Ch 16
“This, is the Everfree forest? The one place that apparently holds almost one of every species of monsters and dangerous plants? This creepy old forest is what all the hullabaloo is about?” Twilight simply nodded while standing behind me and away from the forest.
“This forest has been around as long as there has been a Ponyville. No records state how it was created only that any who dare to tread inside are doomed the moment they step into it.” It was at this point that Rainbow Dash landed right below one of the trees with a grin on her face before acting as though she had just be hit.
“Oh no, the forest has doomed me. I can no longer live my life and am now forever stuck in this dark woody place.” Pinkie Pie tackled Rainbow Dash, almost knocking her over.
“Not on my watch Rainbow Dash, I’ll bring you back, safe and sound so we can have a rescue party!” I wasn’t sure if Pinkie was just joking or if she was actually being serious about rescuing the laughing unicorn. I didn’t find out though as Twilight walked in front with her head held low and not saying anything. Following after her, she soon stopped after only a few minutes of walking on what looked to be an open path for animals,
“Okay Cronus, this is far enough. Transformand try practicing your magic.” Following my agreement of not going to far in, I didn’t complain about the cramped space.
Henshin
Buggle Up! Ten wo Tsukame Rider! (Wow!) Kizame Chronicle! Ima koso Toki wa Kiwamareri (Wow!)
Kamen Rider Chronicle
Taking the Dual gashat from my belt, I turned the dial.
Kamen Rider Harmony
I had tried before, on the train back, to turn directly into my Harmony state but it wouldn’t happen as I was stuck simply going from my normal form to harmony every time I needed it.
“Alright, time for test number 1: What is the third slot for.” Pressing down on the trigger like was needed, my concentration was interrupted by the sound of rustling in the trees. This distraction, plus Twilight’s warnings was cause for me to stop what I was doing and make my way closer to the tree and see what had caused the noise. Once close enough, I looked upwards but saw nothing. ‘Great, now i’m imagining things. Hopefully it stays that way.’ Turning around, I quickly noticed something was wrong.
Pinkie Pie wasn’t hopping up and down in excitement, Twilight wasn’t looking around fearfully that something might try to jump out and harm them, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t lazing in the tree branches. The reason for this was due to the fact all three of them were no longer with me.
“That can’t be good.” While the usual kind of reaction I would give in such a situation, I had to keep in mind that three, extremely loud ponies, had just disappeared in a matter of seconds. This left me simply acting calm as I quickly scaled a nearby tree to see if I couldn’t find Rainbow Dash in the sky, while my mind was filled with thoughts of worry and anxiety of what could have just happened.
Not seeing her in any direction, I quickly got down and walked over to where the three had just been and tried to find some clue as to what had happened when I looked away. I couldn’t find anything save for impressions in the ground of unknown shape that lead towards the trees. This meant that something had either dragged them in or had popped out just in time to grab them before going back into the dense foliage. With no other choice, I followed.
The trek was awful, every step I took seemed to become tangled in some form of vine that I would have pull my leg out of and I had lost the tracks almost three times now though I had found them soon again. No creatures made themselves present though, only the occasional rustle of a tree or bush but nothing else.
‘Maybe the creatures can sense i’m dangerous or something. Twilight did say there were Manticores though and the myths always said they were ferocious monsters. If it isn’t me then, what is it?’ My thoughts stopped when I saw that the tracks were leading to a clearing.
Being careful with my steps now, I tried my hardest to not make more noise than I could while I made my way closer. When I finally reached the edge, I quickly hid behind a nearby tree to see if anything was around before I made my way closer. The were no monsters, just a large intimidating castle that looked to be in ruins. In the distance. With no monsters in sight, I quickly made my way to the castle.
My path became blocked as soon as I had reached the decrepit bridge with loose boards and rotten rope. Not caring, I simply jumped to make my way across safely. This course of action though, was stopped as something large impacted into my side and sent me back to where I had just been. Only with the added bonus of a crater. Looking quickly, I became shocked to see an all black creature that looked to made from the shadows themself in the form of a large serpent that was staring at me with its large dark eyes.
Before I had a chance to act, the serpent rushed forward, looking as though it was about to snap me up in its jaws only for it to instead come coilin around me and starting to crush me. With my enhanced strength and durability, I could handle the pressure so far but as soon as I began trying to push back, the creature laughed with some strange hiss like noise before crushing down on me tighter. Unable to push back now, I had to think quickly.
Gashacon Breaker
(Rahhh)
The shadow serpent quickly dropped me, letting me land to the ground upright and into a fighting stance with the Breaker’s sword form at the ready. As the Serpent withered though, from the unexpected pain, I noticed that part of the shadows from my stab had clung to the sword before beginning to dissipate. Seeing this, It filled me with courage as I charged the base of the beast.
Noticing this though, the unthinkable happened as it blasted flames of shadow from its mouth causing the ground to become scorched when I had dodged its fury. Not wasting time, I continued forward, dodging the flames as I did so before reaching the edge of the chasm the shadow serpent was coming from. With another jump, I was able to stab directly into the creature causing it to roar in pain again with it its chalkboard scraper sounding roar. Pushing away, I landed back on the edge and saw that a blood like substance was beginning to pour before the hole I created sealed itself closed.
‘Damnit, a healing factor just like wolverine’s. The only way I could deal with something like that is either hitting it all at once or destroy the brain. How am I supposed to do either of those when it’s so big?’ Suddenly, my head filled with the picture of the Mighty Action gashat. Unsure why I had thought of it, I pulled it from my pocket, making sure to dodge the creatures attacks and looked down at it in wonder before looking towards the third slot in my Bugvisor Drei. I had no idea it it would actually do anything useful right now but I was running out of options and the others were running out of time no doubt. Gaining some distance away from the creature, I pressed the trigger.
Mighty Action X
I didn’t wait as I put the small device into my driver causing it to light up with purple light.
Load out change: Action X
The press start screen appeared behind me and the a small chibi version of ot the Ex-aid level one flew out of it and around me in what seemed to be excitement. After about the third lap around my head, the chibi Ex-aid flew high into the sky before coming down towards me as though to crash. Before it did so though, the unknown thing turned into purple light and fused with my body. When the light died, my body had changed. On each hand was an armored gauntlet colored pink as well as greaves of the same color, my torso had gained the picture that was usually seen on the gashat with the words “Action X” printed on it, and the final change was the Gashacon breaker no longer being a small mallet-like hammer but instead a large torso sized block of metal and data in the same shape but without the sword part and attached to my left arm.
“What in the-? That was all I got to say though as I had to jump into the air to dodge the shadow serpents next attack. Instead of simply moving straight into the air though, like a normal jump, a feeling of stretching could be felt from my legs and upon looking down at my feet, I saw that springs had extended from around where my ankles should be.
‘The change loadout must mean my abilities are altered based on what gashat I put int. Since Mighty Action X is a platformer, my abilities are more platformer based then.’ Seeing that my arms were covered in the same armor as my legs, I quickly stretched them to see springs as well while my hands, and only weapons rushed away from my. Understanding now, I retracted my limbs back into my self, and used the gashacon breaker Mk: 2 to block my body from another of the shadow serpent’s fire blast. When the heat died away, I pressed the buttons on the Breaker in random order causing the large hammer to light up with neon green and pink energy. Utilizing my new knowledge, I front flipped in midair while extending the Breaker causing it to slam into the serpent's head and flattening it. This left my with time to land and watch the creature wither away completely. No longer needing it, I removed the pink gashat from my belt.
Load out change: Kamen Rider Chronicle
With no creatures in sight, I ran as fast as I could to get to the castle quickly and save my friends. All the while though, I wondered what could have caused such a beast to be guarding this place.