//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Common Enemy // Story: The Hunter Guardian of Equestria // by Kitsune_Kenshi //------------------------------// Apex slowly came to, he opened his eyes. His bio-mask scanning for his location, but the result was quite shocking. Region Unknown is what the bio-mask said. The hell? Apex was confused, the bio-mask was built with the knowledge of every part in the Milky Way Galaxy, and beyond. But now, he's in this... forest and his bio-mask couldn't find his location! This could mean one thing: Apex is not on Earth anymore. Apex stood up, the armor is not weighting him down, but it's a bit uncomfortable. He scanned the plants, but the bio-mask has no idea what it is. Yup, not on Earth anymore, he thought. Suddenly, he heard a scrambling noise behind the bushes. Immediately Apex activated his wrist blades and the plasma cannon. A moment later, a small white bunny hopped out. Apex sighed in relief. But what intersected him the most is that this bunny is squeaking at him while pointing at the edge of the forest. He is trying to tell Apex something. "What is it little one?" he asked, the bunny waved at him before bouncing forward. Apex shrugged and followed. Suddenly, he smacked his own head, " Huh! I'm stupid, I could just activate my translator!" Then, Apex clicked a few times on his gauntlet. He glanced at the bunny, who's squeaking at him. But what Apex heard from the mask is, "Com' on stranger! You're the only one I found armed! My master and her friends are in danger! Hurry!" "Your master?" Apex cocked his head, "You want me to... help some creatures I don't even know?" "Ugh!!! Just stop talking an d follow me!" the bunny rolled his eyes and continued to hop forward. Huh! That was something. Apex thought as he lunged forward, catching up with the bunny. Not long later, Apex and the bunny arrived at the edge of the forest, the bunny pointed over the mountains. Apex looked to where he's pointing, he zoomed in using the bio-mask and saw things he did not expected to see. There's five colorful ponies, a cat like figure, a yellow... hippogriff? He had every detail of mythological creatures in his bio-mask, so it's no surprise he knew some of them. They're fighting a column of.... weird looking creatures with white furs, black skins, a mask, and armor. They're armed. Immediately, the positive DNA encouraged him to help those creatures, but the other side of Apex is saying, Bruh are you really going to help these.... creatures you don't even know and fight a battle that's not even yours? He could abandon them and leave them to rot, but the positive DNA Jackson put on him won't allow this to happen. "So? Are you gonna help, or what?" the bunny asked. "Alright I'll go little one." Apex said. "I have a name; Name's Angel. And you are..." the bunny asked. "Subject 0967, but call me Apex." the man-made predator replied. "Strange name, but who cares. Com' on!" Angel said as he hopped forward towards the castle. But Apex grabbed him. "Your way of traveling is too slow, mine, is ten times faster." Apex then activated his rocket boosters and flew into the air, he activated the cloak so nobody--- nopony in this case, could see them. "I'M AFARID OF HEIGHTS!!!!" Angel screamed. "Get use to it, we're gonna travel like this a lot." Apex said. As he gets closer to the castle, he spotted a strange amount of energy coming from the throne room. Hmm... What could cause that much of energy? He thought, but it was cut short as he landed on a roof of a house, still cloaked. He scanned the black armored creatures again. "What are you waiting for?" Angel asked. "I need to scout them first, it's what a hunter usually do." Apex said. "You're a what now?" "Shh! I'm scanning them." In the bio-mask he could see serval heat-sources, but mostly from those armored creatures, since their weapons can generate lighting. Suddenly, the yellow hippogriff he saw earlier was shot down by a bolt of lighting, she screamed as she fell onto the ground hard. The black armored creatures came forward, spear pointed at her. Lighting bolts begin to charge up. Apex won't allow innocent death under his sight. The creature was about to kill the hippogriff princess when suddenly, three red dots appeared on his chest. Before the others could react, a sudden explosion and the Storm Creature had a large hole in his chest. He fell to his death. “What the?!" The other one cried. He heard strange noises coming from the roof top, he looked up and saw the last thing he ever saw in his life. A bright blue beam coming at him... Soon, all three Storm Creatures that attacked the hippogriff were dead. The last remaining Storm Creatures formed a defensive formation, but them against a high-tech killing machine? It's not even a fight, more like slaughter. A pair of blade stabbed a Storm creature through his head, then, to every creature's horror, it was ripped off. The other Storm Guards fled in horror, but they didn't last too long. Because a shuriken flew in and sliced them in half. The hippogriff was stunned. She was both horrified and shocked. But when her gaze fixed on those Guards's corpse, she threw up. It's no surprise, they're killed in such violence ways, she've never seen such brutal kills in her life. Suddenly, she heard someone coming, but when she turned, she saw nothing. Until she heard a deep, metallic voice. "There's no need to be scared, you're safe now." That made the hippogriff jumped. Behind her, a blurry figure begin to form, small blue crackles of lighting surrounded the blur, as the figure became more clear, the hippogriff's eyes widened. It was.... A creature that stands in two legs, buff and muscular. It's wearing some sort of armor with weird tubes going around it. It wore a mask, so the hippogriff couldn't see any expressions. His claws were dripping blood from the dad storm guards, and both first has a strange looking blade. It cocked his head, studying the hippogriff. A bunny was on his shoulder. It squeaked something. "Angel's asking if you saw his master," he translated, " his master's name is... Fluttershy." "You... You can understand animals?" the hippogriff asked, surprised. "With my translation device, yes I can." But he frowned at the confused expression the hippogriff had on her face. "I'm gonna explain later, what are these... black armored creatures?" "These are the called the storm guards, they work for the Storm king, the enemy we're dealing with right now. Princess Twilight was trapped in the throne room. The storm king has the staff of Sacanas, he's very dangerous." the hippogriff explained. "Storm King? Hmm... he sounds like a tough guy. I like tough guys." Apex said, which confused the hippogriff more. "But I will help you. Now, lead the way miss... uh... what's your name?" Apex asked. "I'm Princess Skystar, but jus call me Skystar." the hippogriff princess said. "My name is subject 0967, call me Apex for short. I'll explain everything later." The Predator said when he saw Skystar's questioning face. The princess nodded before taking off towards the throne room. "Storm King... Let see whatcha got..." Apex muttered as he glanced at the throne room. If he was right, Storm King sounds like a challenging opponent to beat. As the hybrid of every Yautja, part f Apex always seeks for new challenges, since the Predators kills stronger preys to gain glory. "Your skull is mine." Apex had a grin under his mask as he activated the rocket booster to catch up to Skystar. For now, both the Predator and the heroes have a common enemy. But... once their enemy's down, what will happen?