//------------------------------// // Skirmish And Friendship // Story: Strength And Honor // by dudenotactive //------------------------------// Heavy steps on solid stone echoed through the halls, everyone would stop just to watch a man clad in iron walk imposingly. His armor clicked with every step and the red cape trailed behind him. Noxian soldiers would salute and give their respect, high-ranking officers would stand aside to allow him to pass. None dared to speak with the man without a purpose. Because this was no ordinary man, he was the Hand Of Noxus, Darius. A fearsome warrior that served Noxus, and one who should not be trifled with.  Darius was seeking out Swain, it was obvious that he had something in his mind and could need guidance from the Grand General. A few more soldiers greeted him before he reached his destination. An imposing iron door separated him and Swain. Before he could even grab the handle, Darius could hear voices coming from the inside. Thinking nothing of it, Darius opened the door, he needed to speak with Swain. Inside he found the Grand General where he was mostly at, sitting behind his desk with his pet raven perched on his shoulder. The bird always irked Darius, there was clearly something wrong with it, but he held his tongue.  He then glanced over to the man Swain was speaking with. A General just like Darius, but he was injured, his arm was held by a sling and he had to use a crutch to support himself. Swain looked over the General and noticed Darius standing by the door.  "We will continue our conversation next time General Cain, rest for now and recover from your wounds. It would be a waste to lose a man such as you, do not let your defeat weigh you down. Let it serve as a lesson and may it give wisdom to you in your future battle." Swain said. Cain nodded his head and said his goodbye, the General would then greet Darius on his way out. Once he was gone, Darius approached Swain, the raven eyed the Grand General, he scowled back at the bird before he faced Swain.  "General Cain, so he has returned from eastern Demacia," Darius said.  Swain sighed. "Yes, but it was a defeat. I would have thought nothing much of it, but there was a problem that I could not ignore." "There is a problem here, Swain. My brother is missing." Swain arched his brow.  "Not just him, but most of his gladiators and a few others have disappeared as well. We must find him before he gets himself killed." Darius said, and though his exterior was stoic, Swain could see that he was worried for his brother.  "You know who else is missing?" Swain asked rhetorically. "The yordle known as Kled, also known as the Pride Of Noxus." "The barbaric yordle that lives in the north?" Darius had no respect for the yordle, he sees Kled more as a deranged maniac than a Noxian. Kled's techniques make a peasant fighting for scraps of food look like a warrior. He was just too wild for Darius, and he would rather not have Kled anywhere near his war. "What does he have to do with my brother?" "You see, General Cain believed that Kled would be useful in the front lines and had trapped him in a box using mushroom ale as bait." "And yet he lost somehow?" "Reports have said the Keeper Of Orlon's Hammer had intervened with Cain's army, and thanks to her, the fort was defended long enough for reinforcements to aid them and repel our forces. But something else happened." "And what would that be?" Darius waited for Swain to tell him.  "A bright pillar of light appeared out of nowhere and engulfed the two yordles. Curious, I sent my raven into the light not knowing what could possibly happen." Swain paused for a second to allow Darius to absorb the information. "I expected nothing behind the light, and imagine my surprise to discover a whole new world, one that is beyond my comprehension." Swain pushed back his seat and rose to his feet, he walked over to the window behind him and observed the city of Noxus and all its glory. His eyes traced the paths and alleys that were made with the idea to frustrate invaders in mind. The walls in the distance that surrounded the city stood intimidatingly, no one would ever dare to attack Noxus. The city was like a fortress, impossible to invade. That's why Noxians start wars.  "This world is nothing like ours, it is absurd and unnatural, I had my raven scour the land for information and have concluded that this was indeed not Runeterra." "Another dimension? So this means my brother is there." Darius commented. "Is there a way for us to rescue him?" "Perhaps, the rune mage known as Ryze was the culprit behind the pillar of light. It was a summoning, he intended to bring you and Garen to this world but had instead brought the yordles to him." Darius simply grunted in disgust.  Swain continues. "Back to the matter at hand, your brother is in this world no doubt, and I already have evidence to this. An Ionian and a Zaunite are currently engaged in battle with Kled." "I see, then we must make haste and find a way to this world. Perhaps it could be of use to Noxus, though you have not yet told me what kind of creatures inhabit this realm." Darius said.  "Funnily enough," Swain chuckled softly. "The dominant species of this world are a race of equine with two subspecies. A unicorn and a pegasus, all three are very surprising. The pegasus can shake the clouds and create a storm, the unicorns have magic that I had never seen before. As for the regular ones, it would seem they are skilled in agriculture, I was easily impressed with their techniques and dedication to their work." "And their military power?" An important question a Noxian would ever ask, it was important to understand your enemy's strength so you can strike with greater force.  "Non-existent from what I've seen. But I could be wrong." The raven on Swain's shoulder cawed. "Is that so Beatrice? Well, Darius, I am needed elsewhere and I must prepare, so this will be goodbye for now." "Very well Grand General." With that, Darius made his way out of Swain's office. The idea of another world was honestly interesting to him and he would like to see it for himself.  But his brother was far more important than some magical land of horses, Draven was still useful to Noxus and it would be a waste to lose him. Even if he was an arrogant fool who would blindly jump into battle. Though there was something else in mind that bothered Darius, something that made him think.  "Two yordles?" "Yaha!" Kled howled as his halberd connected with Jhin's knife, the Ionian quickly moved away from the crazed yordle and had also dodged a flurry of bullets courtesy of Jinx.  "Hold still!" Jinx whined as she popped some more shells. Jhin was lucky that Kled had eyes for both him and Jinx, or else he'd be knee-deep in trouble. He dodged and ducked their attacks, both were hard to predict thanks to their chaotic nature, but he was a force not to be underestimated. But having had enough of this whole dance, Jinx brought out her trusty Fishbones and released a whole barrage of rockets with no target in mind. Skaarl, seeing the threat before her partner could even notice, had jumped away from the blast zone. Jhin would've simply run, but he calculated the trajectory of the rockets and saw that Fluttershy was in the way of a few.  Not wanting his little project to be ruined, Jhin jumped into action and sprinted towards the paralyzed pegasus. The Ionian swiped her off the ground and pulled her over his shoulder, she yelped in surprise as the ground started to grow farther. Jhin was quite strong for his stature, but the fact that Fluttershy was smaller than a real pony mostly helped, thus allowing Jhin to carry Fluttershy to safety. He retreated to a nearby cover to escape the explosion which would have been fatal for the both of them. They both found safety behind a large wooden wagon that held numerous crates.  "What's going on! W-why is this happening!?" Fluttershy was in a panic, she tried to comprehend the destruction and chaos that was unraveling behind them.  Kled seeing that Jhin was too far for his halberd to reach had instead gone after Jinx, to which the Zaunite answered with a burst of hot lead.  "Forgive me, dear Fluttershy," He spoke as he placed her right where no one could reach her, whatever was inside the crates absorbed any stray bullets. "I did not mean for this to happen, but it would appear my current colleagues had come after me. Though I know who the girl is, I have not seen that yordle before, and it would seem that he is not part of the group I'm in." He reached under the wagon to retrieve something that would certainly aid him in this battle. After a second, he pulled out a large object decorated with engravings. He sighed deeply, his fingers ran down the edges, a slight feeling of joy filled his dark heart. "Please stay here where it is safe, I would be devastated if you were to be harmed by this foolish conflict." With the hammer cocked and his weapon fully loaded, Jhin vaulted over the wagon and fired a round.  This alerted the other two, it was too late for Kled to react but thanks to his idiotic lizard friend, who had turned to see what made such a noise, had saved Kled from any life-threatening wounds. Jhin scowled, instead of the yordle's heart, the bullet had shot through Kled's left shoulder all because of the drakalops. And seeing that Jhin had returned, Jinx greeted him with a hail of bullets. The Virtuoso unclasped his cape and used it against the oncoming wave of bullets, the cloth was torn to shreds but as the pieces scattered it revealed that Jhin had vanished from sight.  He then reappeared above Jinx with his knife raised above his head, and it would've been the end for the lunatic if it weren't for another yordle intervening, this time it was a blue one that carried a massive warhammer. Jhin managed to cross his arms and absorbed most of Poppy's attack into one place but it didn't stop him from being launched a few feet away from the two. "OMG!" Jinx screeched. "You are just the cutest! Look at you and your chunky armor, oh I wanna pinch those cheeks of yours!" "Not right now ma'am," Poppy fished through her pockets and brought out a round stone with a strange rune written on it. "Ryze, Kled and I have found two humans, your orders?" Jhin and Jinx tensed up, both became extremely nervous upon hearing Ryze's name, and to make matters worse, he answered Poppy's call.  "I need them alive, capture them at all cost!" Jinx immediately shot her with no hesitation, her minigun fired bullet after bullet at Poppy who had put up her shield creating a rhythmic noise.  "Alive!?" Kled snarled. "It would be better if we just string them up right now!" He had no time to complain even further as another round from Whisper slammed into Skaarl and knocked the drakalops off the ground. "So this is who the doctor meant, the famous rune mage is on this planet with a reason alien to ours." He said as he pulled the trigger once more.  "Hey, that's my Skaarl yer shootin' at!" Kled yelled at Jhin as he took cover behind Skaarl. "Shi." Jhin muttered as fire his fourth bullet and a burning purple flare shot out of Whisper. A defeating bang erupted from the handcannon as the bullet zoomed through the air.  Kled was blind to the danger in front of him, he continued to ramble and curse at Jhin as the bullet neared. Instead, his trusty steed was the one who recognized the threat, but she did not try to warn him of the fatal bullet that would surely kill Kled with a single touch. Skaarl has opted to run away and knocked Kled aside, she had unknowingly saved the yordle as the bullet whizzed past between them.  "Darn it Skaarl! Get back here and eat lead!" Kled screeched at the retreating form of Skaarl.  Jhin on the other hand was displeased, he reloaded his weapon while scorning at his opponent. His bullets have barely done any damage, he completely missed all his shots and he felt despair because of it. It was a sad story, of how he was denied his passion for creating art, but he was not hopeless. He still had bullets to spare, and besides, he could alwa- His gun blocked a heavy blow from Kled, the halberd pressed down on Jhin with all Kled's weight. The yordle had managed to sneak up on Jhin as he was reloading Whisper and made a motion to strike the Ionian down.  "I can respect crazy, but what kinda fool reloads in a middle of a fight!?" Kled commented as he pushed himself away from Jhin.  The two stared down at each other, both waited for the other to make the next move. With his gun loaded and ready, Jhin snapped into action. Kled welcomed him with open arms and a smile on his face.  Poppy hopped side to side dodging rockets after rockets. It was impossible to clear the gap between them as bombs and bullets rained down upon this park. The yordle realized that there were still bystanders around, spectating their battle with fear and anxiety. Oftentimes she had to take a hit with her shield just to cover the ponies from the explosions. Jinx was overwhelming her, and at this rate, the whole town would be razed to the ground.  "This little piggy went to the market!" Jinx smiled twistedly as she tossed around her explosives. "And this little piggy went 'wee wee we e'en all the way to the morgue!" "Stop!" Poppy pleaded. "Can't you see that there are people around!? You might hurt one of them if you keep this up!" Jinx groaned loudly, her shoulders slacked as her face shifted to a look of disappointment. "Jeez, you sound like my conscience, he's always telling me not to do this, don't kill that. Now I feel terrible for putting these cute adorable ponies in danger." A moment of peace, just what Poppy was looking for, perhaps she could deal with this problem in a much safer way. "I'm glad you could see reason, now please, lay down your weapons." "Pfft!" Poppy flinched back a little. "Ha! What are you, my mom? No way I'm gonna just go down easy, the Fart Man said that Ryze guy is out to get us, and if you work for him then you and fluffy butt over there are against us! Simple as that." "I didn't want to resort to useless violence, but you've forced my hand!" The yordle hefted the hammer over her shoulder and trained her eyes on the Zaunite. "Welp, don't want to keep the Fart Man waiting, still gotta bring back Mistah J," Jinx chuckled, her Zapper aimed at Poppy's face. But before she could pull the trigger, a rainbow streak tackled Jinx into the ground. Quickly, Jinx kicked her attacker off, but her pistol was thrown aside during the tangle.  Now a pegasus entered the fight with a look of determination. "I don't know what's going on, so I'm hoping that I'm helping the good guys here!" "R-Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cried out from her hiding place.  "Don't worry Flutters, I'm here to save the day!" A flash of light blinded everyone just for a second, and from it, a group of ponies had arrived. Twilight Sparkle had brought her friends, her eyes scanned that field of ash and dust, she was flabbergasted by the fact that there were humans in her presence. One was fighting a white-furred creature, while the other was lying on the ground who stared back at Twilight with eyes wide open.  "Uh oh," Jinx muttered.  "Could someone explain to me what is going on here!?" Twilight demanded an answer.  Instead of giving Twilight what she wanted, Jinx bolted over towards Jhin, swiping her gun off the ground as she passed by. Immediately, Twilight and Starlight brought up a barrier as Jinx tossed her grenades at them. This partially answered Twilight's question. Applejack jumped into action once the explosions passed. Her lasso caught Jinx by her waist and she had the wind pushed out of her as the farmer pulled her in.  Jhin noticed that Jinx was in a pinch, and what was worse was the arrival of Fluttershy's friends. They were outnumbered, he muttered something under his breath.  "What's that!? Can't hear ya!" Kled sneered.  "Nothing to be concerned about," Jhin answered. He turned on his heel before a crack shattered the air. The lasso snapped in two and Jinx was free.  Before the mares could react, Jinx pointed Pow Pow at them and unleashed a hail of bullets which caused the ponies to scramble. As she did so, Jinx backed away to gain distance. Dash tried to flank the gunner, but she came face to face with Zapper. Before she could feel the thunder, Dash was saved by Poppy, her shield blocked the shot and kept Jinx from injuring Dash.  Jinx cursed as she backed away. Soon enough, she came back to back with Jhin, both surrounded. Pow Pow kept Twilight and the others at bay, but it would seem that Poppy and Dash would soon reach her. Jhin on the other hand was having a hard time fighting Kled, he was so unpredictable that he thought he was fighting a mindless animal. He was at the end of the line, without the rest of his arsenal, Jhin was no match to a beast like Kled.  "I got you now!" Kled laughed.  Before Kled could even land the final blow, a wall of energy rose from nowhere and froze him in the air. Surrounded by pillars, the two humans could only watch dumbfounded as a new fighter joined. A high-pitched laugh pierced their ears as this newcomer goaded them to do something.  "Nyehehe!"  Poppy adopted a look of defeat as she realized who this was, she wanted to just forget about the fight and go home, but sadly that isn't her.  "Cower before me puny mortals! It is I, Veigar!" He made himself known as he hovered above the humans. "Oh no, it's Veigar." Poppy attempted to be surprised but utterly failed. "Another yordle!?" Jhin exclaimed.  "Hold your tongue human, I was sent here by the doctor to help you escape! Be humble that I would even spare my precious time!" His eyes glanced over to the other yordles. "And I see now that the doctor was wise, for we meet again my nemesis!" "Uh, yeah, it is I!" Poppy was making a fool of herself in front of the others.  "Who is this?" Kled asked with a judging glare.  "He's my nemesis, not really though, just play along." She whispered to him before facing the short yordle. "Veigar, are you here to do eeeevil things!?" "No, I am here to bring these foolish humans back to the arena! We will meet again, Poppy, but in our next battle, I shall triumph!" He raised his scepter in the air and powerful energy warped around him. "I call upon the cosmos to bend to my will and open a rift between reality!" The ground beneath the humans opened into a portal, both were engulfed by the rift before they knew it. Veigar glanced at Poppy and Kled one last time, he muttered "Noxian" under his breath just before he went through the portal.  Now that the battle ended, the two yordles were alone with the ponies and an awkward silence grew. Poppy looked at them as they stared back at her. She couldn't form any words, unsure how to approach this situation of hers.  Except for Kled.  "Damn rodent just blue balled me like the rune mage fella! He just ruined my mood!" This was going to be a long day.