over to a table where he saw three hooded figures. He could notice three rubies, all on their necks. They looked at him. “You’re not angry like the others…” One woman revealed her purple skinned face, two twin-tails of purple and green hair tied in a star-themed scrunchie flopped out as her hood came down. She sounded like a usual gothic teenager. The girl next to her did the same, showing her blue face with a cyan and navy colored ponytail. “I am not like the others.” He said. “Of course you’re not… Dark One.” The third person revealed her yellow-skinned face. She had orange and yellow curly hair. “The Dark One!?” The blue skinned girl looked at him and beamed. “EEEEEE!” She squealed. No one seemed to notice her, though, as they were busy bickering. “You three have drifted far from home, haven’t you?” The Dark Swan asked. “Yes. I could say the same for you, Dark One.” The yellow-skinned woman said. “Why I’m here has nothing to do with why you’re here.” The Dark Swan said. “If you gotta know, we were banished here.” The purple woman said. “Yeah. By Starswirl The Bearded.” The yellow woman said. Starswirl. That name evoked the image of a man who once spurned Nimue. The Dark Swan only gripped his fists. “You wish for revenge against Equestria?” The Dark Swan asked. That’s when the blue woman shrugged. “Nah. We just want a meal right now. This world doesn’t really have a lot of nourishment. It’s like fast food, you know what I mean?” She asked. The Dark Swan knew that they didn’t mean literal food, rather the emotional energy that they feed off others, the exact same feelings that the Grimm are attracted too. “We were able to get that nourishment in Equestria, when we had magic. Here? There is none.” The yellow woman said. “Until now.” The Dark Swan held his hand and made a small fire. The three girls looked at him with awe. “NO WAY!” The blue girl said. “I will help you get the nourishment you need to be strong and in return, we will return to Equestria and show that world what happens when they mess with us.” The Dark Swan smirked. However, the four heard a bell ring. The Dark Swan turned to see a white skinned man with pale vermillion curly hair wearing a business suit. The three girls got up as soon as they saw him. The Dark Swan pulled out his dagger. “Shed that human form. Now!” The Dark Swan said with a stern voice. The man just smirked as a robot walked ahead of him. The robot had the imperfect face of a bald human, the scalp looking more like a skull than a normal head. Brass tubes extended over his body like spider legs as the Dark Swan saw a plate on his chest showing the number 050. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” He asked. “I was just introducing my friend to a wonderful power when we saw this.” The robot said as the man stepped forward. “You three are talented singers. We can use that for our operation.” He said. “… What operation?” The Dark Swan asked. “See, my friend here is a manager and he’s looking for the next top idol. And I’m looking for the next massive storm.” The robot said. The four raised their eyebrows as the man held a red toy car. The robot soon turned into a mass of blurry data and merged with the man, turning him into what appeared to be a robed wizard with multiple tiny blue eyes on his face. He then walked over to two people. He touched one hand with his left palm and after that, he used his left to touch the other person’s hand. Immediately, one person punched the other in the face. The wizard chuckled to himself as he proceeded to do the same to the next row of people and so forth. Once he was done, the entire diner was now a bunch of angry people punching each other. “I believe my services are to your liking?” He asked. The four just looked, with the yellow woman stepping forward. “Consider this an… unlikely alliance.” She smirked.