//------------------------------// // War In Netherworld (Part 2) // Story: Horizons // by Battwell //------------------------------// Electro fired a blast of electricity at Spidey, causing the wall crawling hero to quickly zip away and stick to the side of a nearby cliff. Electro growled in anger and started building up a mass amounts of energy. He then released the energy he built up within himself and sent massive amount of electricity towards Spider-Man. Peter's eyes widened as he quickly jumped off the cliffside and performed a barrel roll as he landed. He turned around and glared at the electric villain. Electro chuckled as he aimed his right palm in Spidey's direction. He would've fired another shot of electricity had it been for Sonic, who hit Electro in the back with a Spin Dash. Electro stumbled in the air as Sonic flipped over the villain and landed next to Peter. Electro growled in anger as he formed tow orbs of electricity in the palms of his hands. He then threw down the orbs, aiming at the two heroes down below. Sonic and Spidey thought quickly and swung/ran away from the incoming orbs. As the orbs impacted the ground, waves of electricity spread out from the points of impact, seemingly homing in on the two heroes as the bolts of lightning followed the two heroes wherever they went. Electro crossed his arms and laughed, "Neat trick, huh? I got lots more where that came from!" Sonic ran as fast as he could, but he just couldn't lose the bolt of lightning that was on his tail. The same could be said for Spider-Man, as he was having trouble avoiding the bolt of lightning. Eventually the bolts caught up with the two heroes and struck them both in the back, sending them through the air and rolling to a stop on the sandy ground. Electro readied his hands as they flared up with electricity. But he was suddenly knocked to the floor by Zazz, who was thrown through the air by Twilight. Said Princess landed on the ground next to her friends. "Are you both okay?" Peter rolled his shoulder in a backward motion, "Yeah, just peachy." Sonic got to his feet just as Zazz was blasted off into the sky by Electro, who shot up into the air, electricity surrounding his very being. He raised his arms into the air as electricity shot right out of his fingertips and crackled through the air. Peter turned to Twilight, "How do we stop him? I've never seen him this powerful!" Twilight flared her horn and spread out her wings as she entered a crouched position, "It's Dark Magic! We have to drain it out of him!" Electro shook his head, "You're not gonna take this away from me!" Twilight fired a shot from her horn, but Electro swatted it away with his hand, "That's not gonna work, toots!" Twilight turned to Peter, "I need a few minutes to ready a spell to drain his Dark Magic. Think you both can keep him occupied for a minute or two?" Sonic chuckled as he entered his battle stance, "Heh. Do you even need to ask?" (End song) Meanwhile, the villains were watching the battle unfold on their monitor inside Nethertower. Otto was busy making the final calculations while Sombra and Eggman watched the intense battle. "YES! GO MY MIND CONTROLLED SLAVES! CRUSH THEM LIKE THE PEASENTS THEY ARE! WAIT! NO, YOU FOOL! GET OUT OF RHINO'S WAY!" While Sombra was clearly engaged with what he was seeing, Eggman had strangely said nothing. He just stood there, staring at the screen with his arms folded behind his back with a blank look on his face. "You don't seem amused." A sudden voice broke him out of his thoughts. The egg shaped man turned around to see the origin of the voice and saw their new arrival entering the room through the door. Otto dropped what he was doing and walked over to the new arrival. "Taskmaster. I see you've accepted our generous offer." The mercenary crossed his arms over his chest, "By 'generous', you mean either working with you or end up like everyone else. Plus the pay for this job was just too enticing." Otto nodded and returned to his work while Taskmaster turned to Eggman, "But back to what I said earlier. You don't seem amused." "Oh, I always love to watch robot-on-hedgehog violence. I'm just piecing together a little puzzle..." Orbot then entered the room and hovered over towards Eggman. "If I might bother you, boss? There..... appears to be a very faint and weak magical signature coming from the lower levels of the tower. Specifically the prison wing." Eggman then grinned, "I knew it!" Sombra and Otto turned towards Eggman, "Is there a problem?" They both asked simultaneously. Eggman smiled widely, "Not at all. You both finish up and keep a watch on things here." Eggman then turned towards the door, "We'll handle it. Metallix! With me!" The metallic copy nodded and walked out of the room with his master. Taskmaster crossed his arms and leant back against the wall, Zavok watched on from the shadows, and Otto eyed the door suspiciously. "Whatever you're intending to do, Ivo. Make sure it doesn't put everything we've worked for in jeopardy." Otto thought to himself. (Start from 5:18) Spidey launched into the air and webbed up Electro's arms to try and slow him down a bit. But Electro was having none of that as he quickly broke free and flew towards Peter at high speeds and grabbed him by his neck as he flew through the air. Electro then lowered himself and dragged Peter through the sandy ground as he flew. He then threw Spider-Man in front of him and hit the wall crawler with multiple bolts of electricity, holding him in mid air with his relentless bolts of lightning. Peter screamed in pain as Electro held him in place, not letting up on the attack. Sonic saw this and went for a Homing Attack, directly aimed at Electro's back. But as the hedgehog jumped into the air, a strand of electricity shot from Electro's back and electrocuted the blue hedgehog. The electric bolt then moved Sonic next to Peter, letting Electro see the two heroes scream in agony as he continued to electrocute them. "How do ya like me now, Spider-Man?!" (End song) Electro was about to finish them off by adding one final blast of electricity. But suddenly, he was struck in the back by a beam of purple magic, encasing him in an aura of magic, causing him to release both Sonic and Peter. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Electro shouted. Twilight then teleported in front of him with a smug look on her face. "You may be powerful, Electro. But the magic currently powering you pales in comparison to mine. The magic powering you is dark and malignant. While mine is light and hopeful. My magic is the true representation of Harmony!" Twilight then began draining Electro of the Dark Magic that was powering him. Strands of darkness left his body and faded away into nothing. While this was happening, Electro's form began to change back into his normal appearance. As the last of the Dark Magic left his body, Peter attached a line of webbing to Electro's chest and pulled himself towards the electric villain. "Lights out, Electro!" Peter then punched Electro to the ground, defeating his enemy. (End song) Twilight huffed and puffed, panting from exhaustion. "Wow, that spell took a lot out of me." Said the alicorn. Sonic walked over and patted her on the back, "Way to go, Twi! Hopefully you still have some energy left in the tank," Sonic then turned towards Nethertower, "Because this is far from over." Meanwhile, in Cadance's cell, she was trying to attempt to contact Twilight through the connection they have thanks to the love they have for one another. While her horn was slightly flaring up, she wasn't getting anywhere. "Come on, Twilight. Please feel the connection. Everything depends on it," Cadance muttered. Her concentration was severed however, as her cell suddenly opened up, revealing Dr. Eggman and Metallix, standing there as a bright light shone behind the two. "Well-well-well. Aren't we resourceful?" Cadance quickly turned around to face the mad villain as he approached the alicorn. "You know, I was wondering how exactly you found out about our plans to rewrite reality itself. I was about to dismiss it to your own intelligence. Boy, that would have been the day, one of you ponies having actual intellect? Preposterous! But then I remembered your conversation with Sombra. Due to your long history, I now know for sure that the fool spilled the beans for our plan, just so he could gloat! So I had a thought. You knowing that information could be very detrimental to our plans. And here you are, using a connection that only you and Twilight could possibly have, to try and warn her of our plans. Yes, you are very resourceful." Metallix then walked forward and grabbed Cadance's horn and placed a ring on it. "This ring is special. It not only dampens your magic further. But it also innates your alicorn attributes. Like your immortality. Metallix! Bring her!" Eggman ordered. Metallix nodded and dragged Cadance behind him as they walked past the other cells, containing Twilight and Sonic's friends. "PRINCESS CADANCE?!" Rarity shouted in alarm. "LET 'ER GO, YA DARN DIRTY VARMIT!" Applejack demanded. "YOU DO ANYTHING TO HER AND YOU'LL REGRET IT, EGGHEAD!!!" Rainbow shouted. "Eggman, what are you doing?!" Tails asked. "LET HER GO, EGGMAN!!!" Knuckles yelled in absolute anger. Eggman just scoffed as he ignored everyone else's pleas and demands. He then turned his head towards Cadance as he walked towards the Gateway room. "I hate to admit it, but when Sombra said you'd be trouble, I underestimated you. I didn't think you'd be so crafty. That was a mistake." They then entered the room, Eggman approached the computer console and activated the gateway. The portal opened up, revealing a birds eye view of the battlefield. "A mistake I won't make TWICE. Not when I'm THIS close to winning." Cadance looked terrified and gave Eggman a pleading look, "W-WAIT! YOU DON'T NEED TO-" "I may not NEED to. But I WANT to," Eggman then got right in Cadance's face, "Goodbye, Mi Amore Cadenza." Metallix then threw her through the Gateway, sending her plummeting down on the other side of the portal. As the portal closed, Eggman gave a horrific, evil laughter at the thought of his victory. "Hehehehe. HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO!!!" Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, Twilight and the others were approaching the tower. But their attention was suddenly drawn to the sky. They looked up to see a portal open and see something falling from it. "Hey, what is that?" Sonic asked. Peter used the lenses in his mask to zoom in. His eyes widened as he got a clear view of Cadance. "Uh, guys! We got a pink alicorn falling to the ground at high speeds!" Peter revealed. Once those words were uttered, Twilight's eyes widened in horror. She immediately took off into the air. "CADANCE!!!"