I ran over to check on the status of that individual. If my plan had worked, then the curse of being transformed into a horribly mangled bear monstrosity should have been reversed with how much force I put behind the attack with the tree. To be quite frank, I didn’t expect myself to have that much strength. But I suppose it was a side effect of...no, that wasn’t real. Was it?
Anyhow, leaned over to make sure she was okay. As it turned out, yes. The Berserker outer shell was just that. An outer shell that stripped all free will away from her. But it began to dissipate as soon as I struck her with that oak. I suppose this was the only time in which brute force was more applicable than tactics.
Then again, this was but the first of what I could only assume to be many assaults with monsters from an age long past. For the moment, all I could do was pick up the mare--a pegasus--and put her on my back. This was not unlike the Stormbeast experiments that were used to attack the Kirin homeland a while ago.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Neon had done…
Meanwhile…
Blimey. To say that it was a hard battle was the least of my problems. Pale was a tad--er rather, a good bit beefier than I was. ‘Cuz of that, I couldn’t exactly fight with might alone. No. Instead, I had to focus on what I could do as a bat-like pony. But how could I fight off a giant, rage-filled bear?
“Eee!” I let out a brisk, sharp squeal as I broke off a piece of a nearby tree branch and kicked it into the horrid creature’s mouth. Its jaws snapped it right in twain, but it gave me enough time to fall back a bit further into the forest.
Naturally, it chased after me. But where I had the advantage lied purely in my sonic abilities. Since I knew that they could be disoriented by it, I would make use of it to throw them off. Sounded easy enough right? Well, I couldn’t exactly use it however I wished. Overuse would cause tension in my vocal chords, and that was the last thing I needed in such a dangerous situation.
I flew into the air, and took shelter in one of the trees. I perched upside-down as I usually did. My eyes shut so that my body would blend in with the dead of night. I could hear it. The bear was on its way towards the area I had travelled to.
Honestly, I felt bad. Part of me was a touch afraid because I wasn’t sure how well they would recognize my efforts once it was all said and done. Did they even truly hate me? Or was that a part of the curse that had been inflicted upon them? Either way, I couldn’t back down now. Even if I was scared of what they’d think of me, I wouldn’t let it affect me.
Just had to wait for it...then bam. She was in range.
But then I felt something. Something that tried to desperately get inside my head. It was as if I was being...haunted from the beyond.
“You can’t save her! She’ll just cast you aside for being a disgusting batpony!”
“Just leave! No one wants your help!”
“Pale should just do everything himself. He’s not an ugly bloodsucker!”
...Voices. They barked and shouted in my ear. Not unlike the ones that I heard in my youth. Needless to say, it nearly drove me off my nut because they made me feel more outcast than I already was. Even if I could save her, would she pass judgement against me simply for what I looked like? There was honestly no way to tell what would happen from here.
Yes. I was afraid. Was I going to let that hold me back? No.
I did my best to relax myself. Then I let out another sonic screech that could pierce the heavens with how much I put into it. Imperceptible to regular ears, but to my own, and other animals? It was deadly. Imagine the highest-pitched sound in existence. Exactly. You can’t.
SCREEEEEEE!
My scream performed admirably. Due to our abilities that involved echolocation, the soundwaves of my voice would bounce off the trees akin to an invisible game of pinball. I had to admit, it was rather fun to witness.
The berserker growled from confusion. Its senses had been nulled by the overexposure to the higher pressure of the sound waves generated from my screech. Perfection. Now I just needed to force the corruption away from the mare’s body so that she could be free of it.
I glared at my fake hoof, and realized what my only surefire option was. “It’s either that, or waste time doing a whole lot of nothing,” I thought to myself.
Guess I had no choice.
I input a specific code via the buttons on the side of my prosthetic which caused it to start beeping. Then, I charged right in. I did not want to waste a single valuable second between myself and the safety of those around me. This was going to be one of the riskiest things I had ever done. But with my line of work, you sort of get used to it.
“Eat this, ya bastard!” I shouted as I swooped down from the tree like a bat that was about to munch on a tasty mosquito. I shoved my prosthetic arm down the bear’s throat, and it started to gag.
CHOMP!
I felt its razor sharp jaws collapse down upon my fake appendage with enough force to flatten bone. Luckily, I barely felt a thing, since I had no nerves attached to the limb. After which, the speed of the beeps increased. I smirked at the bear with a wild abandon.
“Go back to your own time.”
BOOM!
As soon as I herded the mare onto my back, I witnessed an explosion from the middle of the forest. Was that Neon?! And if so...how?!
“Gah...what the hell did he do?!” I ran towards the epicenter.