//------------------------------// // Ch. 25 Something Great and Powerful This Way Comes..."Here We go Folks..." // Story: Cold Fire // by Arcanum -Phantasy //------------------------------// I let out a furious roar as I swung an Iron Tail at Sid, the fucker easily dodging me with that stupid shit-eating grin of his. A couple days ago, he decided I was finally ready for full combat training. After days of luging boulders around and running laps, it was time to focus on combat exclusively. It was about god damn time! Well, that was what I thought at the time anyway. Turns out Sid's idea of full combat training was a game of whack-a-Absol. I could use any move I wanted and I was done with that part of the training if I could hit him just once. Sounds easy eno- oh who the fuck are we kidding , you can all guess how that's going! "STAND STILL!!!" I roared, Zen Headbutt ready as I charged at him. He just smiled and sidestepped out of the way at the last second. The giant ass rock that was behind him? Good news? It was now rubble. Bad news? My head hurts and I think I forgot how to do long division. "Fucking hell," I groaned, sitting on my haunches and clutching my aching head. "What? Do you think I'm just gonna stand there and take it?" I turned towards him, still sitting and grabbing my head as I yelled, "DON'T GIVE ME THAT SANS BULLSHIT, DICK WEED!" He just smiled at me and did a damn good impression of the glorious skelebro bastard's laugh. Growling, I got back up, then set off a Flame Charge before I ran at him. Like the dozens of other times before hand, he dodged , but I used the speed boost to try slipping an Iron Tail past his guard. It missed, but it was a lot closer than my last couple of attempts. A small smile spread across my muzzle. I was starting to get better at this. "Now we're talking," Sid cheered, just barely dodging another Iron Tail. "Keep it up slowpoke! You'll get there eventually!" "Wrong Pokémon, ding bat!" I smirked before shooting a Flamethrower at him. He sidestepped it, just like I thought he would. I shot off another Flame Charge, but stopped at the last second and used the speed boost to fire off an Extrasensory at point blank range. The shimmering aura passed over him like water before it blasted a crater into the ground about ten feet away from us. He gave be a couple shocked blinks, then smirked as he said, "Almost. Psychic moves-" Still boosted by Flame Charge, I swung an Iron Tail at him. He...ducked under it. Mother fucker! "Don't work on Dark types," he continued, still smiling. "Almost had me there. Maybe you'll pick a better move next time." "Damn it," I growled. "Damn it...Damn it!....DAMN IT!!!" I felt my core pulse as my anger ran through me, the feeling barely making me get a grip on myself. Sid warned me to be careful of that. Apparently, anger can mess with my moves, make them less focused and blow off more energy than I need. So can fear, but that was something I had a plan to get around. I took a deep breath and tried to get my head back into the game. I'm getting better. The fact I managed to surprise him shows that much at least. Maybe I should try to come at this from a different angle. A smile spread across my muzzle as a few ideas started to form in my head. Crouching low, I started to circle him. He smiled as he matched me, the two of us locked eyes as we walked in a wide circle. So, yeah, the direct approach wasn't working (no shit Sherlock). So let's try something a little less direct. This is gonna be wild! Damn straight. We kept circling for a few minutes, then I Flame Charged towards him. He stopped and waited for me to come to him just like the last dozen times I did this. He was going to wait until the last second to sidestep to my left or right to trip me up. Perfect. Just before he could make a move, I jumped up, spread my tails as wide as I could, and flipped an Iron Tail down at him. The ground exploded with a thick cloud of dust and rubble the second my tails hit it. He barely managed to avoid it, eyes and mouth wide with shock as he stared up at me. Not wasting a second, I poured as much of my power as I could into one last Flame Charge the second my paws touched down. What happened next threw me for a loop. I felt a different part of my core, I don't know, activate? Whatever happened, this new part instantly hijacked my Flame Charge and holy shit was it huge! Instead of fire, I was surrounded by this swirling golden energy. The power I felt from it was freaking MASSIVE. I didn't get more than a few seconds to think about it before I was charging like a fucking freight train! Sid put up a green barrier just in time to block me, but that didn't stop me from pushing him back a good fifty feet on contact. After that, the energy blasted off of me, blew up Sid's Protect, and I fell to the ground feeling like I just had my soul ripped out of me. "Wh...What the fuck?" I panted, struggling to move. "What was that and why...can't...I move?" "That," Sid gulped. "Was a Giga Impact," "A Gig...I can...What?!" I barked. "Looks like we'll have to add, move training to your routine now," he smirked. "Should be a good follow up to what else I have in store for you." "Yay," I groaned. Sid laughed, then sat down next to me. We stayed like that for a few minutes, then I dredged up just enough energy to ask, "You still going to Trix's thing?" "Sure," he sighed, then smiled as he added, "It'd be a bit dickish of me to not to give her a chance if she's going this far." "Cool," I smiled. "Autumn invited Dahlia to the whole thing too." "The pack is back," Sid snorted, then gave me a thoughtful frown as he asked, "You think she'll mind if I bring someone along for the ride?" "Probably not," I shrugged. "Anyone I know?" "Nah," he frowned. "Just another lonely soul, wandering this world wrapped in a cloak of darkness." "Right," I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "Anything else I should know about this person, or are you going to get all cryptic on me again?" Sid laughed, then said, "Sorry. Force of habit. Anyway, her name's Wallflower Blush. She's an Earth pony mare I met recently." "Oh?" I smirked, finally getting just enough energy back to drag my sorry ass to my haunches. "She hot?" The dude's mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally said something. "I...guess?" he coughed, looking away. I smiled wider and gave his shoulder a playful shove as I said, "Dude! Spill!" "It's not like that," he smiled, smacking my shoulder. "She's just a friend." "Whatever bro," I chuckled. "So, what does she look like?" He put a claw up to his chin, hummed in thought for a second, then said, "Green." "Green?" I deadpanned. "That's it? Come on, man. I know, like, twenty green mares. Hell, I'm friends with one and I'm pretty sure her name isn't Wallflower Blush." "Okay okay," he chuckled. "So yeah. Light green coat. Messy dark green mane and tail. Dark brown eyes. Wilted yellow flower in a pot on her flanks." I thought for a minute, but no mares matching that description came to mind. Not from work at least. At the same time, I felt like I may have seen someone like that at some point. I just couldn't put my finger, er, paw on when. "I...think I may have seen her," I frowned, rubbing my forehead. Sid looked genuinely surprised by that for some reason. "Are you sure?" he asked, leaning towards me. "Maybe," I grunted, my head getting a little sore. "I don't think it was recently. It's like, I know I saw her, but I can't freaking remember when!" He just nodded, a thoughtful frown forming on his lips. *** You know, I thought I had seen it all at this point since I came to Magic Land. I talked to living plush toys. Went on a date with a Kirin. Went to a bar full of dog-people. Got mind-fucked by a magic forest. Got chased by a drunk Unicorn. Getting reunited with my friends after they got turned into Pokémon. Hell, I even stared in a hentai (almost). Throw in meeting a couple of shapeshifting bug-ponies, and I was pretty sure I had seen every crazy thing this world had to offer. So far? I was fucking wrong. At the moment, the weirdest thing to ever happen to me was going to a house I only now remember seeing after it flickered back into existence, followed by all the memories I had of Wallflower sitting at the edge of my memories jumping to the front of my mind the second I saw her. The fact that all of those memories were about how Trix and I spent four days spying on her and Sid did not make the whole thing any better. God I hope Trix has booze, I thought, giving Wallflower passing glances as we walked through the town's mostly empty evening streets. One of the things I kept picking up on was that Wallflower was a bit of a chatterbox. Well, she was with Sid anyway. Every time I looked at her, she was yapping Sid's ear off with this big smile on her face. I wasn't the only one that noticed, a passing glance at Autumn and Dahlia showed them giving them knowing smiles. It kind of helped me keep track of her too, since apparently it was easier for me to remember her if I can hear her voice. It wasn't that hard to find Trix's wagon. Once the four- no wait, five of us got to the part of the town set up for wagons and trailers, it was all a matter of finding the flashiest ride. Good thing Trix had a thing for stars. I had to do a quick double take when Treehugger came out of Trix's wagon with her. "Yo, Treehugger," I smiled. "Hello soul brother," she smiled. "Trix drag you into this too?" I asked, giving the Unicorn in question a raised brow. "Trixie will have you know that she didn't drag anypony into this," Trix huffed. "Treehugger heard that Trixie was hosting a small party and asked if she could participate." "Really?" I asked, turning my head towards Treehugger. Still keeping her dreamy smile, she nodded. "I heard that some creatures claiming to be your friends came to town and I wanted to get to know them." "Huh, I guess that makes sense," I shrugged, then turned to face my pals (and Wallflower. God, that was going to take some getting used to.) "Guys, this is Treehugger. She helped Autumn and I get here a couple weeks ago." "So you're Treehugger," Dahlia smirked, walking up to the Earth pony. "Autumn told me a lot about you." "Good things I hope," Treehugger giggled. "The juries still out on that one," she said, a bit of aggression in her tone. "Name's Dahlia." Either Treehugger didn't catch Dahlia's tonal shift or she ignored it. Regardless, she just kept smiling and said, "NIce to meet you soul sister. May you're strong aura keep you safe in this uncertain world." Dahlia blinked at that, looking just as thrown off as I felt. Sid smiled as he approached her and said, "Nice to finally have a face and name to go with Iron Will's warning. Name's Sid." Treehugger's smile shrank a little. Seriously? Even she's scared of him? That's it, I'm gonna start looking for any books the library has on Bai Ze when this is all over! "Nice to meet you soul brother," she nodded. "May good fortune come to you and all you love." "As a drifting soul, that is all I ask," he smirked, nodding back. Dahlia and I both groaned and face-pawed. "Please don't encourage him," Dahlia groaned. Autumn and Wallflower both laughed at that (Hey, I remembered her!). "And you are?" she asked, looking at...Oh yeah. Wallflower. Wallflowers eyes got big, then she gasped out, "Y-Y-You can see me?" Treehugger nodded, then said, "There are few things my eyes can't see soul sister." "I-It's Wallflower Blush," she stammered, blushing "So it is," Treehugger giggled. Before anyone could say anything else, Trix cleared her throat and as soon as she had everyone's attention said, "Now that that's out of the way, shall we get to the game?" "Right," Autumn smiled, shoving herself between me and Dahlia. "What kind of game are we talking about?" "I hope it isn't Ogres and Oupliets," Dahlia frowned. "All that math really sucks the fun out of the story." "Says the girl that spent three hours building her character sheet," Sid smirked. "Bite me Bard!" Dahlia snapped, glaring at Sid. "Whatever Barbarian," he smirked. "Anyway!" Trix barked. "To answer...er..." "Autumn Blaze," Autumn deadpanned. "Right. To answer Autumn Blaze's question, Trixie obtained a game of great and powerful notoriety in her travels all across Equestria. it is especially popular in Griffin Stone and Coal Town." I rolled my eyes as I said, "Don't leave us in suspense. What's the game; Poker?" "Among other things," Trix smirked. "Though Trixie does suppose that would be a good place to start. *** It didn't take long for us to get everything set up. After I helped her wrestle a round table out of her wagon, Treehugger and...Wallflower! That's her name! Anyway, they helped get the games and drinks set up when we got the table standing. A few sitting mats and glasses loaded up and we were good to go. Starting from the head of the table was Trix, Dahlia, Autumn, me, Treehugger, Wallflower (thanks for reminding me Treehugger), and Sid. Like Trix said, the first game was Poker. Of course, we didn't bet any bits (most of us didn't bring any for this). Instead, we used a bunch of plastic chips. It was all fine at first, but around thirty minutes into the whole thing we found out that Sid and Wallflower were a lot better at this then the rest of us. "You two must be cheating!" Trix demanded, pointing a hoof at Sid. "Nope, just lucky," he smirked, adjusting Trix's hat on his head. "No body pays attention to me," Wallflower added, blushing a little under Trix's cape. "Can't argue with that," Dahlia laughed, taking a swig from her glass. "Sid's whole thing is about luck. I don't think he's ever lost a bet, even when the other guy's cheating!" "No fair!" Trix snapped. "Trixie demands we play something else!" "If that's what you want," Sid shrugged. "Wallflower and I won everyone's chips anyway." Everyone else laughed at that while Trix looked like she was about to blow a gasket. "Trixie demands we all play a game of skill!" "Such as?" Treehugger asked. "Hide and Seek!" she cried, looking pleased with herself. "Wallflower wins," Treehugger and Sid said at the same time. "Who's-oh...right," Trix frowned. "Then we shall play hangmare!" "Sounds good to me," I shrugged. "Bet Sid could guess each word on the first shot." My smile grew as she froze, then let out a frustrated growl. Then a wicked smile spread across her muzzle that made mine shrink a little. "Perhaps a game with more flare is what we need," she chuckled evilly, rubbing her hooves together. I gulped. *** Six dragons took shelter under the land bound remains of their ship, the wild splashes of a raging sea crashing against the coast ten feet away. The sky was pitch black with raging storm clouds, flashes of lightning the only break from the inky darkness. Sun Flare, a bright red dragon covered in heavy golden armor and armed with a claymore peeked past their cover. Off in the distance, past the coast in the deep waters beyond howled a great horror. The water surged and boiled around it, a bulbous and slimy thing with dark green skin. surrounding its round, eye covered body were long lashing tentacles that sliced the waves like a scythe through wheat. "What do you see?" Snow Flower, a white dragoness dressed in a silver hooded robe asked. "The thing that's gonna fuck us," Sun Flare frowned, turning his attention back towards his party. "Who's idea was it again to let the cultists complete their ritual?" "In my defense," Karma, a dark blue dragon with patches of white on his scales and leather armor said, raising a a claw. "I didn't think the ritual would work." "They were rather unwise," Treeclimber nodded sagely, her light green scales a near perfect match for the hooded cloak. "C-C-Can we really beat something like that?" Shadow Whisper gulped, her pale green scales peaking out of the gaps in her brown leather armor. She nervously clutched her twin daggers as she peeked past her cover. "We'll figure something out," Ember Script smirked, the bard's simple purple outfit covering most of her light orange scales. "We always do, right?" The nervous rogue smiled back, but it was a small and fragile thing compared to her companion's. A small blush added itself to her face as Karma pulled her closer to his side. "A beast like this is nothing for us," he smirked. "We are the blades that cleave the shadows from this land. This just one more monster for us to end." "R-Right," Shadow nodded, her blush growing the longer she was held. "Easy lover birds," Snow chuckled. "Save it for the after party." The couple broke apart, Shadow's blush spreading to her neck while Karma waved off his comrade's words. "Any idea how we can kill this thing?" Ember asked. Sun Flare mulled it over for a minute before a wicked smile grew on his muzzle. "Plan 3." Everyone gasped. "B-B-But leader," Shadow gasped. "That'll put you at the most risk!" Ember exclaimed, eyes wide as she grasped his claws. "Yeah," he chuckled. "But it's our best bet." Their eyes remained locked, Ember's desperately begging Sun to reconsider. The determination that burned in them thrilled her, but also hurt her deeply. She knew that there was no way she could talk him out of this. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as she nodded, claws letting go of his. "Please come back," she sniffled. "You're all I have." "I will," he smiled, caressing her cheek. "I promise." He turned to the rest of his party, and with a wicked smile said, "Let's make this bastard regret ever coming to this world. Malgomta Mercenary Guild, time to raise some hell!" They all cried out their assent, then spread their wings to take to the sky. Sun Flare, Shadow Whisper, Ember Script, and Karma flew directly towards the monster, while the rest of the party kept their distance. As soon as they got within range, the monster lashed out at them with its tentacles. The dragons narrowly avoided the limbs and landed as hard as they could on the monster's body. Sun and Karma wasted no more than a second to draw their swords to hack away at the monster's flesh, Shadow using her knives on its many eyes as she ran across its slippery hide. The beast howled in anger, but before it could lash out at them with its many limbs, giant stocks of seaweed rose from the water's surface and coiled tightly around them. Treeclimber smiled at the sight, her claw glowing as her spell did its job. At the same time, Snow Flower's whole body glowed with a chilling teal light, her eyes closed as she chanted an ancient spell from times long sense past. Taking note of her friend's work, Tree put as much power as she could into her spell. At the same time, Ember Script weaved her own magic, her body glowing a dull orange light as she strummed passionately on her lute. The monster let out low groans , the music's effects scrambling its senses while her comrades grew more invigorated. A bright light in the sky was the first clue they had that the first phase of their plan was in effect. The immediately halted their attacks and took flight. Seconds later, a massive pillar of arctic magic descended upon the monster, large portions of its body freezing and falling away. What few lengths of Treeclimber's seaweed bindings that survived the blast grew and tightened their hold on the monster, many of its wounds already starting to heal. Snow Flower slowly drifted towards the coast, heavy pants coming out of her from the strain of casting such a massive spell. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ember Script played her greatest empowerment melody for Sun. Their leader's eyes widened as power surged through him. A wide smile spread across his muzzle, the beast struggling against its bindings while he channeled his magic into his blade. With a mighty roar, he charged towards the monster with a blade that burned bright with his power. One of the monsters few remaining eyes locked onto him and it opened one of its many maws. A mass of tentacles burst forth from the maw, catching him in their slimy grip before they pulled him in. A sickening gulp was the only hint the group had as to their leader's fate. Ember, Shadow, and Karma stared at the beast with nervous anticipation, one in particular gnawing her nails off as she waited to see if their plan worked. Just when it looked like Sun's fate was sealed, the monster let out a wail of agony, smoke pouring out of its many mouths. Flames soon followed as the monster slowly turned into a massive bonfire. It tried to guzzle the surrounding water, but what was within reach of its maws had been turned into solid ice by Snow Flower's spell. Agonized wails tore through the sky as the damned demon burned alive from the inside out. When just a smoldering lump of dead flesh was all that remained, Sun emerged. The Magic Knight was covered in slime and melted monster guts, but was otherwise untouched by his ordeal. A moment of silence settled over the chaotic scene. Then, with a wide smile, Sun Flare raised his sword in triumph and the six heroes cried out their success. With a bit of luck and sheer determination, the six mercenaries came out victorious." *** Trix stared at us all slack jawed from behind her DM screen. "H-How did you all roll Nat 20s?!" she sputtered. "Dumb luck?" Sid shrugged. "You I understand," she barked, pointing a hoof at Sid. "Everycreature else? HOW?!" "Dumb as hell luck," I shrugged. Trix just sputtered at that for a few seconds, then let out a frustrated yell as she took her hentai monster figureen off of the table. "Fine," she huffed. "After you're party slays the Chaos Spawn, the clouds part to reveal a clear night sky. With little else to do, your party sets up camp on the coast." "To celebrate, Sun Flare takes Ember someplace private to have some fun," I smirk, side eyeing Autumn. "She's got no problems with that," Autumn smiled, her face turning red as smoke started coming off of the tip of her horn. "Snow Flower catches them sneaking off and wants in on the fun," Dahlia said with a giant shit-eating grin. "NO!" Autumn and I both snap. "Roll for initiative," Trix said flatly. "God damn it," I growled. "Are you having fun?" I heard Sid ask. I was about to tell him to go stuff it, but then I saw that he wasn't talking to me. "Yeah," Wallflower smiled, a small blush spreading across her face. "That's great," he beamed. "Maybe we can talk Trix into making this a regular thing." I sighed, a small smile forming on my muzzle as I shifted my attention back towards the board. At least two of us are having fun.