//------------------------------// // Life 2: Chaotic Training Camp From Hell - Part 5 // Story: Ponyville DxD // by Naughty_Ranko //------------------------------// Part 5 There's four days left until our Rating Game against the ponies and I'm looking forward to my next day here in Ponyville as I enjoy the half-sleepiness just after waking up, although the bed does seem a little lumpy this morning. For once we're not being called upon to fight for some serious reason or to save the Underworld. It's just a friendly match and the best thing about it is that I spend my days training with the girls. In it's own way this is rather peaceful. I can feel someone stir beside me. One of the Occult Research Club members must have snuck into bed with me again. Wondering who it is (I'm hoping it's Buchou) I turn around. “Yo, Ise-kun!” he says with a wide grin. My eyes snap open and I sit bolt upright. “S-s-s-sensei!?” Yes, the man laying beside me is the Fallen Angel Governor and our self-appointed advisor Azazel-sensei. I take a look around and realize that we're not in my hotel room, but some kind of forest. “What's going on, you shitty Governor!?” “Don't worry, I just brought you out here for training purposes,” he responds, getting up and brushing some leaves off his clothes. “And this couldn't have waited until I was dressed?” I ask, noticing that I'm wearing my pajamas. He shrugs. “You can always conjure up some clothes.” “No, I can't.” I've never learned how to do it. “Oh, well then now's a good time to learn.” He picks a leaf from a tree. “Otherwise you can always make like Adam and Eve. Funny couple those two. Had to be with nobody else for company back in the day. Always the life of the party, even with just the two of them.” I keep growling at him. “I'm not interested in a history lesson. Why have you brought me out here?” “Well,” he says, stroking his chin beard. “I've been worried about your progress. Seems to me like the girls are a distraction for you. So I've decided to conduct the rest of your training here, in the Everfree Forest. An old friend of mine gave me the idea. It's not exactly what I had in mind for your training in the Underworld, but it's close enough.” “I'm supposed to stay here for four days?” Without Buchou? Without any oppai!? “I see you understand the situation. Well then, see you Sunday!” While he mockingly salutes me, a bright light begins glowing under his feet and just like that he vanishes through a teleportation circle. “AHH! Come back here, you shitty Governor!” Damn, I'm so angry right now. I was making the best out of this unexpected situation and now this. I look around, trying to get my bearings, but I haven't got the faintest clue of where I am. I'm never gonna find my way back to Ponyville and I don't have enough magic power to teleport. Dejectedly I sit down on the forest floor again. “What the hell am I supposed to do here?” As if to answer my rhetorical question, a small, purple dragon appears out of the brush and whizzes past me with one word: “RUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!” My brain is still half asleep, so I can't make heads nor tails out of what just happened and I stare after him in dumb-founded confusion. Then I notice something else, however. Is it just me or does it feel like the ground is shaking? Thump. Thump! THUMP! Something is crashing through the woods, something large. I feel like a rabbit caught by a snake as one enormous foot steps through the dense vegetation and right in front of me. I look up and see four snake-like necks protruding from a massive reptilian body covered in brown scales. Three of its heads begin to roar loudly, but what's really frightening is the fourth head. It's looking straight at me, fletching a row of dagger-shaped teeth. Ah, now I get it. “RUUUNNN!!!” I scramble to my feet and bolt the same way Spike had fled. As I crash through branches and bushes my clothes get shredded by the sharp vegetation. Even the plants in here seem to want to attack me. I keep taking glances over my shoulder, although I can tell by the shaking of the ground that it's still in pursuit. How can such a large thing move so fast? I catch up with Spike after a while, matching my stride with his. “What the hell is that thing?” “Hydra,” he answers, panting heavily. “It must have come here from Froggy Bottom Bog.” I stretch out my arm and make my Boosted Gear appear. [Boost!] “Can we fight it?” “Looks like we're about to find out,” Spike answers shakily as our flight is brought to a halt by a sheer cliff face that extends at least thirty feet upwards and into the vegetation on either side. [Boost!] It'll take my best technique to take that thing down. “I'm gonna need a minute to power up. Can you buy us some time?” The little dragon gulps as the creature catches up to us, all of its heads fixed on the two of us. “I'll try.” I watch as Spike makes a break for the left, his movement getting the attention of the Hydra. “Over here! Come and get me!” he screams, waving his arms around. [Boost!] The little guy has balls. I'll give him that much. Come on, Boosted Gear, just one more. One of the heads strikes downwards, trying to catch him between its fangs. Spike jumps just in time, landing on all fours on top of the head that buries itself in the ground. He's shivering in fear like a wet dog. [Boost!] That's it. “Spike, get clear!” I shout as I line up my shot. He manages to slide down the neck, hitting the ground hard and rolling out of the line of fire. The gem in my gauntlet begins to glow green as I aim for the body. I won't get a second chance, so I have to take it out in one hit. [Dragon Shot!] The energy beam releases and hits the creature dead center. But then something unexpected happens. The blast glances off its scales at an angle, flying into the distance and tearing a path of destruction through the forest. [Partner! Hydra scales are almost as tough as dragon scales. I don't think your current power level will be enough to penetrate its hide.] You couldn't have told me that earlier, Ddraig!? Now he just looks pissed off. One of the heads shoots towards me, burying itself in the rock face behind me with splinters flying every which way as I dodge by a hair's width. “Ise! Over here!” Spike calls out to me. Looks like there's a hole next to him. This might be our chance to get away. Not really seeing any other option, I make a dash for safety, going down the rabbit hole head first. I can feel myself falling through the darkness. Feels like this hole is actually a tunnel that leads into a cavern. After some time sliding down the earthen ramp, I'm brought to an abrupt halt by a rock floor. Spike tumbles down behind me, landing on top of me. “Ouch. Where are we?” Devil eyes work better in the dark, so I can make out we're in a cave. There's an opening that leads back out into the forest. “It's probably best to lay low here for a while,” Spike suggests. Yeah. I can still hear the hydra rampaging above us. He's probably pissed at missing out on his breakfast. I'm starting to shiver a little with only my pajamas on. “Is this forest always so uninviting?” “Pretty much,” Spike confirms as he gathers some fallen branches from the cave entrance. He piles them up and gets a camp fire going with his dragon breath. “Thanks for helping me out back there.” “Seemed like the thing to do,” I reply with a grin, warming my hands against the sizzling flames. “Didn't really have a lot of options.” Spike shakes his head. “You could have outrun me easily. My legs aren't exactly built for sprinting.” “Yeah, well. You had no reason to follow my suggestion and distract that thing. For all you knew, I could have used you to make my getaway.” There's a bit of an uncomfortable silence after we've swapped the reasons of why both of us are here and vented a bit about how Discord and Azazel seem to be cut from the same cloth. “How do you do it?” Spike finally asks. “Go on fighting despite being the lowest on the totem pole, I mean.” I see. He's a [Pawn] just like me. I can remember the feeling when Buchou explained my role and the Evil Pieces to me. I take a moment to think while we sit around the crackle of the fire. He reminds me a lot of Saji. Finally I shrug. “I just try to be the strongest [Pawn] I can be for that person I love. Also I want to fulfill my goal of someday becoming a high-class devil and have my own harem.” I smile at him. “You're the same, aren't you? The way you look at the white unicorn is the same I look at Rias and you try to protect that purple one the same way I protect Asia.” He glares at me over his crossed arms. “I won't let you have Rarity, or Twilight, or any of my other friends for your harem.” “I'M NOT A FURRY!!!” Geez, why do people always assume the worst about me? Suddenly there's a deep chuckle filling the cave. [You've got nobody to blame but yourself, partner.] I look at my left hand and there's a green glow. Judging by Spike's face he also heard him. Is it because he's a dragon? “Was there something you wanted, Ddraig?” [I wanted to have a word with the little one, if you don't mind. I've been mulling it over for the past few days and I think I figured it out. Spike, do you know who your sire is?] There seems to be a mix of emotions on Spike's face. Confusion. Sadness. Doubt. “You mean my parents? No. I was found as an egg. Twilight hatched me. I never knew where I came from.” “Ddraig is the Heavenly Dragon sealed inside my gauntlet,” I explain, since I'm not sure if Spike is aware of this. Then I look at my Sacred Gear. “Do you know something, Ddraig?” [Yes, I do. His aura is very similar to that of Tannin, the Meteor Blaze Dragon. Even got the purple scales. He's called that since his breath attack was the strongest out of any western dragon and that's why he was one of the Six Dragon Kings.] I can see Spike's face falling. “Was? Do you mean he's … dead?” [Hm, that depends on how you define dead. He was reincarnated as an ultimate-class devil via the Evil Pieces.] “So there's a chance he's still alive?” I ask, hoping the prospect will cheer Spike up. [Last I heard, this was shortly before I was sealed away, he was turning the part he rules over in the Underworld into a sanctuary for dragons. For a time it seemed like dragons would become extinct in the human world, you see. One of his plans to save our species was also to bring dragon eggs to Equestria, since the environment is more suitable and dragons can live by consuming gemstones here.] Spike seems like he's enraptured by all this news about his family he never knew. “Then, I was brought here the same way?” [Yes. Before he became a devil, Tannin brought the last three eggs he produced with his mate here. Her name was Salamandra, an eastern dragon. It explains why you have no wings, but that green breath of yours is much like hers.] “That means I could have brothers and sisters here in Equestria.” Again Spike's face falls. “But why did they never contact me?” [Salamandra died during the Great War, I'm sorry to say. Tannin had his claws full becoming a devil and trying to save our race. He probably just didn't have the time. But let me ask you, was your upbringing that bad?] Spike takes a long time to think, but finally he shakes his head. “No, my friends are my family. I've just always wondered where I came from and I've never found a satisfying answer. I've always thought I was different from most other dragons here, because I was raised by ponies, but... Thank you for telling me about my parents, Ddraig.” [You're welcome, little one. Tannin was a good friend of mine. With that kind of heritage, you've got some enormous potential. The Dragon King whose breath was like the impact of a meteor and the Mistress of the mystical Green Flame of the East, a rare trait.] “What's so special about this Green Flame?” I ask. My curiosity has been piqued. Spike blushes and scratches his cheek. “It's nothing special.” He belches and a piece of parchment appears in the flames. Strangely enough he hands it over to me. “I can send letters through it. This is a spell for fixing up clothes that I copied for Rarity a while ago. Maybe it could help you.” He gestures at my torn pajamas. I chuckle and take it gratefully. “There's no reason to be embarrassed by it. Seems like a handy thing to know. Thanks for this.” Again Ddraig chuckles. [That's just the beginning of it. It took your mother hundreds of years to master all she could do with it. Don't worry. You'll figure it out in time.] “Yeah, not gonna help me for the Rating Game then. I need to get stronger for that.” “Not just for that,” I say. For the last couple of minutes the steps of the hydra seemed to have been coming closer and now what little light is coming in here through the cave entrance is blocked by an enormous foot. “Looks like our friend is back and still hungry.” We should have fled when we had the chance. “We can't hide in here forever,” Spike agrees, casting a furtive glance up at the cave ceiling. There's chunks of rock and dust coming down with every reverberating step the beast takes. If we try to wait it out, the cave might just come down on our heads. “But how can we fight it?” “I don't know,” I answer honestly. “My best attack didn't even scratch him.” [There might be another technique that could work.] “Ddraig, do you have an idea?” [I do. Transfer the Boosted Gear's power to our young friend here. It should give him even more of a Boost, since he's also a dragon.] “Will that really work? We've never tried something like that. The only ones who have received a power-up through my [Gift] ability so far have been devils.” [A year ago I would have never even considered the possibility. Dragons do not share power easily. But you managed to absorb part of the White-One's Sacred Gear into your own. That means the possibility exists.] “It's a long-shot,” I admit to Spike. “But he's right. As a real dragon you might be able to make the most use of this power. What do you say?” “I say we're out of options,” he replies, backing away from the cave entrance, where one of the hydra heads has come down to watch us. “What do you need me to do?” “Just hold still while I hand over Sekiryuutei's power to you.” [Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!] I place my mailed hand on his shoulder. “Here goes nothing. [Transfer!]” Almost immediately Spike is enveloped by Ddraig's scarlet aura, but then something else happens. As it swirls around him, it mixes with purple and emerald energy that seems to emanate from the small dragon himself. Spike is groaning and panting as if he's in pain and something is trying to break through. He's hunched over and it sounds like his voice is getting deeper. Then the built-up energy explodes. It's so dense that it knocks me back on the cave floor. It takes me a moment to shake my head clear. It feels like this has drawn much more energy than I normally transfer with [Gift]. I look up at what used to be a little baby dragon with chubby cheeks. “Woah!”