Before any of them had any time to react, the creature leaped at the five of them. In the blink of an eye, Kim was tackled to the ground by the grasshopper-like creature, ramming her in her chest. Just when she thought that the pain from her stomach wound was going away, the creature made sure it reminded her that it was still there. However, she couldn’t let that small pain interfere with the major situation on her hands: the fact that an unknown creature was pinning her to the ground.
Using her hands, she held the creature as far away from her as she possibly could. When she did, her eyes went wide at what she was face-to-face with. Its face had pincers like an ant, but they were all metal. However, the mouth from behind them opened, revealing sharp teeth and some sort of fluid spewing out of it. Its head and red eyes moved up and down as it wriggled its body to get free. All the while, the sharp serrated pincers snapped over and over again, each time, trying its best to get to her. Amidst the struggle, she could have sworn she heard someone scream, but because her focus was mainly on the dangerous creature trying to get at her, she couldn’t confirm who it was.
As she continued to struggle with the creature, she could feel with her hands that the creature was fuzzy and a little bit squishy, as if the body of the creature was organic. However, the majority of the body was glimmering with the shiny metal that made up the majority of it.
Before anything else could happen, Sonic kicked the creature off of her, sending it flying down the street. Kim quickly got to her feet and looked at the creature, which had regained its posture and was standing before them again. It readied itself, as if it was going to jump at them again. However, it remained completely motionless as it stood at the ready.
“What now?” asked Sailor Moon, tears streaming from her eyes. It was pretty clear that it was her who had screamed when the creature was on Kim.
“I don’t know,” said Sonic, “But get ready. We don’t know what it is going to do.”
The five of them stared at the creature, all of them ready to defend themselves from whatever it was they were face to face with.
In the blink of an eye, the long legs on the front of the creature extended, reaching over its own body. Then, it gripped the ends of the two sharp pieces of metal on its back. Finally, leaping towards them and screeching again, it used all the strength it had to throw the two metal shards at the five of them.
They all managed to jump out of the way of both the creature and the flying pieces of metal that approached them. As they all jumped to safety, they saw that the metal shards had flown into the upturned cars that were strewn about. When they did, the metal blades flew right through them and into the concrete behind it, getting stuck in the road when they landed. It was pretty clear that this creature was much more dangerous than it looked.
The creature didn’t cease to attack as it collided with a car and quickly leaped towards the one closest to it, Twilight. In a quick instant, the unicorn used her magic to capture the creature and levitate it in the air. It kicked around and tried to get away, a maroon aura suspending it in mid-air. Again, it shrieked loudly, as if it was trying to call out to someone or something.
As the five of them got up, they looked at the creature that was levitating before them. It looked at each of them, its pincers snapping and its legs kicking in different directions, thinking that it would set it free.
“What is that thing!?” shrieked Sailor Moon as she stared at the creature.
“I don’t know,” said Kim, gripping her stomach where her wounds were, “But that thing is like nothing that I’ve ever seen.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Sonic, “That thing is clearly some sort of robot of some kind.”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Kim, her breath slowly coming to, “What I mean is that it’s not a full robotic...thing. It’s also part organic, as if it is some sort of animal with mechanical ligaments.”
Sonic looked at her with a wide-eyed expression. “You mean like a half-robot, half-living thing, type creature?”
Kim nodded, as she looked closer at the grasshopper-like creature. As she approached it, it looked at her with its red eyes, its pincers slowly opening as she did. They could all see the fluids spewing from its mouth, as if it was salivating, starving like they were.
When Kim was only a yard away from it, the creature began to struggle again, trying to get at her like it had before.
“What are we going to do with it?” she asked, as she walked to its backside, investigating it some more.
“I don’t know,” said Twilight, her voice sounding a bit strained, “Whatever you plan on doing, you better do it soon. I can’t hold this thing forever. It’s struggling way too much.”
“There’s only one thing we can do,” said Sonic, crossing his arms and smiling, “We have to destroy it.”
“But how?” asked Sailor Moon, “This thing has too many mechanical parts protecting its body. We couldn’t destroy it even if we...”
The blonde human was interrupted when a beam of pink energy wisped in the air, causing all of them to jump back in surprise. Twilight, who had jumped back like the others, released her magic around the creature, causing it to fall to the ground. However, when they did, they saw that the upper half of it was gone, leaving only the lower half of its body and the reversed back legs.
The four of them looked up to see that Mew’s eyes were glowing indigo, just like they had when he destroyed the war machine in the barren wastelands. Realizing what had just happened, they all stood up and looked at the pink creature.
“You know, you could warn us the next time you’re going to do that,” said Twilight, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“Mew, Mew,” he said, imitating what looked like a shrug.
Directing their attention away from Mew, they five of them looked at the remains of the creature that lied on the ground. Since it was cut in half, its innards were slowly falling out of its body, creating a pool of velvet fluids on the ground.
“Well, it looks like you were right,” said Sonic, his eyes wide with shock, “This thing was a living organism.”
“What was it doing out here?” asked Kim, putting her hands on her hips.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is that we’ve wasted enough time with this thing,” said Twilight, “We need to get back to the ship before that energy opens and possibly strands us here.”
“Alright,” said Sonic, “Let’s get going before...”
However, they were, once again, stopped by a sound coming from behind them. It was a different sound than before, but one they were all quite familiar with. When they turned around to face one of the building remains behind them, they saw that a piece of the concrete from the structure had fallen, colliding with the street below it.
Before anyone could say anything about it, they saw another piece of the structure fall to the ground, and then another, and another. Slowly, the five of them looked up at the building, which was somewhat still intact, and went wide-eyed at what they saw.
Staring back at them were glowing red dots, much like the eyes of the creature they had just destroyed. However, in every window frame that the building had left over, there were red dots, each of them moving, each of them staring back at them. Whenever one of them moved closer to the ledge, it caused a piece of the broken building to fall to the ground.
They stood where they were as the eyes stared back at them. Eventually, they heard more of the building falling to the ground, this time, it was behind them. Slowly, they turned around to face the building opposite the one they were already looking at to see even more red eyes staring back at them.
Fear and panic began to course through each of them as they realized that they were surrounded, each building they looked at infested with the glowing eyes. It was pretty clear that they weren’t alone in this destroyed city and were probably being watched the entire time, ever since they arrived.
“Oh...my...” said Kim, her voice low and soft, “They’re everywhere.”
“They’ve been here the whole time,” said Twilight, matching her tone, “They’ve probably been watching us.”
“Then why didn’t they attack us before?” asked Sailor Moon, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.
“It’s probably because we didn’t pose much of a threat to them,” said Kim, her eyes shifting back and forth at the creatures.
“They probably saw us take out one of their own,” said Sonic, his fist clenching so hard that his gloves made an uncomfortable rubbing sound, “It looks like they’re angry.”
“What do we do?” asked Sailor Moon, trying her best not to break down into tears again, even though she was failing at doing so.
“The only thing we can,” said the hedgehog, “On the count of three, we run for the ship as fast as we can. One...two...”
He didn’t have a chance to even mouth the word before one of the creatures leaped from the building and right towards them, letting out a shriek as it did so. Not waiting for the last number, the five of them turned and began running down the road. As they did, they heard the sound of the clinking metal as before, only this time, it was like a sea of metal forming right behind them. They turned their head a little bit to see exactly what they feared.
From the buildings, the grasshopper-like creatures began jumping down to the street. Then, they turned and began giving chase, the streets practically covered with them. All of them began letting out the same sound as before, being pretty apparent that it was some sort of war cry. Focusing on where they were going, they began heading down the road, hoping against hope that they would make it to the ship intact.
“What now?” asked Kim, her voice in almost a shout.
“Keep moving,” said Sonic, “Don’t stop!”
Their conversation was short lived when they saw metal blades whiz right by them, cutting into a piece of concrete in front of it. When they looked behind them, they saw that many of the creatures were throwing their metal blades from their backs at them. Since they were in motion, their accuracy wasn’t that great and kept missing them, but many of them were getting too close for comfort.
“Turn down this street!” shouted Sonic.
The five of them turned down one of the side roads that became a downward incline. When they did, they looked behind them to see that several metal blades kept going straight down the road they were just on.
“Good thinking,” said Kim, “If we keep ourselves on a swivel, we won’t have to worry about those blades hitting us.”
“Yes, but that still leaves those hoppers coming after us!” said Sailor Moon, practically out of breath, “What do we do about them!?”
“Just keep going, full speed ahead!” said Sonic, as they turned down another side street. When they did, they heard the sounds of the metallic clinking again; they were safe from the blades, but the hoppers themselves were still hot on their trail.
Knowing that their options were limited, Twilight yelled out, “I have an idea, but you all have to gather as close to me as possible!”
“Why?” asked Kim, “What are you doing?”
“Trust me, this will work!” the unicorn shouted, trying her best to keep up with the others. Like with Kim, it was only now that she was reminded of the wounds running down her leg. However, she had to do what she had to do, regardless of the pain.
With no other choice, the five of them gathered as close as they could to the lavender mare. When they were close enough, they saw that her horn began to glow again. Shutting her eyes as tight as she could, a spark had formed and a white light flashed before all of their eyes, blinding them for a moment.
When they came to, they saw that they were in front of the steep road they had first traveled on, heading towards the dead tree area. However, they were all at the very top of it, which meant they still had to go down.
“What was that?” asked Sailor Moon, trying to keep her head from moving.
“Teleportation,” said Twilight as she collapsed on the ground, “I didn’t know if I could move all of us, but I managed it. However, I think it used up too much of my energy. I can’t...”
Before she could finish, they heard the sounds of the hoppers beginning to close in on them. Doing what he must, Mew focused on the lavender horse, squinting his eyes as he did. Then, a pink bubble formed around her, picking her up with ease. Not wasting any more time, Mew began flying down the steep road as fast as he could. The others, quite shocked at what they were all witnessing, shook it off and began running down the road as well, only a short distance away from the ship.
As they ran down the steep street, which allowed them to go faster than they had before, they heard the sounds of the hoppers approaching. By the time they reached the base of the road, they looked behind them to see the hoppers beginning to make their way down the road.
As fast as their legs could carry them, they made their way through the dead forest until they reached the ship. However, they saw that it was just lying there, not making any movement like before.
“How do we get the ship to open the energy?” asked Sailor Moon, trying to catch her breath.
“I don’t know,” said Sonic, panic also evident in his voice, “I think we need to wait for it to open it.”
“Not an option, look!” said Kim as she pointed down the dirt path. They saw that the creatures were beginning to close in on them.
Releasing Twilight from the bubble, Mew faced the creatures and fired his attack at them, destroying many of them. However, there were still many of them slowly approaching from all sides. Trying his best, Mew kept firing his beams at them, either destroying them or keeping them at bay.
Using what little energy she had, Twilight made her way to the broken opening of the ship, sticking her body in to see the panel from before. She saw that the red light from before was glowing again. Knowing what that meant, she wiggled her way out of the opening, hitting a few buttons on the panel as she did so, changing the symbols on the screen like before.
When she was out, she reunited with the others and said, “I think the ship is going to open up the energy soon!”
“How do you know?” asked Sonic.
“The red light is on,” she quickly explained, “It was on when it opened up the energy the last time, so that must mean...”
Again, she was cut off when they ship began to jolt like before. Then, the door on the nose of the ship opened, releasing the purple-white energy again. When it did, many, if not all, of the hoppers began backing away and retreating in fear, screeching as they did so.
“Where are they going?” asked Kim as they watched them jump away.
“They must be afraid of the energy or something,” said Sonic, directing his attention at the wall of purple-white in front of him. Knowing what was going to happen, he shouted out, “Everyone, brace yourselves!”
Somewhat warned ahead of time, they were all engulfed by the blinding white light again. Like before, they found themselves falling again. Since they were prepared, many of them positioned themselves so they wouldn’t fall and injure themselves. Even though they knew it was coming, they still had a rough landing; not as rough as the first time, but not as smoothly as they wanted it to be.
When the ship had landed on the ground behind them, the five of them rested for a moment, all of them trying to catch their breaths. They had barely made it out of Heatherfield alive. Now that they were away from the danger, they decided to take advantage and try to regain their composure.
“That...” said Kim, lying on her back and breathing heavily with her eyes closed, “That...was too close...”
“I’ll say,” said Sonic, doubling over and out of breath, “Whatever those things were, they sure didn’t want to leave.”
They focused their attention to Twilight, who was lying on her stomach. “How are you doing there, Twi?” Sonic asked her.
“Fine, for now,” she said, her eyes spinning in circles, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to traveling like that against my will.”
“Is everyone else alright?” he asked aloud. Sailor Moon nodded while Mew made small moaning noises, hovering in front of Sonic with a dazed expression on his face.
“Thanks for helping me back there, Mew,” said Twilight as she stood on her hooves.
The pink creature hovered in front of her and offered a small embrace, smiling as he did so. Twilight returned the gesture, also smiling at him.
Now that they were safe, the five of them decided to look around where they were; no doubt the ship had brought them to another location. They looked around at the darkened sky overhead, blankets of clouds slowly moving overhead. There were trees strewn about as well, but like in Heatherfield, they were all dead. However, what caught most of their interest was what lay before them.
They stood at the entrance of what looked like a small town, not consisting of much except small buildings. One in particular had a roof that was an upside down cone, coming to a point at the very top. There were a few others that looked just like that one, but many of the other buildings looked very strange, as if it were meant to be an amusement park attraction for kids or something.
“Where are we now?” asked Kim as she stood to her feet.
“It looks like a small village,” said Sonic, “Does anyone recognize it?”
All of them either shook their heads or shrugged at the hedgehog. Sonic crossed his arms and looked at the town, his eyes furrowing as he did.
However, one thing that stood out to all of them was all of the broken and destroyed toys that were strewn all around them. Walking over to them, Sonic picked one of them up and investigated it. It didn’t look like much, except for the fact that it was broken and in pieces. Then, he looked at the town, his eyebrows still furrowed.
“What is that?” asked Kim as she and the others walked up to him.
“It’s...it’s a toy...” he said, dropping it on the ground, “It looks like this town is full of them. Look over there.”
He pointed down the main road of the village to show the others the broken and disheveled toys that were all over the roads.
Raising an eyebrow, Kim looked at the small town and said, “So...this is a town...filled with toys?”
A moment of silence followed as the five of them looked around at the village that looked abandoned.
After a while, Sailor Moon broke the silence by shrugging her shoulders and asking, with a small hint of humor in her voice and a smile on her face, “So...it’s a ‘toy town’, then?”