"Zzzz...zzzz...zzzz!" the loud yet paced snores of K-Ryotaro sounded through the forest, said Imagin possessed youth was...sleeping under a waterfall while wearing white robes. The water fell on his head and around him...yet it didn't wake him.
"You know...on the outside...sort of...looking in, this seems much stranger than I first thought." Ryotaro's mental voice projected out. "But I do worry about getting a cold…"
"Pfft! Please...as if a cold's gonna kill you," Momotaros scoffed, "Plus it's not like a log's gonna just come out of nowhere and hit you."
"..."
"...Sempai. You do realize you just jinxed it just now, right?"
"Oh, come on! It's not like the universe hates us that much…"
"Oi look, this map says there is a logging site up the river!" Ryutaros voice chirped.
"OH, COME ON!?"
"Kintaros wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!" Ryotaro shouted, luckily disembodied voice means no strain on the vocal chords.
At that, a log was actually barreling down the river to the waterfall.
"Ah! It's coming Kintaros!"
"I'm sorry god! If the Kuma wakes up, I promise to stop pretending to be you!" Momotaros begged.
"Kintaros wake up!"
"Zzz...dosukoi…" he snored a nose bubble forming with his snores, the Log finally tipping over the ledge of the waterfall.
It should have come down on K-Ryotaro's head...but a purple flash happened as the log was suspended in mid-air. The Log then got tossed aside into a bush.
"Kintaros…" the annoyed voice of Twilight was heard as the nose bubble popped from the undertone of fear felt up K-Ryotaro's back.
"Huh...wha…?" K-Ryotaro sputtered as he woke up, seeing an irritated Twilight looking right at him. Her bangs shadowing her eyes. "Ah...hello Twilight...you're looking nice today."
"..."
"...Why are you staring at me like that?"
"isn't it obvious, Kuma?! You're in tr-"
"Zzz…."
"Did you seriously just fall asleep on me?!"
"Kintaros...wake up...KINTAROS!" Ryotaro shouted again. "Mou...it's pointless…Twilight...please take over from here..."
"Why are you so quick to give us up to her?!"
Twilight just sighed as she moved the log out of the way, placing it down before using her magic to lift K-Ryotaro from underneath the waterfall.
"Ah...I'm floating."
"...When we get back, you're going to tell me why Ryotaro is having you guys do these things," Twilight stated in a stern tone.
"Hai...hai…" K-Ryotaro grumbled before he turned to a rock which had some regular clothes of a shirt, pants and jacket lain on it. "Ah...Ryotaro's clothes are over there, put us down so we can change."
Twilight just nodded as she placed K-Ryotaro on the ground, K-Ryotaro then walked over before he tossed his robes off, making Twilight turn away at the sudden action.
"Gah! Kintaros!"
'What?'
"Kuma! You can't just take your clothes off like that!" Momotaros shouted.
"Sempai...you streaked across town once."
"That was a dare! Totally different!"
"Can I do it next?" Ryutaros asked.
"NO!"
"Wait...when did Momotaros run across town naked?!" Ryotaro panicked.
"Ah...I don't know...but you'd be shocked how many people just gawk at that stuff…"
"It still doesn't give you the right to scold Kin!" Urataros added.
"And dressed," K-Ryotaro grunted as he fixed the black and yellow jacket over his torso.
"Good…" Twilight sighed in relief, "Now come on."
"Hai." K-Ryotaro nodded as he walked with Twilight down the road back into town.
Stop 20: Proving one's worth pt 1
"...look. I know I said to wait until we get back, but I have to know. Why is Ryotaro letting you guys do all this stuff?" Twilight asked, "I mean, first Momotaros chased off that street gang and yakuza group out of town, only for Applejack to kick him hard in the face for going too far…"
-FLASHBACK-
Several groups of men dressed as the stereotypical gangster or yakuza member ran down the street. All of them crying as they ran, tripping over one another.
"GET BACK HERE MEAT!" M-Ryotaro roared as he swung around a katana sword while chasing them.
"Run!" the terrified criminals cried in fear at seeing the glistening sword.
"I ain't done with you jackasses yet!" M-Ryotaro laughed manically, making the criminals all cry out like scared children, "Ryotaro, pay attention! You got to chase after the fastest and biggest ones...those are the ones who'll put up a bigger fight!" he explained as he kept running while pointing the sword forward. "Then just strike them down with everything you got!"
"AH!" the men all cried out in fear as they kept running from M-Ryotaro who swung the sword around above his head while laughing like a mad...man possessed by an Imagin.
"Ahahahahahahahahahaha!" M-Ryotaro laughed like a madman as he continued to chase them...until he was kicked hard in the face, the force behind said kick knocking M-Ryotaro back through the air before falling on his back. "Ah...I see the light…" he groaned with a bloody nose from the strike to his face.
"What in tarnation has gotten into y'all?" Applejack's voice sighed, causing the Imagin possessed youth to look up and see the blonde looking at him, "Ah heard somethin' about a madman swingin' around a sword like a maniac, and ah had a pretty good idea y'all were involved, Momotaros."
"I...blame Ryotaro...gah…" he groaned as he passed out.
"Freakin' cowgirl…" Momotaros muttered.
"Then there was the time Urataros took over, and he hit on every girl in the school before Rainbow Dash netted him and took him back to Denliner…"
-FLASHBACK-
U-Ryotaro was sitting at a table as he arranged flowers, with more or less half the female student body of school watching him.
"Control, precision, calm, that is what is needed." U-Ryotaro said as he placed more flowers into the arrangement. "If one does not remain calm and collected, they shall miss the perfect option, or shall make a bad mistake." he added as he picked up a rose. "Remember Ryotaro, cool is what is needed in battle. Otherwise, you will rush into...unneeded danger." he smiled as he pointed the rose at the girls. Pointing at all of them one by one. "Bang." he said calmly making them all faint, "See? Just like…"
"Urataros…"
"Hai?" he blinked as he turned, only for a large green fishing net to be tossed over him, "This is not what my catch phrase neccessarily means, Rainbow…" he said as he was dragged down the hall by Rainbow Dash, "Matte. I wasn't causing trouble this time."
"Uh huh…" Rainbow noted, not believing him, "Then explain why almost half the girls in school were unconscious."
"You say that as if I'm some sort of fiend…" U-Ryotaro countered, "Wait...Rainbow...those are the stairs...no no no!"
"I have no regrets."
"Then there was Ryutaros, who ended up crashing dance clubs with Pinkie joining him, which ended with me having to drag them both back…"
-FLASHBACK-
"WHOO! PARTY!" Pinkie whooped as she and R-Ryotaro were currently having a blast in a dance club..
R-Ryotaro began his usual break dancing as he even snapped his fingers making background dancers flip out of thin air to join him. Once again R-Ryotaro performing his usual random synchronised dance.
"Watch, Ryotaro! As long as you let yourself be free, you can do anything!" R-Ryotaro said as he began flipping through a path made by the people just watching him. "No matter what, you need to draw in the attention to you, and let yourself be free! And Dance!" he added as he backflipped onto the DJ's turntable. "PARTY WAI~!"
"Whoo! Way to go, Ryuta!" Pinkie cheered him on.
"Pinkie…"
"Hmm?" Pinkie blinked, turning around to see Twilight walking over to her, "Oh. Hey, Twilight."
"Yay~!" R-Ryotaro cheered as began dancing again, flipping all over the place and making people cheer for him.
"Oh...I can explain." Pinkie smiled as R-Ryotaro began snapping his fingers, making everybody else dance along with him.
"..."
"...you're mad, aren't you?"
"What do you think?"
"Ryuta, run!" Pinkie warned.
"Ah, Yabai…" R-Ryotaro said as he jumped and broke through a window.
"Wait for me!" Pinkie shouted as she jumped after him.
"Get back here!" Twilight snapped as she chased after them...but not before stopping and bowing to everyone there, "I am so sorry for their behavior."
"It was getting to the good songs, too…"
"And don't even get me started on what Sieg did," Twilight groaned.
-Flash….-
"NO! Not that one!" Twilight shouted, preventing the flashback.
"I did what I had to to gain my Hime's attention. She didn't complain at first. She said it was a fun date."
"Pretending to be Ryotaro and asking her out doesn't count."
"So I have to know; why is Ryotaro letting you guys do all this?" Twilight asked once more.
"Oh...well if I recall, it's for training."
"...what?"
"It's true."
"...Yeah. We're going on Denliner so we can make sure."
"Eh?"
Later on Denliner, Momotaros, Urataros, Ryutaro, and Sieg were all sitting on their knees, the four Imagin having large cardboard signs hanging from around their necks.
Momotaros read: 'Will not fight.' Urataros read: 'Will not flirt.' Ryutaros read: 'Will not force town to dance with Pinkie-Neechan.' Sieg said: 'Will not trick girls into dating me.' All of them were sitting on their knees, seiza position, each of them shaking from the stress to their legs. Their legs felt numb, just sitting there and letting their shins take all the stress of their body weight.
"Grr...Why do we have to do this again?! My freaking knees hurt!" Momotaros complained, trying not to fall over.
"This is our punishment…" Urataros grunted as he used Momotaros to steady himself.
"Mou...I need to move...I need to move…" Ryutaros chanted as he was shaking so much he was actually beginning to become blurry.
"Hmph...I did nothing wrong," Sieg scoffed as he seemed better than the others...he even got his tea and was drinking it like normal.
"Ah nap time...Zzzzz…" Kintaros snored as he pulled a blanket over himself and slept in his personal booth on DenLiner.
"Damn lucky Kuma…" Momotaros groaned.
"WAI! I can't take it anymore!" Ryutaros shouted as he jumped up only to fall over. "Ah...my legs...they're asleep!" he cried as he fell over, knocking over the others.
"Well what do ya expect?! You've been sitting on your knees for the past….uh...oi, ero-kame! How long have we been sitting like this?" Momotaros asked as he pushed Ryutaros off him.
"13 hours…" Urataros answered. "13...long...hours…"
"Well that's what you guys get for getting Ryo in trouble," Rainbow countered, resting in one of the booths.
"Ryotaro is the one who asked us to train him…" Momotaros pointed out. "That's how I train! Besides our enemies don't use grunts...so I had to make due with kicking every criminal out of town."
"Y'all should be lucky Ryotaro ain't in jail," Applejack frowned, "Also, Ah highly doubt th-"
"Ano...it's true," Ryotaro spoke up, catching the girls' attention "I did ask them to train me." he admitted while scratching the back of his head. "Not to say I didn't appreciate you guys...stopping them when you did. And I'm sorry for the trouble."
"...It's fine, Ryotaro. But...why'd you ask them to train you?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. I figured you'd ask Rainbow or Applejack for training," Pinkie commented, poking her head out from behind a booth.
"Pinkie...why aren't you doing your punishment?" Twilight asked.
"Oh I am. I'm just doing it on something more comfy," Pinkie answered.
"AH! Why didn't I think of that!?" All four Imagin gasped in realization...and in Momotaros' case, anger.
"Ano...it's just that I wanted to see what would work, the Taros are all strong in their own ways. But to their own extreme." Ryotaro said as Kintaros was making dents in the wall from his rolling around in his sleep. "So I figured I could find some middle ground from all of them...but…"
"You ended up tearing half the town apart," Rainbow blurted out.
"Two thirds of the town, thank you very much." Momotaros commented.
"You caused half of the girls in school to faint at school…"
"I was merely arranging some flowers."
"Trashed almost every dance club in town with Pinkie helping out…"
"Wait...Almost?! ...Ah, we missed some Neesan!?" Ryutaros whined to Pinkie.
"Ahh! How could we let that happen?!" Pinkie freaked.
"And I think we all want to forget what Sieg did."
"It's not my fault if I let my hair down it's hard to tell me and Sir Ryotaro apart." Sieg countered as he turned away from them with a 'hmph'.
"You did it on purpose, Fried Chicken Jerk!" Momotaros antagonized their 'brother'.
"Chicken janai!" Sieg shouted as he turned back to glare at his brother.
"...My point is I asked the Taros and Sieg to help train me is so I can become stronger." Ryotaro shortened up as he cut off the Imagin.
"Stronger?" Rarity repeated. "Why, you're already the strongest out of all of us thanks to Sieg, and that Climax form."
"Since you can fly now...pretty much." Rainbow agreed.
"Demo...that's them. Without them, I will be in danger," Ryotaro countered. "If I can't use them...I become the weakest member."
"I see...so that's why…" Twilight noted, "W-"
"Hey. if it's training you need…" Rainbow spoke up, shooting out of the booth she was laying in before standing next to Ryotaro, "Then me and AJ would be glad to help."
"Eh?"
"She's kinda right," Applejack spoke up, "If y'all need some trainin', then we'd be glad to help y'all out."
"Besides, not counting you and the Three stooges plus two, we are the strongest," Rainbow added, "Besides, unlike those idiots, we actually know how to fight. So if you train with us, you'll be just as strong and fast in no time."
"This doesn't sound like a good idea to me," Momotaros stated, "I mean, who knows what those two…"
"Sempai...you might want to duck."
"Huh? Wh-?"
*BAM!*
With that, Momotaros was sent flying across the ground and slamming into the end of the car next to Naomi's service counter, a boot mark on his face. Momotaros groaned and fell unconscious in a heap.
"Perfect strike, AJ-chan," Naomi smiled, holding up a card with a red X with a bowling buzzer even being heard.
The next day, everybody was at the park to witness the first day of Ryotaro's training. Since they knew at least this way, he won't cause marshall law by going on another Momotaros rampage.
"Okay. You ready, Ryo?" Rainbow Dash asked, the tomboy wearing a cyan sports bra and shorts.
"Hai, Rainbow-san." Ryotaro smiled as he was wearing a green sleeveless shirt and black shorts. "So...what's the first thing we are doing?"
"Okay first up, here's the rules," Rainbow said as she pointed over ot Applejack, who was wearing a bright orange variant of her outfit, "AJ will be training you in strength and endurance while I train you in stamina and reflexes."
"Hai." he nodded in understanding.
"Yup. And I'm first up," Rainbow stated as she walked over to him.
"Alright. so which one are we gonna do first? Stamina, or…" Ryotaro began before he tensed up a bit, "Ara...that feeling I get when my bad luck is going to strike is back. Rainbow...what do you have planned for the re-?"
"DODGE!"
"AH!" Ryotaro screamed as he jumped out of the path of a ball of lightning. "Nani...eh...nani-ga?!" he asked in shock, too surprised to use English.
"It's simple. You just gotta avoid every attack I send your way," Rainbow grinned, the tomboy already transformed into her gear, "You do that, and you'll be able to avoid even the fastest attack."
"But...you shot lightning!" Ryotaro countered. His body tensed again, knowing she was about to fire again, "Rainbow, m-"
"DODGE!"
"Gah!" Ryotaro yelped as Rainbow decked him in the face, sending him flying back a bit. "Ah...sometimes I wonder if Momotaros was meant to form a contract with you."
"Hey. Be lucky he's not here helping, otherwise...well...you get where I'm getting at."
"...True a-" Ryotaro began before he tensed up again, 'She's going to hit me again, isn't she?'
*BAM!*
"DODGE~~!"
"Ah...mou...Rainbow…" Ryotaro complained as he pushed himself back up. "Are you really taking this serious?"
"Oh I am. Question is…" Rainbow began as she flew up in front of him, "Are you?"
"You're getting your milage out of this, aren't you?" he asked as he backed away from his friend.
"His pretty face is going to get jacked up…" Momotaros commented in his sand form right next to Applejack, "Which half the time is my face...I know a way to fix this."
"Whatever y'all have planned, no. Ryotaro's gotta k…" Applejack began before another flash occurred, "...Go on ahead, but just this once."
"Don't worry, I'm just showing Ryotaro something." he stated. "Ryotaro! Scorpion Imagin!" he shouted as Ryotaro ducked backwards instantly, letting Rainbow's next punch miss and fly over him, "Alligator Imagin!"
Ryotaro then cartwheeled to the left avoiding yet another strike from Rainbow.
"How?" Ryotaro and Rainbow blinked at the same time.
"Hehehe...what did you think all that crazy stuff we do with his body is just undone?" Momotaros chuckled liking the shocked looks. "Ryotaro's body remembers every single fight we get into, every crazy move we come up with. Like this one. Twin Anthoppers!"
Ryotaro then grabbed Rainbow's next punch and stopped her.
"Sugei…" Ryotaro gawked, seeing his own body do that.
"...Huh. Not bad, Ryo," Rainbow admitted as she moved back from him.
"Heh...of course, he's my contractor. His body is built to fight, thanks to me, that is." Momotaros smirked proudly.
"...Okay. In that case…" Rainbow began as she dismissed her gear, "Ready for the next part of your training, Ryo? Cause this one's gonna be a doozy."
"Please no more dodging…" Ryotaro begged.
"Oh don't worry. It's not dodging this time around," Rainbow assured him, "You're just gonna go for a run around the park."
"Oh that sounds...normal." Ryotaro noted, sounding maybe a little more hopeful than he should have been.
"I'm not finished. You're gonna go for a run in the park while dragging a tire around," Rainbow stated, "Pinkie, bring out the tire!"
"Right!" Pinkie saluted as she blurred around before she dragged in a large tire before she tied a rope around Ryotaro that was connected to the tire.
"And now it makes sense." Ryotaro sighed as he slumped his shoulders a bit.
"Oh stop complaining. This is gonna help you with your stamina," Rainbow said as she walked up next to him, "Unlike Momotaros and the other Imagin, you get tired pretty easily. So this will help you out big time."
"Right." he nodded in understanding. "Thanks for the help Rainbow." he chuckled, "I guess this is better than letting the Taros tear the town apart."
"I'm right here, ya know," Momotaros muttered, taking a bit of offense to that.
"Oh that's right you are." Rainbow and Ryotaro smiled, making the Imagin throw a tantrum.
Ryotaro was jogging around the parks path, the tire dragging behind him. It was really hard, normally a jog around the park tired him out a fair bit, but this was much harder than he even began to expect. The drag of the tire made him move slower, if he wanted to make any distance he had to push with all of his legs strength. As such he was already working up a big sweat. But he wasn't stopping he tried his best to keep going.
"Come on, Ryo! You're almost there!" Rainbow shouted over a megaphone, "Keep it up, and you'll get a break before moving onto AJ!"
"Hai…" he grunted as he kept going. "Come on...just a little more...almost there," he pumped himself up to finish as he began to move a little faster.
"Watching is interesting." Twilight said as they watched Ryotaro keep jogging. "I don't think I've seen Ryotaro this determined before." she commented as despite the fact he was clearly tired...he was still going.
"Hai," Fluttershy nodded, admiring how determined Ryotaro was to get through this, 'Ryotaro-kun is certainly strong….unlike me.'
As she hung her head down a bit, she recalled all the battles she was in, being there for mostly healing and defense while the others were on the offense. There may have been that one battle against the Peacock Imagin, but...she wanted to do more to help. Even though most of her attacks barely do a thing against the stronger Imagin, she wanted to be more of use than being a healer.
"...Something wrong, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, noticing the look on her shy friend's face.
"...Nothing," Fluttershy sighed, "Just...I feel...weak."
"Weak?" Twilight blinked in confusion.
"Hai. Compared to you, Ryotaro, and the others I feel...weak," Fluttershy sighed.
"That's not true. Granted, in terms of fighting I don't think any of us could match Ryotaro and the Taros as Den-O...but he has a suit of armor that can do just about anything." Twilight pointed out, "Besides right now, Ryotaro is trying really hard to become stronger, so that he doesn't have to rely on those goofs all the time. I think maybe if you tried your hand at practicing your powers, you could become stronger too."
"...That...that does sound like a good idea," Fluttershy admitted before blushing a little, "Demo...I...don't want to interrupt Ryotaro-kun's training."
"Well...to be fair Fluttershy, I don't think you could last in the same kind of training as Ryotaro." Twilight stated as they looked to see Ryotaro finish his lap and promptly fall on his face breathing deeply. "Ryotaro barely can…" she commented, Fluttershy nodding in agreement. "But that doesn't mean you can't try something that works for you. Why not start with just learning what exactly your powers can do in a fight, I mean you control both the wind and plants, some neat tricks must be there."
"...m...maybe," Fluttershy nodded a bit
"Come on, I'm not Rainbow Dash or Applejack, but I like to think when it comes to magic, I'm a good teacher." Twilight said with a proud tone to her voice.
"I suppose that's true," Fluttershy had to admit. Even with how good at fighting Rainbow Dash and Applejack are, the one among them who knew how Magic works had to be Twilight. The girl could explain magic like science project. It was admittedly interesting the way she'd go into long speeches at times, "...O-okay. Demo..where are we gonna go so I can train?"
"...Let me think about that," Twilight replied, pondering for a bit as they turned back towards Ryotaro.
"Okay, Ryo...you did pretty well," Rainbow noted as she helped him sit up, "So rest up. Applejack's up next, so be ready."
"Right…" he breathed out as he let his body just breath in sweet fresh air. Pinkie appeared next to him handing him a bottle of water. "Th...thanks Pinkie." he panted as he opened it and sucked down the entire bottle of water. Pinkie saluted happily to Ryotaro.
"Your holding up better than I expected," Rainbow chuckled, "Guess all those idiots rampaging around with your body has made you tougher than you look."
"Heh...y...yeah," Ryotaro panted as he gave Pinkie back the water bottle as she skipped back off to the others.
"Yup. You're a pretty sturdy guy, Ryo," Rainbow chuckled a bit as she sat down, "Heck, by the time you're done training with me, you'll probably be good at parkour too….well, not as good as me or the Wonderbolts, but still good."
"Well...we can only hope right?" he chuckled, knowing how to take a compliment from Rainbow Dash by this point.
"Heh...yeah," Rainbow nodded as she stood back up, "So...you ready yet?"
"Yeah...I'm ready." he nodded as he stood up as well. "Ready to go." he smiled excitedly.
"Good," Rainbow nodded before looking over at Applejack, "Hey, AJ! You're up!"
"You do realize he will die without us?" Urataros asked the other Taros who watched in their sand forms.
"Probably…" Kintaros admitted.
"Yep." Ryutaros stated bluntly.
"Oh most definitely." Sieg agreed.
"Eh...maybe," Momotaros shrugged. Before the Taros could say anything more a bucket of water was dumped on all of them. "AH! I'm melting!"
"Sometimes I wonder how much faith those five have in Ryotaro…" Rarity sighed as Pinkie took the bucket.
"Yup," Pinkie nodded a bit as Rainbow Dash joined back up with the others while Applejack walked up to Ryotaro.
"Okay Ryotaro, like Rainbow Dash said, Ah'm gonna be trainin' y'all in strength and endurance," Applejack stated, "So we're gonna do some simple exercises."
'Now I just wait for the catch,' Ryotaro mentally stated.
"Catch." Applejack told him as she tossed him a arm band, Ryotaro caught it but to his surprise it was so heavy it made him have to hold on with both arms...but it still fell to the ground.
"Not...the catch I was anticipating…" he grunted.
"Sorry, but yer gonna need these fer mah trainin'," Applejack stated, "Just be lucky y'all aren't using the ones Big Mac use when he decides t' exercise."
"I'd ask...but I think I'll just take your word for it…" he grunted as he fitted the armband onto his left wrist, Applejack then gave him three more, for his other arms and both legs, "How much do these weight actually?"
"'Bout 10 kg's." Applejack explained.
"How much is that?" Rainbow asked.
"Give or take 22 pounds." Pinkie explained, "So yeah...that's pretty heavy."
"Ryo...your determination is seriously impressive." Rainbow admitted.
"Alright...what's first?" Ryotaro asked Applejack.
"Simple. We're gonna start wit' push-ups."
"Oh...that sounds e-wait...how many push-ups?" he asked before he could get down on his stomach.
"Hmm...Ah'd say...about a hundred."
"A hundred?!"
"Would you rather it be two hundred?"
"...A hundred it is then." he sighed in defeat.
"Smart boy." Applejack smiled.
Ryotaro got down and began to do the pushups, counting them out each time. Luckily it seems the weights wouldn't be too big a deal, but still it made his hands tired after the first ten, and that made doing the next 90 a lot harder for him.
"You know this is kind of pointless." Momotaros spoke up appearing in front of Ryotaro's face. "You have five Imagin to make your body faster, stronger, and more durable than any human in this world. Why train?"
"I...can't rely on you guys all the time." Ryotaro huffed as he kept pushing himself up. "You have been so much help, you've been there for me...but if I don't get stronger myself...then I'll never be able to become able to fight on my own...I want to be able to protect my friends too." he grunted pushing himself back up. "Besides...if I'm behind truthful...there are times you guys are kind of unreliable."
"What?! Name one time we were unreliable!"
"You ignored an Imagin for a pudding sale." Ryotaro grunted.
"Urataros lost his belt at some random girl's house...16 times." Rainbow added. "And the time Kintaros literally demolished half the school...out of boredom, and then gave up midway and slept in the school's office."
"You also have a habit of arguing over who get's to fight this time around and end up making me wait 'till the last possible second…" Ryotaro grunted.
"Okay okay...I get it. Sheesh…" Momotaro muttered.
"It's not your fault Momotaros. You're just all a bunch of idiots," Rainbow said...in a faux caring tone.
"Yep." Applejack nodded in agreement.
"Oh yeah?! Well….screw you," Momotaros snorted as he headed back to the others.
"...Why do you two antagonize him like that? You know he could snap at any moment," Pinkie said.
"At this point, it's a game. And he knows it," Rainbow shrugged.
"Plus he's not smart enough to figure it out." Applejack added.
"Eeyup," Rainbow nodded.
After a few more push-ups, Applejack had Ryotaro switch over to sit-ups, and he was currently around 50 to 60 in terms of reps. While Ryotaro was busy doing his own training, Fluttershy and Twilight made their way off to not disturb them. Eventually, the came across a spot not too far away from the others, just in case anything pops up. Twilight set up some small targets, using the excess water bottles Pinkie has been giving to Ryotaro.
"Okay Fluttershy, let's start off very small, first we need to practice on your using your power as offensive attacks." Twilight said. "I know it's not much, but before we try something big, lets at least see you try the basics. Just use your wind to knock them over."
"O..okay," Fluttershy nodded, already in her gear.
Once Twilight was out of the way, the shy pinkette took a slow, deep breath as she slowly unfolded her wings. She then held her hands forward as she began to swirl some air in between her hands and forming a ball of it more or less. She then aimed it at one bottle and tried shooting...however as the sphere flew out...it took it's time, moving very slowly and eventually just dissipating once close to the bottle.
"...Not bad, but try adding a bit of force into it," Twilight suggested.
"H...hai," Fluttershy nodded, using her hands to form another sphere of air. She then tried to shoot it again only for the ball to stop mid-way again, only this time instead of dissipating it turned into a larger ball of wind that blew some stuff away, the wind knocking the bottles around but not over.
"Not bad...not bad," Twilight noted. "You're still not getting very far...but you have the potential to do something in a fight. You just need a lot more practice."
"Oh…" Fluttershy whined.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy, you can do it. We all believe in you." Twilight smiled making her smile back.
"*grumble-grumble* Calling me useless…" Momotaros voice complained as his sand form strode on past them.
"...I'm going to try again."
"Eh?" Momotaros blinked, turning to see Fluttershy preparing the sphere of air again, "Woah wait! I'm still h-!" he freaked as he saw the sphere of wind come his way, only to dissipate in front of his face, "...the hell was that?"
"...Mou...not again," Fluttershy slumped.
"Ah...I thought I'd be blown into the prevailing winds again...like that time I embarrassed you in front of Ryotaro," Momotaros sighed, happy that didn't happen again.
"...Mmm…"
"Momotaros…" Twilight frowned.
"What? Not my fault the Kaze-Onna blew such a weak…"
"Arf!"
"Eh?" Momotaros blinked, slowly turning to see a young german shepard staring right at him, "GAH!" he cried as he slithered behind Fluttershy. "I'm sorry! So sorry! I'm SORRY! Please get rid of that demonic monster of destruction and evil!" he begged in utter fear.
Twilight just nodded as she snapped her fingers, causing the german shepherd to disappear.
"...Wait. Was that an illusion? ...Why you…!"
"Want me to bring it back?"
"Momo be good…" he sighed.
"I thought so," Twilight said before looking back at Fluttershy, "Ready to try again?"
"...H...hai," Fluttershy slowly nodded.
"Oi. What are you two up to?" Momotaros asked. He then looked at the bottles or targets. "Ah...you're training the Kaze-onna!" he realized.
"Yes," Twilight nodded, "I'm helping her improve on her magic."
"Don't you mean show her how to hit things besides me?" Momotaros pointed out.
"..."
"...I'll just shut up now."
Fluttershy took a deep breath as she held her hands out, forming the air sphere once more. She then aimed it and tried firing it again, only for it to burst into a gust of wind as soon as it left her hands, blowing hers and Twilight's hair back.
"Mou…" she complained at that.
"It's alright Fluttershy. You're getting the hang of it little by little." Twilight said.
"Just face it, the Kaze-onna lacks the instinct to hit something." Momotaros spoke up. "She's not going to hit them that way."
"Momotaros…"
"What? I'm speaking the truth. Sure she represents Kindness and all that crap, but there are times she needs to be harsh and stuff. But with how shy she is, she lacks the instinct to do put force in her attacks." he stated. "She just needs to take note from us; if you're hitting something, you hit it!"
"Momotaros…" Twilight said making him look at her.
"You're going to put me in a fairy bottle again, aren't you?" he asked getting a nod. "And you're going to make it really hurt?"
"What was your first clue?" Twilight asked sinisterly.
"...Crap baskets."
Back over with Ryotaro and the others, Ryotaro had finished his training with AJ for the moment, and was currently taking a break.
"Ah...I think I'm sweating myself to dehydration…" Ryotaro joked as Pinkie gave him another bottle of water. "Thanks Pinkie…" he thanked as he began to chug the water, Pinkie giving him new bottles as he finished them off.
"No problem, Ryo!" Pinkie nodded, "So how did training with Applejack feel?"
"...Really tiring, but I feel like I'm making progress." he sighed as he finished another bottle.
"Well you did great Ryo, you lasted longer than we expected." Rainbow smirked as she patted his shoulder as he was sitting down at the moment.
"Thanks…" he panted as he took the second to take in some cool air. Pinkie then pulled out a tiny fan and used it to blow cool air to him. "Ah thanks Pinkie…"
"It's what I do." Pinkie smirked happily.
"Glad to see you're enjoying your break. But don't forget, You're gonna be training with me again," Rainbow smirked a bit.
"...Please no more reflex training."
"Don't worry...You're gonna be running around the park again first," Rainbow assured him.
"Oh thank k-"
"While dragging around an even bigger tire," the rainbow haired tomboy finished.
Pinkie then rolled in a larger tire happily.
"Ah…" Ryotaro sighed at that but then he smirked happily nonetheless. "Right, sensei." he smirked, feeding Rainbow's ego on purpose.
"I could get use to that," Rainbow smirked.
"I know...that's why I said it," Ryotaro chuckled, making everyone else laugh.
"Ahh...but enough talk. Let's get back to your training before…" Rainbow began before hearing the sounds of people screaming in the distance, "...Something comes up."
"Curse you murphy's law!" Pinkie shouted, shaking her fist at the air.
"Hai…" Ryotaro mumbled as Applejack helped him stand back up. He then took the weights off letting them fall to the ground with a happy sigh. "We should go check it out...Urataros?" he asked as a blue light entered him making his shirt turn blue.
"Hai hai, leave it to me Ryotaro." U-Ryotaro happily nodded as he fixed his glasses.
"You go get Fluttershy and Twilight," Rainbow said to Applejack and the others, "Well go on ahead and see what we're dealing with."
"Are you sure? Ryo's been working out all day." Pinkie pointed out.
"Relax, Pinkie. When we take over, a full recharge is given, and if we mess up, Rainbow pays for your food for the next week," U-Ryotaro smirked as he ran off before Rainbow could say anything to counter that.
"...God damn it, Urataros," Rainbow muttered, transforming into her gear as she flew after him.
"I'm counting that!" Pinkie shouted as Rarity dragged her away.
At a different area in the park, a Tengu themed Imagin stood within the now blown away area, a few trees and bushes uprooted from the ground. Its body was all dark black with small crow like wings on its back. It had armor that seemed to form a male kimono style shape around it's body, it fixed the vest over it's chest and it had a classic red-colored long nose Tengu mask hanging off the side of its head, said head resembling that of a crow with a large beak and yellow eyes.
"Kekekeke...these humans are really easy to scare off...just got to go boo!" the Tengu Imagin laughed, "Now then..onto the next part of…"
The Imagin tried to get ready to do whatever its plan was, only for a large ball of lightning to hit him in the back, making him squawk like a crow and fly into a bush.
"Ah...I'm not a black chicken! You don't fry me!" the Tengu Imagin complained.
"Well that's what ya get for attacking people, you giant...uh…" Rainbow began as she landed, U-Ryotaro walking up next to her, "...What the hell are you supposed to be anyway?"
"It's a Tengu." U-Ryotaro stated getting a blank look from Rainbow. "Long nose bird man demons who live in mountains and are considered deities to some. From Japanese mythology, in fact in the story Kin is based on; the main character often harassed them for fun."
"Oh...so they're basically cannon fodder for Kin."
"How dare you! I am not cannon fodder! Those are the Mole Imagin's job!" the Tengu imagin snapped.
"Mole?" both asked in confusion.
"Ah...I said too much…" the Tengu Imagin gasped covering his beak.
"Are they also known for being stupid?" Rainbow asked U-Ryotaro.
"Eh...so-so." he shrugged, making her nod in understanding.
"Good enough for me. Now to kick butt," Rainbow said, cracking her knuckles a bit as she charged at the Tengu Imagin.
"Children these days have no manners!" the Tengu Imagin shouted as he did the same.
"Says you!" Rainbow shouted as she threw a punch at him, only for it to miss as the Tengu imagin flew back and pulled out a strange looking fan, "What's wrong? Starting to sweat alr-"
The Tengu imagin swiped the fan horizontally, causing a fierce wind that blew Rainbow Dash into U-Ryotaro. Both of them tumbled along the ground and fell in a heap with Rainbow landing on him.
"I had no idea you liked me so much Rainbow." U-Ryotaro joked about the situation.
"Shut up…" Rainbow groaned as she got off him, "Also..you could've mentioned the fact he could do that."
"It's not like I knew he has the magic super fan from Dragon Ball." he countered. "In most stories...they are kind of like Pinkie...annoying." he pointed out.
"Fair enough...so wind powers…"
"Should I say it or will you?" U-Ryotaro asked as he put the belt on.
"...Just shut up and henshin already."
"As you wish dear." he taunted as he pulled out the pass. "Henshin." he smirked swiping the pass.
=ROD FORM!=
With that the blue shards formed over U-Ryotaro and formed the Plat form armor before the armor formed and positioned itself into Rod form formation and locked in place. His mask grinded down his helmet and transformed to it's mack form to lock in place.
"Omae...boku ni tsurarete miru?" Den-O asked the Imagin.
"No thank you!" the Imagin said in a bad english accent as he lifted his fan again, before Den-O tossed a part of his Dengasher hitting the Imagin in the forehead. "Itai!"
As the piece bounced back, Den-O finished aligning the other three parts and connected the fourth finishing it's rod formation. He then charged and swung his weapon letting the bladed tip lance the Imagin's shoulders. As the Imagin grunted in pain he was hit with an electrified fist from the left making him spin through the air.
"Oh...that hurt…" he groaned.
"Well there's more where that came from," Rainbow smirked, crossing her arms before she uncrossed them, her fist now engulfed in blade shaped electricity, "Thunder Edge!"
"Thunder wh-?"
"Thunder Edge: X-Wave!" With that Rainbow slashed two blades of solid electricity sending two large cutting waves of electric energy in a large X shape.
The Tengu Imagin freaked as the blast hit him, causing a large boom that sent him flying away and crashing into a park picnic table, splintering it to bits.
"Nice distance." Den-O whistled in amazement at that attack.
"Thanks. Been tinkering a bit with my Thunder Edge move, and came up with this and a few others," Rainbow smirked in a cocky manner.
"You're just full of tricks, aren't you?" Den-O chuckled as he swung his DenGasher letting the tip fly off and tie up the Tengu Imagin as he tried to get up. "Your naming sense isn't half bad though...you know compared to Ryotaro's." he joked as he tossed the rod around and slammed the Imagin into the ground behind them.
"And there's the insult that is meant for two people." Ryotaro deadpanned mentally as Den-O tossed the Imagin up into the air and letting him slam into the ground once more.
"Heh...please. You're just jealous of my swagger," Rainbow grinned, sending another electric cutting wave at the Tengu imagin sending it into the air from the explosion only for Den-O to drag it back down with a loud thud.
"Please, can't be jealous of what's not there, my multi haired friend." Den-O replied as he swung the DenGasher over his shoulder slamming the Tengu Imagin into the ground behind them. "When you have charmed as many members of the opposite sex as I have with Ryotaro's body...then we'll talk." he laughed.
"Yeah...the day I become as perverted as you is when I dress into something fancy. And guess what? That ain't happening anytime soon."
"Ooooh! You got burned, Kame!"
"Fancy huh…" Den-O mused cupping his chin before he pulled out a touchscreen phone. "You mean like this dress Rarity made you model for her?" he asked, wagging the phone in front of her. "That's right, she took pictures and sent them to all of us."
"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed in a mix of shock and slight anger, "Damn it, Rarity…"
"You know you actually look rather cute in this...like a normal girl should." Den-O chuckled scrolling through pictures. He then pulled the rope of the DenGasher and dragged the Tengu Imagin over to him as he stomped on his head. "Fluttershy just loved these pictures, and Pinkie and AJ almost died laughing."
"...Oh I'm so gonna get back at you for this," Rainbow frowned in annoyance as she landed on the Tengu Imagin's jewels, causing him to wince in pain, "Also to make a point, I'm not cute. I'm badass."
"The blush of embarrassment on your face in this picture says otherwise." Den-O countered, "Besides, you know I love you too, you sports crazy tomboy. And no, frying this phone will not fix this, Pinkie has printed copies already."
"You know...if you two would rather talk out your relationship...we could do this some other time…" The Imagin grunted, earning him another stomp to the nuts, "Gah! My jewels again!"
"Uh...semi important question. Do you Imagin even have vital organs and stuff?" Rainbow asked.
"Well...we eat, sleep, and apparently feel pain if you hit vital places...but other then that we are mostly just solid sand." Den-O explained simply. "I don't understand it either."
"We are a confusing race…" the Imagin groaned in pain, his voice a high falsetto as he spoke.
"You know swinging this lug around was easier then normal." Den-O muttered ignoring the Imagin for the time being. "Either he's lighter than normal, or you're training really is making Ryotaro stronger."
"Probably the latter," Rainbow shrugged before grinning in a cocky manner again, "Just goes to show ya how effective my and AJ's training is."
"Okay...I'll give you that one. You are an expert at being a monstrous trainer. But you still look cute in a dress." Den-O teased.
"Keep that up, and I'll force you into a locked room with nothing but horror games to play," Rainbow countered with a slight frown.
"Sempai already did that."
"Ones that're scarier than the ones I had Momotaros played," Rainbow added.
"Seriously...do you two need a relationship counselor or something? I can't tell if your going to fight or kiss and makeup." the Imagin shouted from his spot tied up on the ground.
"...Give me that thing,' Rainbow frowned as she took the Dengasher, "I'm gonna make shishkabobs out of this guy."
"Just remember to clean it when your done. That's an important tool for us." Den-O said.
"Chance!" the Imagin shouted as he hopped up. "Daisetsuzan oroshi!" he shouted as he began spinning around at rapid speed whipping up a gale force wind, that turned into a tornado.
"Oh crap!" Rainbow cursed as she was taken along with the cyclone.
"He can do that?" Den-O asked before Rainbow was slammed into him dragging him into the twister. "Get me off this crazy thing!?" Den-O cried.
"God damn it! how could w-" Rainbow began in annoyance before she and Den-O were slammed hard into a tree.
"It's agreed...we don't mention this part...ever." Den-O groaned as he acted as a cushion for Rainbow.
"Agreed," Rainbow replied, groaning a bit as she got off him.
"Kekekeke...the dysfunctional couple made a mistake if they thought a little humiliation would best me!" the Tengu Imagin laughed. "I have no sense of embarrassment!"
"Oh...he's stupid." both of them said in unison at that.
"Ke…" the Tengu Imagin groaned at that. "I'm going to annihilate you both!"
With that, he swiped his fan once more, sending a fierce tornado attack at the two. Rainbow and Den-O tensed a bit as they prepared to dodge the attack, only for a barrier to pop up in front of them and block the attack.
"Nani?" the Tengu Imagin gawked seeing that. Before he could respond with a different attack he was blasted with a large ball of fire to his back sending him colliding into the barrier which he bounced off of.
"Saved by the hot cavalry." Den-O chuckled.
"Finally…" Rainbow sighed a bit in relief as she turned to see Twilight and the others, all of them already transformed, "What took you guys so long?"
"Sorry. We couldn't find you guys until we saw the tornado." Twilight countered.
"To be fair...we did spend a lot of time just talking," Den-O pointed out, "And teasing you on those pic's Rarity sent out."
"Stop bringing it up already!" Rainbow shouted.
"Why? You look so cute when you…" Den-O began in a teasing manner before seeing electricity crackle around her eyes from her anger. "Shutting up dear." he whimpered.
"Good."
"Ow...that hurt," the Tengu Imagin groaned as he got up, only to see Den-O and the girl looking at him, ready to attack, "..Oh come on! Seven against one is unfair!"
"Says the mountain god inspired Imagin." Den-O muttered.
"Wait...I'm based off a what now?" he asked only for a ball of ice to slam into his face. "D'oh!" he cried in pain falling over.
"Wow...he's an idiot, ain't he?" Pinkie asked, blinking a few times.
"But he's an idiot with the power to make powerful tornados." Rainbow explained.
"Oh…" Everyone else nodded at that.
"I hate this...this was meant to be easy...I'll blew all of you away with the four winds!" The Tengu Imagin shouted pulling out two fans. "Let's see you fight inside of a Hurricane!"
"We know someone who can." Den-O smirked as a gold light formed in his hand before he placed the golden wing form buckled on his belt.
"...Oh no...not…" Rainbow and Twilight began in annoyance.
"Hurricane time!" the Imagin shouted as he began to spin and flap two fans creating a large gust of black wind that swept into a tornado of sorts that got wider and wider.
"Too late. Sieg, I'm counting on you!" Den-O shouted swiping his pass as he wind wall got closer.
=WING FORM!=
In a golden flash with feathers falling around him Den-O's suit became gold before the silver armor locked into place. His mask grinded down his helmet before unfolding, his blue eyes now glowing.
"Ha!" Den-O shouted as his wings grew out. He then began to fly at max speed in the opposite direction of the wind.
"Wait...is he?" Twilight asked as they only saw a gold ring around the twister. And to their shock the wind stopped where it was.
"Nanda?! H...how did…?!" the Tengu Imagin began in shock before Den-O flew in front of him, "Gh?!"
"You are an eyesore to my kingdom." Den-O said as his hand grabbed the Imagin by his neck. "Begone!" he shouted as he flew up with him. He then dived down before tossing the Imagin down making him slam into the ground. Den-O then landed in front of the girls as he dispelled the wings into golden dust and white feathers. "Easy." he scoffed folding his arms.
"Doh...you...jerk…" the Tengu imagin groaned as he tried to get up.
"Now to end this battle." Den-O said as he pulled out his boomerang and handax. He then blurred forward as he began to slash the Tengu Imagin from every angle leaving gold and blue streaks in the air. Den-O slashed his weapons in an X as he passed by the Tengu Imagin, he then spun around and began slashing his two weapons rapidly leaving multiple streaks in the air, each one causing sparks to fly from the Imagin before it stumbled back. Den-O raised his blades up to his mask letting them glisten slightly. "Be thankful for witnessing my wonderful technique." he said as multiple sparks exploded from all over it's body making the Imagin fall to it's knees as scars formed all over it's body.
"Good. Now.." Rainbow began as she walked forward, "Let's get some info out of this guy and figure out who sent him."
"Huh?" Den-O blinked holding up his pass. "We do that?"
"Yes. We do," Twilight nodded as she and the others walked over, "If we don't figure out what his goal was before it was fulfilled, he'll just keep coming back."
"I'm just going to kill it." Den-O said simply ready to swipe his pass for a Full Charge. "I can't stand to see it any longer."
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait!" Twilight argued, taking the pass out of his hand, "If we don't find his contract holder, then he'll just keep coming!"
"I do not care! the sight of this ugly bird is making my eyes hurt!" Den-O complained.
"I have...feelings...blarg…"
"See? We must kill it. A mercy killing." Den-O said.
"I said no!" Twilight complained keeping the pass out of his reach.
"Dang it, Sieg, cut that out!" Rainbow shouted, jumping on Den-O's back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"No...I must end this monstrosity!" Den-O countered still reaching for the pass.
"Bad Sieg!" Pinkie snapped, grabbing his arm.
"Unhand me! It is my duty as a prince to destroy creatures such as this!"
"Sieg, please wait. We need the information of this Imagin first, please be clear minded." Rarity advised.
"Apologies, but I…!"
"Chance da!" the Tengu Imagin shouted, taking this distraction as a chance to escape as he threw his fans forward, creating a powerful cyclone that headed towards the group.
Fluttershy quickly noticed this as she stepped in front of the others and produced a tornado of her own to block the attack, while her's wasn't the same size it's force was enough to cushion its force by a lot. But the wind still knocked the group into the air and then into a tree.
"Pfffftt…" Pinkie spat leaves out of her mouth.
"Kekeke! See you losers later!" the Tengu imagin laughed mockingly as he flew off.
"We just got humiliated by an ugly bird…" Den-O pointed out as his head poked out from the bushes.
"Ugh...thanks big time there Flutters, that last minute trick of yours saved us the major whiplash from a tornado." Rainbow groaned doing the same and poking her head out of the tree, Fluttershy doing the same next to her.
"I still didn't stop it…" she said dejectedly.
"Well...while I don't appreciate the leaves in my hair...it's better than the alternative of being blown far away." Rarity spoke up.
"All things considered I suppose…" Twilight sighed as she and Applejack poked their heads out.
"Ugh...if only I had destroyed that filthy beast to begin with," Den-O groaned in shame, "Otherwise it wouldn't have gotten the best of us that easily."
"That ea…" Twilight began before frowning at him, "Need I remind that we needed to get the info out of him first?! If you hadn't started arguing, then we wouldn't be in this mess right now!"
"It's true." Applejack nodded.
"You're right. I deeply apologize Hime…" Den-O nodded his head in shame. "A prince should not argue with his princess…"
"Please don't call me that…" Twilight whispered in annoyance.
Fluttershy at the moment hung her head sadly, the shy pinkette disheartened at how easily her wind attack was overpowered by the Tengu Imagin, even with that training Twilight was helping her with. She has made no real progress she has so far to go. Her friends kept getting stronger and jumping ahead of her, how is she suppose to catch up to them?
"...Well...what do we do now?" Rainbow asked, not noticing Fluttershy's look at the moment.
"...I suppose for the time being, we'll head to the Milk Dipper to think of a plan," Twilight sighed.
"Roger." everyone nodded, as they climbed out of the tree.
"Ite…" Ryotaro muttered as he sat in a chair with his shirt off, as Pinkie put cold-compresses on his back to help him with the sore muscles. "Ah...that feels much better." he sighed happily before she slapped the last one on. "Ah!" he freaked at the sudden sting.
"There you go, Ryo. Your muscles are all good. You surprisingly have more than I expected." Pinkie stated as Ryotaro rubbed the spot she slapped.
"Ahh...thanks, Pinkie," Ryotaro winced, rubbing the spot Pinkie slapped him on. "Ah...I'm just glad today's training is over. Training then fighting an Imagin...I hope that doesn't become normal." he sighed as he let the cold compress do it's work and relax his muscles.
"Well then at least you'll definitely become stronger." Pinkie added happily.
"Yeah...I suppose you're right." he smiled before he held his hand up to stop her from slapping his back again, essentially making them do a high five.
"You're even getting faster." Pinkie smiled as she began clapping for Ryotaro, "Guess Dashie's reflex training helped."
"Yeah...guess like Momotaros said...the memories of all the fights I've been in...they are in my body after all." he nodded as he gripped his hand slightly.
"That is pretty neat," Pinkie nodded before tapping her chin a bit, "Though I can't help but wonder why Dashie kept shouting 'DODGE!' during your reflex training."
"Oh...I...think that was from that web series she and Momotaro marathoned the other day...and about every other day before." Ryotaro noted as Pinkie developed the same questioning look as him. Both just shook it off. "Where is everyone else?" he asked noticing it was just him and Pinkie in the living room of his and Airi's living space.
"I think Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are downstairs while Rarity and Applejack went home," Pinkie guessed.
"Ah…" Ryotaro nodded as he put his shirt back on. "I guess they are trying to think of what to do about that Imagin."
"Most likely, yeah," Pinkie shrugged, "Speaking of that Imagin, where do you suppose he went? In fact, why was he attacking the park?"
"As for where he went, I think he might have gone back to his contractor. As for why...well...honestly Imagin tend to be more odd then...well you." Ryotaro muttered.
"Hey…" Pinkie complained, not liking the prospect of Imagin being better at randomness then her.
"Just saying...They take weird twists on such simple wishes."
"Got a point there." Pinkie had to admit. "Still why tear up the park? It's so weird...this is a mystery."
"It's too bad we don't know any detectives." Ryotaro muttered as the two made their way downstairs.
"Yeah. Like this one detective I've heard about up in Inaba," Pinkie added.
"Inaba?" Ryotaro blinked as they walked down the stairs.
"A place my sister Maud visited at one point," Pinkie responded, "Pretty decent town...once you leave out the mysterious disappearances."
"Pinkie...how much coffee did you have today?" Ryotaro asked.
"None...maybe a cup…" Pinkie responded. "But this is serious, though...Ryo, you can be a mean one sometimes."
"I'm sorry, I'm just making sure, last time you told me you saw a figure walk through the walls of the school." Ryotaro responded.
"Hey. That was true," Pinkie defended
"Like the Chupacabra was true?" he asked.
"Okay that one might have just been a bald dog...or cat...no wait. It probably was…" she muttered.
"You now see my point." he sighed.
"I'll show you one day, I'm not that crazy."
Downstairs, Twilight and Rainbow were discussing something, mainly about the whereabouts of the Tengu Imagin and its contract holder. Fluttershy on the other hand...was sitting by herself, the shy pinkette still depressed about what happened earlier. Part of her knew that she did help out...if just a little. But the other part still berated her for only doing so little in the first place.
'Hah...no matter how I think of it...compared to the others, I'm not as useful in stopping the Imagin. I know that my powers could be as strong as theirs...but I can't.' she sighed mentally. 'They all become stronger with each battle...yet...I don't.'
"Fluttershy?...Fluttershy!?" Rainbow said loudly snapping her fingers in front of her face.
"Huh? Wha…?" Fluttershy blinked in slight surprise, the shy pinkette losing her train of thought.
"You okay? You've been staring at space for the past hour," Rainbow pointed out. "You never space out...that's Pinkie and Ryotaro's thing."
"...Ano...well…"
"...Hey. Something up?" Rainbow asked as she sat down, a bit of concern in her voice, "Come on. You can tell me. We're best friends after all. Hell, we're practically like sisters at this point, so it's my duty to make sure your happy. So come on. tell me what's wrong."
"...o...ok," Fluttershy slowly nodded a bit, "...I...wish I can help you and the others more. Demo...no matter how hard I try, I'll always end up being weaker than everyone."
"Oh I see...so Ryotaro's training regimen kind of inspired...and demotivated you at the same time huh?" Rainbow realized, only getting a nod from Fluttershy as responce enough. "Well...to be fair...you're not one for fighting. Ryotaro is...because he's such a nice person, he wants to protect everyone so he has the right motivation for fighting. Fluttershy...you're my best friend, my sister, and I love you, but you've never come across to me as the kind who would...you know fight. You're always so kind, and caring, and loving, you could protect someone, but in terms of throwing the first punch, I don't think you have that kind of instinct."
"I...I know. It's just...I...want to be more than just the healer of the group," Fluttershy admitted before signing sadly, "And yet when I try and help fight...nothing works, like what happened earlier today…"
"Well we all figured you wanted to stop that tornado it shot at us...if you had told us your plan was to counter...then we would have been shocked." Rainbow said, "But you did at least save us the trouble of being blown far away. I don't think the Kingdom of Oz is a place any of us want to end up in." she joked as she rubbed Fluttershy's shoulder. "But...I can understand what you mean. That sounds a lot like how Ryo sounded when he said he wanted to start training himself."
"...Th...that is true, hai," Fluttershy nodded, blushing a little.
"What I'm getting at is...your not going to improve a lot if you think of trying to just do better on your own. Ryo asked the Taros to train him, cause they knew how to fight, and then us, because obviously...we are more competent." Rainbow pointed out. "Besides getting good at something takes a lot of time, getting an extended amount of training in half a day is kind...well you gotta admit that's just kind of crazy." she shrugged her shoulders. "It took a lot of time for me to be as good as I am, just saying if you gave it some time, you can improve. Plus without your healing powers...I think we might have lost Ryo a long time ago. Just keep that in mind."
"...H...hai," Fluttershy noted, the shy pinkette taking all that in.
"Yep, seriously I love you Fluttershy...but you can get just as carried away in your mind as Pinkie you know." Rainbow chuckled, nudging her best friend's side slightly.
"I heard that!" Pinkie shouted off-screen.
"You were meant too, you eavesdropping sugar high!" Rainbow shouted back. Pinkie then poked her head up from a table behind them. "I saw you crawl out from the door and sneak up on us."
"No fair…" Pinkie complained childishly while pouting.
"Yeah well next time, don't be obvious," Rainbow stated.
"Hmph…" Pinkie kept pouting, making Fluttershy laugh at the act, "..If you're done playing 'take shots at Pinkie', Twilight and Ryotaro are waiting on you."
"Yeah yeah, i'm coming," Rainbow waved her off a bit as she stood up. "Come on. Let's go find an ugly mountain birdman Imagin."
"That's too long to be a good name…" Pinkie complained, "We can do better!" she said confidently before she blinked. "I feel like I was going to mention something...but forgot...oh well. I'm sure it was nothing too big."
"Whatever Pinkie." Rainbow nodded as they walked over to Twilight and Ryotaro as the two were talking over about the Imagin, "So what's up?"
"Still trying to figure out who sent that Imagin, and why he was targeting to park specifically," Twilight answered.
"While it's not exactly a big lead...maybe it can give us something to start from," Ryotaro added.
"Ahh...I see," Rainbow noted as she sat down.
"Destroying a park...not a lot to go on really...for all we know the contractor just wished to clean up the park, the Imagin is as stupid as Momotaros and figured violence works." Twilight stated.
"I heard that!" M-Ryotaro shouted, Momotaros jumping in as soon as he heard stupid and his name in the same sentence.
"...we might need to return tomorrow to find more clues," Twilight suggested.
"Wait...what about school?" Pinkie asked before blinking a bit, "..Did that just come out of my mouth?"
"You realize you ruined a chance to skip school by saying that, right?" M-Ryotaro pointed out making Pinkie slam her forehead on the table and cry comically. "Ah there there, you poor sad crying girl."
"That's suppose to be Flutter's nickname…" Pinkie muttered.
"...I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Rainbow frowned in slight annoyance at that.
"Well while we can't skip...we still need to investigate. The best way would be if someone could go and investigate. So if someone could get an excuse not to come to school." she mentioned as the girls looked at M-Ryotaro who was cleaning his ear.
"Huh...what you looking at Ryotaro for?" he asked them.
"I believe they want him to go investigate while they're busy at school, sempai."
"Wait...you want us to use Ryotaro's less than stellar health record as an excuse to play hookie?" M-Ryotaro asked almost hopefully just waiting for some form of confirmation from them.
"...On second thought. Maybe we should have one of us go with him just in case," Twilight said, feeling worried now.
"Who could you get to skip with me...all of you have perfect attendance, even Rainbow and Pinkie." M-Ryotaro pointed out.
"Wait...what about…" Ryotaro began.
"Ah no, no...no." M-Ryotaro cut him off, Momotaros not wanting to hear his suggestion that could ruin his fun, "No goddamn way!"
"What is it Ryo?" Pinkie asked, happy all of them, thanks to magic, could now hear Ryotaro's mentally projected voice. "Sounds like you have an idea that will make Twilight happy with letting you skip."
"If he does...then Ryo is officially the smartest person we know." Rainbow pointed, "But seriously, what idea do you have in mind, Ryo?"
"Well as I was going to suggest, besides me, the one of us who often missed school the most was Applejack. Of course for her personal reasons, but still. If Twilight would feel happier with someone going with me, then why not her?" he pointed out. "Plus if we do find the Imagin, both of us would be ready for a fight."
"...Does seem plausible…" Twilight noted, pondering this over for a bit, "...Alright."
"And to think...I was starting to actually like you," M-Ryotaro groaned in defeat.
The next day, while the others were at school, just as planned by Ryotaro and Twilight, both him and Applejack used their typical excuses to get out of the day. It was easier...much easier than they anticipated honestly. The moment both called and said the same reasons as their other times missing school, the person on the phone just went all right and left it at that. Currently, the two were searching the part of the park the Tengu Imagin was at before hand. However, they noticed something...different.
"Odd...wasn't this part of the park a picnic area?" Ryotaro asked, sure the trees, bushes and such where all uprooted, and the tables and benches tossed around. But now...it looked all cleared out.
"It is," Applejack replied, looking around the cleared out area, "But..it looks like it's been cleared out. almost like..it was being prepared for construction or somethin'."
"Maybe this Imagin is contracted to a mean owner of a construction company who wants to run us out and buy the land to build a strip mall." Momotaros scoffed.
"I dunno...If that was the case, the mayor would've noticed this," Ryotaro stated, scratching his head. "Then again...how does one go about dealing with a monster that makes natural disasters?"
"Ah'm not sure," Applejack shrugged, "But y'all got a point. Th' mayor would've noticed this by now, and yet she hasn't even noticed it."
"If I may add something to this discussion." Urataros spoke up.
"Huh...what is it Urataros?" Ryotaro asked. A blue flash then covered him as his clothes changed into a suit with a blue tie.
"Allow me to explain Ryotaro, AJ." U-Ryotaro began as he paced back and forth, "In the cutthroat world of business, it's true buying land such as this...that would take months of convincing and large if not insane sums of money...that is unless, the safety, and welfare of the park became bad. If the Imagin's contract is to help buy this park, then the more it destroys the park and drives people away, the price of the land will drop and drop and drop to the point just about any businessman can buy this land dirt cheap." he spoke on. "So this means while the contractor is keeping our dear Mayor busy, the monster is doing it's job of diminishing the price of the land behind her back." he finished as he adjusted his glasses.
"...So yer sayin' it's both illegal, but also by th' book," Applejack noted with a frown.
"Unfortunately yes my dear AJ, it is both, considering the only one with the right to judge Imagin for crimes is Ryotaro." U-Ryotaro sighed, "For now...all we can do is stop the Imagin. Unless you know the name of a good certified lawyer who passed the bar, cause I may be a liar who has read law books, but I'm not that confident fighting other lawyers. They are quite the tricky bunch."
"Tell me about it," Applejack muttered a bit, "...We better find more clues on who's tryin' t' buy out th' park."
"As long as this doesn't end the classic movie cliches I'll start looking." U-Ryotaro nodded before he spotted several women walking along the park's jogging path. "Yeah...I'll...uh...start…" he trailed off, his eyes following them.
"...Come on, casanova," Applejack groaned as she grabbed U-Ryotaro by the back of his shirt and began to drag him off.
"Ah...we just had to be chaperoned...such perfect prey to reel in...what a waste of youth," U-Ryotaro complained.
"And yet, I thank these girls for so much…" Ryotaro pointed out.
"Don't most boys dream of the attention from girls I get?" U-Ryotaro asked.
"Dreams? Yes. Delusions? Another thing entirely" Applejack countered.
"...I suppose you're right. Plus technically, Ryotaro already has a harem with y…"
"Grr…"
"Shutting up."
"I'm so very sorry for this Applejack…" Ryotaro sighed his apology to his friend.
"...It's fine, Ryotaro," Applejack sighed a bit, calming down, "It's just...ugh. Let's just hurry and get this done with."
"Hey, it could have been worse. He could have let it slip that everyone who doesn't know about the hero stuff thinks the two of you are dating." Momotaros bluntly pointed out.
"..."
"I'll...just shut up and read my manga," Momotaros said as he shut up.
Back with Twilight and the others, it was the end of first period, and the girls were already at gym. It was a perfect time for them to be able to talk since most of the times it was just free time for the students.
"Are you sure Applejack and Ryotaro are our best investigators?" Rainbow asked as she was doing some stretches before starting a run for her daily school workout.
"At the moment, yes," Twilight nodded, stretching a bit as well, "I would've suggested myself or Rarity, but we have our own things we need to do here at school."
"Oh...guess that makes sense," Rainbow figured before looking around for a second, "...By the way. Have you seen Fluttershy anywhere? I haven't seen her since first period ended."
"No...I lost sight of her just after class...where could she have gone?" Twilight blinked.
"That's what I'd like to know," Rainbow admitted, looking around for the shy pinkette before she spotted Pinkie about to use the pole jump, "Hey Pinkie! Have you seen Fluttershy?!"
"Hold on!" she called out as she ran and stuck the pole in the ground using it to vault over the bar before sticking the landing, even using the momentum to cartwheel forward about three times, "Nailed it!"
"..Okay that was cool," Rainbow admitted as Pinkie skipped over to her, "But seriously, have you seen Fluttershy or not?"
"I did...in the locker room." Pinkie explained.
"...Yes, but where did you see her go?"
"Oh that…" she blinked before looking left and right. "She left to go practice her magic." she whispered to Rainbow. "Wings are useful...even if she's not as fast as you or Den-O wing form."
"Wait...she left to go practice?" Rainbow blinked.
"Eeyup." she nodded happily. "She told me not to tell anyone...so you didn't hear it from me. I'm no rat."
"...Pinkie...you just told us right now," Twilight sweatdropped.
"Twilight...don't be a nerd." Rainbow spoke up, "...Just...cover for me while I go look for her."
"Wait. But wh…?" Twilight began as Rainbow dash ran off to go look for Fluttershy, "..."
"You need to learn how the term 'you didn't hear from me' works," Pinkie spoke.
"...Ugh."
"Come on...where is she?" Rainbow muttered as she ran around the school yard, looking for the shy pinkette. "You know Flutters...you'd make a hell of a spy if you put this skill at hiding into it." she admitted to herself before stopping, "...Okay. there's a few places here at school I know you hang out at...and I think I know which one you might be at."
With that, she quickly looked around before quickly gaining her gear and flew up into the sky. Once she was high enough, she looked around before spotting Fluttershy on the school roof, the shy pinkette wearing a soft yellow sports top and a pair of soft grey running pants.
"Like Pinkie said, wings, useful." Rainbow smirked at her correct guess as she flew down to the roof. Using her electromagnetism floatation to land quietly.
Fluttershy didn't notice Rainbow landing behind he as she was taking slow, deep breaths, the shy pinkette's eyes closed before she began to make a few slow, yet swift movements. She recalled the battles Den-o and Rainbow got into, and slowly began to emulate some of their fighting movements. She started with Den-O, even though all his forms were so different Rainbow often told her how much true fighting skill each of them have.
Firstly Den-O's Sword form; Momotaros might have been a goof and wild gun, but his skill in sword fighting really was great, Momotaros moved carefully with his feet, he swung strong and yet at the same time close, it might be why he was able to do so much damage with those crazy swings. But what she took away from that was his footwork, Sword form wasn't the fastest, but she noted in long fights Momotaros held out longest, often avoiding enemies attacks and countering. So she tried some of his movements she had noted in his fights, he often shifted from side to side, quickly, and kept moving. It was tiring to Fluttershy, but she could understand it's purpose to keep Den-O on the offensive and able to easily change to the defensive. Of course she had to make sure she didn't do the same goofy things Momotaros often does.
'...Is she trying to emulate Momotaros' fighting style?' Rainbow thought as she watched. 'Well...she got the footwork down, she's moving fast, and keeping on the move, her legs don't have the memory of all that foot work yet...but she looks like she could get it down after a bit of practice.'
As Fluttershy practiced these movements, small torrents of air surrounded her, following her motions carefully. Each one flowing around her creating a wonderful elegant pattern of flowing wind around her. with each step side to side the wind swept around, with each time her foot hit the ground again small bits of the wind would burst out. As she continued this motion of steps, it almost appeared...elegant, almost like a dance, one that could compliment another, if Rainbow had to venture as to what it felt like it was missing.
'...She's doing pretty good. But...why do I feel as if something's missing?' Rainbow thought, 'I can tell the footwork is still that of Momotaros sword style, hmm...maybe she's training to be able to fight alongside Ryo. Not bad, my shy sister...not bad.'
After a few more motions, Fluttershy stopped for a moment to catch her breath, the wind currents around her dying down as she did so. She took a few seconds to rest breathing in air as she let out a slightly tired sigh of relief.
'Ah...I'm still getting tired...guess this makes sense why Rainbow is making Ryotaro-kun do all that harsh training. Stamina...something I lack compared to the others.' Fluttershy spoke to herself too tired to speak truthfully. But she did not. She lasted longer then she would have expected, before this whole magical girl saving the world business, she's sure she wouldn't have been able to do that for more than a couple minutes.
'...Maybe she can use a helping hand,' Rainbow thought to herself as she began to approach the shy pinkette. She then tapped Fluttershy's shoulder, making her 'eep' from shock and jump to her feet instantly.
"R...Rainbow?" she blinked seeing her friend appear out of thin air, "...Ano...how...long were you standing there?"
"Long enough." Rainbow explained, "So...you learned how to copy Momotaro's foot work?" she asked walking around her friend.
Fluttershy blushed just a little as she twiddled her thumbs mostly just embarrassed over being spied on.
"..Aw come on, Flutters. There's no need to be embarrassed," Rainbow assured her, "In fact, I thought you were doing pretty good."
"Huh?" she blinked in shock. "Really?"
"Of course, trust me being able to copy someone's motions and foot work off just memory...now that's something impressive." Rainbow said honestly. "Trust me on that." she smirked as she used her powers to float and more or less sit in midair. "The fact you copied Momotaros footwork so easily is very impressive, given despite being a goof, he knows how to move with those sword fighting steps."
"Well...Ryutaros moves so fast and dances more or less...and Urataros and Kintaros don't move that much honestly." Fluttershy explained, "So trying to copy Momotaros was my only option."
"Ahh...understandable," Rainbow nodded as she laid down on the air, "I also noticed you channeling your powers a bit while you were copying Momotaros' movements."
"Oh...that was actually unexpected to me too...when I was focusing, I guess I just let my powers work on their own." Fluttershy explained. "I don't know how to explain it...but while I was practicing...I focused on something. I focused on how much I wanted to be more helpful..to you...to Ryotaro, Twilight...and everyone. And I dreamed of how I could be useful and that I was. I guess it made me feel proud and happy."
"Ahh...I see," Rainbow nodded.
"Yeah...I guess it was just a dream after all…" Fluttershy sighed.
"Nah...I don't think so." Rainbow spoke up, getting her friend's attention. "I mean...you have amazing powers...like the rest of us, you're literally the embodiment of kindness. I think you can be as strong as any of us. After all, I mean it when I say you and Ryo have this in common, you're both nice people who want to protect your friends. I think if you found something to motivate you like Ryo, then you'll find yourself able to fight off even the toughest of monsters with us."
"You...you really think so?"
"Of course. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say it'll be fast, but I'm sure if you keep at it, who knows, you might end up saving all of us from some Imagin or giant monster one of these days." Rainbow added with a slight chuckle in her voice. "Just got to go your own pace, and keep trying."
"Rainbow…" Fluttershy whispered, taking this in for a moment before she pulled the tomboy into a hug, a soft smile on her face, "Ok...and arigatou, nee-chan."
"Your welcome...your lucky I'm alright with you hugging me." she chuckled not fighting off the hug. "We'll have to begin some form of training that works for you. I suppose if need be, I can let AJ handle Ryo from now on, and I'll help you out. I'm sure him and the Taros will be okay with that."
"I swear I didn't say anything this time!" M-Ryotaro shouted as he and Applejack ran from a police officer.
"Y'all threatened to beat that thug's head off with a pipe!" Applejack argued.
"Okay...so I didn't say anything to piss off the cop! Happy now, woman!?" he shouted back.
"If we manage t' get away from him, maybe!" Applejack shouted.
"Oi! Get back here!" the cop snapped as he chased after them.
"Wait...why are we running? We have a bike that comes to my side when we snap our fingers! Den-Bird!" he shouted as the bike suddenly jumped out of the same time portal as DenLiner. "And you girls call me the stupid one!"
"...ok. That's useful," Applejack admitted as the two quickly got on, the blonde holding onto M-Ryotaro, "Now hurry up and drive!"
"Hit the gas, Den-Bird!" M-Ryotaro ordered as the bike's headlights flashed to life. "Ah...you really want to hold on now." he said as the bike took off like a bullet train. Leaving behind a confused and utterly shocked police officer.
"...Ugh. I need to lay off th…" the police officer began before something landed behind him. He slowly turned around, only to scream in fear at what he saw, "Ahh! Tengu!"
"Kekekeke…" the Tengu Imagin laughed as he pulled out his fan. "No humans allowed in my park!" he shouted as he swung the fan creating a large gust of wind that was enough to blast the police officer off his feet.
"Ahh!-!-!" the cop screamed as he flew through the air before landing in a tree, "...That's it. i'm taking my vacation early."
"Kekekeke...kekekeke…" the Imagin laughed as the police officer climbed out and ran away. "This job is too much fun...but I lost track of Den-O...ke...him and those girls will be back later anyway. Back to the contract." he stated...mostly to himself as he began to swing the fan once more. The wind forming into small tornados that began ripping trees out of the ground and knock around anything that pretty much wasn't bolted to the ground, and even then that was ripped right out of the ground, "Heh...this is too easy. That company big suit just wants me to get this place cleared out, a-"
"BANZAI!"
"Eh?"
At that, the Machine Den-Bird was heard as the bike jumped into the air and let it's still rapidly spinning wheel slam into the side of the Tengu Imagin's face, knocking him for a loop and to the ground.
"I told you I smelled a rat man with wings!" M-Ryotaro shouted.
"I'm not a rat!" the Tengu Imagin shouted as he got back up and glared at the two youths sitting on the bike. "I forgot Den-O has the nose of a dog when it comes to us…"
"I'm not one of those terrible barking demons!" M-Ryotaro shouted before blinking in realization, "Ooh...just for that you Tengu-yaro, I'm making a new twist on chicken wings! Buffalo TENGU Wings!"
"I'm part Crow! Enjoy the bad luck!"
"Hah! Jokes on you! My contractor already has bad luck! Man got struck by lightning! Five times!"
"Five t...how is he even alive?!"
"Hell if I…"
"Oi, Momotaros," Applejack spoke up.
"Huh...oh right...work." he coughed into his hands as he strapped on the belt. He then dismounted the bike before he took out the pass. "Henshin!" he called out as he pressed the red button and let the shards slam on to form his armor. The red Sword form armor floating around him as he got ready to do his pose.
=SWORD FORM!=
"Ore...Sanjou!" Den-O shouted, deepening his normally deep voice; as his red armor flashed brightly. All while he shot his arms out to his usual surfer like pose. "Alright...let me say this to start, I don't do warm ups or free shots, from start to finish. I'm at the climax." he added as he built the DenGasher into it's sword formation letting the red blade extend out. "So...let's get to the defeathering already, I'm starved."
"You seriously want to eat me!?"
"Man's gotta eat!" Den-O shouted as he charged and slashed his sword across the Tengu Imagin's chest, knocking him back as sparks flew off the impact.
Den-O then began to twirls his sword around like a baton before he slashed the Imagin across the chest again and again. He slashed from the left then the right then began twirling again before slashing from the right sending the Imagin stumbling back. Den-O then kicked Imagin in the rear sending him flying forward and flat on his face.
"Grr...teme!" the Tengu Imagin growled as he got up, about to send Den-O flying with a wind attack before he was blindsided by a fireball, "Gah! Hachi! Hachi!"
Den-O ran up and slashed the Imagin across the chest making him stumble back again. Den-O tossed his sword up and grabbed it upside down before he punched the Imagin across the beak making him stumble back. Applejack then rushed forward and kicked the Imagin in the chest making it double over before she landed another kick to it's head making it fall over. Both than reared their hands back as the Imagin got back to his feet. Both then punched their hands forward as AJ created a spark of fire coating both their fists hitting them both and sending the Tengu Imagin flying back resulting in him getting covered in flames.
"Hey, Momo. Answer me. How y'all like yer chicken cooked? Glazed…" Applejack began, her fire covered fist cracking a little, "Or honey roasted?"
"Heh...I'm partial to BBQ...but I like a good honey roast now and then." Den-O smirked as he twirled his sword around and tapped it on his shoulder.
"Are you two seriously considering cooking me?!"
"Maybe not...if y'all tell us who yer contract holder is," Applejack ordered as Den-O slowly raised up a fork and knife in his free hand.
"Ah...name...name…" the Tengu Imagin mumbled.
"Wait...your kidding me right? You mean you're so stupid you didn't even get the guy's name!?" Den-O asked in utter shock. "We learn it just by going into their minds...by god...I had no idea one could be this stupid."
"Hey! it's not easy when your contract holder owns a million dollar corporation and wants to build a stupid mall/parking lot over this place!" the Tengu imagin argued.
"Wait pause for a second...we were right about why the Imagin is doing this...for once?" Den-O whispered to Applejack.
"Looks like," Applejack whispered back before frowning a little, "And Ah have a good feeling ah know who he's talkin' about."
"...GAH! I just spilled the beans!"
"Yeah you did…" both of them said at the same time.
"Uh..Uh….I'll just have to destroy you both then!" The Tengu imagin snapped as he charged.
"Oi, cowgirl. Call the Mahou-onna and the others," Den-O stated, preparing to charge at the Tengu Imagin, "Tell them we just found out what this guy's contract holder is really up to."
"Gotcha," Applejack nodded.
Back with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, the two were floating back down to sneak back to their gym class with the others.
"Okay. You remember what I taught you about flying, right?" Rainbow whispered to Fluttershy as the two landed in front of the door leading to the back of the gym.
"Yes." Fluttershy nodded happily. "You taught me how to use my own powers to make up for the lift, and allow me to fly easier and with less resistance."
"Got to admit, power over wind...you should have an easier time flying then I do," Rainbow pointed out.
"Oh...well," Fluttershy began before her and Rainbow's phones rang, "Eh?"
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked a bit as she took her phone out and answered, "Yo."
=Rainbow, it's me=
"AJ?" she blinked as Fluttershy leaned in closer to hear her. "Let me guess, you guys found the creepy crow guy Imagin?" she asked as the sound of fighting and Momotaros shouting his randomness was heard in the background.
=Eeyup. And we most likely figured out who his contract holder is= Applejack replied.
=That's it! The wings are coming off...surgically! Call me Doctor Momotaros! Come here Tengu-teme!=
"Ignoring that one, am I to assume it's both good and bad we know who the contractor is?" Rainbow asked as a high pitched falsetto scream of the Imagin was heard in the background.
=Yup. But I'll tell y'all later. Right now, you and th' others need t' hurry on over=
"On it." Rainbow nodded as she heard an explosion in the background as the line was cut off. "We better hurry." she said to Fluttershy who nodded in agreement.
"Ahh! I'm starting to regret making this contract!" the Tengu Imagin freaked as he tried to run from Den-O.
"You're about to!" Den-O shouted as he swung around his sword as he chased the Imagin. "Come back here Tengu-Teme, or I'll bring out your mortal enemy, an Imagin based on the story of Kintaro!"
"Ahh! No! Anything but that!"
"Is it odd this one follows the story so perfectly of Tengu?" Ryotaro asked taking note of that reaction.
'It is quite interesting.'
"I said get back here!" Den-O shouted as he continued to chase down the Tengu Imagin.
"...Today just got really weird," Applejack sweatdropped as she watched, not sure if she should help the Imagin or not now since he incurred Momotaros' wrath.
"No kidding. Momo looks like he's having a good time."
Applejack nodded before blinking a few turns, turning to her right to see Pinkie standing next to her.
"Hi!"
"Gah!" Applejack jumped back in slight surprise.
"Oh my god they're multiplying!" the Tengu Imagin shouted as he ran past them.
"Don't jinx it! Next thing you know she'll gain the power to make those!" Den-O shouted.
"Should we tell him?" Ryotaro asked the others.
'No no...I'd rather see his reaction myself.' Urataros chuckled a bit.
'Same.' the other three Imagin partners nodded in agreement.
"Secrets from Momo makes him mad!" Den-O shouted gaining speed.
"Ah! He gets faster when mad!"
"Oh I'm not mad! I'm absolutely livid!"
"...Do we even want to know?" Twilight sweatdropped,she and the others having just arrived.
"Momo is having fun," Pinkie explained as Den-O tackled the Tengu Imagin into a pond and began to choke hold the Imagin with the grip of his sword. "He's having LOTS of fun." she added as Den-O began dunking the Tengu monster's head into the water.
"...Sh….should we….help him?" Rarity asked.
"Depends on who yer talkin' about," Applejack answered.
"Well...for now lets let Momotaros blow off steam. Not to often we can let him do that in a safe way for other people." Twilight pointed out as Den-O performed a suplex on the Imagin, slamming it back into the pond water. "Though...I am beginning to wonder whose side we should be helping in this case…"
"Go Momo!" Pinkie cheered for Den-O.
"Besides Pinkie." everyone else said at the same time.
"...Oh yeah," Rainbow spoke up, recalling what Applejack told her over the phone, "You said you found out who this guy's contract holder is, right AJ?"
"Yup," Applejack nodded before frowning a bit, "And if mah hunch is right, we've dealt with him before."
"Huh? Wh-what do you mean?" fluttershy asked.
"Think about it. Who else would use an Imagin to do such dirty underhanded tactics and gets away with it?"
"...Well, there was those two guys who worked at Well...to...do…" Pinkie paused before it seemed to dawn on her, "...Wait. You're saying…?"
"Eeyup," Applejack responded.
"Seriously starting to think we should have let the Taros go nuts on them," Rainbow sighed, "I mean Kin and Momotaros beat them all, Urataros and Sieg end up buying them out and sending them to debt, and Ryutaros just to drive them crazy."
"Agreed," Twilight nodded as Den-O pulled the drenched Tengu Imagin out of the pond.
"Had enough?".
"Blarg…"
"Well said…" Den-O replied.
"You...you…" the Tengu Imagin began, a dark aura coming off it.
"...Oh don't tell me…" Twilight whispered with wide eyes, "Momotaros, get out of there! I think he has a Shard of Discord in him!"
"Who with the what now?" Den-O blinked before a small tornado shot up into the air and tossed Den-O up, before bringing him down with a thud leaving Den-O imbedded into the dirt behind the girls.
"Grr….destroy...chaos…" the Tengu Imagin growled, his voice more distorted than usual as the dark aura flared off him, "Destroy...cause...Chaos…"
"Ah...nuts…" Den-O groaned.
"Well...that's a new one…" Rainbow noted.
"It's like the crystal has caused it to go...berserk." Twilight noted.
"The last times we saw something like this, it ended in a big problem," Pinkie reminded.
"Indeed," Twilight nodded, quickly transforming into her gear, "Which is why we need to defeat the Imagin and expel the shard from him before he can destroy anything further."
"Well that's not stating the obvious…" Rainbow mumbled as the dark aura turned into a tornado around the Tengu Imagin.
"This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" Pinkie asked.
"Destory...Chaos...Destroy…!" The Tengu Imagin growled as he swiped his fans, producing a hurricane level tornado that engulfed half the park, "CHAOS!"
"GAH!" Den-O cried as all seven of them were swept up in the wind. "I don't fly...that's the chicken guy's job!"
"Momotaros...Climax form." Ryotaro ordered as Den-O placed the red K-Taros over the belt. He pressed all four buttons as he did.
=MOMO-URA-KIN-RYU=
At that the silver rail shout out from the belt and around Den-O as it made the armor fly off before the red form fitting armor locked into place. The track marks formed down the suit before it all finished changing. The masks of Den-O's other forms then floated out and around him as he pressed the final button of the K-Taros.
=CLIMAX FORM!=
With that the masks locked into place as Sword form's mask peeled itself. Den-O shouted as his entire body was enveloped in an aura of fire. He then spread both his arms to the side, causing the fire aura around him to disperse with enough force to dispel the wind made by the Imgain.
"Whoa!" Den-O cried as he landed on the ground. He then held both his arms out before he caught Twilight in the left and Rarity in the right. "Safe…" he sighed.
"Hey! What about us!?" Pinkie shouted as she and the others were still caught in the wind current.
"Yeah yeah. I'm c-" Den-O began before a cutting blade of wind flew past him, Twilight and Rarity, "Wah!"
"DESTROY! DESTROY! CHAOS!" The Tengu Imagin roared, releasing cutting waves of wind in a berserk manner.
"We better worry about that first…" Urataros spoke as Den-O regained his footing.
"I hate when he's right." Momotaros groaned.
"It can't be helped if we can stop the Imagin the wind should stop as well." Ryotaro spoke up as Den-O put both girls down. "We need to finish it off."
"Right," Twilight nodded, "We'll get the others. You handle the Imagin."
"Hai." Den-O nodded in Ryotaro's voice.
"Heh...alright I got just the new finisher to handle this." Momotaros smirked as Den-O cracked his knuckles. "Leave it to us, the brat has a good idea in mind."
"I'm going to shoot him!" Ryutaros stated happily from the chest mounted mask.
"Oi don't ruin it." Momotaros countered.
With that, Den-O charged at the berserk Tengu imagin, dodging any stray air blades that headed towards him. Den-O ducked to the side of each one before he got in close and tackled into the Imagin, sending them both tumbling across the grass. Both got back up as Den-O blocked a swing from the Imagin before slamming a punch to it's chest with his arm, the force causing it to stumble forward slightly.
"Heh. How'd y-" Den-o began before dodging a strike from the Tengu Imagin, "Oi! I wasn't' finished, asshole!" He shouted as he grabbed the next swing before punching the Tengu Imagin across the face, knocking it back.
"Guh! Grr...Chaos!" The Tengu Imagin roared as he swiped his fans, sending miniature tornadoes at Den-O.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Den-O said as he jumped to avoid them each time. "This….is...getting...annoying!" He shouted jumping around to avoid each tornado, "Oi, Mahou-onna! You almost done?!"
"Not yet! We're still trying to get the others without getting blown away ourselves!" Twilight replied.
"Maybe we should have used Wing form?" Urataros pointed out.
"Why can't Tori just jump into this form with us?" Ryutaros asked as Den-O jumped out of the way of another tornado.
"Cause it's crowded enough!" Momotaros shouted as Den-O combined the DenGasher to sword form. He then swung the sword to cut through the next tornado.
"It is already cramped in here…" Kintaros added as Den-O cut down another tornado.
"I'm sorry only four Imagin possessing me is the limit…" Ryotaro stated sarcastically.
"Thank you! See? Ryotaro agrees with me!...Sorta," Momotaros stated as Den-O stabbed his sword into the ground to avoid keep himself from being blown away by a large gust of wind.
With Twilight and the others, Twilight had just helped Applejack and Pinkie down from the wind current, the latter's hair completely blown back.
"Oh...this Imagin is getting on my nerves now," Pinkie complained as she shook her head, her hair poofing back to normal.
"I know Pinkie. I just wish there was some way we can disable that wind of his," Twilight sighed a bit.
"Well...I could surround him with a few stone walls," Rarity suggested, "...Then again, he'd probably blow those away easily in his current condition."
"He's stronger than we expected." Twilight added, "The only one of us to be able to counter it's wind powers is...Fluttershy." She sighed, "I think as it is, our powers have a disadvantage. Even Den-O is having trouble getting close."
"I...hate...wind tunnels!" Den-O shouted still using his sword to keep him from getting blown away.
"...She has a point," Applejack spoke up, trying to create a small spark of fire, only for it to get blown away from the wind, "Mah powers keep getting blown out, so Ah'm no help at the moment."
"It really is all we have to our advantage." Rarity nodded.
"Well...let's hope that she and Rainbow can get a hang of themselves up there." Pinkie noted, looking up.
Within the tornado' wind current, Fluttershy was trying her best to fight against to, using her wings to stay airborne. But it was to strong for her, even trying to fight it using her power over it was hard for her. It was to intense for her to keep control. Fluttershy worried she would have been in danger has she not been grabbed at the last moment by Rainbow. Rainbow wrapped her arms around Fluttershy before closing her wings slightly and using her electromagnetism to keep her from being pushed to much by the wind. The repulsion from the magnetic power pushing her opposite from the wind. Keeping her and Fluttershy from being swept away.
"Come on...need to get to safer grounds…" Rainbow grunted a bit,trying to find someplace safe for her and Fluttershy to land, unaware of some debris heading right towards the two.
"Ryutaros!" Ryotaro said as he saw that.
"Okay~" Den-O said as he grabbed the sword and twirled it around before it was reformed into Gun form. Den-O then aimed his gun and began to fire shooting all the pieces of debris he could see.
Den-O then ducked under a swing from the Imagin before swinging around from under it. As he did he fired and hit more debris. The Imagin roared and kicked at Den-O who's back was turned. The Rider's arm grabbed the kick underarm before shooting more debris. The Imagin groaned and tried to take his leg back only for Den-O to lean back and slammed the back of his helmet. The Imagin groaned backing away before tripping. Den-O twirled his gun around before he began shooting again.
The Tengu Imagin roared getting back to his feet. He pulled out his fan again before Den-O flipped forward, as he did he slammed his palm into the ground and pushed his whole body up, his legs now pointed into the air Den-O aimed his gun while upside down and shot the Imagin's leg making him fall forward. Den-O then pushed with his arm and flipped through the air before slamming his knees into the Tengu Imagin's back making him caw like a crow from the sudden shock to it's back.
"Alright you stay still," Momotaros ordered as Den-O's free arm pushed the Imagin's face into the dirt. Den-O then aimed and continued shooting whatever debris out of the sky he could.
"Mou...there's too much." Ryutaros complained shooting down several trees going right at Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Niji-chan, Shy-chan I can't keep doing this forever!" He shouted as Den-O smacked the Tengu Imagin's head making it shut up.
"I know i know! Just..this damn wind is too strong!" Rainbow shouted, using her powers to try and get her and Fluttershy to move closer to the ground. Rainbow looked up to see another tree branch coming right at her only for a magic bolt to turn it to dust. "Thanks Twi!" She shouted as Twilight sighed in relief.
"We'll keep Rainbow and Fluttershy safe, Den-O should focus on destroying the Imagin." Twilight ordered to the others.
"Ryuta! Take care of the crow!" Pinkie shouted as Den-O rolled off the Tengu Imagin that was flailing around like crazy.
"Hai Nee-san!" Ryutaros replied as Den-O saluted to her. Den-O then kicked the Tengu Imagin in the beak as he got up. He then twirled the gun around before aiming at the Imagin's face point blank. The Tengu Imagin even in his current state knew trouble when he saw it.
"*caw* Uh-oh…"
"Bang." Den-O said as he fired the gun the bullet exploding point blank sending the Imagin flipping head over heels through the air. Den-O then jumped back as he began to fire rapid fire unleashing a braga of energy bullets from his gun to the Imagin effectively juggling it in the air. Den-O then stopped before twirling his gun around in his fingers. As he did the Den-Gasher reformed again into it's Ax form. Den-O shouted in Kintaros voice as he jumped and slashed with all his might leaving a streak in the air knocking the Imagin down to the ground.
Den-O chucked his weapon over his shoulder as the Imagin tried to get back to it's feet. Den-O pulled his pass out and flipped it open. He then pushed the button on the K-Taros making the dynamic tune begin to play.
"Kozo...let's make it extra climatic!" Momotaros ordered as Den-O swiped the pass.
"Hai~!" Den-O cheered as he tossed the pass away which Pinkie caught in time.
=CHARGE-AND-UP!=
Den-O crossed his arms as the Gun form Mask on his chest lit up and began to change colors rapidly. Den-O's five voice slowly let out a breath as the Rider lowered his arms.
"BOISTEROUS SHOUT!" Den-O roared out as Gun form's mask lifted up like a dragon mouth. A multi-colored light emanating from the jaw. Den-Othen put one foot back before a loud click was heard from his chest. Then suddenly a barrage of large silver and purple missiles shot from his chest.
"NANI!?" The Tengu Imagin freaked, the dark aura completely gone from the shock of Den-O unleashing a payload of missiles out of his chest like that. He then began to try and fly away from the barrage of missile, " Oh no! No no no! No no no no! No no no no no no!"
But it was for not as the missiles closed in on the Imagin and all struck him at the same time causing a chain of large and incredibly loud explosions. The chain of explosions mixing together resulting in a large cloud of fire and smoke.
"Whoo! Eat that, you crow reject!" Momotaros shouted.
"...Something's not right," Urataros spoke up, "The tornado is still here….wh-"
"Uh oh…" Pinkie spoke up, her entire body quivering, "T...twticha twitch! BIG ONE!"
"...Wait," Rarity spoke up as she looked at Twilight, who had helped Rainbow and Fluttershy down with her magic, "Didn't you say he had a Shard of Discord in him?"
"...Oh no..." Twilight facepalmed at that fact.
"Oh, come on! We pulled out the big guns! Literally!" Momotaros complained as Den-O turned to the smoke cloud that was suddenly split apart revealing another new Gigandeath.
This one was a large black colored bird like a crow, only it was the size of a building with a white crown of bone like armor forming three spikes above its head. It's wings were long, each father ending in a saw like serrated pattern with bone like armor above the top of the wings. I's large metallic talons struck the ground as the giant Roc Gigandeath screeched at them...mainly at Den-O.
"Giant pigeon of death!-!-!" Den-O shouted.
The Roc Gigandeath roared as it spread its wings wildly, the size of them alone easily able to block out than sun if it was in the sky.
"...We're gonna need a big net," Pinkie whispered, the group tensing a bit as they prepared to face the giant kaiju.
"You realize we are about to fight a feathered Rodan?" Ryutaros asked his fellow Taros.
"Of course we are! Only thing that'l make it worse i-" Momotaros began.
"DON'T JINX IT!" The others snapped.
Elsewhere, watching from one of the buildings near the part of the park the others were at was Negataros, the Black Imagin looking at the transformed Gigandeath in slight interest. He knew the Shards of Discord could change an Imagin and Gigandeath, but to this extent and size?
"Hm...interesting." Negataros muttered stroking his chin. "I must admit, Luna-hime's experiments with the shards have proven fruitful. The ball is in your court, Elements of Harmony, Den-O. Show me you can evolve as well." He chuckled.
(To be Continued)
Jikai, Friendship is Timeless
Twilight: That thing is going to destroy the entire park if we don't do something!
Momotaros: That's big chicken! Ah we'll fight feather with feather!
Twilight: That wind it's producing is too strong! Not even Den-liner can handle it!
Rainbow: um...guys? Where's Fluttershy?
Fluttershy: D-don't worry, minna. You're safe with me.
Stop 21: Proving one's worth pt 2
Fluttershy: I...I won't let you destroy this park!