//------------------------------// // Phoenix Strikes Back // Story: A Calamity of Epic Proportions // by AvalonAva //------------------------------// A Calamity of Epic Proportions Chapter 6 Phoenix Strikes Back A Shadow Knight was walking by himself. All of his teammates, friends, and everyone else was defeated by the ponies and Blazeclaw, with the exception of him. He managed to survive the explosion of the Shadow Corsair by escaping in a Shadow Fighter, only to have crashed from the shockwave. He walked with a slight limp, and had his right hand on his left arm, which had a horrid and bloody gash in it. "Can anyone hear me? Someone, please respond!" He said over their radio. The only sound he heard was the crackling of static. He hailed the base, but got no response. "Damnit! Figures. They couldn't make this too easy for me." He kept moving forward. The Knight was walking when he tripped over something. He fell on his face. "Damn, that hurt." He turned see what he tripped on. He caught a glimmer of gold, and he stood up. He bent over the golden thing, and saw that it was a sword. It had six colors engraved into the hilt: blue, red, green, yellow, white, and brown. The Knight picked the sword up, and examined it. The blade started to glow. He tried to let it go, but for some reason his grip only tightened. He tried to move his body, but found that he was paralyzed. "Why can't I move?" he asked himself. His armor began to change. On the left side of his helmet, a plate formed from the bottom of his chin, up and extended towards the back of his helmet. His armor became less bulky, and made him more agile. When the armor stopped moving, he regained control. "What was that?" headed himself. Suddenly he heard voices. "We are now one." "We're entrusting you with our power." "Avenge us, the fallen." "Wreak havoc on his world." "You now have incredible strength an near unlimited powers." "Go fourth, champion, and fulfill your destiny." The voices stopped as suddenly as they started. He unsheathed his other sword, dropped it, and sheathed the new blade. He laughed. "By the might of Deathshadow, I, Cursed Orthanik, will use this power for his great cause of conquest across the known universe and dimensions." He said. Cursed turned around and a vehicle appeared before him. It it resembled the Shadow Fighters, which looked similar to UNSC Sabers. But the wings were angled forward, and the jets on the side of the jet instead of the rear. It had one word stamped onto it. "Wrath. Cursed said. He loaded onto the jet and fired up the engine. "Now it's time to have some real fun." XXXX Blazeclaw, Phoenix team, Quin, and Princess Celestia stood in the outskirts of Canterlot. The Crucible Fire, Masamune 100, and Claymore rested before them. JetFire and Frostbite jumped into their vehicles, and Quin turned to Blazeclaw. "What are you using?" She asked him. Quin looked around, but saw no sign of another craft. Blaze reached into a side pouch on his left leg. He pulled out a case, and opened it up. A small capsule rested inside it. He pressed a button on it, and threw the capsule away from him. With an explosion of smoke, a ship materialized. "How-?" Emily said. "We work with others. Only people who know Dbz would get the reference." Blaze said. "Dbz?" The Princess asked. "Exactly." they all examined the vehicle. It had two forward machine guns, energy cannons, and the canopy looked similar to that of a y-wing. "What is it called?" Quin asked. "The Marauder. I came up with its design, but my friend, Felix, built it for me. He's the leader of the United Allies, the only force standing up against the United Enemies." Blaze said. Quin walked to the Crucible Fire and entered the cabin. Blaze grabbed onto the side of the Marauder and swung himself up into the cockpit. He buckled straps around himself and closed the canopy. He pressed a button, and the engines started to hum. Two cables came out from the sides and attached themselves to his gauntlets. The ships systems turned on and recognized him. The Marauder, Crucible Fire, Claymore, and Masamune 100 all lifted off the ground. "Good luck. You're gona need it." Someone said. Blaze turned to see who it was. Terry nodded to him. He returned the nod. The 4 jets launched off. XXXX "Ok. We're infiltrating a small access port near the base of the mountain. Thermal scans reported a huge amount of radiation towards the center. That should be a power core. If we blast that, the whole place is put out of commission." Blaze said. They passed by a mountain, and their target came into view. The metal dome on the side was huge, and it had what looked like smokestacks and towers protruding from the top. "I still don't see how you guys didn't notice this." "~They had a signal jammer.~" Quin's voice sounded over the coms. "~We figured that since it was a mountain that our signals couldn't penetrate it. We figured wrong.~" The four came closer to the mountain. They sped up, and moved down. The small access port came into view. "~We can't enter all at once.~" JetFire said. "~Of course we can't.~" Frostbite said. "~Cut the chatter, you two. Blaze, what's your course of action?~" Quin said. They came closer to the access port. "Quin, you take the lead. Frostbite, JetFire, take the center. I'll hold the rear. Move into position now." The four jets moved around. The Crucible Fire jumped up to the lead, the Masamune 100 and Claymore trailed behind, JetFire on the right, Frostbite on the left. The Marauder followed in the back. They entered the access port, and it got darker. The only light was green lights lined along the walls. Defense turrets fired rounds at the intruders. But because they were moving so fast that the turrets couldn't hit them. They dogged columns, all had walkways wrapped around them and more green lights. A small black winged creature latched itself onto the Masamune 100. It started to crawl across the jet, moving towards Frostbite. Blaze aimed one of his chain guns at the creature and fired. It went ridged, and let go of the Masamune 100. "What the hell was that?" Blaze demanded. "~A changeling. This must be a damn hatchery.~" Quin said. "~Another good reason to blow his place to kingdom come.~" Jetfire replied. A sudden explosion almost caused Blaze to crash into a column. He did a barrel roll and straightened back out. He looked into his rear camera display and saw a jet behind him. "Who the hell is this guy?" Blaze asked. A voice sounded on his com. "~You don't remember me? We fought on your home world right before we took it over. Shadow General Cursed Orthanik.~" The voice said. Blazeclaw tightly gripped the Marauder's controls. Three shadow fighters came up behind Wrath. Up ahead, the passage split into two directions: left and right. On Blaze's gps display the route showed that the right passage headed towards the core room. "Guys, take the right passage. I'll take the left and get this guy off your tail. Good luck guys." He had 3 green lights wink on for a few seconds. The group split up. XXXX The Crucible Fire, Masamune 100, and Claymore took the passage to the right. JetFire looked back, and saw that Wrath and all of the Shadow Fighters followed Blazeclaw. "I hope he'll be ok." JetFire said. The passage started to ascend. After a minute of it rising, the tunnel seemed to end. The three jets excited the passage and entered a huge room. The ceiling was metal. "~I think that's the metal dome above us.~" Quin said. They looked around, and JetFire spotted something. "Oh no!" He shouted. "~What is it, JetFire?~" Frostbite asked. JetFire pointed down. They all looked, and saw a horrible sight. Shadow Corsairs were being built and assembled. Quin looked out in front of them, and saw a balcony built out from the rock. Two people stood there. On the left was Queen Chrysalis. But on the right was a person who stood upright. They had black armor, twin axes, and wore a round black helmet. White cat-like ears poked out from the helmet. They also had a white colored tail. "~Well, we found out this place's purpose. It's a hatchery AND a shipyard.~" Quin said. Three of the Shadow Corsairs were already finished, but there was a fourth that looked completely different. It was rectangular, had a massive cannon protruding from the front, a smaller one inside its belly pointing down, and on its top, near the rear, a tower on it similar to the separatist cruisers in star wars. The corsairs and this new threat moved towards the three ponies. "Destroy them, even though they arn't a real danger." Queen Chrysalis said confidently. The other sighed. "Don't get too cocky. I've learned that one the hard way. Death Cruiser, eliminate those three contacts." "Soon well take over Equestria!" Chrysalis said gleefully. The corsairs and Death Cruiser fired at the three jets. "~Ignore them. Head strait for the core room.~" Quin shouted over the com. The three dogged blasts of energy. Quin powered through the salvo since the Crucible Fire had energy shields. On her view screen, a arrow pointed to a passage heading down. "~Head for that tunnel. It'll take us to the core room!~" She said. They curved up, swan dived, and shot down, heading for the passage. As they entered, Shadow Fighters chased after them. They fired rounds at the three, but they manger to evade them. Frostbite fired a blue missile at the part of he tunnel underneath him, and it explode into ice. Two of the chasers were frozen in the blast. The rest managed to survive it, and kept on their tail. JetFire did something similar, but instead of ice, it exploded into napalm. More of the Shadow Fighters were taken down, yet the survivors trailed after them. "Damn! These guys are persistent!" JetFire yelled. A secondary passage came into view. "~Take that passage!~" Quin yelled to the two Spartans. They pulled up, and entered the next passage. Up ahead was a bright light. Frostbite looked back. A few of the pursues crashed, causing the others to lose control. He chuckled, and turned back around. The passage ended, and they were inside another large room. This time, though, it had only one, large structure in the center. It was two bases, one on the floor and one on the ceiling. A large metal cylinder was being suspended by energy fields from the two based. "~Ok, guys, connect.~" Quin said. The Claymore and Masamune 100 came closer to the Crucible Fire and set down on it, the Claymore on the Right, the Masamune on the left. They connected, and they flew towards the energy core. Lights began to glow on the jets, and Quin's energy canon began to charge. It power's up beyond its limit, and it was loosened from the cannon. The supercharged blast flew across and made contact with the core. It blasted a hole into the core, and the super jet went through the hole. They came out the other side, and the core collapsed. They Got to the other tunnel when the collapsed core detonated. The blast expanded and engulfed the core room. The three ponies flew through the tunnel, dogging minor explosions. Behind a wall of fire chased after them. A few Shadow Fighters managed to trail behind the super jet. "~We've got company!~" Frostbite yelled. Quin pulled up on a valve, and single barrel machine guns deployed from the back of Crucible Fire. They fired and punctured the Shadow Fighters. It slowed them down, and the wall of fire engulfed them. The super jet turned a corner, and JetFire saw something that made him shiver. "It's a dead end!" JetFire yelled. The passage had a metal plate in the way. Quin charged back up the energy cannon. They passed by a column while it exploded into flames. "~What are you doing?~" Frostbite asked. The cannon overcharged. "~It's like what Edward said.~" "And what is that?" JetFire demanded. Quin smiled. "~If you can't find a door, make one!~" She shouted. The energy blast escaped the cannon, and jumped ahead, on a collision course to the dead end. It made contact and blasted through, mealtime the metal plate. Sunlight flooded the tunnel. The jet blasted out of the opening, and the wall of fire blew through after them. "~Disconnect!~" Quin yelled. The three fighters separated, and they landed in the valley below. "Yea! We did it!" JetFire yelled. A sudden blast of energy, huge, hit one of the mountains. The Death Cruiser and the three Shadow Corsairs left the destroyed shipyard and moved into the valley. "~What are we going to do now?~" Frostbite asked. Quin smiled again. "~I think I have an idea...~"