//------------------------------// // 64 vs. Aurum // Story: 64 vs. The Underground // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 55 3rd Person POV Aurum dashed forward at 64, his wings extended with blades attached to them. 64 rolled to the side and grabbed his left wing in his hands, the metal plating in his palms protecting him from injury. He spun around and slammed Aurum into the wall, but the Gryphon pushed off the wall and swung at 64 with his talons, forcing him to let go of the wing and jump back to avoid the attack. Aurum unsheathed a Blunt Sabre, rising a bit into the air. 64 made sure to keep his eyes on his movements as he slowly swayed around, trying to find an opening. 64 reached out and tried to grab Aurum's wing with his magic, but his armor prevented the magic from getting a grip. "Seems our Magic Retainers didn't catch all of your magic now did it? I was wondering why they overloaded shortly after your arrival." Aurum grinned, suddenly zooming down to try and catch 64 off guard. He jumped as high as he could, grabbing the top of the cage as the Gryphon slammed down into the ground he was just standing on. 64 swung himself to the other side of the cage, barely turning around in time to see that Aurum was clearing the distance between the two and was about to strike. He sent his foot out and caught Aurum in the chin, sending the Gryphon up towards the cage. Instead of waiting for him to recover, 64 jumped up at Aurum and grabbed him by one of his legs, throwing him towards the ground. The Gryphon recovered a few moments before colliding with the ground, landing on all four of his legs and sliding across the ground a bit. 64 landed back on the ground and decided to go on the offensive, zooming towards the Gryphon with his Baton out and charged. Aurum steadied himself and blocked 64's first strike with his Sabre, standing on his hind legs to use his other talon to swipe 64 across the chest. Luckily the human was wearing his armor, his chainmail catching the attack easily. He sent his forehead at the Gryphon's head, disorienting Aurum long enough for him to smash the handle of his Baton into Aurum's wing socket. The Gryphon's reaction was immediate, a loud screech followed a beak clamping into 64's shoulder, causing the human to yelp in pain as his magical shield was destroyed and the skin beneath his clothing was torn open. "ARGH!!! You dare attack my wings like that!?" Aurum bellowed, with 64 jumped backwards and holding onto his now bleeding right shoulder. "Keeps you on the ground now! Now you're stuck on my turf!" 64 yelled back, waiting to see if his chaotic magic would heal his shoulder injury fast enough. He didn't get a chance to tell, because a now much more angered and barbaric Aurum lunged at 64 with his talons, forcing the human to roll left out of the way of the attack. Not letting up, the Gryphon kept sending swipe after dangerous swipe at 64, who was dodging and blocking at every opportunity. Just after 64 rolled backwards, he conjured a shield between he and Aurum, holding the Gryphon back for a few moments. He used this time to put away his Baton, knowing that it wouldn't be enough. "Alright, now to take away his weapons..." 64 thought, dropping the shield and charging at Aurum. He too rushed forward, leaping to try and slice 64 across the throat with his talons. The human slid under Aurum, managing to take his Blunt Sabre out of his sheathe and snap it in his hands, leaving Aurum weaponless... sort of. "He still has his wings blades and talons... granted one of his wings is dislocated, the other can still be a problem..." Aurum growled at 64 when he realized that his weapon was now destroyed, seeing that 64 had gotten back up and conjured a large war-hammer and was holding it over his shoulder. "I can see that your speed is not to be underestimated... Luckily that Sabre was only a practice model, or we might have had another problem on our plate..." Aurum grumbled, catching his breath. "I could tell, it snapped like a twig. But I doubt you really needed it." 64 admitted, knowing that Aurum was probably more comfortable with fighting with his talons. The crowd was enjoying the fight immensely, young Gryphon guards bunching around the cage to get the best views. the diplomats were also enjoying themselves, Vulnus and Illudere both grinning at the competition. Frenzy was looking a bit nervous, but was also surprised to see how well 64 was fighting. Blackbeak on the other hand... He was watching with an even more furrowed scowl than usual, his eyes narrowed angrily. Aurum was his best warrior, and to see him in a stalemate against a human, from Equestria no less, angered him to no end. Ethaxial was supposed to have the most trained and skilled warriors know to the world, yet here Aurum was having a difficult time fighting against a being from Equestria, known for their peace and harmony. It made Blackbeak sick. He rose his foreleg into the air, his talons closed into a fist. The cheering crowds immediately went silent, wach of them looking up to the King and bowing their heads slightly. Aurum also performed this act, bowing his head, leaving him vulnerable to attack. 64 knew better than to attack while your opponent was completely defenseless, so he also looked towards the King to see what was going on. "Aurum, release Restrain Level 1..." He said cryptically, before Aurum's golden armor began to shine brightly. Blackbeak knew that this countermeasure was only to be used in extremely dire situations, but he decided that exceptions could be made. 64 was wondering what the heck was going on, before he heard the sickly snap of Aurum's right wing being snapped back into it's socket. It seemed that he was now radiating magic, and a sick and twisted grin grew onto his face. "I can't believe he would allow this, but I guess drastic times call for even more drastic measures..." Aurum growled, staring 64 down. "What the fuck are you going on about?" 64 asked, getting the hammer slung over his left shoulder ready for anything Aurum might do. In the blink of an eye, 64 found himself being kicked across the room by an unknown force, smashing into the cement wall of the Pit. He looked and saw Aurum was now positioned where he was just standing, his fist held outwards as if he just punched something. 64 pulled himself from the wall with a grunt, dusting off the cement on his shoulders. "So we're pulling all the stops is that it? All right, I'll play this way." He growled, charging his fists with Chaos Magic. "Let's fight!" 64 sent a wave of flames at Aurum, who zoomed to the left to dodge. Using his now healed wing, the Gryphon shot into the air and sped towards 64 with lightning speeds, grabbing him by the right arm and throwing him against the wall again. 64 was dragged along the wall as Aurum began to fly around the edge of the Pit, running him against the cage, the ground and any other abrasive surface he could find. 64 was tugging and pulling to try and rip his arm away from Aurum, but the augmentation he was putting himself through prevented him from successfully doing so. In a desperate attempt, 64 waited until Aurum decided to bring him around the top of the cage, then grabbed onto the metal links keeping them trapped. The results were instantaneous. "ARGRH!" 64 yowled, feeling his right shoulder pop out of its socket as Aurum kept pulling on it, trying to keep going. 64 fingers on his left hand were able to hold on thanks to the metal plating 64 had under his palm, but it didn't stop it from hurting like hell. Through his pained and blurry vision, 64 saw that Aurum was now still in the air, not moving thanks to his grip. Using his right foot, 64 sent a magic infused kick towards Aurum's stomach, causing him to lose his grip on the humans arm. 64 dropped to the ground, quickly putting his working hand onto his left shoulder to pop it back into place. "Ok... now!" 64 encouraged himself, quickly snapping the dislocated limb back into place. "BY CELESTIA'S BURNING FLANK! FUCK!" He yelped, feeling the sharp pain run down his arm to his finger tips. He looked up and growled a bit, seeing that Aurum was standing across on the other side of the cage, a smirk on his face. "What's the matter 64? Can't handle the heat?" Aurum taunted, the fire in 64's stomach growing. "You want to talk heat?! Fine! Let's talk heat!" 64 roared, his arms igniting in flames with the amount of magic he was channeling through them. He radiated the energy from his magic around the room, and it's effects became apparent within a few moments. The temperature of the room began to rise, everyone in the room suddenly becoming uncomfortably warm and beginning to perspire. Aurum was feeling the effects too, his feathers under his enchanted armor suddenly becoming damp with even more sweat than what he had before. 64 used this moment to smash his fists into the cement wall, ripping out chunks of rocks which surrounded his fists. He heated them up until they were beginning to turn red, then turned his attention to the Gryphon across the ring from him. Aurum saw that he was about to attack, so he went to the air and zoomed around 64, trying to disorient him. "Not gonna work feather brain!" 64 growled, jumping up and delivering an uppercut into Aurum's stomach. The Gryphon gasped in pain as the wind was knocked out of him, sending him crashing to the ground. Using his molten rock covered fists, 64 managed to smash the back of Aurum's wings, once again crippling him from flight. "GRAWAWK!" Aurum squawked, feeling the bones in his wings shatter into pieces. 64 wasn't done with him yet, his eyes glowing red. He brought his boot up to smash it into Aurum's skull, but suddenly he was tackled by a group of Gryphon guards, trying to subdue the human. "64! That is enough! Aurum is clearly incapacitated!" Blackbeak commanded, angry that the Captain of the Gryphon Army was defeated, but impressed that even with augmentations 64 was able to beat him. "I'M NOT DONE YET! I'LL TURN THAT HEAD OF HIS INTO A CONCAVE!" 64 threatened, thrashing against the many guards trying to hold him down. "Wait! Let him go! He has problems with restraints!" Frenzy yelled out, hopping into the ring and running up to the dogpile that was on 64. "If we let him go then he'll attack our Captain!" One of the guards yelled. "He'll attack us all if you keep holding him down! Just get up slowly!" Frenzy commanded, showing an unknown authoritative side of him he didn't know existed. Seeing the look in Frenzy's eyes, and the thrashing human underneath them, the pile of guards began to slowly get off, 64 shoving a few of them to get them off quicker. His eyes were no longer red, instead reverting to their natural brown. his was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down. "Alright 64, the fight is over. Just sit against the wall and let the medics look at you." Frenzy instructed, helping 64 over to the wall of the Pit. 64 groaned when he sat down, rubbing his aching neck and allowing a Gryphoness medic to look over his shoulder where Aurum had sunk his beak into. Aurum didn't look any better, the bones in his wings being set and splints being made. A few bandages were around his midsection too, a few of his ribs being cracked when 64 sent the uppercut at him. "What happened back there? It was like you became something else." Frenzy asked, regarding 64's barbaric fighting tactics near the end of the fight. 64 didn't answer at first rubbing the bridge of his nose with his eyes shut tightly. "I have no idea... I just need a bit of rest." 64 replied, tired from the fight. Blackbeak entered the Pit, medics and guards bowing as he walked towards 64. Frenzy's eyes widened when he turned to see that Blackbeak was standing right behind him, giving a yelp and jumping backwards a bit. "King Blackbeak, how did you enjoy the fight?" 64 asked, looking up at the Gryphon King. "It was very impressive. I would have never thought that something from Equestria would be able to fight like that." He commented, his tone a bit condescending. 64 brushed the comment off, not having enough energy to give a snark comment back. "Due to the circumstances of the fight's aftermath, I am afraid that I will need to postpone the negotiations until our bodyguards are back to full health." "I think that's best... Thank you King Blackbeak." Frenzy said, bowing his head down a bit. The king walked off towards Aurum, who no doubt was about to receive a very intense talking to. "I didn't know who could fight like that. I mean, I've heard about what happened with Super Nova and Discord, but I didn't expect any of that." 64 nodded his head a few times in response, feeling his eyelids starting to droop. Frenzy saw what was happening smacked 64 a bit on the cheek. "Hey stay awake until we get back to the room. I don't want to be left alone here." "fine... let's go..." 64 yawned, waving the nurse that was tending to his shoulder away when she was done wrapping it in bandages. He pushed himself up and climbed up and out of the pit, pulling Frenzy up behind him. He gave a quick look around and saw that Vulnus and Illudere had already left the scene, but right then he didn't really care, and started towards his room. Frenzy followed close behind, not wanting to be left behind and exposed. 64 made no effort to try the door knob once he got to the room, instead slamming into the door and falling over onto his back. Frenzy sighed and opened the door for 64, dragging him into the room and closing the door. He looked between the distance from 64 and the bed, before just shrugging and going over to the bookshelf, pulling out the Musical Book 64 had pulled out earlier and began to read it. "He'll be fine on the floor." 64 POV I was... floating? That's what it felt like, so I wasn't exactly sure. I opened my eyes slowly, looking around to see that there was nothing but blackness around me. I tried to move around, but with my body suspended in the air, all I ended up doing was flailing around a bit and look stupid. "That would be an understatement..." She said, making me grunt in annoyance. "And what pray tell could you have to say to me right now. The last time we crossed paths you shot a beam through my chest and left me unconscious." I growled, not really wanting to listen to what she had to say. "You wound me 64... all I wanted to do was warn you of things to come." I glared at her, pointing a finger in her direction. "Listen! I don't care what ponies are trying to get me to do! I won't kill Blackbeak if I don't have to!" I yelled. All she did was begin to chuckle, "Did you think I would come to you to ask that? I would expect more of you 64..." She said, acting hurt. "No... I came to tell you of what I gifted you with in Ponyville. A gift which you have so disrespectfully neglected." "Get on with it! What did you do with me!?" "Quite simply, I gave you the gift of me..." My face twisted into one of confusion, before I just got angry at her cryptic explanation. "What is that supposed to mean!?" "64... what I gave you is nothing short of the Power of the Sun..." Those words lingered in the air for a few moments, allowing me to comprehend what she had said. "W-What? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, no anger behind my words, just confusion. "Celestia may possess the power to move the Sun, but she only possesses a fraction of the true power of the star." Super Nova began to explain, slowly circling around me. "Of course, you don't possess the full capabilities she has right now, but eventually, the sun can literally be in your hands..." My hands began to glow red involuntary, slowly starting to get hotter and brighter. They began to shake in pain, as the magic within them began to literally sear my hands from the inside out, my skin beginning to melt away and bones beginning to char right before my eyes. With a flash, the gruesome image of my hands being burned off was gone, leaving me gasping for breathe. "As I expected, you aren't ready for the power just yet... Perhaps Discord can assist you..." Super Nova joked, receiving a glare from me. "It's time for me to depart. Good luck Project 64." She flashed away in a burst of flame, revealing another figure who was floating behind her. "Princess Luna..."