Normally, the city of Mainhattan would be alive with the constant noise of traffic and people. However, ever since Lance Slayer and his forces had taken over the city, the only sounds that were loud enough to be heard were the clockwork marching of the Lancer ground units and the streaking of Valkyrie units through the sky! The voices of the people who had been forced under Lance's rule were almost muted. But those who resisted were far from silent.
A squadron of Valkyrie units sped past one of the many buildings that occupied the streets of Mainhattan. However, they ran into an unexpected detour. Namely a giant web that ensnared their lead unit while the other two were yanked away by two new web trails! The figure pulling on them swiftly kicking them away and sending them crashing into the ground! Before the entrapped Valkyrie could escape, the figure swung over to the web, and a spider leg lanced through the mech! Causing it to sputter as its power died! Satisfied with their handiwork, the figure shot out a string of webbing from their hand and swung away before more Valkyries or ground units could converge on their location!
"That was close." The figure muttered to herself as she swung back home. "But man did it feel satisfying trashing those tin cans. Hm?" The sound of hovering engines alerted the figure that she wasn't alone. Sentry units were tailing her. "Oh, great. Autograph hounds. Well, since you're so persistent, how's THIS for a signature?!" The figure shot out two strands of webbing, and used them to yank herself over the drones! Shooting out another strand of webbing, she yanked away one of the drones and used it as a flail to smash the others! Dropping her makeshift weapon, the figure swung off to their home. A small apartment that she shared with her friend.
"Maybe I should've done some graffiti. Too bad I didn't buy any spray paint." The figure said as she removed the hood of her hoodie, revealing her identity. It was none other than Silk Snare. The spider member of the mutant changelings. She let out a sigh as she saw more Valkyrie units patrol the air while entire troops of ground units marched in the streets. "What I wouldn't give to strike a blow right out at Lance Slayer instead of taking potshots like I've been doing."
"Silk?" A new voice asked. "Did you have a nice swing?" The source of the voice revealed herself as Coco Pommel. Silk's first human friend and roommate. The pair had become close friends since the Fashion Week incident.
"Well, I managed to wreck a few of those bots." Silk smirked as she sat down on the couch. "And I got some fresh air while doing it. My chitin was starting to look pale grey instead of its usual medium shade because of the lack of sun."
"I do wish you wouldn't stir things up." Coco sighed with concern. "I worry about you when you leave. What if you get caught?"
"Hasn't happened yet, but I can understand where you're coming from, Coco." Silk said with a comforting smile. "Besides, I've been keeping up with the news. Appleoosa and Cloudsdale were recently taken back by the elements. And something tells me Mainhattan's going to be the next big liberation. I figured I could at least make things a bit easier for when the real heroes show up. It's not much, but it's enough to let the Lancers know we aren't just gonna sit and take what they're dishing out! Some people may have been imprisoned, but they couldn't fight back against those machines. Me though? I'm another story."
"You certainly are." Coco beamed before sighing. "I hope Rarity and Inferno are doing alright. When I last heard from her, she said they were going to get married. I would have loved to make her dress."
"Hey. Cheer up Coco." Silk said with an encouraging smile. "Once the elements take down Blitz Surge and his cronies, things'll be happy again. Who knows? Something big just might happen overnight."
"Thanks Silk." Coco smiled as she hugged her friend tightly. "You always catch me when I'm down."
"You really liked that web trampoline I made at the park that one time, huh?" Silk giggled. "Well, let's just hope tomorrow looks brighter."
However, little did Silk know things were going to get better that night. As darkness cloaked the city of Mainhattan, four figures teleported onto the scene! As they stepped out of the alleyway, it was revealed that they were none other than Inferno Flare, Spike, Rarity, and Akage Strider! The heroes had arrived on the scene!
"Let's see. Garble was at Appleoosa, and Lightning Dust was sent to Cloudsdale." Inferno began.
"Then I'm willing to bet Lance Slayer got put in charge of Mainhattan." Spike finished as he scanned the city streets. "Man this is awful. This place is usually just as active at night as it is during the day. But now? It's like the city's dead."
"It is an unnatural silence, Spike." Akage confirmed. "The kind that's born from the voices of a silenced people."
"The how about we make some noise?" Rarity smiled as she looked to Inferno. "Inferno. What would you say to putting on a little performance? I know your rock star days might have gone by, but I'd so love to see you perform. Won't you please do it for me, darling?"
"You didn't even need to ask." Inferno smirked. "Let's just say the whole city's gonna hear me play. But right now? I'm feeling a little restless. What do you say we tear up the town a bit?"
"I like this plan!" Spike grinned as he summoned his Duelist Arm. "Let's wake up this sleeping city!"
"It's been a while since I've been able to make full use of my stealth training." Akage smiled as he pulled up his mask to cover his mouth. "They'll never see me coming. You guys focus on making a scene. I'll scout the city and single out where Lance Slayer's base of operations is. Chances are he's probably based out of wherever his ego can fit. The bigger, the better."
"Good luck Akage." Inferno nodded as he summoned his Duelist Arms. "And don't worry. The Lancers' forces are going to have a pretty hard time taking their eyes off us!"
"Then give them one heck of a show." Akage smiled beneath his mask as he zipped off into the city's shadows!
"With that out of the way. . . " Rarity said as she summoned her weapons. "Let's give this city a wake-up call! Inferno, if you would?"
"Gladly." Inferno smirked as the aura of his magic exploded to life around him and he shot a fireball into the sky! Exploding it to get the attention of any Lancer forces! Sure enough, squads of units swarmed onto their location. "I figured a little fireworks would drawn in a crowd."
"Then let's rock!" Spike hollered as he aimed his arm cannon and blasted apart any of the robots that advanced towards them! "Come on! Get some ya stinkin' bucketheads!"
"That's the spirit Spikey!" Inferno grinned as he cleaved his way through the horde of robots! His sword's burning blade frying the mechs' circuits as it cut through them! Using his magic, Inferno sent out a wave of fire to burn any Blade units hat tried to mob him! "How you holding up, Rarity?"
"Just enjoying our little outing." Rarity smirked as she lunged with her rapier and sent out a flurry of jabs at the Blades advancing towards her! An instant later, the Blades all fell to pieces! She then turned her attention to the Valkyrie units streaking towards them! "Oh, I don't think so!" Powering up her magic, Rarity's skin turned into a diamond-like substance as she leaped into the air and kicked the approaching Valkyrie units to the ground before summoning a circle of gems around herself! "Gem Twister!" Rarity spun her way through the gathering Lancer forces! Reducing them to little more than scrap metal!
"Think Lance knows we're causing a racket?" Spike asked as he scrapped more robots!
"If he didn't before," Inferno smirked as he noticed a few Scout units fleeing the battle, and gripped one with his magic and pulled it towards him and turned it so that its camera could clearly see him. "Yo, Lance Slayer! I know you're seeing this! Bet you thought I wouldn't show my face again and that you'd get a chance to move in on my girl. Well, she's right here with me tearing up your tinker toys! Say hi babe!"
"Don't get too comfy on your glass throne, darling." Rarity smiled as she raised her rapier. "We'll be coming to shatter it very soon. And I certainly look forward to paying you a visit."
"As you can see, me and my friends are putting on a little performance." Inferno said as he turned the Scout unit's camera back to him. "Don't worry about missing the big show. This was just our opening act." Inferno showed the mountain of scrapped bots before aiming his blaster at the Scout drone. "See ya then!" And Inferno shot the drone! Frying it!
"Hey, guys? We'd better book." Spike suggested. "As fun as it is to trash these wind-up soldiers, we can't keep this all night. Plus, something tells me Lance Slayer's going to send more buckets of bolts after us after your little shout-out."
"Good. That'll mean we've got him riled up." Inferno nodded. "For tonight, our work's done. Now we just need to secure ourselves a place to lay low for a bit."
"I believe I can handle that, darling." Rarity smiled. "But shouldn't we wait for Akage?"
"I wouldn't worry about him too much." Inferno said as his communicator buzzed. "What did you find out Akage?"
"Well, I found out that I'm disappointed Lance Slayer didn't have a castle built for me to infiltrate." Akage said as he stared at Lance Slayer's base of operations. "But my suspicions about where he was holing up were correct. Lance is basing himself out of city hall." True to Akage's word, city hall now bore the Lancer flags and banners in place of the ones that stood for Unity. Many Lancer robot units were patrolling the occupied city hall, and a large number stood ready to be deployed. "He's definitely made himself comfortable."
"He won't be for much longer." Inferno declared. "Anyway, you better get out of there. Chances are that Lance is going to scramble all his available units to try and capture us. Rarity said she'd take care of getting us a roof over our heads. And the sooner we get it the better. Who knows how long it might take us to liberate Mainhattan."
"Gotcha." Akage nodded. "All of you stay safe. Don't worry about me too much. Staying out of sight is what I'm best at. Contact me again when you're at wherever we're setting ourselves up. I'll spend some more time scouting." Akage hung up, and darted back into the many shadows cast over the city at night. Just as Inferno had suspected, Lancer units were now swarming the streets. Darting in and out of alleys, and marching through all the streets.
'Looks like our little opening number really got Lance's attention.' Akage thought to himself as he silently traversed the city's shadows and quietly observed the state of Mainhattan. 'Though what worries me isn't the number of Troops and Lance Slayer's disposal. What worries me is what sort of secret weapon he might have waiting in the wings. Garble brought that mobile cannon to Appleoosa, and Lightning Dust had that serum in Cloudsdale from what I've heard from our main base back in the Everfree Forest. So that begs the question: What does Lance have up his sleeve?'
However, the Element of Levity's trip was soon halted as he narrowly avoided a spear aimed at impaling him! Drawing his Duelist Arm, Akage prepared to face his assailants. To the ninja's surprise, a small squadron of new Lancer units met his sight. The new robotic enemies looked like humanoid dragons, save for thrusters comprising their lower halves instead of legs. Each was armed with a fierce-looking spear with an energy blade and a strange attachment beneath the blade!
"This certainly brings a new meaning to dragoon." Akage muttered to himself as he prepared to intercept any strikes from his enemies' spears! But to Akage's shock, the Dragoon units aimed their spears and fired a laser from their spears' blades! Akage barely dodged the beams, but he didn't escape unscathed as a Dragoon jetted towards him and slashed him in the side! "AGH!"
'Crap! These things are a step up from the standard units!' Akage thought as he frantically dodged the thrusts and lunges of the Dragoons' spears! His free arm clutching where he'd been hit! 'Are these a new unit for mass production? Or are they something Lance had made special just for him? The answers to that can wait! Right now, I just need to worry about getting out of this alive!' However the screaming of a missile warned Akage that he needed to move! The young ninja rolling out of the way of the projectile! Upon successfully evading the missile, Akage's eyes widened when he saw the other Dragoons placing their hands over the attachments near their spears' blades, and hitting a button! Unleashing more missiles upon him!
However, Akage played this to his advantage! As the missiles hit near where he was standing, Akage used the explosion as a cover for his escape! As he was flung from the rooftop, Akage quickly positioned himself to fall into an open dumpster he'd spotted while traversing the rooftops! Upon landing in the dumpster, Akage made himself completely still as he heard one of the Dragoons hovering nearby. Scanning the area for its prey. However, the only thing that caught its attention was a cat that had been wandering the city street. Its search concluded, the mechanical menace joined its brethren in patrolling the city.
"That was close." Akage sighed as he dragged himself out of the dumpster. "I need some bandages. *Sniff* Ugh. And a shower. Hope someone's left their window open." Sticking to the shadows, Akage managed to spy a window with light coming out of it. It just so happened to be the window to Coco and Silk Snare's apartment. The young designer quite surprised to see a ninja staring at her through her window. Akage decided to break the silence between them. ". . . Is this a bad time to drop in?"
"Coco? What's up at the-Oh. It's you." Silk Snare waved at Akage once she'd caught sight of him. "You're the guy that made Stinger look like a fool. Come on in."
"Thanks." Akage said as Silk opened the window and he tumbled into the apartment. "Just gotta shower and patch myself up a bit. Then I need to let the others know how I'm holding up. Tomorrow's gonna be one heck of a show."
"You mean some of the elements are here with you?" Coco asked with bright eyes. "We've seen reports of both element teams liberating regions of Unity from Blitz Surge's rule."
"Well Mainhattan's our team's objective." Akage answered with a small smile. "Then it's the Crystal Empire. After that, we're aiming to take back Castalot from Blitz Surge and put the princesses back where they belong."
"I'll spin you a web hammock." Silk said with a nod. "It's a lot comfier than the couch."
"Thanks." Akage nodded as he accepted a first aid kit from Coco. "It's been a long night."
After ridding himself of the dumpster's stench and bandaging his wound, Akage immediately contacted the other element members. Informing them of the new Lancer unit he'd encountered.
"Thanks Akage." Inferno said over his communicator. "Chances are Lance'll send those things my way tomorrow." The Avatar of Potential smirked. "Can't went to trash 'em!"
"Then get some rest." Akage responded. "So where are you crashing at for the night?"
"Rarity picked a warehouse lock with one of her hairpins." Inferno answered. "Hey, you get as much rest as you can. Tomorrow's the big day. After we're done freeing Mainhattan, all that's left is taking care of the Lancer forces marching towards the Crystal Empire. And we've reserved essentially our best fighters for that battle."
"I hear you on that." Akage nodded. "Have fun with your little performance."
"Oh, you KNOW I will." Inferno smirked. "See you out there tomorrow." And with that, Inferno ended the call.
"Nervous about tomorrow, darling?" Rarity asked as she approached her fiance. The pair of Avatars finding comfort in each other's arms. "I know I'm certainly feeling some pressure."
"Yeah. But it's more than just about tomorrow's battle." Inferno sighed as he tightened his embrace around Rarity. "It's just. . . we were all set to be together forever. And now things have gotten thrown so off track. Faust above, there's nothing I'd love more than to see you walking down the aisle right now."
"And I would love seeing you waiting for me." Rarity said with a sad smile. "While our special day may have been postponed, I know for certain it will come."
"One more reason for us to fight, right?" Inferno smiled before yawning. "Well, I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight. Spike's probably full of heartache given how he's been kept from Sweetie Belle."
"I heard that!" Spike called out from the makeshift fort he'd made of boxes. "And I'm just waiting for her to come running into my arms after we take back Castalot!"
"That'll be a picture-worthy moment for sure." Inferno chuckled. "That's enough chatting. Lights out. We'll need to be running on a full charge tomorrow." And with that, the group of heroes went to sleep until morning came.
The next day, Lance Slayer was furious as he equipped his armor and weapons. He'd heard of the Elements of Heroism and Elements of Harmony liberating areas occupied or attacked by his fellow Lancer commanders. And to make matters worse, they'd recently showed up on his doorstep as well. Seeing the footage obtained by Scout units last night certainly didn't improve his mood a bit. But what really made Lance's core tremble with rage was the fact that Inferno Flare was leading the charge against him!
"So the dragon intends to take my castle from me, does he? And the people believe he will succeed?!" Lance seethed as he stomped towards the podium outside of the front of city hall. "Then it's time I remind them both that it is the knight who triumphs!"
A good number of Mainhattan's citizens were marched into the city square and forced to attend Lance Slayer's address. Some bore anxious and fearful expressions while others' faces were hardened in anger as Lance Slayer began to speak.
"Citizens of Mainhattan. Denizens who I dutifully guard. Last night, a gang of intruders arrived in this fair city." Lance Slayer began as he showed footage of the Elements striking back! The Dragoon units that had assaulted Akage last night hovered over to Lance Slayer's side. "But fret not! For with the aid of the Dragoons, I shall-"
"WHAT'S UP MAINHATTAN?!" A voice called out from atop city hall from a microphone! It was none other than Inferno! Armed with his Duelist Arms holstered and an electric guitar drawn! "ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!" An instant later, Inferno was jamming out on his guitar! Everyone just watched his performance in sheer, astounded silence. Once he was done playing, Inferno smashed his guitar on the roof of city hall! "HAVE I GOT YOUR ATTENTION, LANCE? Last night's little opening number didn't seem to do the trick, so I figured I'd just have to put on a performance that'd be impossible to miss!"
"YOU!" Lance Slayer growled in almost animalistic rage!
"So it looks like you've bought some new toy soldiers, huh?" Inferno smirked as he drew his weapons! "Akage already had his turn with then yesterday. Now it's my turn!"
"Kill him. Kill him! KILL HIM!" Lance Slayer screamed!
"Jokes on you. I can't die." Inferno chuckled. "Let's see how well your Dragoons fly in a meteor shower!" Inferno channeled his magic, and summoned a storm of meteors that rained fire down upon the Dragoons! Reducing them to smoldering wrecks in mere seconds! Inferno spread his wings, and glided down in front of the wreckage. "I've got more fireworks to set off for when I kick your ass."
"When I best you, your body shall hang from a stake while the Lancer banner proudly flies in triumph!" Lance Slayer roared as he charged at Inferno! His lance ready to impale him! "After all those humiliating defeats you've dealt me, TODAY SHALL BE THE DAY I AM VICTORIOUS OVER YOU!"
"No. Today you'll crash and burn!" Inferno quipped as he took to the air to avoid Lance's charge! "You know, it's funny. For all the times you've called me a dragon, you're the only one fighting like a wild beast. And you keep wondering why you can't get a date."
"SILENCE!" Lance Slayer screamed! "With Blitz Surge in charge, TRUE heroes like ME are recognized instead of you pretenders!"
"The only pretender I see here is you and your boss." Inferno frowned as he stared down Lance Slayer. "I'm greatly restraining myself right now. If I wanted, I could just incinerate you instantly. But the only reason I hold back was out of respect for an opponent. Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to rid the world of a real monster like you, but I'd rather do it with some dignity for you in your final moments."
"SHUT UP!" Lance hollered at the top of his lungs! "My previous defeats were flukes! Deviations on how the story is supposed to go! THE KNIGHT ALWAYS TRIUMPHS OVER THE DRAGON! ALWAYS!"
"Now when the knight's evil and the dragon's good." Inferno retorted. "It seems like you haven't learned anything after our previous encounters, so I'll just have to beat it into you one last time!"
Taking a deep breath, Inferno pooled a great amount of magical power into his fist! Suddenly, his fist was set ablaze! Flying down towards Lance Slayer with his fist extended, a fiery magical aura in the shape of a dragon enveloped Inferno! One of a black dragon with fiery red eyes!
"FLARING DRAGON FIST!" Inferno screamed as he rocketed down towards Lance Slayer! The Lancer commander raising his weapon to block, but Inferno just broke right though his pitiful defense! A massive explosion went off right as Inferno made contact with Lance Slayer! When the smoke cleared, a crater had formed with Lance at the center of it and in a catatonic state. Inferno marching triumphantly to the microphone he'd dropped earlier. "THAT ONE'S FOR YOU MAINHATTAN!"
The entire city cheered for Inferno's victory! The assembled Lancer units were about to attempt to detain the citizens, but they were all immobilized as they were strung up by webbing and trapped in a giant web! Silk Snare smiled at her handiwork as she pumped her fist in the air at Mainhattan's liberation! Any remaining Lancer units were quickly dispathced by Rarity, Akage and Spike.
'Soon, this'll be over.' Inferno thought with a smile as he watched the city celebrating its liberation. His smile brightened as Rarity approached him. "Enjoy the show?"
"Most definitely, darling." Rarity giggled as she gestured to the crowd. "But I believe your audience is screaming for another performance."
"Well then," Inferno smirked as he was handed a guitar by Akage. "Who am I to disappoint them?"