KAMI: Malicious Edge

by Tai Ichi

Chapter Three: Rage shifts

“Rage shifts?”

“A rage shift is a state of body and mind in which a god releases the boundaries that keeps him from accessing his full potential. It can be accompanied by a loss of rational thought and/or health damage due to overstraining of the energy conduits or the muscles,” Logarithm cited.

Tayson looked at Logarithm with a confused frown for a few seconds. Before he could re-ask his question, Maya interrupted by jumping in front of Logarithm. “Ever hear of the urban legend that a pony can access only ten percent of his full brain capacity because, if he could access all of it at once, he would overstrain his body?”

“Yes?” Tayson replied, cocking an eyebrow in uncertainty.

“Well—when applied to gods—that myth becomes reality. Some gods can access really great amounts of energy, your clan being an example of this. However, thanks to evolution, we haven’t destroyed ourselves yet. We have security protocols in our genes that regulate the amount of energy we can access. If we didn’t, most of us would have blown up by now. And it is by shutting these down that we can access our full potential.”

“So... kind of like a restriction spell?”

“Yes, you can put it like that, a natural restriction spell. But, sometimes it just manifests as technique. An example of this is a clan in the gryphon kingdom. They have a technique that enables them to eavesdrop on their enemies from kilometres away,” Maya lectured, “However, we don’t always inherit a rage shift. Some gods train to the point that they put a restriction on themselves out of fear that they would use too much power in daily life and some gods never get one.”

“But your clan-” Logarithm continued as he pushed himself back in front of Maya “-has one of the most powerful and feared inheritable rage shifts ever seen: The chaos mode.”

“Could you define ‘powerful’?” Tayson asked nervously, not sure if he really wanted to know.

“In its heyday, your clan consisted of twenty members, five of which were related through marriage. Take into account that a normal clan consists of about a hundred blood members at any time.”

“Ok. Very powerful. Got it. But, wouldn’t that mean that the ‘chaos mode’ would destroy their bodies as soon as it gets used?”

“Well, that is the scary part.” Logarithm replied with a shrug, “It didn’t. They just released their boundaries and let the energy flow. However, using it did tend to cause the user to lose their sanity and their memories for the duration of the shift.”

Maya gave Tayson a pained look. “Yeah… remember your little outburst?”

Tayson massaged his temples. “So, I can just lose control any minute now? At school, at home, anywhere. Lovely…”

“No,” Logarithm assured him, “For an instable chaos mode to occur, the shifter has to be brought out of mental or emotional balance. Something devastating has to occur, like seeing a how loved one was hurt or when the shifter was losing a battle. You know, major stuff. It was mostly used as a last resort in battle against monsters. A god would be considered world-weary if he tried to induce a chaos mode.”

Tayson kept massaging his temples until he processed what Logarithm had said. “Wait… you said, instable chaos mode?”

“Of course,” Logarithm stated, the look on his face clearly stating that he was enjoying sharing his knowledge. “Your clan wasn’t one of the strongest because they were ticking time bombs. They were considered one of the strongest because they learned how to control it. At any given point in time, they could induce the chaos mode in a controlled fashion. As an extra precaution, your family tended to stick together so they could fight a rampaging member when needed.”

“So... I can learn to control it?”

“If you can find a teacher, sure,” Logarithm replied with a shrug.

Tayson looked at the bookcases around him with searching eyes. “Are there any books on that topic?”

Maya tapped her chin thoughtfully as she tried to think of a place where Tayson could start searching. “There might be some in the archives. You should ask my dad or your grandmother if they know anything about those.”

“I know one!” The librarian answered excitedly. Apparently she had abandoned her post of re-shelving books a while ago to attend Logarithm’s lecture. She was smiling proudly as she demonstrated her organizing skills by floating a quill and a small piece of paper over to her. After she scribbled some words on it, the paper burst into green flames and a blue book with a circular shoji-window on it appeared where the paper had burned. She blew the thick layer of dust from it and floated it over to Tayson.

“You can have it. It’s a copy I once got from your father.” She said with a wink.
Tayson looked at the title.

“Thanks,” Tayson replied, looking at the book with amazement. His amazement was short lived when his face shifted to a frown. “But, I can’t just take it. I mean it's property of the library. Won’t you get in trouble if you just give it to me?”

The librarian chuckled at his response. “Oh don’t be silly. Your father gave it to us as a sign of trust. He said that their secrets weren’t meant to be used as a weapon. Anyway, it’s not like we can do much with it.” She leaned in closer to him to whisper. “Besides, I don’t think anypony would mention it if you just took it.” Tayson found the other gods nodding in agreement.

Unsure of what to say,Tayson gave an awkward, but sincere, grin. “Thank you, everypony.”

Logarithm gave a small cough trying to get the attention. “I think we can conclude our session on this note.”

“Of course. Thank you for your help, Logarithm."

“Oh, you can thank me as soon as you’re able to control your energy,” he said, smiling gleefully, “I would love to do some testing!”

Tayson gave a small chuckle. “Deal.”

Tayson stood once again on top of the staircase to heaven. In front of him floated the cloud that had been mocking him for two weeks now. But today, everything would change. He had been training like crazy and today, he would be walking on clouds. He took a step forward, letting one of his hooves carefully rest on the moist fluffiness of the cloud.

Now let the energy flow.

The way that energy flowed through the body had become much clearer after a few sessions with Logarithm. It was mostly just staying calm, then the energy would flow by itself and keep you on the right side of the cloud.

Tayson took a step back and prepared himself mentally.

I just have to jump… the cloud will catch me. I won’t fall. I can do this!
He closed his eyes and jumped. Now he waited for his body to hit the surface of the lake and to feel the pain that would result from the impact. Yet, nothing came. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling the moist fluffiness of the cloud permeate his coat.

“I did it…” he whispered, his smile growing wider by the second. “I DID IT!” Unable to restrain his enthusiasm, he jumped up and cheered. “Whoohoo! I did it! I did—”

One of his legs lashed out, which made him lose his balance and fall through the cloud. He desperately grabbed the side of the cloud and could hold onto it.

Steel Needle watched and smiled at the success of his student. “Good job, Tayson.”

Tayson crawled back on the cloud and sighed in relief as he let himself fall into the soft cloud.

“Well, it was about time after two weeks.”

“Indeed, you have trained hard and your stamina has increased a lot. I guess that we can start with some basic techniques now.”

Tayson smiled in glee. “Am I finally going to learn how to do one of those techniques in that book?”

Steel Needle flicked his tail to command the cloud to come down and chuckled. “No. That is still a bit too early for that.”

Tayson’s glee deflated. “Oh, come on! I would like to do more than just this.” He brought his hoof next to his head and formed a small ball of white energy, which flickered and died almost instantly.

“Impressive…” Maya stomped her hooves in teasing sarcasm. Tayson, opting to ignore her, grabbed his saddlebag, removed his father’s book, and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

“Look at this.”

Steel Needle leaned in to look at the page. “‘The Taijitu-no-me:’-” he frowned a bit as he mumbled those words “-‘A visual technique of qilinesian origin…’ I'm not sure if I can teach you this.”

“Why not? I mean, it probably has something to do with those energy conduits and mixing chakras and I don’t know…”

“I’m sorry Tayson, but I’m afraid that I can’t teach you your clan techniques. These are very complicated and I’m not an expert on light and dark energy…”
“So, I’ll never learn them?” Tayson concluded, not bothering to hide his disappointment. Even though he didn’t feel a real connection with his family, he had hoped that he would have been able to learn the techniques that his family had spent generations to perfect.

“No, I said that I can’t teach them to you. And besides, you’ll never be able to learn all of them. That is not how your clan worked.”

“They didn’t?”

“Of course not, no clan works like that. Trying to master every technique is like trying to read every book. One life time is just not sufficient, even with our extended lives. It’s just too much.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? I should at least learn a few of them. I mean, I can’t keep on forming little balls of energy and throw them at my enemies.”

“Don’t worry about that. Most gods create new techniques instead of recycling the old ones. Just learn the basics and create your own style from there. Now catch your breath and drink something. We continue in five minutes.”

Tayson stuffed the book back in his saddlebag and checked his phone.

1 New message
From: Silver.

Open.

Dude, where are you?! We were supposed to meet each other at the bowling alley, remember?

Shit… Tayson’s eyes widened as he remembered that he was supposed to meet Silver and Lily. Panic overcame him a little and he started to mash the buttons of his phone as quickly as possible.

Sorry guys! Completely forgot about that! I’m still helping my grandma in the shop so I’m not gonna make it. I’ll make up to you. ^^” I promise!

Send.

But as Tayson put his phone away, the tension still remained. How could I’ve forgotten about them? I always remember what they tell me. I cannot possibly… Ok, pace yourself pace yourself. It just happened once, I’m going through a lot of change the last time so it can be that I have problems to bring my two lives in sync. Tayson facehooved. And now I’m making up excuses…. I’m going to apologise tomorrow….

“Tayson, get ready! We’re going to continue.” Steel Needle stomped his hooves to get Tayson’s attention. Tayson jumped up and turned towards Steel Needle.
The lesson continued, but Tayson’s mind was everywhere, except on the training.

Tayson got to school early. He was completely worked up due to not getting much sleep the night before. He had to meet his friends and apologize for not showing up, living with the guilt wasn’t an option.

Every visible street from the school gate had been under his severe observation for the last half hour. He had walked around the block about five times in the hope that they had decided to take another route to school today.

I would give everything I got just to have those eyes from that book! I mean, what if they’re so angry with me that they decided to skip school today?! Tayson smacked his own face in frustration. Ok, now I’m getting ridiculous. I mean this isn’t the first time I’ve forgotten about them. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Just as he finished, he looked to the right where he saw a familiar grey Pegasus hovering above a green Unicorn.

Tayson smiled. See, everything is ok! I just have to go over there and apologise and then everything is fine again. He started to trot over to them, but stopped as his nerves began to tingle again. What if they are angry with me? I mean, they haven’t answered my message... Ok, here goes nothing. He gulped and waved at the two. “Hey, Silver, Lily!”

The two looked in his direction and cantered towards him. “Hey, Tayson! How was your date?” Silver asked, his expression shifting to one of smugness.

“Guys, I’m so sorry—date?” Tayson’s asked, his apology getting stuck on its way out.

“Yeah, with Maya.” Lily grinned teasingly.

“I-I—”

“Oh, don’t be so shy. You don’t have to act like that.” Lily punched Tayson’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.

“But, really I—” Tayson tried his best to interrupt his friends thoughts, but got cut off again by Silver.

“Nah, don’t worry about yesterday. But, you have to promise that we go on a double date. Deal?”

Tayson was completely lost. His two friends were now smiling as if they had a cramp in their mouth muscles. Tayson feared for what he had to do now. They can’t be serious thinking that… Oh dear Celestia…

“BWHAHAHAHAHAHA…” Maya—who had been rolling on the floor of the local café for the last ten minutes—had now attracted every set of eyes in the café.

She slowly tried to push herself up and sit back on her chair. “THEY REALLY THINK… THAT YOU…. AND I…. BWAHAHAHAHA!” This brought another round of raucous laughter as she continued to laugh her flank off and wiping away laughter induced tears while rolling on the floor like a newborn foal.

While this was going on, Tayson had become as red as a ripe tomato. He kept his gaze down, trying his best to avoid all the curious looks of the other customers and to not falter under the curious gazes and the soft snickers of the other customers. “Yes…” He said weakly.

Maya’s laughter intensified as she heard that fact for the third time today.

“Could you please stop?! It’s not funny!” Tayson hissed in a futile attempt not to get any more looks.

“YOU’RE RIGHT! IT’S HILARIOUS!”

“No it is not! I have a serious problem and I really need your help.”

In the meantime the café-chef had come over to their table. Despite Coffee Cream’s surly face and deep voice, he was always friendly to his guests and, of course, wanted them to enjoy their coffee in peace and relative silence. “Could you keep it a bit quiet over here? You’re bothering the other customers!”

Maya managed to calm herself a bit and looked around. “Whoopsie…” She came back on her hooves and grinned awkwardly. “I think I lost myself a bit.”

“I noticed,” Coffee said sarcastically, “as did the other customers.” He gestured to the combination of annoyed glares and soft chuckling of the makeshift audience.

After apologizing openly, Maya took back her seat. She looked absently outside and sighed. “Well I must say… I’m surprised and that I… I feel the same for you…” Maya blushed and faked the embarrassed look of a qilinesian schoolfilly.

Tayson gave her an even glare. “Die in a fire…”

Maya huffed, “And I thought you were a gentlecolt!”

Tayson bonked his head on the table. “Are you done yet?”

Maya took a sip from her coffee and grinned. “Yeah, that was the last one. So, I’m practically going to play your fillyfriend, right?”

Tayson sighed, “Yes…. And I can completely understand if you’d decline, but I really—”

“Sure, why not?” Maya shrugged.

“You’ll do it?” Tayson’s eyes narrowed in skepticism. “What do you want?”

“Nothing, I’m just trying to be a good friend,” Maya answered with a smile.

“Bullshit!” Tayson spat a little too loud, since the Minotaur lady at the next table looked a bit disturbed. Tayson noticed this and apologized quietly with an embarrassed grin. Turning back to Maya, he gave her an accusing look.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! I need something to keep myself busy.”

“Fine, thank you.” Tayson waved at the waiter for the bill, but cocked an eyebrow as Maya stood up and walked for the door. “Where are you going?”

Maya blinked in confusion. “Home, of course.”

“We still have to pay you know?” He looked confused as Maya chuckled.

“I thought that the coltfriend had to pay the bill?” She smiled teasingly and left the café.

Tayson sat there dumbfounded. “Evil…” He took his wallet, but as he looked at the bill, his eyes shot open. In a futile attempt, he turned towards the door and yelled, “Wait! Maya, I don’t have enough bits…!” As expected, his words reached no ears as Maya was already out of hearing range. His ears drooped as he looked back at the waiter and gulped.

“No bits, eh?” The waiter arched an eyebrow with a steely silence.

Tayson shook his head as the shadow of the waiter spread over him.

As Saturday night arrived without preamble, Tayson found himself walking to Silver’s to meet his friends and Maya. After meeting up there, the four of them would go to the theatre and then to a local restaurant afterwards. Seeing how his evening had started with trying to explain to his grandmother that this was a plan to convince his friends that he wasn’t evading them and not a date, it didn’t look promising.

“I will never hear the end of this,” Tayson complained, crunching his teeth. “Why did they have to assume that I was dating Maya? Why couldn’t they just assume that I was evading them or was feeling like the third wheel? I swear, ponies’ minds get rewired when they’re in a relationship.”

Tayson’s grumbling continued until he finally reached the Silver’s place. When knocking on the door caused it to open slightly, he lifted his eyebrows in surprise. Tayson pushed on the door and looked carefully through the opening.

“Guys?”

As nopony replied, Tayson carefully entered Silver’s home. He noticed that there were no lights burning, some plates laid scattered around the room, and a few chairs were turned over. Tayson felt his eyes widened as he began fearing the worst. “GUYS?!”

He removed his hoodie, letting it fall unceremoniously to the ground with a heavy thump. Now that the extra weight was gone, Tayson felt lighter on his hooves. He cleared his mind of everything that was irrelevant and let all the information he got from his environment flow in.
It was obvious from the chaos that a fight took place. Given their history and current relationship status, it was possible that they might’ve had a quarrel that got out of hoof. However, he knew that they wouldn’t leave the house unattended when Silver’s parents weren’t home. Of course, all this might have been the results of their rewired thinking.
Moving to the living room, he saw a piece of paper laying on the table. He picked it up to read it, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.

Hello, little god of chaos,
I’m sure you’re smart enough to realise that your friends are not home. They didn’t resist much; as soon as we had the filly, the colt just surrendered. Not very strong friends you’ve got there.
Don’t worry, they’re safe… for now. Now, you’re probably asking yourself why we would kidnap your petty little friends, am I right? Well, I would like to propose a little transaction. We won’t kill your friends and, in return, you hand yourself over to the Inquisition.
Meet us at the train station and please don’t dawdle.
Signed. The Inquisition.

Tayson ripped the paper to shreds, feeling his heart pump faster as adrenaline coursed through his system. “Those.” His breath became faster and faster. “Filthy.” His eyes shot wide as he glared at the shreds. “BASTARDS!”
As energy raged inside his body, he wanted to rip off the faces of those ponies. Seeing the energy manifest around him to form little spheres of light and dark, he forced himself to calm, realising that he was slipping into a rage shift. “I can’t wait on Maya, who knows what could happen if I show up too late.”

Tayson pressed himself to find a solution as quick as possible. He knew that he wasn’t ready to face those ponies alone, but it could take maybe fifteen minutes for Maya to come here, and it would take another thirty minutes to walk towards the train station.

Tayson rushed towards the kitchen and pulled out everything in every drawer to find a writing utensil. Finding a pen and a piece of paper, he prayed to the stars that this would work.

To: Steel Needle
Come to the train station. Friends got kidnapped. They call themselves the Inquisition. Need help.
From: Tai Ichi

He drew a circle around the words and waited for the magic to work. “Come on come on come on! BURN!”

Yet, no matter how hard he yelled or how hard he shook the paper, the ink wouldn’t catch fire.
“Buck it!” He took some tape and attached it to the front door so that Maya knew where he went and started running towards the train station.

As Tayson ran down the streets, the paper was dangling in the air of the night. After a few minutes the first letter took a green shine, smoke forming around the paper as the letters smouldered. After a few seconds, the letters burst into green flames and vanished, leaving only a white paper with a blue circle on it.

As Tayson arrived at the train station, he was breathing heavily. However, thanks to Steel Needle’s training, it wasn’t because he was out of breath. He could’ve run through half the island of Manehattan and not be out of breath. He was now breathing out of pure unadulterated rage.

He stared into the empty train station with his teeth gritted and a glare that would turn even a cockatrice into solid stone. It just screamed ‘trap,’ however there was one benefit: he didn’t have to hide his true nature.

“HEY!” he screamed into the oppressive silence, “I’M HERE NOW! COME OUT AND LET MY FRIENDS GO, YOU BUCKBUCKETS!”

Silence stretched for a few second before a small giggle pierced it.
“The little god thinks he can command the mortals,” the soft voice of a mare answered, resonating through the station, “Now, if that isn’t cute.” Due to the echo, it was difficult to tell where it was coming from.

“Mortals?! Oh for buck’s sake, show yourself! I know that you’re gods, so why not come and get me! I’m no match for you!”

“Oh, the haughtiness. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You gods think that you’re oh so secret.”

Tayson didn’t care for the nonsense of that mare. “Where are my friends?”
The mare chuckled again. “Somewhere safe. We would never kill some ponies for the sake of a god. However, it is late and I think that young ponies should go to sleep now.”

“What the—” Tayson didn’t get the chance to finish that line of thought as a spring sound filled the air.He jumped to the side as two syringes shattered against the ground. A small frustrated growl was audible and the tapping of hooves resonated through the train station.

“COWARD! WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?!” Before Tayson knew what he was doing, he was following the sound of hoofsteps. He saw the door of a nearby warehouse slam close and smiled confidently. “Gotcha!”

He ran over and burst into the warehouse. “Come out! I know you’re in here!”

No reply.

“What do you want from me?!”

“Nothing in particular. We just want to avoid having to deal with a god of chaos when the time comes.”

Tayson gritted his teeth. “Then why don’t you kill me at the spot?! It’s not like I’m any danger at the moment!”

No reply.

“Where are my friends!?”

Hearing the sound of a snap, Tayson looked up as a net fell from the ceiling, wrapping around his form. As he struggled to get out, a Pegasus mare stepped out of the shadows wearing a jumpsuit and a proud smile. “Well, well, well… looks like we got you distracted for a while.”
Tayson glared daggers at the mare and pointed a hoof towards her. As an orb of darkness formed, the mare took a step back and covered her face as though she were waiting for a blow to send her flying. When nothing happened, she looked back to see Tayson cursing at his hoof.

“COME ON! ONE LITTLE BLAST! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?!”

The mare’s proud smile returned and she stepped towards Tayson. She chuckled and pressed Tayson’s face to the floor. “Not so strong now, are we?” she asked tauntingly.

“What are you deaf and stupid?! I never said I was! I was constantly pointing out that I was no match for another god, but the only thing you did was talk, talk, talk, and not make any sense at all! I mean, what kind of villain are you?!” Tayson spat as his face got crushed under the force of the mare’s hoof.

“Must be embarrassing to lose against a normal pony, am I right?” The mare leaned in and grinned.

“You’re what?”

The mare snickered, letting go of Tayson’s face. She turned around and began walking towards the crates behind her.“You should listen to your enemy, foolish god!” she answered dramatically, “I’m a mortal, a normal pony, not a blasphemous being like you!”

Tayson groaned. “Fine, whatever. Now that you got me, let my friends go!”

The mare tsked disappointedly, removing a syringe from her pocket. “No can do I’m afraid,” she answered, tapping it to release any trapped air.

“BUT YOU SAID—”

“We said that we wouldn’t kill your friends and we won’t,” she interrupted, turning back to Tayson and smiling manically. “We’ll even teach them to be free... as soon as we’ve disposed of you.”

The mare began to slowly approach Tayson, the needle giving an evil gleam in her hoof. As she got closer, Tayson became more and more terrified of what would happen. Time seemed to slow down, his breath became laboured and pulse became uncontrolled.

If I die now, my friends will be lost!

Right when the needle touched his skin, a pulse went through Tayson. Feeling empowered, he glared to the mare and shouted, “BUCK OFF!” A massive wave of energy propagated through the warehouse, ripping the net to shreds and sending the mare crashing into a pile of crates.

Tayson got to his hooves and and shook his head clear. He brought a hoof up to inspect the spot where the needle touched his skin. No blood, so there shouldn’t be any of the drug in my body.

Tayson’s attention got pulled back to the battlefield when a rumbling came from under the broken planks. As the mare pushed the debris aside, she glared daggers at Tayson. Tayson met that glare with an icy-cold gaze. “You’re not going to tell me where they are, are you?”

The mare pulled another syringe and charged at Tayson. “WHAT GAVE IT AWAY?!”

Tayson jumped up and kicked the syringe out of her hoof, sending the mare flying with a second kick to her face. “The fact that you weren’t polite enough to tell me your name,” he answered landing on his hooves.

The mare managed to recover right before she hit another pile of crates. She then used her momentum to rebound and charge again at Tayson. Tayson jumped onto his hind legs and pointed his front leg towards the mare—stabilizing it with his other hoof like a gun barrel—and let out a rage-fuelled scream as more black energy formed at the tip. But, instead of blasting into a beam and sending the mare crashing into a pile of crates, it scattered as though it couldn’t stabilize its form.

Tayson’s eyes widened as the mare crashed into him and sent him flying into the next wall. The mare stood atop of him, smiling triumphantly.

The mare reached for another syringe, but Tayson smashed her face with a head-butt before she could attempt to stab him with it. Letting go of the syringe, the mare stumbled back and covered her sore face. Tayson took advantage of this and sent his hoof flying towards her face.

The blow caused the mare to roll along the floor, trying to get a grasp on her situation. Tayson picked up the syringe and walked calmly towards her. “Let’s see how you like your own medicine…”

The mare chuckled. “You won’t be able to kill me with that, pesky god. It’s a narcotic, not a poison. We wanted you captured, not killed. You’re too precious—”

Tayson’s face was blank of all emotion as he kicked the mare in the ribs. “Shut up…” He then jabbed her in the leg with the syringe, emptying the contents into her veins. The mare’s face became distorted as though she were in pain.

“Idiot… I’m nat ahone heeee…” The mare’s voice became more and more stretched as the drug paralyzed one muscle after the other. “HUUUUUUUUUYS HET HAT HILTH!”
Tayson took a battle-ready stance and looked around expecting more enemies to show up. At that moment several unconscious bodies fell to the floor with an audible thump. He then heard a chirping voice cheering, “NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A FIRST DATE!” Maya then lowered herself from one of the crates.

“You’re late!” Tayson grumbled.

“Well, I would have been on time if I had known where you had headed.” Maya replied with a shrug.

“I left a note on the front door! How could you not have seen it?!”

Maya snorted as she grabbed into her pocket. “You mean this one?” She showed a paper with a blue circle on it.

“Wait, where did—”

“You should practice your hoofwriting a bit, Tayson. I could hardly tell whether you needed help or you wanted to play polka on a rodeo.” Steel Needle stepped out of the shadows and looked at the mare that had given up the fight to get back on her hooves and now looked like a bag of potatoes with a tongue sticking out. “But I have to say that you handled the situation pretty well.”

“No, I didn’t…” Tayson said quietly, glaring hatefully at the mare. A dark aura formed around his hoof. “My friends are gone, AND IT IS HER FAULT!” Tayson punched his hoof with immense force towards the paralyzed mare, but his blow was blocked by an iron wall that shot out of the ground between them. Tayson looked to Steel Needle, tears cascading down his face and teeth gritted in frustration.

“Tai Ichi, we’re not going to find them if you kill our only source of information!” Steel scolded.

“Do you really think that that mad mare is even able to form even one sentence that makes sense?! THAT PIECE OF FILTH SHOULD PERISH JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM.”
When Steel Needle smiled, Tayson looked at him in disbelief. “IT’S NOT FUNNY,” he screamed, his voice filled with rage, “I WAS UNABLE TO SAVE THEM, IN SPITE OF ALL THE TRAINING I’VE BEEN DOING!”

Steel’s face fell back into a neutral expression as he looked upon Tayson. He walked past Tayson and hefted the mare onto his back. “I’ll get the necessary information out of her. When it comes to information, I’m an expert at getting people to talk. In the meantime, you get yourself checked out at the hospital. Maya, you take the others to the prison and make sure Tayson gets to the medical wing. Doctor Stable is to do a whole check-up, got it?” When Maya nodded her response, he trotted out of the building.

After Needle left, Maya stomped a hoof causing several tendrils to submerge the other captives into the floor. She then turned to face Tayson with worry on her features. “We’ll find them… you can trust us…”

“And then what?!” Tayson spat hatefully, “Erase their memory? This whole night was planned around deceiving my friends… what point is there in training to protect my friends if I have to lie to them and might lose them as a result anyway?”

Maya looked away in pain. “Tayson, you've trained a lot and thanks to that—”

“You know what, don’t even bother,” he said curtly, “Thank you for saving my flank. Let’s just get me to the hospital.”

With that, Tayson turned around to leave, not seeing Maya as she frowned and shook her head. She followed after him, both leaving the warehouse in complete silence.