//------------------------------// // Bonds of Light // Story: Sigils of the Past, Summoned! // by KukriRyuTsukino //------------------------------// Richard's eyes narrowed warily as he kept an eye on Chilla, Alluro and Tugmug. He was wary of the Lunataks. "What drew them here, I wonder? Seems far too 'dumb luck' to be coincidence," he mused. His gut feeling was that they were here for a reason. "Who sent you and what does he hold over you?" he barked. "What makes you think we aren't here to trash the place?" Tugmug snarled. "Gut instinct. I doubt it's a coincidence that you, by dumb fucking luck, showed up not two hours after we end up here. You were sent and for a reason. What is it?" Richard deadpanned. He wasn't surprised that Chilla raised a hand at his case. "You aren't getting the case. This ain't 'Deal or No Deal'," he deadpanned as his head tilted before his eyes narrowed,  "Besides you're outgunned and outmatched." Ayumi said as she fired a shot from her rifle hitting Tugmug in the chest, the impact accompanied by a burst of green energy. "And considering how old I truly am, way underpowered for this scrap."  "Another immortal to contend with and one older than myself this is interesting." A voice on the wind said one familiar to both Ayumi and Richard. Richard's eyes narrowed. "Seems to me the Thundercats must have weakened you enough to have to resort to lackeys, Mumm-Ra," his voice was icy. His head snapped around as Alluro lifted his staff, lightning gathering before it fired straight at him.  In a flash Ayumi was there, her rifle gone as she caught the blast between her claws. "You throw this stuff like you hate it." The glowing ball of plasma then flowed down her arms forming gauntlets of lighting. "Makes me wonder if you can take it back!" She said before vanishing, reappearing in front of Alluro, her right fist positioned to uppercut the lightning mage. "No doubt he can, but the fact that he's trying to keep us at range implies he's lousy at close range," Richard guessed. He didn't like the smirk that crossed the Lunatak's face at that. "Oh? What makes you so sure?" Aluero's voice was smug and dark humored. Ayumi smirked as the lightning gauntlets disappeared, the plasma reforming into a ball in front of her fist. This was her plan, to fake a close range physical strike and instead give all the power back in one quick burst from right in front of the enemy. "As I said, take it back!" She said as her stance shifted to thrust the ball of plasma directly into Alluro's chest. Alluro's voice shifted to an odd purr. "Wouldn't you prefer to hit your mouthy friend?" he commented as Richard darted forward as his irises shimmered prismatically in a hypnotic glow.  "You probably haven't noticed because they aren't really noticeable." Ayumi said as a third translucent eyelid quickly ran over her eyes and her wings opened showing that while feathered at their joints they looked far more bat or dragon-like towards the edges. "I'm a mother fucking Dragon hybrid and Dragons don't do hypnotized!" With that she punched the orb of plasma directly into the mage the explosion from contact causing a massive plume of smoke. Richard's eyes narrowed slightly as his ears twitched at a crystalline crash that mingled with the crackling boom. He noticed a glint and skidded, the Drago Dagger rising to strike the staff Alluro held in a shower of sparks, feeling a hand press against his back. He was almost sure that Chilla had created a thick ice wall to give Alluro a chance to evade and react. "Shake off that hypnotic trance before you end up a frozen statue, damn it!" he barked, tempted to smack the shit out of her to clear her head. A cracking boom sounded as he heard Chilla shriek as he heard a thud. Twilight focused, her keen mind acting like a knife slicing through the fog bank clouding her extra-dimensional twin's mind. "Come on sis!" She shouted, feeling her mind try to break free. "Fight back!"  Meanwhile something emerged from the snow racing at Richard with a primal roar, the purple object rammed into the man. Richard grunted as he tumbled twice, rolling to his feet. "Akon… Luna. Hell, the only one that's missing is Redeye… and I'd wager he's how you knew exactly when to attack," he deadpanned with a wince. He noticed his case in Luna's grasp. "Won't be able to unlock it. It's a biometric lock, and there's one thing that will unlock it," he commented with a small smirk as he saw her trying and failing to open the case.  "Even if they blow the lock by overloading it… what they're after… the Gaia Memories… aren't in there any longer," Lyra twitched upon hearing his psychic comment.  Ayumi gave a guttural roar as she slammed into Richard and took to the sky, throwing him up and punching him in the stomach. "Then all I have to do is rip you into bits and use one of them to open it!" Alluro said using Ayumi's voice. "This Alicorn's raw power should be enough to rip you limb from limb." Richard grunted before he took a slow breath, noticing the fallen Drago Dagger dispelling in a shower of white embers. "Heh… you're a fucking coward and a pussy, Alluro, using what essentially amounts to a puppet rather than doing it with your own hands. What, too weak to beat a mere human?" he taunted. He gritted his teeth as, even with the protection of his bodysuit, that blow had hurt. He knew just how hard these Gaia Memories could really hit, yet he didn't want to hurt anyone. He took a deep breath as he depressed the Fang Memory's tail trigger three times. "FANG! MAXIMUM DRIVE!" the Memory declared as his arm reared up as white hot flames erupted before condensing into his grasp as the Sōjūtō. His lenses flared bluish white as he slashed a downward arc, more to create distance than harm her. "Unless I'm mistaken, Mumm-Ra must have enhanced the abilities the Lunataks possess, as it seems like Alluro is somewhat possessing Ayumi's body rather than hypnotically manipulating her. Which implies that Tugmug's gravimetric powers may also be similarly boosted as well as Chilla's Cryomancy," he mused. "A Human? I do not see human, I see a human-like being with incredible power. Of course I am afraid of fighting myself. Someone in this group should be afraid of death!" Alluro said through Ayumi who seemed to be moving sluggishly as if something was holding her back. This allowed Richard to dodge a strike that Ayumi was about to make which embedded her fist in the dirt."Ah! He does not see what she sees!" Alluro said, realizing that like him, Ayumi could see exactly what Richard truly was yet the man could not sense it himself. "Interesting!"  Richard's eyes narrowed slightly as he felt something pulse deep within him as he slid back several yards before he gritted his teeth as tendrils of silvery flame crept down his arm from his heart region. His eyes drifted half-lidded. "Afraid of death?" his voice was low. "Death is only one part of life, Alluro… a part Mumm-Ra fears like the bitch he is. It is the fact that we die that makes every breath, every act, precious. Better if we use those actions to better those around us!!" he said in a low voice, his voice rising to a snarled roar as his arm flashed up with inhuman speed as the outline of the marking upon his brow glowing like the corona of the sun in a solar eclipse. His fist paused millimeters from Ayumi, though a shockwave of golden white light from the Rider Punch shoved a ghostly form hard out of Ayumi's back. His eyebrows rose slightly as it shot back towards Alluro's body. This caused Ayumi to collapse to the ground. Twilight in response began growling in rage, her eyes starting to glow brighter as the growling rose in pitch before she roared in raw anger and blasted Aluro with a beam of power she had prepared since the fight began. "YOU HURT MY SISTER YOU SON OF A WHORSE!" She shouted as the carriage sized beam impacted. Angel took this moment to rush forward tackling a Lunatak back making sure to keep it distracted. "Fluttershy go to the church!" He shouted. "Luna should be listening, make a prayer to her for her help! With Mumm-ra back we need a warrior goddess!" Richard saw Fluttershy dart off, but was distracted as Chilla tried to freeze him with her Cryomancy as Tugmug was distracted by Angel. He saw Alluro snarl as he got to his feet. Fluttershy's eyes were wide as her hooves pounded the dirt as her wings fluttered in agitation. Lyra's eyes widened as her Familiar tugged free the odd little Dino, which unfolded and darted her direction before leaping into her arms as she saw his armor disintegrating as he pulled out a different little thing before he rolled to evade a blast of thermal energy as he tapped the button. "Joker!" it declared before he slid it in, swatting it to the side as his armor reformed, this time a rich dark indigo with purple highlights and red eye lenses. Her head cocked as he spoke an odd phrase she didn't recognize the language of.  [color=#70#963]"Saa, omae no tsumi o kazoero!" he sighed as he pointed at the Lunataks. Luckily the Warriors of Harmony, Fluttershy's teammates had been taking on the small fry of the Lizians and Abyssinians, Rainbow Dash and Applejack doing the most damage with their respective super strength and speed when compared to normal ponies of their species. After hearing Angels suggestion knowing that Luna was the head of the international Hunter's guilds revealing that Angel had been listening to them speak of her all this time, the suggestion that Mumm Ra was strong enough that even his minions appearing warranted the response of the strongest physical fighter in the known world sent a chill down Rainbow Dash's spine. "This Mumm Da dude is this strong?!" She thought as she beheaded another abyssian. An important fact to note was that all of the small fry seemed to be dead in the eyes, alluding to them being controlled by the more powerful lieutenants that Lyra and Twilight were fighting with their familiars. This meant that their minds had been stripped of anything besides following the orders of their master making them effectively living ggolems. This kept the guilt of having to kill living beings from truly manifesting in the Warriors even though they had killed others before in their hunts most specifically murderous bandits and raping pillagers, some of the worst scum of the Earth. Even Fluttershy their priestess had taken a life before out of Mercy for ending the suffering of a child who is bleeding to death. "It sucks that all we can do is end these poor people's suffering. Rarity's purify spell seems unable to break the control over them." She looked over to see Twilight blast Alluro once more this time with a much weaker attack that still caused the mage to stumble. "I'm not even sure that Miss Twilight, the student of Princess Celestia, the greatest mage besides Starswirled, I'm not even sure she could break the hold over these poor beings."  Luckily the restaurant that they had been headed to was right next to a dedicated guild Hall / church for the warrior goddess Luna. The restaurant was also run by former guild members, specifically one called Joe Donut, a skilled sniper with a scoped crossbow which he now wielded making sure that none of the stragglers would come near his patrons. "What's going on over there Shy?!" The burly yet surprisingly buff earth pony said as he drew another solid iron bolt from his quiver loading it into his crossbow before aiming at another of the dead-eyed Lizian. "I don't know Joe, all I know is I have to get into the guild Hall and try to gain contact with Princess Luna through prayer." Shy said as she stopped in from the guildhall doors realizing that they'd been locked from the inside as per evacuation and shelter protocol. "Luckily I can get you inside. My restaurant is literally an extension built off the guild Hall since I still live there. Take my back way into the hall and then get to the altar!" Joe said as he pointed to a nondescript door to the side of his establishment which the grateful cleric pegasi took. Revealing it to be a secondary exit to Joe's apartment in the guildhall. Quickly the Pegasus raced through the empty halls leading to the altar of the warrior goddess Luna. Kneeling down before it she began whispering a quick prayer to get in contact with her before saying. "Dear Luna if you can hear me one of your priestesses needs your help Mumm Ra has supposedly returned. His minions have confirmed it yet we have not seen him. We fear that he may soon show to steal Twilight Sparkle's immortality for himself seeing as she has yet to fully manifest her Alicorn abilities. Please we need your help, your willing priestess and cleric Fluttershy. May the Moon forever hold the Dreams in the Stars." Richard kicked back Tugmug into Alluro as he staggered, only for one of Chilla's thermal blasts to catch him in the chest, hurling him back in a blast of sparks and smoke through a Rocky hillside and an ancient wall which sent out a billowing blast of dust. Lyra's eyes widened as her hands snapped out, an explosion detonating in front of Chilla and shoving her back. A second detonation blew Alluro off his feet in a stagger. "Ugh… still alive… try visualizing your magic as grinding against itself when you release it," she heard him mutter in a groan within her mind.  She did so as Tugmug leveled his cannon, firing a volley of odd burning cylinders at her and her friends. Her arms slashed upward one after the other, the dust hanging in the air distorting from an unseen force before the rockets detonated in cracking booms as the same unseen force arced out, shearing through the projectiles. though the flames revealed that the unseen force were rapidly spinning arcs of invisible force.  It sheared a good third of the way through Tugmug's cannon before detonating violently, throwing him backwards in an uncontrolled tumble. She saw Chilla form a pair of spears of ice which shattered as her 'Arc Blades' struck them. Her eyes widened fractionally as an Aurora Borealis surged in the air before her eyes widened as a rhythmic pulsation of crimson light shone from the hole her Familiar had created… which had, unfortunately, collapsed behind him. Over by Twilight, Ayumi was slowly getting up. A visible aura forming around her as all her clothes disappeared revealing that her draconic traits extended over her whole body.  "Sis?!" Twilight said, amazed at how fast Ayumi had recovered from her recent ordeal only to notice that she was still unconscious, her body moving on its own. This worried the Alicorn, thinking that Alluro had somehow repossessed her. That is until Ayumi's eyes snapped open and what Twilight saw in them made her worry more for their foes. "Sis?" Twilight asked as she began to fear her elder sister. "Run." Was all Ayumi said before she began charging at Alluro. Her body rapidly grew as she switched to a quadrupedal form of locomotion. "RUN!" She shouted as a purple light flowed up from her scaled chest to her mouth before she released a blast of concentrated purple plasma at the mage. Lyra blinked as a surge of brilliant iridescent purple light flared as Alluro barely evaded the plasma blast before she felt arms grab her under the arms before she glanced up at Rainbow as she was pulled away. "This fight is kind of a bit much for you," Rainbow said as they flew over to where Pinkie Pie and Rarity we're holding a defensible area with Rarity's gem shields and Pinkie's air magic powered party Cannon. Fluttershy felt a cool breeze blow over her, fairly sure the Goddess Luna had heard her. Richard groaned, his eyes fluttering open as his entire body was aching intensely. "Ugh…. damn… how the hell Shotaro, Ryu, Sugou, Wataru, and other Kamen Riders take that kinda hit and keep going… ugh… but I'll be damned if I leave them unaided. Eh?" he muttered before pausing, noticing slow, rhythmic pulses of ruby light like a heartbeat. His eyes narrowed, unaware his slitted pupils were glowing slightly in a golden sheen. His foot slid forward, a low click the only warning before torches ignited, lighting up in several places before his eyebrows rose upon seeing a bolo whip, a retractable bo staff, and a set of nunchucks resembling clawed fists. what caught his eyes, however, was something that made his fingers twitch. "I'll be damned," he breathed in surprise, Ignoring his burned and tattered clothes. "The Eye of Thundera," he said softly.  As if his words woke it, the slitted eye shone a bright red, the slit a prismatic silver. His eyes widened as a dime diameter beam of silver edged prismatic light hit the domed ceiling of the chamber a good nine feet overhead. The area suddenly went dark as the sky above the fight shifted to the deep blue of midnight. "I hear your prayers and have arrived." A deep voice said before a shining blue orb rammed into the earth right beside Ayumi who had rammed into a wall of Blue ice created by Chilla. "Hey mom!" Ayumi said as she stood up and began slamming her fists into the wall causing it to crack slightly before fixing itself. "Mind helping me with this crap."  Luna smirked a bit, her eyebrow rising slightly at the mature Alicorn's casual comment. "I'm not the only one that will be helping," she commented mysteriously. As she spoke, a tremor occurred as thin prismatic red beams punched up through the soil. A bolt of brilliant blue lightning exploded from the ground, tearing open a broad pit as something shot up before landing. Lyra gasped, seeing her Familiar with numerous scratches, cuts, and bruises. His clothes were, quite frankly, in horrific condition, with burns, tears, dirt, and bloodstains both older and newer. Her head cocked at the odd gauntlet on his left forearm with what seemed to be a knife hilt sticking out. Tugmug sneered, glaring at them. "We'll just kill all you stupid shits," he snarled. Richard cocked his head. "I doubt that. Though if I'm honest, I pity you and yours, Luna… you, Akon and the rest of your group don't have to look to Mumm-Ra for purpose, but I know you won't listen… so few do… until they hit rock bottom," he deadpanned.  "Kill them all. Make sure these lands know the fear of the Lunataks," Luna Lunatak sneered. The Goddess Selene Luna sent a bolt of dark blue mana at Luna, only for it to splash harmlessly off a malefic red barrier as Akon and his Rider fled. Tugmug, Chilla, and Alluro attacked with rockets, thermal and cryonics blasts, as well as dark lightning. In response Ayumi and Twilight both fired off their own respective blasts of purple energy plasma for Ayumi, her dragon breath and pure mana from Twilight. Along with this a Golden Glow surrounded each of the fighters revealing that Fluttershy had returned and reactivated the buffs that had run out in her absence. "Human, call upon the Eye's power!" Angel shouted as he used his armored arms to deflect a rocket. "It responded to your presence, you can use it!"  Richard blinked, cocking his head in confusion before his gaze shifted to the armor gauntlet before he twisted as he saw Chilla slash an arm upward in his direction, shards of ice speeding his direction. His eyes narrowed slightly as he twisted, the icy shards striking the ground. He shifted his weight as he heard a whisper in his mind before a low snarl escaped him, unaware it sounded almost like an enraged feline. His eyes drifted shut for only a couple of seconds. He didn't see the dagger lengthen in a surge of energy. He did, however, feel a surge of strength rush through his body, unaware his irises were glowing a brilliant iridescent emerald that faded to aquamarine at the edges.