As the group made their way aboveground Simon spent the entire walk talking about the different Kamen Riders and the Monsters that they faced.
Dillon and Ziggy showed interest in the subject listening intently to what Simon was saying.
"Those monsters sound cool and terrifying," Ziggy commented, his ears twitching.
"Agreed also how many Kamen Riders are there?" Dillon asks, a smile still on his face.
“Depends if you mean that it was designed or in this world,” Simon asked.
"In this world exactly" Dillon responds.
“I don’t know. You’ll need to ask the one who’s been here the longest,” Simon responded pointing to Shade.
"Do you know how many Kamen Riders are in Equestria dad?" Ziggy asks, he and Dillon looking towards Shade.
“That I know is still here. There is me, Simon, a Build, Fuma, another version of Drive, Eternal and Blade, that are allied with us.” Shade admitted counting them on his fingers.
Dillon and Ziggy deadpanned for a couple of seconds before shaking their heads the duo then saying in unison "Whoa".
“And how many are against us you know of?” Simon asked.
“Well… I know of a few that are attacking us. There is a Wizard, Fourze, Genm, Zeronos, working with one group. A cult, which I think are mostly dealt with but I know a TheBee and a Diend were mentioned to exist with that group. And there's someone else who attacked the town before who I don’t know about.”
“Oh that’s Sorcerer,” Simon responded, “Movie villain from Wizards series.”
"Well, that's definitely a lot to take in," Dillon comments with Ziggy nodding in agreement.
“How so?” Simon asked looking down to Dillon.
"Because of the number of people you go against it's kinda scary to be honest with you" Dillon replies with a chuckle.
“Well, there are a lot more that could exist out there,” Simon responded.
"You're definitely right there, I'm just glad I know you guys," Dillon responds with a smile on his face once more.
"Definitely" Ziggy comments.
The group then saw what looked to be a picnic table in the shadow of the castle, before the group reached it as Shade lowered himself to allow Ziggy to climb off his back before he climbed off of Shade's back and walked next Shade smiling as Shade sat at the table and gesturing for the group to sit down, which Simon did sitting across from him, as Dillon sat next to Shade crossing his legs with Ziggy deciding to sit next to Dillon, putting his arms on the table.
"So dad, what are we gonna talk about," Dillon asked Shade as he and Ziggy looked towards him.
“Anything you want. I just thought it would be better being outside than underground,” Shade admitted.
"I don't know what to ask," Dillon replies.
“Who are these two Alex?” a feminine voice asked from behind the group.
Dillon and Ziggy look behind them to the direction of the voice, their ears twitching in different directions.
As the duo looked behind them they saw a young woman looking at them. She had long black hair that rested by her shoulders along with white eyes and was wearing a red skin tight outfit that showed a lot of her skin. Her legs, arms and chest were visible with her breasts sticking out slightly from the sides of her clothes barely covering her figure.
Dillon and Ziggy immediately tense up as their helmets appear on their heads again Dillon thinking to himself, "oh no it happened again".
"H-hello I'm Dillon and that's Ziggy," Dillon said as Ziggy gave her a small wave.
"Hello," Ziggy said quietly.
“Oh Alex, these two are adorable,” the woman responded walking towards the group before rubbing Dillon’s neck, “are they Displaced like us?”
“Yes they are Alexis,” Shade responded before looking to Dillon and Ziggy before he said, “Also, I would like you both to meet my little sister.”
Dillon's helmet disappeared his wolf ears call coming into to view "I-it's nice to meet you"
Ziggy Helmet disappeared as well as he stood up and did a small bow "a pleasure to meet you" his wolf ear moving in tandem with his bow.
"Hey, Dad is she our aunt?" Dillon asks Shade curiously.
Alexis then looked to Dillon before she said, “Wait… what did you just call him?”
"Uhm I called him dad," Dillon responded hesitantly.
Alexis then looked to Shade before suddenly smiling as she quickly picked Dillon up before saying, “looks like I have another Nephew to spoil,” as she began to pinch Dillon’s checks.
Dillon looks toward her before his blush shows again as he tries covering his face with his hair.
Ziggy just chuckled at Dillon's expense who couldn't keep his composure still trying to cover his face with his hair.
“Alexis, stop messing with him,” Shade requested with a smile.
“Fine,” She responded, putting Dillon down before walking towards Ziggy, “besides. I can’t leave the other one out can I?” as she quickly picked him up just like she had with Dillon.
Ziggy lets out a small noise "meep" as he was swooped in her grip before he suddenly felt her beginning to rub him behind his ears.
Ziggy's leg began to twitch a bit as he melted in her grip a dopey smile on his face.
Alexis simply continued rubbing his ears before she sat down next to Shade smirking as she looked at the group, “So, what's happened for the rest of you?”
Dillon didn't say anything, only looking at Ziggy with a smug look, Ziggy not acknowledging it due to Alexis still rubbing the back of his ears.
“We got shown around the place and met some of the others,” Simon responded, “also. It's good to see you again Lexi.”
“Remind me that I need to repay you for assaulting me when you were with that asshole,” Alexis responded glaring at Simon, “What do you want, black eyes, or missing limbs?”
“Umm… Sorry,” Simon responded nervously.
“Accepted, but I still want payback,” Alexis responded, still glaring at Simon.
Dillon just muttered to himself "yeesh". His ears angled down, before he felt Shade wrap a wing around him, as Dillon flinched before looking up at Shade and smiling cuddling up to his wing.
“You’re always kind to the strangest people Alex,” Alexis responded, smirking as she looked at Ziggy who was just sitting there with the dopey smile on his face, his leg still twitching.
“You done tormenting the poor boy yet?”
“Nope… maybe five more minutes,” Alexis responded as he began scratching his ear faster.
Ziggy's leg began twitching faster before he started to nod off in her arms, his ears twitching faster from Alexis's scratching.
Dillon just giggles in response to what she was doing before he felt her other hand on his ear as he thought "uh oh" before feeling her scratch the back of his ears.
It was then that it suddenly stopped as he saw Shade’s magic wrapped around Alexis’s arm, “Alexis. That's enough.”
“But…”
“I said enough!” His voice rising, getting her to recoil back, his voice much louder than normal.
“Sorry,” She responded before pulling her hand away from Dillon.
“Jez Al, you are not trying to contend with Luna for the Royal Canterlot Voice are you?” Simon responded.
“No… wait did I just?”
“You did,” Simon responded.
"Uh, dad what was that?" Dillon asks, curiosity lacing his face.
“That would be essentially a Royal commanding authority. Luna used to end up doing it often,” Shade admitted.
“You’re not trying to start a competition with me are you?” a new voice asked from behind the group.
Dillon looks over Shades wind to see who the voice belongs to only to get another small body wrapping their arms around his neck, “hows the little puppy doing,” a cheerful, childlike voice responded.
Dillon blanked out for a couple of seconds before saying "wait. What?" His ears raised as he tilted his head to the side, to spot the young foal he had met the day he met Shade.
“Midnight, I’m surprised you're here,” Shade responded, “you too Luna.”
“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Luna responded, wrapping her arms around Shade, “and you too. It appears you’ve already met both mine and Shade’s adopted daughter.”
"Y-yeah" Dillon replies, his left ear lowered while his right stays up. "It's good to see you".
“Do you want to tell them?” Shade asked while looking at Dillon.
"Can you tell them?" Dillon replies hesitantly.
“Is something wrong?” Luna asked.
“No. Lets just say, we have a few more adopted children,” Shade responded.
“How many?” Luna asked.
“5 so far,” Shade responded.
“5! Who are they!”
“Hello,” Simon responded waving at her.
Dillon just gave a small wave in response letting out a nervous chuckle as Ziggy just babbles incoherently as his ears were still getting scratched.
“So those are three of them?” Luna asks.
“Yes.”
“So… does that make you my brother?” the child wrapped around Dillon’s neck asked.
He gives her a silent nod before smiling at her, his fangs showing "yeah I guess it does,” which got him being hugged tightly by Midnight.
Dillon glanced at Shade, giving him a small smile as Midnight hugged him.
"Nice to meet you sister," Dillon says patting Midnight’s head, getting a smile from her as she hugged him even tighter.
Dillon looks towards Midnight as he points to Ziggy who's still in his own world from the ear scratching "He's your brother too".
“...and who’s the person scratching his ear?” Midnight asked as she tried to reach towards Dillon's ear to scratch it like Alexis was.
Dillon leans his head back struggling to keep her away as she gets closer to his ear before she gets to it, making him get the same dopey grin as Ziggy's and making him stamp his foot on the bench.
“You are both terrible,” Shade responded, only to get grins from Midnight and Alexis.
“Maybe we are,” Midnight responded before releasing Dillon and jumping onto Shades' head.
"Oh thank you" Dillon sighed as he touched the top of his head.
“Well, I think I know how to have fun with you,” Midnight responded mischievously.
Dillon chuckled nervously covering his ears.
“Relax, I’ll only do it when you're not expecting it… or are asleep,” Midnight responded.
"That's even worse!" Dillon muttered to himself.
Midnight however didn’t respond as she sat on Shades shoulders smiling as she did.
Dillon just looks at her for a few seconds before looking away letting out a low chuckle before laying his head on the table.
“I feel like we’re missing some people,” Alexis responded, “Has anyone seen, Hiryur or Gil anywhere?”
"Dad who is she talking about?" Dillon asks Shade.
“That would be your other two brothers,” Shade responded.
"Do you know where they are?" Dillon asks curiously.
“No. I haven’t seen them today,” Shade responded.
“Well… A strange Dragon… pony thing was looking for you when we were shown around,” Simon resounded.
“That's Hiryur, so he’ll be around here somewhere,” Shade responded.
Dillon just snuggled against Shades' wings again, a comfortable smile on his face, his ears flicking in different directions every few seconds.
"So comfy…" Dillon says in Shades wing before asking "So who's Gil exactly, I know he's my brother but who is he as a person?".
“He’s a younger Displaced. He’s quite protective around new people.” Shade admitted,
“And he was on the same train as me,” Alexis responded.
Dillon just nodded in response before snuggling deeper into Shade's wings.
“So… where could he have gone?” Alexis asked.
“Knowing him, he’s been watching this happen… and annoyed that he couldn’t help when that attack began,” Alexis responded before she stopped scratching Ziggy’s ear as she reached towards her bare skin before what looked to be a large rolled-up tube was pulled from her skin.
She then unrolled it, setting it on the floor revealing it to be a large woollen blanket before she said, “If anyone wants to sit down, you can use that mat instead of standing when all the seats here are taken.”
Shade then stood up before saying, “I’ll let the guests use the table, I'll take the mat,” as he scooped Dillon up in his wing and lay down on the mat with Dillon then resting up against his side.
“Then I'll join you,” Luna responded, lying down next to before rubbing her head against Shade’s neck affectionately.
“Hey, don’t forget me!” Midnight shouted, climbing onto Shade’s chest curling up into a ball as she did.
Dillon’s tail began to wag as he started to nod off, his breathing slowing down.
“Dillon, you’ll want to stay awake. Besides. I bet that you're getting hungry,” Shade responded.
Dillon stretches with a yawn his tail lengthening out in tandem with him stretching as Shade hears a growl coming from Dillon's stomach.
Dillon pauses for a second looking towards Shade with a bashful smile as he says "I guess I am hungry."
Shade just smirked at this before he said, “I think you’ll get a surprise soon.”
Dillon gives Shade an excited smile, his tail wagging in excitement "A surprise?".
“He really is adorable,” Luna responded picking Dillon up in her magic before placing him between her and Shade, rubbing the back of his neck, “is he somewhat tied to the pack of Timberwolves you were close to 1000 years ago?”
“I don’t actually know,” Shade responded.
They then hear a small bark to their right as Dillon looked in the direction it came from seeing the pups Hato and the Omega coming towards them Hato jumping on Dillon's lap.
"So this where you've been Dillon" The Omega comments sitting across from them.
"Sorry, mom. Me and Ziggy forgot to tell you we were checking a situation," Dillon replies.
"Yeah we were worried," Hato said, making Dillon sigh as he pats his head.
"I'm sorry that we worried you," Dillon replies, his smile returning.
The Omega then looks toward Shade as she says "It's nice to see you Shade".
“Same here,” Shade responded, “sorry for not visiting you more often. I’ve been quite busy.”
“Wait… you can understand her?” Luna asked.
“Yes. Blame the tree,” Shade responded.
“Of course it’s the tree,” Luna responded with a shake of her head.
"What's this about a tree?" Dillon questions confused.
“Don’t worry about it,” Shade responded with a dismissive wave.
"Ok then," Dillon replies, diverting his attention back to Hato patting his head some more.
The Omega laughed as she looked to Shade again "Dillon definitely has taken a liking to you".
“I can imagine,” Shade responded before saying, “also, both your sons have something to tell you.”
Dillon looks toward the Omega before chuckling "Me and Ziggy are Shade's sons now".
The Omega stays silent for a second before laughing walking up to Dillon and nuzzling against him "well congrats for now getting a dad".
Ziggy then regains his senses before hopping out of Alexis's arms looking around erratically before seeing the Omega "Oh hey Mom" Ziggy says as he walks toward the Omega.
"Hello Ziggy," She says as she nuzzles him as well as he then sits next to Shade.
"How did you find us anyway?" Dillon asked curious, as Hato perked up.
"We followed your scent," Hato commented.
"Huh that's useful," Dillon responds chuckling before looking towards the Omega "Still sorry worrying you mom".
"Yeah sorry about that," Ziggy says scratching the back of his head.
"It's fine just let us know about these things okay," The Omega said as she just shook her head .
"Ok mom," Dillon and Ziggy say in unison as they nodded to her.
“I think I need an explanation for those two,” Luna asked looking at Dillon and Ziggy.
"She was just worried about it so she started looking for us," Dillon responds looking at Luna.
"And she told us to let her know so so she doesn't get worried about us," Ziggy comments
“I more meant explain why you’re calling a Timberwolf mom,” Luna clarified.
"She adopted me into the pack and then Ziggy and then became our mom somewhat," Dillon replies.
Luna just looked at him with a confused look on her face, “What?”
"She had us call her mom and it ended up sticking," Dillon said deadpanning.
“Okay,” Luna responded, almost sounding like she did not believe what she had heard.
Dillon notices this as he said with a smile and a shrug, "I don't know what to tell you."
“Fine,” Luna responded with a sigh as she rested her head against Shade again, closing her eyes as she did.
“Say, Dad!” Simon shouted over, “you never said, but what Displaced have you met since you arrived here?”
"Yeah, I'm interested in knowing that as well" Dillon comments looking towards Shade.
"Me too," Ziggy added in.
“Well, there were a few i’ve met.” Shade responded with a chuckle, “but it is quite ironic on who i’ve actually met with though.”
"Like who?" Dillon asks, crossing his legs.
“Well, first we had a Kamen Rider Fourze Displaced called Jack we met on the moon. Then there was another rider going by the name Kamen Rider Cyber,” Shade responded.
“I’m starting to see a pattern here,” Simon responded with a smirk.
"A good majority of them have been Kamen Riders haven't they?" Dillon asks.
“Well, do we count you and Ziggy?” Shade asked before saying, “do you even have a token?”
"Token?" Dillon and Ziggy say in unison tilting their heads in confusion.
“It’s something Displaced use to contact each other or ask for help,” Shade responded.
"Nope don't have one when I came here I woke up with the stuff I had before coming to Equestria my backpack and somehow had my phone too" Dillon replies.
"Don't have one either" Ziggy comments.
“Well, I’ll explain the rest of that later,” Shade responded before saying, “and then there was one other Displaced I met.”
“Let me guess! Let me guess,” Midnight shouted her hand in the air.
“Yes, Midnight?”
“Was it another Rider?”
Dillon lets out a small chuckle at her question as Ziggy just laughs.
Dillon and Ziggy just hear the pups giggling as they pay attention to the conversation.
“Yes, it was another Kamen Rider. This one was called Wyatt and he was Displaced as Kamen Rider Decade,” Shade responded.
“So… you met a version of the Destroyer of Worlds?” the belt around Simon’s waist asked.
“And you can back ali-” Simon began to say pausing, “Half-Alive.”
"Wait you were barely alive!?" Dillon shouted concerned, looking towards Shade.
“I’m always bearly alive.”
“He isn’t technically alive after all,” Simon admitted.
Dillon just stayed silent before replying "you have a point there".
Ziggy laughs at Dillon’s response saying "your response is priceless" making Dillon grit his teeth in response before smirking.
"Oh really so I guess you wouldn't call this priceless" Dillon responds putting down Hato before tackling Ziggy Holding him in a Headlock "Noogie noogie noogie," Dillon says with grit teeth as he buries his knuckles into Ziggy's scalp.
“Or you could have just scratched him behind the ears,” Alexis said before chuckling as she looked at the duo.
"Get off of me, "Ziggy shouts struggling to get out of Dillon’s grip. "Say uncle" Dillon replies unrelentingly.
"Never!" Ziggy shouts trying to wiggle out of Dillon’s grip, his eyes widening as he sees Dillon 's hand reach over to one of his ears.
"Say, uncle," Dillon said with an evil smirk "I-i refuse," Ziggy says with grit teeth before getting the dopey look on his face again Dillon scratching behind his ears.
Dillon sighed as he continued "You've brought this on yourself Zig's" he said chuckling.
“Should we help him?” Shade asked the Omega as he looked at her, as he used his free hand to rub His back.
"No he'll be fine he'll break out of Dillon's grip at some point" the Omega replies looking towards Dillon and Ziggy in amusement.
Dillon's hand falters on scratching Ziggy's hand for a second as Ziggy breaks out of Dillon's headlock "haha freedom!" He shouts as he tackles Dillon the two rolling around on the ground.
“Luna. Should we?” Shade asked with a smirk.
“We shall,” Luna responded before both Alicorns ignited their horns as both Dillon and Ziggy felt something against their ears before a slow scratching was felt.
Dillon started thumping his foot on the ground while Ziggy twitched in place as the dopey look appeared on both their faces, the two sprawling on the floor twitching from the scratching the two babbling nonsensically, as everyone looked at them in amusement as this happens to the duo.
“We’ll leave them alone when you tell us to stop,” Shade stated to the Omega.
The Omega just nods in response as she looks back to Dillon and Ziggy, giggling at their predicament.
Hato lets out a bark as he looks toward Dillon and Ziggy in amusement hopping around.
"They're so adorable like this" The Omega comments laying across from them.
“We all thought the same,” Shade responded.
Dillon then shot up as he frantically looked around before flopping back to the ground with the look again.
The Omega then laughed as she said "Okay. Okay, you two can stop now.”
“You sure. We can keep this up for a bit longer,” Shade responded as he looked at Dillon, who’s ear he was scratching.
The Omega thought for a second before saying, "maybe a bit longer" her response getting a groan from Dillon and Ziggy.
“Luna.”
“Fifty percent faster?”
“You got it.”
“It would be my pleasure,” she responded before both Alicorns started scratching the duo’s ears faster than before.
Dillon and Ziggy start twitching faster than before, their legs and tails moving without reason and unable to stop themselves as their babbling becomes more prominent.
As this happened a poof of smoke appeared around them and when it dissipated in Dillon and Ziggys place where two Timberwolves slightly larger than Hato.
“Umm… did one of your pack do that?” Shade asked as he looked at the Omega, as she just shook her head in response.
"Uhm what just happened?" One of the two Timberwolves said.
"Ziggy?" Said The Timberwolf with the long black hair.
"Dillon?" said the timberwolf with the brown curly hair as they both look at each other before screaming.
"What happened to us!?" Dillon screamed.
“We have no idea,” Shade responded.
"I think I might have an idea" The Omega comments.
Dillon and Ziggy look towards the Omega "What happened to us?" Dillon asked.
"Well, there are some effects of bringing someone of a different species into the pack" The Omega replies.
"Some of the effects you two already experienced like enhanced reflexes and strength and gaining features like the ears and tail, as well as most likely giving you the ability to become a Timberwolf," The Omega explains to the duo
"So that's why this happened" Dillon says looking himself over before looking towards "but I'm more interested in turning back because I like having hands".
"Agreed," Ziggy commented.
The Omega thinks for a few seconds before replying, "well maybe you should focus on turning back to your human form".
The duo just nod hesitantly before closing their eyes a faint glow coming from them as a puff of smoke appeared over them and as it dissipated it showed Dillon and Ziggy back to normal.
Dillon and Ziggy look each other over before cheering, "yes!"
Ziggy however just hugged himself as he muttered to himself, "Oh sweet relief".
Dillon just sighed as he flopped backwards, Ziggy doing the same" At least that's over with" he says pointing his hand up before it flopped back to ground.
Silence follows as everyone hears growls coming from both Ziggy and Dillon's stomachs.
"Hungry" Dillon and Ziggy groan out in unison as they lay on the ground.
“Say, what do Timberwolves even eat?” Shade asked as he looked at the Omega again.
"We eat meat but can also eat berries" The Omega replies.
“Any preference, and how many pack members need feeding?” Shade asked.
"No preference and three of the pack members need feeding because the other ones ate back at the cave"
“I assume this excludes Ziggy and Dillon,” Shade checked.
The Omega nodded in confirmation "Yes they left right before it was time to eat".
“Okay then,” Shade responded before he seemed to go quiet, “well we should have some food being delivered to us all soon.”
"Food" Dillon and Ziggy groaned out laying themselves near Shade and Luna, before after five minutes of waiting a group of monsters walked towards the group, all of the monsters walked on two legs, while the group looked to be made of a large wolf, a creature that looked to be a locust and some black bug-like creatures each carrying large plates of food towards the group.
With the group were two young children, the first looked mostly human, but as the duo looked closer they found that the figure had cream scales covering him along with a horn and wings on his back, and was wearing a simple green top with some jeans.
The second was also a young boy who had blond hair and red eyes, he was wearing brown cargo shorts, and an open white jacket which allowed everyone to see the red tattoos that were on his chest, also around his waist was what looked to be gold and blue plates of armour.
Dillon looks up before standing up his arms hanging down before he and Ziggy give them a sluggish wave.
“Should I ask?” the young boy asked, “what's the deal with these two?”
“Yeah, who are they dad?” the other child asked looking at Dillon and Ziggy.
"I'm Dillon" Dillon replies as Ziggy stands up next to him "And I'm Ziggy" Ziggy says with the same sluggish posture as Dillon.
“So… I take it they are like us?” the young boy asked.
"Yep," Dillon responded, stretching as his posture went back to normal.
"It's nice to meet you," Dillon and Ziggy say in unison.
“Umm… same,” the younger child asked nervously as he hid behind the older child.
Dillon notices this and says "I take it that your Gil" said looking towards the younger boy behind the older one.
“Try the other way round,” the older kid responded, “I’m Gil, the kid behind me is Hiryur, both his sons,” the boy now known as Gil responded pointing to Shade.
"Well it's nice to meet my other two brothers" Dillon said with a fanged grin.
Gil then looked towards Shade before saying, “really, another two. Do you not know how to say no to children?”
“Yes, I do. I just don’t say no when I have known at least one of them since I got back from the moon,” Shade responded.
"If it wasn't for him I would probably be dead," Dillon says with a smile a sombre look in his eyes.
“That seems to be standard for most of those he meets,” Hiryur responded from behind Gil.
"Yeah I guess you're right there even though I don't remember much of that night before fighting that… golem," Dillon said before clutching his head in pain for a second before shaking his head shrugging it off.
“You know, if you're worried that you’ll get beaten up by one of these golem things, I could train you a bit,” Simon responded calmly, “but maybe you want to get your pizza eaten before it goes cold.” he added with a smirk.
"Y-yeah" Dillon replied, grabbing a slice of pizza and biting into it thinking to himself" What happened during that fight" an image of the golem crushing him in its hands flashed through his mind, his claws instinctively coming out of his fingers.
He gasps before clutching his chest, his heartbeat going fast as more images flash through his mind, putting his finger in his mouth and chewing on his nail subconsciously biting so hard that he started to draw blood.
Ziggy notices this and says "Dillon you okay?" putting a hand on Dillon's shoulder making him flinch as he glances towards Ziggy with a manic look on his face.
"Dillon?" Ziggy says with a worried expression as he turns to Shade "Dad I think something's wrong with Dillon".
Dillon breathes in and out his heartbeat going back to normal "N-no I'm fine" he said taking another bite of his pizza.
Shade didn’t respond as he looked at Dillon with a raised eyebrow.
As Dillon chewed on his slice everything started to get muffled as he heard the cracking seeing glimpses of his own blood as his fangs started getting bigger as he held his head in pain again.
Shade then walked over to Dillon before he placed his forehead against Dillon's before he said, “If anything dangerous happens shake me,” before both him and Dillon went quiet their eyes shut.
Dillon opens his eyes looking to his surroundings, his eyes widening as he backs away in fear.
He saw multiple versions of him on the floor dead, their bodies mangled in different ways, blood all over the ground as he began to hyperventilate his fear evident from his eyes as his hands shook from fear.
He saw a nearby window looking towards his visage normal before he blinked lurching backwards as he saw himself in his ranger form his visor cracked to see his left eye.
"W-what," he says as a shadow looks over him as he's grabbed by a large metal hand lifting him up in the air as he looked at the assailant, the golem, his face pales as he then tries to free himself attempts failing as he then felt the golem fighting its grip on him.
"No no no" Dillon repeats, still trying to free himself, his throat starting to go hoarse.
It was then that multiple gunshots rang out as the Golem stumbled backwards dropping him in the process as sparks flickered from its head as more bullets stuck it pushing it away from Dillon.
Dillon crawled away backing himself against the wall of one of the buildings, his breathing going at a mile a minute, tears threatening to drop down his face as he threw off his helmet looking toward the direction where the bullets came from.
He saw a figure holding a pistol, bullets hanging below his shoulders, red lines were on his outfit and red eyes under the brown hood looked like they were dripping blood, the rest of the outfit was black and had silver kneecaps on his legs.
Dillon began to hyperventilate again holding his chest as he struggled to stand back falling back on his butt up his legs refusing to cooperate with him as he then held his legs to his chest tears going down his face as he closed his eyes.
He let out small sobs as he shook, refusing to look in front of him to avoid seeing the bodies as a shadow looming in front of him again as he peeked up seeing the figure in front of him.
“Stop crying kid,” the figure in front of him responded, the distorted voice sounding familiar to him, “Is this how you want your family to see you?”
Dillon stayed silent as he shook his head "No no I don't" he replied fear still present in his voice.
“Then stand up, dry those eyes and fight your fears. Don’t be held back by the past, look to what's to come,” the figure responded, firing bullets towards where the bodies had been the golem getting pushed further away with each shot.
Dillon nodded standing up looking towards the figure and dries his tears looking towards the golem as he grabbed his helmet putting it on as the crack disappeared taking out his blaster and sword.
He slowly walked towards it, the bodies fading away as the landscape slowly transformed into a sunny warm town as a determined look adorned Dillon's face, as he raised his blast shooting the golem as it went back further "I'll always be afraid" Dillon says shooting the golem again.
"No matter what I face, there will always be fear" he says pulling the trigger again shooting the golem again. "But" Dillon says, stopping in front of the golem as it fell on his knees. "I can't let my fears hold me back because if I do I won't be able to protect the people I love," Dillon says taking aim at the Golem. "So there, what happened will always be a part of me but by doing this by facing my fears head-on," Dillon says gripping his blaster tighter "and I'll be stronger for it.”
Dillon then pulled the trigger, the blast obliterating the golem as it disappeared and the area went to normal as Dillon looked to the sky, his helmet disappearing as he basked in the sunlight, his blaster and sword disappearing from his hands, a small smile forming on his face.
"This feeling," he pauses before continuing, "It's so liberating." he added before chuckling and sitting himself down as he closed his eyes, with the sun on his face. He kept them closed for a few more seconds as he dissipated from the landscape as everything else does the same, the strange armoured figure hovering above being the last to disappear.
Dillon's eyes opened as he saw Shade in front of him as he glanced at the others, all of them giving him worried looks.
"W-what happened?" Dillon asks.
"You were acting strange but you said you were fine but you were acting the same way again but you weren't responding to anything we were saying" Ziggy responds.
"O-oh well I'm sorry for worrying you all" Dillon replies before looking back towards Shade.
"Hey dad," Dillon says, getting Shades' attention as he looks towards Dillon.
“Are you feeling better now?” Shade asked with a smile on his face as he shook his head.
"Yeah I'm feeling better" Dillon says, giving a small smile.
“That's good,” Shade responded before lying down on the ground looking upwards.
Dillon smiles as he and Ziggy sit themselves on the ground next to Shade with their legs crossed.
Ziggy hands Dillon another slice of pizza as the two continue to eat.
The two continued to eat as Dillon finished his pizza yawning as he stretched, his tail becoming bigger and more fluffed up before laying down next to Shade.
“I swear you spend so much time sleeping,” Shade muttered as he looked at Dillon.
"I'm not sleeping just resting my eyes" Dillon muttered.
“Sure you're not,” Shade responded with a roll of his eyes.
Dillon just let out a small chuckle before sitting back up Ziggy moved behind Dillon as they sat against each other's backs.
The Omega stood up as she walked towards Shade "Shade can I talk to you in private?".
“Sure,” Shade responded before looking at the others, “I’ll be back in a few,” as he got nods from the group as he stood up and followed the Omega. Once they got a small distance away from the group he looked to the Omega before asking, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
"I wanted to ask if you would become the leader of the pack" The Omega asks, sitting in front of Shade waiting for his answer.
“Can I ask why?” Shade asked with a raised eyebrow and a look of curiosity on his face,
"The pups as well as Dillon and Ziggy have taken a huge liking to you and since you adopted both those two boys I think it would be a good idea for you to be the leader".
“But why do you want to pass the torch to someone not even part of your race?” Shade asked before pausing, “actually what happened to your previous Alpha?”
"He and the other wolves went hunting one day and they never came back, I went look to look for them afterwards but I never found them" The Omega says her ears angled down in sadness.
“How many did you lose?” Shade asked with a kind smile as he knelt down in front of the Omega.
"Most of the wolves that we’re able to hunt went with the alpha and counting him we lost 7" The Omega replies.
“How many members of the pack do you have many left who can hunt?”
"Yes I have two that can hunt but they've been younger than the others that left so I usually kept them in the cave with the other pups".
Shade knelt where he was for a second tapping his chin before saying, “What other packs are there near you? And what sort of threat are they to the pack we have left.”
"Most of the other packs don't mess with us but we aren't friends with them but due to the pack consisting of only me and the pups we… wait did you say we?".
Shade just nods his head before saying, “so… what can we do to boost the packs numbers?”
The Omega just gapes at this before her tail wagged in happiness "Th-thank you I didn't expect you to say yes".
“Well, if I’m looking after those two. I might as well keep an eye out for all at the same time. Besides I can imagine if something happened to any of your pack it would devastate at least Dillon,” Shade admitted, reaching down to rub Omega's head.
"I… thank you Shade" The Omega replies her emotions bled through her voice as she nuzzles into Shade's hand.
“It’s not a problem,” Shade responded, before a spark leapt into the bracer on his arm as he recoiled back in shock, crimson lights flickering from it before Shade said, “Don’t say it’s broken. I’ll kill her myself if she damages this thing.”
"What's wrong?" The Omega asked.
“It’s nothing,” Shade responded as the lights stopped flickering before a small screen appeared on top of the bracer, looking to show an image of an Alicorn on it, “What the hell?”
"Is that normal?".
“No… no, it’s not,” Shade responded flicking his finger along the screen before the image seemed to change between three other images, a human design, and Unicorn shaped one and the last that caused him to look at the Omega. A Timberwolf. “Okay… that's weird.”
"This is very confusing what just happened" She asks.
“I don’t actually know,” Shade responded, tapping the image of a timberwolf once as his form began to shift before being surrounded in a crimson glow as the Omega looked in interest before covering her eyes with her paws.
One the glow subsided the Omega uncovered her eyes to find a Timberwolf over twice her size towering over her. The wolf had completely black bark covering it with its tail being blood red with two glowing red eyes staring down at her.
She jumps back, fear in her eyes as she growled baring her teeth towards the wolf.
The wolf in front of her looked at her in confusion before it said, “is something on my face?” in a very familiar voice.
She tilts her in confusion "Shade?".
“Yes?” the wolf responded back in confusion. “What's wrong?”
"It's just I didn't recognize you for a second, you look really intimidating as a Timberwolf."
“Huh? What do you mean as a Timberwolf?” Shade asked, looking at her confusion clear on his face.
The Omega stared at him in silence for a few seconds before saying "Do you not see how you look right now?".
“No… Why? Don’t I look the same as before?” Shade asked.
"No. No, you don't, you have the appearance of a Timberwolf," The Omega replies.
“Do I?” Shade responded, still looking at her in confusion.
She walks towards him looking him over, walking around him looking at his features intently "You look so intimidating and strong" she says before walking in front of him her head under his chin.
“Wait… why are you only just under my chin… I… my god am I really just a really big Timberwolf now?”
The Omega nods "yes, yes you are" as she looks up at him before looking away.
"Your so tall" The Omega comments closely looking at Shades height.
“Is this not common for Timberwolves? Do you not get this tall normally?”
"It's fairly rare to be honest and when it came to the wolves that hunted for the pack there were only three that came up to that height".
“Okay… so it’s a rare trait, but not unheard of,” Shade muttered to himself.
"Yeah it is I actually think Hato the pup that Dillon's attached to might come to that height since his paws are much bigger than his siblings".
“Well, we should maybe keep an eye on that pup then,” Shade responded, “Okay, how could we go about absorbing other packs into our own? Is there a way to force other packs to deform and join under another?”
"Yes there is but usually it's by force but there have been circumstances where two packs join together willingly for the sake of survival" The Omega replies.
“Do you know any other smaller packs in the position to unite into one larger one, maybe under us to increase our numbers? I mean if it is just us and the pups, we’re in a bad position as it is.”
"Well, there's a pack west from the cave me and pups occupy. They've helped us from time to time and are friendly towards us and their numbers are twice ours" The Omega responds.
“Would you be willing to accept them if they joined up under us?” Shade asked.
"Yes, I would" The Omega replies with a nod.
“Then we’ll need to sort something for that,” Shade responded before saying, “Umm… how will you explain the new relationship between me and the rest of the pack?”
"I'll just tell them that you will be the new alpha of the pack, they won't really question much".
“You sure?” Shade asked with doubt clear in his voice.
"Yes I'm sure they will, they accepted Dillon and Ziggy nigh immediately when they first met them" The Omega replies.
Shade then paused before he said, “I never asked, but do you have a real name other than the Omega… or Mum to the pups or Dillon and Ziggy?”
"You can call me…" The Omega pauses before saying "Ryka you can call me Ryka".
“Well. it’s a pleasure to formally meet you Ryka,” Shade responded as he used his chin to rub the back of her neck, “A pleasure to meet my little Omega,” as Ryka stammers in response before going quiet leaning into him. “Say, does the pack currently have a way of an Alpha marking his packmates as his own,” Shade asked, as he smiled down at Ryka.
"Yes when it came down to it he marked his packmates either by emblems like marks next to their ears or by covering them with a scent only recognisable to the pack".
“When you say an emblem, how would we go about marking you with it, and what could we use?” Shade asked.
"The way he did was with berries as a dye for fur and he would use specifically shaped rocks to press the specific emblem into the fur itself".
“I think I have a more personal way, if you are willing to do it, I can mark you with my own symbol,” Shade stated as a familiar but small red mark in the shape of an eye appeared behind his ear.
Ryka looks down in thought before looking back towards Shade "I'll do it".
“Are you sure?” Shade asked, “If you have a single doubt, you can still say no.”
Ryka shakes her head before saying "No I'm sure".
“Okay,” Shade responded before he placed a paw next to Ryka’s ear, as a red light hovered below his paw before resting next to her ear. Shade then removed his paw before he saw faint red eyes shaped mark next to her ear, “and you're now officially marked as my Omega,” Shade responded as he rubbed his head against her side.
Ryka does the same, her tail wagging as she rubs her side against him.
“Shall we get back to the rest of our pack?” Shade responded as he looked at Ryka.
Ryka nods "Yes we shall," she says walking back with Shade.
As the duo got back to the group they looked on to find Dillon and Ziggy playing rock paper scissors Hiyus sitting with the pups and the others watching in amusement.
Ziggy jumps up fist-pumping in the air before looking towards Dillon smugly "Ha I'm up one" Ziggy says.
Dillon scoffs saying "and as you've said before where did you count?, we're even!" Dillon says as the two butt heads.
"Wanna run that by me again?" Ziggy growls Dillon doing the same "Oh try me you twat!" Dillon says as Ziggy tackles the two rolling on the ground as the pups laugh at what the duo are doing.
“Should you break this up and tell them the news?” Shade asked.
"Give them a minute to get it out of their systems; they always do this" Ryka replies.
“Okay then,” Shade responded as he waited beside Ryka for things to calm down.
Dillon kicks Ziggy off launching him a few feet away "Ha!"Dillon laughs as Ziggy runs up to him kicking Dillon blocking it before the two start pushing against each other teeth bared as they growled.
Ziggy then grabbed Dillon's wrist as he flipped him on his back. Dillon then tripped Ziggy using making him fall to the floor. This continued on for a couple of seconds before the two were on their backs again panting in exhaustion.
"Are you two done now?" Ryka asks
"Yeah we're done," Dillon says as he and Ziggy continue to pant in exhaustion.
Dillon looked up to see a black Timberwolf next to Ryka as his eyes widened as he flipped backwards landing his feet on the table, his teeth bared as he growled.
“Did we place a bet on their reactions?” Shade asked as he looked at Ryka.
"Yep, it was who would react like that Dillon or Ziggy" Ryka answered looking in amusement.
Dillon's eyes go sharp, his growling starting to get more feral before lunging towards Shade.
“Hey… I owe you a free meal,” Shade responded before leaping backwards as Dillon landed where Shade had been before he felt a weight on his back, as Shade sat on his back pinning him to the floor.
Dillon growled flailing out his arms before he calmed down his eyes going back to normal "ugh what the hell?".
“You doing okay under me pup?” Shade asked as he looked down at Dillon, smirking.
"What are you- did you just call me a pup? Also, get off of me!" Dillon shouts.
“Yeah. No,” Shade responded before saying, “Ryka, if you would be so kind.”
"Ryka?" Dillon says confused as Ryka walks in front of him "mom?".
"Yes Dillon I'm Ryka and he's the leader of the pack now," she says as she points towards Shade as he then rubs up against him.
"What?" Dillon says in a confused tone before trying to get out from under the wolf failing still stuck in place.
"Can you get off me please?" Dillon asks.
“Will you behave like a good pup if I do?” Shade responded.
Dillon breathes in through his nose, his eye twitching in annoyance as he says in grit teeth "Yes I will behave now will you kindly get off me!"
Ryka giggled at his response as she said "I've haven't seen someone frustrate him this much other than Ziggy".
“Well, I do need to make sure all of our pack behaves,” Shade responded, getting off Dillon’s back before patting him on his head with his paw.
Dillon gets up and jumps away, a look of annoyance still on his face "You think you're funny don't you".
“Oh very,” Shade responded with a grin.
"Your evil," Ryka says with a giggle.
“I don’t think that's my name, my little Omega,” Shade responded, placing a free paw over her back with a smile on his face.
Ziggy stands up walking next to Dillon the two sharing a look of confusion and awkwardness.
Ryka responds "Well okay then Shade my Alpha."
Dillon's eyes widen in realisation as he breathes in through his nose "wait what" Dillon stammered in confusion unable to get his words out.
"Why is dad a timberwolf now?" Ziggy asks confused.
“That's a long story to explain,” Shade responded.
Dillon stays silent before walking away to get another slice of pizza as Ziggy remarks "I think you made him mad".
“For pinning him, or for not being able to give him a simple answer,” Shade asked.
Ziggy just looked at Dillon who had a frown on his face as he ate before he looked back at Shade "I'm gonna go with both on that".
“I’m not apologizing,” Shade responded, “he did try to attack me first after all.”
"To be fair he didn't know that it was you," Ryka adds.
“So it's right for him to attack anyone who appears? If it was someone from another pack he could have started a fight between two packs, and ours is woefully underprepared to fight one,” Shade admitted.
"Not saying it's right you just surprised him and his instincts kicked in".
“Okay. I can accept that” Shade admitted with a shrug.
Dillon just grumbles as he chews on his pizza as Ziggy just pat his back with a chuckle.
“Well, I might as well ask, do we need to place the mark behind the ears of the whole pack?” Shade asked as he looked at Ryka.
"Most likely" Ryka Responds.
“You realise I will be asking them all if they are okay with that. No matter how old they are, unless you tell me to do otherwise considering you are their mother.”
"I know you will and no I won't tell you to do otherwise the pups themselves would probably say yes".
“Okay then. Do you want to bring them to me at your leisure to sort this?” Shade asked.
Ryka nods "I'll bring them to you in sets of two".
“Okay then, I’ll wait on you then,” Shade responded as he lay down and waited.
Ryka walks away going towards the pups grabbing the backs of their necks into her mouth as she walks back to Shade putting them down in front of him.
The two pups look at Shade before backing up into Ryka in fear before she moves them forward they look at her and she nods "He's giving you the new Mark of the pack it's ok" the two hesitantly walk in front of Shade and sit down.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Shade responded as he placed a paw next to both pups ears as the same process as Shade had done with Ryka occurred as a red eyes shaped symbol formed behind the pups ears, “and done… are you both still okay?”
The two pups nod before running back to their siblings Ryka following them back and grabbing another two putting them in front of Shade, their behaviour completely different as they get close to him and start sniffing him.
"Is he?" One of the pups asks they look towards Ryka who just nods as those two sit in front of him, tails wagging.
“Are you both okay with me doing this?” Shade asked as he looked at the pups.
.
"Yes," the first one says as the second one says "yeah" the two stays sat down.
Shade simply nodded back as he repeated the same process as before, and once completely looking back at them, “and sorted, you both still okay?”
"Yeah we're okay" the first one says as the two run back Ryka following behind grabbing the last two and placing them in front of Shade as they look up at him.
"Oh hi Shade," one of the pups says as his tail wags Shade recognising him as Hato the other pup not saying anything just tilting her head in confusion.
“I remember you. You're the one that pounced on Dillon when you got here right?” Shade asked, looking at Hato.
Hato nods "Yeah that was me," he says in a happy go lucky tone.
“Well, are you both ready?” Shade asked looking at both pups.
"Yep," Hato says, the other pup just nodding in an affirmative manner Shade placing his paw behind their ears the red shaped symbol appearing behind their ears.
"Ooh, tingly" Hato comments as Shade removes his paws.
The pup that was next to Hato went back with her siblings Hato not far behind "hey wait up!" he says running behind her.
Shade then looked back to Ryka again before he said, “now for the two harder ones.”
"Yeah, I'll go get them," Ryka says walking away "Oh hey mo-what are you doing!? Let me go!" Ziggy yells as she brings him in front of Shade by his shirt as she goes back after Dillon.
Shade then hearing Dillon say "Oh not this again let go of me no!" He shouts as he gets dragged back by his tail by Ryka.
Once both of the boys were in front of him he looked at them and calmly said, “I’m going to assume, you don’t know why you’ve been brought in front of me.”
"Nope," the two say in unison both their tones differing Dillon's sounding apathetic and Ziggy sounding more neutral.
“Ryka, would you mind explaining to them what's going on. I’ll assume the others pups have been through this process before, but I know they haven't,” Shade requested.
Ryka nods looking towards Dillon and Ziggy "what we're doing is giving the pups a mark of the pack it's the reason why I brought you two over here since you've never been through this process before".
Dillon just stared at them before saying a drawn out "ok"
"So it's like a designation to which pack you belong to?" Ziggy asked.
"Yes it shows which pack you belong to you're not confused to be in someone else" Ryka replies
"I kinda find it hard to believe that other packs would confuse us to be in their packs. Me and Ziggy aren't that hard to differentiate just saying" Dillon says with hand on his hip.
"True but it's for precaution and other packs have been known to force Timberwolves to join theirs if it isn't shown that they’re in a pack" Ryka responds.
Ziggy puts his hand to his chin thinking to himself "Make sense to me if it shows other packs we are not to be taken by force due to being in a pack already".
"I can see why you would need to do something like that and the reason you brought the two of us over here to do the same thing you did to Hato and the other pups right?" Dillon asks.
“Yes, and I also need to say this isn’t going to be forced, but I will request that for the sake of simplicity you try to return to the Timberwolf forms from before,” Shade requested.
"Fine," Dillon says as he and Ziggy snapped their fingers a flash of light emitting from before it disappeared revealing them back to their Timberwolf forms.
“Are you both ready?” Shade asked as he looked at both Ziggy and Dillon.
"Yeah, we're ready" Dillon and Ziggy say in unison sitting in front of Shade.
“Okay,” Shade responded placing his paws next to their ears just like he had with the others the emblem that appears being very different from the others as it shows a black and white wolf facing forwards, the red-eye directly behind it lighting the back of the wolf to a reddish hue.
"Huh that curious" Dillon says, his eyes looking toward the mark Ziggy looking towards the mark curiously "huh neat".
Dillon and Ziggy turn back to their human form as the mark turns into a pattern in their hair.
Ryka looks towards Shade "Well I think it's time for you to get the pups that are back at the cave".
“How many did you leave back there?” Shade asked.
"We left four back at the cave," Ryka replies.
“Okay,” Shade responded before saying, “Finish up any meals you have left and then we’ll get you all home… and I’ll try to work out how to revert back to normal.”
Dillon and Ziggy nod as they go back to eat Ryka staying with Shade as she looks towards the pups that were playing and the ones that were sitting with Hiryur.
"It's nice to see them happy" Ryka comments as she looks on at the pups Dillon and Ziggy.
“Do they not normally look like this?”
"They do but not as much back then they didn't really look this happy before Dillon and Ziggy came along" Ryka replies.
“Here's to hoping I don’t ruin that,” Shade responded, “you know. It’s gonna be hard for me to stay near the pack with how far the cave is from the castle.”
"I know you have business you need to handle, I'm just happy to see them like this".
“I know,” Shade responded before saying, “I wonder… if we had access to a larger cave, with any resources you needed right next to it, that was also very close to the castle, would that work for us both?”
"It definitely would help," Ryka replies.
“Well… name everything you would need, and I’ll try and find something that's suitable,” Shade responded, “besides if it’s near to the castle, at least the pack will have protection from the city's guards, considering we don’t really have anyone except us who could protect everyone.”
"We would need a water source and an area where berries and other essentials are plentiful, as well as a place for the pups to explore and play so they don't wander off" Ryka replies giggling as she saw Dillon and Ziggy play a game of rock paper scissors with Dillon over the last slice of pizza with Dillon winning and eating the slice.
Ryka stays silent before adding "I'm glad I have you Dillon and Ziggy".
“I’m more surprised about you being glad for me being around, the others I understand, but why me?”
"You're a good person you were willing to help me and the pack and I'm grateful for it and if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have that new light in my life," Ryka says pointing her paw at Dillon and Ziggy who were laughing together the pups joining in.
“Didn’t you find him before he met me?” Shade responded with a raised eyebrow.
"I meant when you saved him he wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you" Ryka replies.
“Maybe,” Shade responded before looking towards the group, “I suppose I just want to preserve any life around me… considering I don’t really see value in my own considering, well my lack of it.”
Ryka just leans against him looking at everyone with him "well you should".
“Why do you say that?”
"Because the people that care about you value your life the same way you value theirs, that's why".
“I suppose,” Shade responded as he looked onwards.
"Mom, Dad. We’re done!" Dillon shouts as he waves over to them.
Ryka stands up as she says "well guess it's time for us to go" as both her and Shade walk towards Dillon and the others as they prepare to go back to the cave.
Shade then walked up to Luna before he said “I’ll be back in a bit, and should have fixed this glitch in the system by then,” Shade responded as Luna nodded back to him.
“I understand, I’ll stay around until after you get back,” Luna responded as Shade walked back towards the pack.
"You ready?" Ryka asks.
“If you all are, then so am I,” Shade responded, as Ryka nodded back as they all headed out of the castle going into the depths of the forest.