//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Partners // Story: A New World, A New Way: Deepground // by ElementBrigade //------------------------------// Chapter Three Partners “Welcome to my awesome pad!” Lyra said as she moved out of the way for Emma to enter the small room. Upon entering, she finds that the room looks like it was built possibly for one maybe three people to hang out in. Living-wise, it could be suited for two seeing how it had a kitchen, a bathroom, a TV, two beds, and a refrigerator. Not a bad place to live in for a couple of days. “Well...it’s something, to say the least,” Emma said as Lyra closed the door behind her. “Are you sure this place is safe to talk freely?” “Oh yeah. This place is safe for you to be in.” The mare said as she took a seat over on the couch. “So now that we’re all alone, mind explaining to me who you are? I mean you did say that you would tell me, and I did offer to let you say here as a means of hiding~” “So long as you keep your end of the deal,” Emma said as she made herself visible to Lyra. “Alright then, I come from a city called Midgar. It is located on the eastern continent sharing a mountain border with the Junon Area, an open border with the Grasslands Area reaching up until the end of the aforementioned mountain. Shouldn’t be that hard to see it if you go by aircraft. Midgar is pretty much a giant city and in the center of that city is the Shinra Electric Power Company. It pretty much runs the entire city.” “I’ve never heard of a place like that. How big is this city?” Lyra asked as Emma made her helmet appear on her head before removing it. Once removed, she pressed a button on the helmet to show the unicorn a digital display of Midgar along with the height, length, and width of the city itself. “Dear Celestia! How can a city like this even exist!? And this Shinra company was able to make something like this?” “Try not to get too excited. I can say that they’re good at making stuff like this along with groundbreaking technology and Materia. But underneath all that glitter is not gold. Then again that can be said about almost any company.” “What do you mean by that?” “Hm...well it’s not like Shinra will do anything to me just by telling you much about it. And if my theory is about what the experimental materia did, then I should be safe.” She said before reaching behind herself to pull out two cylindrical-like containers strapped to the belt of her armor and placing them on the floor in front of the mare. “Within certain parts of the city. Specifically, the reactors that pull Mako energy from the earth to run the city. Underneath Mako reactor zero is where they’ve done experimentation on human test subjects to become superhuman weapons.” “...I’m sorry what,” Lyra said with a confused expression on her face. “Wouldn’t blame you for being confused upon hearing that. The place where I was sent to is called Deepground.” Emma said before sitting down in front of Lyra. “Originally it was supposed to be a place where SOLDIERs would go to get medically treated for injuries and rehabilitation. But over time, it was made a testing ground for superhuman soldiers like myself to replace the people who were part of Project Jenova.” “You...join shirna so you could be a super soldier?” “No! God no! I joined to be a scientist to make Midgar a better place...Plus it did pay a lot to help with my adopted family at the time, so two birds with one stone...or so I thought.” The soldier said with a disgusted expression on her face. “I was about twenty years old when I joined Dr. Hojo’s research division on how to use Mako energy. I wasn’t so thrilled about it given how he never cared so much about the employees that work for him. One day, I was checking on the vats of mako energy to make sure everything was stable and nothing would explode. After finishing my daily check-up, I was about to leave and report to Hojo. Only for the floor underneath me to break and cause me to fall into the vat below me.” “And this Mako energy...what is that?” Lyra asked as Emma pressed the button on one of the containers she pulled out to reveal what she meant by Mako Energy. The mint pony’s eyes widen upon seeing this as she moves a bit closer to the container with the aqua-green color liquid. “Wow...it’s so pretty.” “Yeah, hard to believe this is from the planet itself.” “Wait, you mean the planet has this kind of stuff within itself!?” “Pretty much…At least on the planet where I come from seeing how what I’m saying doesn’t seem to register to you.” “So you’re really from another planet?” Lyra asked as Emma nodded. “...So you’re not a human from where the Pokemon come from?” “I’m going to go with yes because I have never heard of a Pokemon…and because I don’t see any other humans around other than ponies. Back to what I was saying, about ninety-five percent of Midgar runs on Mako. And as such, just about everything uses mako energy. But like everything, it has its downsides. Humans can’t be exposed to the liquid form of mako for long periods, less they suffer from mako poisoning.” “Mako Poisoning?” “I haven’t done much research on mako energy due to some personal research, but from what I heard from Dr. Hojo, heavy degrees of exposure are capable of disrupting a person's cognitive facilities to the point of inducing catatonia, coma, and even death.” She said before grabbing the container full of mako energy. “Wait, if you fell into the vat of mako energy, how come you’re not catatonic, or in a coma, or dead?” “Don’t know. Unlike most people, I could swim and drink this stuff without suffering from the side effects. Might be because I drank this stuff as a kid and built up an immunity to it, or maybe a genetic mutation. Whatever the reason is, the moment I was rescued Shinra labeled me as a possible test subject. It didn’t help that someone saw me do this.” Emma turned her attention onto the container of mako energy. Lyra noticed the soldier’s arms began to glow blue for a few seconds as the mako energy turned the same color as her arms did for a moment. Once her arms return to normal, the container opens up as it reveals a green color crystal-like ball pops out and onto the ground. “I can pretty much make materia on the go if I need to, but I can only make about ten of them per day. After that, I will need about twenty-four hours to recharge and the Materia I make is random.” “Whoa,” Lyra said as she used her magic to levitate to orb over to her as she marveled at it. “It’s so pretty. What is this thing?” “Materia. It’s crystallized mako energy. It allows humans to use magic, increase their physical abilities, and can even summon god-like beings.” She said which took Lyra by surprise as she dropped the materia she was levitating and backed away from it. “Relax, that’s only if you have red materia. What you see on the ground is green materia, which allows you to use magic.” “Okay, that’s good to know,” Lyra said as she let out a sigh of relief before levitating the materia back up to her. “So how does this materia thing work?” “Like this,” Emma said before reaching into a medium-size bag attached to her uniform and pulling out a red materia. “Place it on any part of your body, and the materia will sink into you without any issues.” She said before placing the materia on her arm. Within a matter of seconds, the orb sinks into her arm as she gives off a red glow for a few seconds before vanishing. “Like that.” “Um...okay,” Lyra said before looking over the materia she was holding. “You sure this won’t cause me problems or cause me to explode?” “You won’t die from having that inside you. If need be, you can remove it just by applying pressure to the area of your body you place it on. Like popping a zit or something.” “Gross…” She said before placing the materia on her arm. Nothing happens upon her doing that, but within a matter of seconds, the materia sinks into her arm as the green dot from the materia glows for a moment before vanishing. A tingling sensation ran up the mare’s spine before hitting her head as her eyes widened from the knowledge obtained from placing the materia inside her body. “Wow…and you just learn the magic…like instantly?” “Wait what?” Emma said before noticing the unicorn’s horn glowed for a moment as a giant ball of fire appeared in front of them. “...That’s a firaga spell…how the hell can you learn a high-level spell that took me six months to learn!?” “Could be because I’m a unicorn...and not a human,” Lyra said as she noticed a deadpan expression on the soldier’s face. “What? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist or anything. I'm just guessing…though it feels weird.” “You’ll get used to it. But for now, you got yourself free materia.” Emma said as she noticed Lyra making the ball of fire vanish. “Back to what I was saying. Shinra pretty much found out that I’m more attune to mako energy compared to most people and decided to use me as their vending machine for materia and a medical soldier. So they sent me to the deepground for training.” She said as Lyra noticed the human shaking in what she could guess was either trauma or anger. “Nine years in that god awful place…” “W-What was the deepground like?” “...What is the worst place this place has for an awful place?” “That would be Tartarus. Which is like a prison where it’s being guarded by a three-headed dog.” Lyra said as she noticed a wtf expression on the human’s face. “Okay…Imagine that, but ten times worse.” She said which caused Lyra to shiver in slight fear of thinking of Tartarus ten times worse. “The Deepground is a cold, scary, dark place. If you’re not strong enough, you were killed off in either one of their experiments, missions they send the soldiers on, or killed during…the hunt.” “And the hunt is-” “I don’t want to talk about it…” “But you said that you’ll answer my-” “I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Emma said quickly as startled Lyra. The mare noticed Emma was hyperventilating slightly as she decided to change the subject by asking her a different question. “O-Okay, okay, I won’t bring that up until you’re ready for it. Okay, so far from what I’m getting at. This project Deepground was meant to replace something in your world. S-So does your world have a law informant or military kind of thing like we do here with the royal guards?” “Y-Yes. Project Deepground was meant to replace SOLDIERs in Project Jenova “ She said before reaching for the other container. “She soon pressed a button to open the screen part of it to reveal a malformed piece of…what could only be described as the flesh of some kind of animal or something from what Lyra could tell. Her eyes widen upon seeing this thing but gags a bit from seeing it throb a bit. “Mother of Celestia! What is that thing!?” “Jenova, or at least a piece of Jenova that I was told to bring to the rendezvous point within Wutai territory. But I had to use the experimental materia to escape from falling off a cliff. From what I looked up before being sent to the deepground, this alien monster thing was used as a means to increase a human’s physical attributes…though there were some…horrible side effects for those who couldn’t handle the Jenova cells within their bodies.” She said as Lyra raised an eyebrow at her. “Some turn into monsters, others suffer from Alzheimer's rather quickly, some would go on a berserk rampage and have to be put down…by put down I mean killed, and the cells can rot a person from the inside out.” “Geez, who’s idea was it to fund this project?” “That would be President Shinra. Head leader of the Shrina corporation. He has the money, power, and connections to make a person's life miserable. And you’re looking at the by-product of that.” Emma said before closing the screen on the container as she started taking off her gear. “You seem to be taking this surprisingly well. I mean don’t take this the wrong way, but I figure you would find what I say disgusting and think all humans are awful creatures.” “Understandable, but I like to keep an open mind and think that not all humans are evil…plus us ponies aren’t that different from humans…well minus the tech differences. But given the past incidents that happened in Equestria throughout the years before Pokemon came...I think we might be on the same level as humans give or take a couple of years.” “...Elaborate please?” “Well, there was the time when Discord almost took over Equestria…twice. Then there’s the wedding incident where Chrysalis tried to take over Canterlot.” Lyra said as her horn glowed to show Emma a magical image of what Discord and Chrysalis looks like. “...Okay, I’m going to have to look into this country’s past, but this information is good in case I need to use it as evidence that ponies aren’t so different from humans when it comes to evil intentions.” She said before stretching her limbs a bit as she made loud popping sounds from her bones cracking. “Any other questions that you want me to answer?” “Okay, so I just want to make sure. You don’t know what pokemon are, right?” “You mean those weird talking monsters that I saved you from?” The human asked as Lyra nodded. “Yeah, never heard of them before…weird that I can understand what they’re saying.” “Wait, you don’t have a translation spell that allows you to understand them?” “No, do you?” She asked as the mare shook her head. “Huh…weird.” “Might be because you’re from a different world than the humans that came along with the Pokemon.” “Speaking of that. Mind explaining to me what the deal is with that? Are the Pokemon native to this place or something?” “I wouldn’t say they’re native to Equestria. They’re aliens from another world.” Lyra said as Emma raised an eyebrow. “I’ll explain as best as I can, but from what I could gather from some of the ponies I listen in on conversations with, this being named Arceus brought over Pokemon and humans from his world, and brought them to our world because humans were a threat to them. The humans that he did bring over were turned into humans. Don’t know why, but it might be due to his fears towards them.” “So this, Arceus' person, just up and left his world, came here and decided to make this his home for him and his Pokemon?” The human asked as Lyra nodded. “Did he send an ambassador to represent his race or something?” She asked as the mare shook her head. “...Wow…what an idiot.” “I mean, can you blame him? Especially if the humans were that bad in his world to the point where he would come here.” “I couldn’t care less if the humans were going to kill him. If you’re going to plan something like this, you at least have to have a plan when it comes to something like this. Or at least try and get in contact with the inhabitants as a means of a warning or something. That’s kind of the first rule of diplomacy. What he just did would be considered a full-scale invasion on a warring scale.” “I mean, technically yes. But so far things are going okay…right?” “You were surrounded by three dogs that can shoot fire from their mouths. How is that going okay?” “Alright, fine. Things are kind of not okay for the most part.” Lyra said while huffing in annoyance. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against pokemon or anything. I just wish this could’ve been handled much better without me getting jumped a third time by a group of pokemon.” “Third time?” Emma asked as she raised an eyebrow at Lyra. “Yeah, this wouldn’t be the first time something like what you saw happened. I had to give up my food so that I wouldn’t be sent to the hospital. Even though I reported to the Royal Guard about it, they can’t do anything due to other problems involving the pokemon.” “Sounds like the entire country is in chaos over all this.” “More like the entire world, but it seems much worse here in Equestria than anywhere else.” “And your leaders. Are they trying something to deal with this mess?” “If you mean the princesses? Then yeah, they’re kind of trying to solve this matter by making rules that apply to the pokemon as well, but even that doesn’t help for the most part as you saw in the alleyway.” “Hm, interesting. And the humans that came along with him? You said that they were turned into pokemon, was it because of this god of all pokemon that did it, or did they want to be pokemon?” “That’s a tricky question. I mean I tried to ask some of the humans that were turned into pokemon, but some of them either chose to ignore my question, preferred not to answer, or they were just random pokemon of the human trainer they came with but were separated because of the trip.” “So it’s a touchy subject that they don’t want to answer,” Emma said as she placed a hand on her chin. “I would like to know a bit more about the Pokemon from another world, but I would need to find someone from that world that won’t freak out upon meeting someone like me.” “You mean because you’re a human?” “Yep, not to mention we can’t tell who is a pokemon and who was a former human…Though I might be able to make something that can do that.” “You have some kind of spell that can do that?” “Of course not, don’t be silly. That’s like saying unicorns can copy the moves of that dog pokemon via magic.” “Yet you did that?” Lyra said as Emma deadpans. “Because I’m not a unicorn, and because I have a materia that lets me copy certain monsters' unique moves…I guess the pokemon do count as monsters considering what happens in the alleyway…I’ll have to see what moves the materia will be able to copy when I get the chance.” “How much materia do you have?” “On me, fifty. In my body, two hundred. My weapons consist of my sword, revolver, a rifle that can change into a shotgun, machinegun, sniper, and assault rifle…I think about seven or eight.” She said before noticing Lyra’s shocked expression. “What? I'm a secret government project meant to fight in wars. What did you expect?” “I mean I get that…but holy mother of Celestia, you humans are scary when you have to be.” “Eh, I’m pretty sure anyone can be like how we humans are when it comes to violence.” “I suppose. I just have one more question. Don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure you’re not a spy sent here to try and invade us?” “After telling you about a small fraction of my world and the people I worked for, why would I want to bring them here? If anything they will kill me for failing my mission in giving them the Jenova cells…Or worse.” “Okay…?” “Plus the only way for them to find me is to use some kind of device to find me on another planet, or someone to make a connection with my planet, Gaia.” “And you expect me to believe that?” “Why would I screw myself over at the chance of freedom…though I would like to know if my family moved to someplace safe after the last letter I sent them.” She said before reaching into her bag to pull out a photo of what she meant by her family. From what she could tell, Emma looked to be about fifteen maybe sixteen years old in the photo, while the others were much older. The two males were in their late fifties and thirties, while the woman was in her forties. Lyra soon notices Emma in the picture along with three other humans. From what she could tell, the other humans have lighter skin compared to Emma, and their hair color was different. Emma’s hair was cherry-colored, while the other three humans had blonde-colored hair. “How come you look different than the other three humans in the picture?” “Because I’m adopted.” She said as she caused Lyra to flinch in surprise by hearing that. “Don’t know what happened to my real parents, all my adoptive parents told me was that they found me crying near a small pool of Mako energy. Couldn’t find my real parents so they decided to adopt me into their family.” “Do you…ever wonder who your real parents are?” Lyra asked. “Sometimes I do. Maybe my parents died protecting me from a monster and I was left near the mako as a means to protect me, maybe they gave me up because they couldn’t support a child, maybe they were shitty parents and they left me to rot. But that came to a stop thinking about that over time. Mainly due to being sent to the deepground.” “So that’s a yes, on the whole, going back home thing?” “Only to see if they’re okay. I mean, I don’t know how time works between two worlds, but by the time I make it back, they might be either dead or moved to someplace away from Midgar.” “...Would you like me to help you?” Lyra said as Emma blinked in surprise by hearing this. “You…help me? Why would you say something like that? For all you know, I could be lying and planning on doing horrible things to you.” She said while trying to act evil by grinning…but all it did was make her less threatening seeing how her facial expression didn’t look threatening. “Oh yeah, because you’re an evil human bent on world domination~” “...Alright fine, jokes aside, why would you help me?” “Well, you seem like a nice human. Plus what evil human would hold a picture of their family with them and not worry about them?” Lyra said as it caused Emma to blush a bit. “So I’m going to help you out in whatever it is that you need to get back to your world...maybe you can take me along with you~?” “...You just want to go so you can meet other humans, don’t you?” “Well can you blame me? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on an adventure. Especially with a human!” She said before hopping off the couch and beginning to trot around it. “Just imagine it. Lyra Heartstrings, the first pony to explore worlds beyond the stars. With her trusty human companion by her side!” “Since when am I the companion? If anything it’s the other way around.” “Maybe, but you have no idea about how this world works. Nor do you know the history of Equestria.” “Not yet,” Emma said as she reached for her helmet. “Before meeting you, I have been downloading data about this world. Soon I’ll be getting everything I need in a matter of.” She quickly looked inside her helmet to see how long the download would take. Upon seeing that it would take twenty-four hours to be done, she lets out an annoyed groan as she pulls her head out of the helmet. “Twenty-four hours.” She said as she noticed the unicorn trying not to bust out laughing. “You laugh, I will hurt you.” “For an advanced race, you think you would have technology that would download information faster, huh~?” Lyra said as Emma rolled her eyes. “Just a minor setback…but if you’re willing to tell me a bit about Equestria until the download is down, that would be great?” “Only if I get to join you on your adventure in trying to get home?” Lyra asked as she walked over to Emma and extended a hoof towards her. “Well…do we have a deal, partner?” Emma examined the unicorn’s hoof for a moment before looking up at Lyra, who was grinning in excitement. Having a guide might prove to be useful in the long run, plus if things go south, it’s always nice to have someone on your side in case you’re blamed for something you didn’t do. The Deepground soldier sighed in defeat as she shook the mare’s hoof. “Alright, fine. You got a deal.” “Awesome, I just know that this will be an adventure of a lifetime,” Lyra said as Emma was about to say something, only for the door to the room they were to open up. They both turned their attention to the door as they saw a female beige-colored earth pony with a blue mane and rose pink color mane. “Sorry, I’m late Lyra. There was some kind of huge explosion near the alleyway next to the store, and the royal guards blocked that area of the street for investigation purposes. So I had to take a different…route.” Bon Bon blinked upon seeing Lyra shaking hands with the human. She soon rubbed her eyes for a moment before focusing her attention on Emma as she was about to scream, only for Emma to quickly snap her fingers. Upon doing that, a clock appeared on the earth pony as time stopped for the mare. The deepground soldier lets out a sigh of relief before looking over at Lyra. “You didn’t tell me you had a roommate.” “Oh…um…I kind of forgot to mention that…mainly because I was excited to meet a real human.” Lyra said as she gave the human an awkward chuckle along with a sheepish smile. The human’s deadpan expression deepens more before sighing and walking over to Lyra. “Is Bon-Bon going to be okay?” “She’ll be fine. The spell stopza lasts for a good hour or so depending on the person. But we might need to cover her mouth because once it wears off, she will continue to scream.” “...I’ll get a block of cheese. You place her somewhere she’s comfortable so we can explain to her what’s going on.” Lyra said as she headed off into the kitchen while the human placed the mare on the couch and waited for the effects of stopza to wear off.