//------------------------------//
// Memories of an impossible fight 
// Story: Tales of Epic Fantasy 
// by Krokorokok 
//------------------------------//

Staring at the ceiling, Matt sighed as he tossed and turned in bed, careful not to wake up his fellow companions. It was currently a few minutes past midnight, as what the wall clock says, yet Matt was still awake. He didn't know why he was still awake and for how long. So, with another heavy sigh, Matt got out of bed, wore back his black captains jacket before leaving the room, making sure to close the door as quietly as possible.

With that, he went on a walk. He didn't know where he would end up, "But it should probably have something that can help" Matt thought as he adjusted his jacket, the cooling air brushed against him with a gentle greeting as his two strands of braided hair blew along. 

With everything that had happened over the past years, Matt thought of how he first started his journey. Chuckling a little, he remembered how his father first taught him swordsmanship and to groom him into a fine warrior. He remembered how he got into his first tournament, decimating every opponent in his way, winning the tournament in first place as well as meeting Natalie. He remembered how the two of them fought a guy named 'Goku', all bloodied as his guts spewed forth of his chest. He remembered how the two of them went on another adventure to stop a rather young soldier and his Valkrie Tank.

Sighing once again, he remembered how the trio fought against Akron, a deity who wanted to absorb everything on earth. And lastly, on how the trio met Anna, fighting alongside her to retrieve some stolen artifacts and defeat the creator of the world, Godcat. 

Stopping in his tracks, he found himself in the royal gardens. A cold breeze greeted him, causing his blonde hair to flicker in the wind. Matt surveyed the area, smiling when he remembered this rather beautiful garden was their battlefield against a corrupted Praetorian. Walking once again, he spotted a bench over in the distance. Walking towards it, he sat down and placed his elbows on his legs and placed his face on the palms of his hands as he stared at the ground.

Matt had never thought that his adventures would take him this far. All the things he had done, monsters he had fought, places he had never seen before, it all seemed like a dream. All the kids back home always said of how he would never go far and would return home crying to his parents. But he never did. "Heh...And look where we are right now..." Matt muttered to himself as he looked around the garden scenery. "...I hope your proud of me...Mom...Dad...I miss the both of you guys..." Matt softly spoke to himself.

And with that, he softly smiled, remembering all the things he had done in his life so far, and shed a tear.





With a content smile, Luna walked along the empty hallways. She had just left the dinning room a few minutes ago as the the elements and went into Celestia's bedchambers for a slumber party. She politely decline their invitation and said that "It would be best if I am to be left out. I am not so very social among you girls and what you all would say, I would probably not understand" a slight blush formed on her cheeks when she said so.

But even so, Luna loved the feeling of her night. The air was so ever cooling and the atmosphere was so gentle and calming to her. Not only that, but with every step she took that would allow her to see the night sky, her stars would twinkle as if bowing to her. 

With her hoof softly clopping along the marbled floor, she passed by the royal gardens, looking about the same as it did before the encounter with the behemoth. However, something caught her attention, causing her to stop and turn. The figure was faint, but it was no doubt that Matt was sitting on one of the benches. Curious as to why he was still up, Luna softly walked onto the pavement of the garden, heading towards the human.

As she drew nearer, she saw a glimmer of silver near Matthew's eyes, causing her to inwardly gasp. 'Has..He been crying?' Luna wondered. 

When she reached the bench he was sitting on, Luna decided to speak. However, he voice got cut off when Matt beat her to it. "...You know Princess...Your night sky is really something to behold, ya know that? The night sky back at home was never this gorgeous". This caused the lunar princess to blush as a deep shade of red appeared on Luna's cheeks. 

"..Wh-Why th-thank..-thank you sir Matthew" Luna stuttered, causing the human to chuckle as he turned around and gave her a smile, enabling Luna to see a tinge of red in his eyes, confirming her thoughts. After a lengthy, and awkward, silence that soon followed, Luna then meekly spoke. "Umm....If it is no trouble to you, why are you even here Sir Matthew? Shouldn't you be asleep now?"

"Sleep? Nope...Couldn't get a wink of shut eye. Been thinking a lot lately. Weirder and weirder things keep happening. Like the four of us suddenly appearing here on Equestria" Matt said, turning back and now looking at the bright moon.

"What has been bothering you? I can tell it's not only that" Luna said, hoping he might spill what was on his mind.

Then, to Luna's gratefulness, Matt sighed before speaking. "...I miss my folks back at home..." he softly said, just loud enough for the lunar princess to hear him.

Another silence soon followed when Matt said that. Luna instantly knew what was bugging him. He may or may not be able to go back to his home world and visit his parents. Not to mention he looked rather homesick. This place was not a place he knew. He did not grow up here, make friends here. Everything in Equestria was foreign to him, from the average ponies to the plants. Besides him and his friends, they were the only humans on Equestria.

"...I see" Luna simply replied, nodding her head slowly. "Umm..Is it too much trouble to ask to sit beside you?" she asked rather shyly.

Matt turned his head back to her and smiled a little. "Sure. No one's stopping ya"

With that, Luna then took her place beside Matt. Time passed by as the two talked to each other, learning a bit more about each other, laughing along as the two cracked jokes to lighten their spirits. Then, Luna seemed to ask a question that was bothering her for a while. "Sir Matthew. I hope you would not mind if I took a look at a particular memory of yours" she asked, causing Matt to look at her suspiciously.

"Which one? And why?"

"The one where you told us about your battle against the evil Akron. I am rather skeptical of how such a powerful being was slain by the you, Lady Natalie and Sir Lance. It would seem like an impossible feat" Luna replied her face trying to stay as neutral as possible.

Matt smirked. "Oh believe me princess, we did it. However, we had a lot of injuries after we slayed him. I couldn't walk for a couple of days when of his tendrils pierced both of my legs after Natalie's healing numbed off" Matt said, shuddering at the memory. "I guess it would be fine. However, I should warn you, it is not a pleasant sight" 

Luna nodded. "Agreed. Now, I shall cast my magic then". Luna's horn then glowed a luminous blue as she channeled her magic. Soon, Matt felt his eyes getting heavier as he felt more drowsy. He tried to fight, but sleep eventually overtook him, his head now laying on top of Luna's lap.





Luna then opened her eyes and found herself in a very different place. The ground was paved with dark maroon colored stones and...bones were scattered everywhere. However, when Luna turned, her pupils shrank. What she saw was, over in the distance, was a black hole. The space around it had red-shifted as black rocks encircled the black hole. Luna took a step back, her heard trembling with fear. This...this place couldn't have been the battlefield they fought Akron on. Luna then took another step back, the earthy soil beneath her began to rumble. 

Turning around, Luna then finally saw the trio, Lance, Natalie and Matt. Except for Natalie, they were all wearing the same outfit as when Luna first met them, Lance's full Officer outfit complete with the hat and badges and Matt with his full Captain's outfit, a metal chain attached to the side of his pants. They were all wielding the same weapon as before, Natalie with her staff, Lance with his gunblade and Matt with his Heavens Gate. The trio seemed to be waiting for something, their faces anticipating for it to happen, whatever it was.

And then, a pentagon emerged, symbols of undecipherable words and glyphs of powerful and ancient magic. After that, the ground erupted into a pillar of flame as a creature suddenly emerged from its cinders. It was slightly larger that the trio and a tad bit taller. It had two horns protruding from its head as its eyes were covered by cloth with an ancient seal of sorts. The most defining thing about the creature was a gigantic onyx that was in the middle of its body as a sapphire was located to the left and an emerald to its right. Two large demonic wings had sprouted on its back, which were used to break the chains that held it down.

"Ah...It is the ones who had awoken me from my slumber" the demon spoke, it's voice sounding corrupted as every word seemed to lace with poison, darkness and evil. "Let us see if they are worthy to stand before me..." it trailed off, speaking in third person.

"Akron! Your time has come to an end!" Matt yelled, directing his sword towards the demon.

"For Billions of years, I have in my memory, the early days of this planet. When earth was but rock and fire. Before other life began to evolve" It spoke once more. "Perhaps I excised before even that. but I an unable to recall further into history. I have lost all memory of the world from which I came" 

And then, the demon suddenly move an inch before rising from the ground, revealing a whole new part, with a disgusting and horrendous face as its razor sharp teeth bared and made itself known to its foes. "Countless times I have been weakened and enslaved. Yet ultimately, I remain, while my enemies succumb to the flow of time". The gigantic face then widened its mouth, causing a hideous worm of sorts to emerge from within, plunging into the ground and next to the demon, gurgling in a disgusting manner. "I have witnessed species evolve and head towards extinction. I wonder how long Man will survive?" It questioned itself, before the Akron shook his actual head, which was wrapped in cloth. "For eons, I have pondered the meaning of my existence. Alas, I am unable to find an answer" 

Beneath the wrapped cloth, something red sparked for a moment. "All things must come to an end. Planets, stars, entire universes, even Gods. Perhaps my destiny is simply to be destroyed. And yet, I am immortal. Freedom is my captivity. I shall not die". The demon then began to chuckle in a corrupted manner, causing the trio to flinch as Luna took a step back in fear. "I delight at your power. Such. Incredible. Power"

And with that, the demon launched its first attack, opening its mouth as a black shockwave erupted from its mouth.

Seeing the fight had started, Natalie drew up her staff and conjured the same red mystical barrier, blocking most of the magical harm that was inflicted. 

The worm then suddenly went underground, popping up just in front of Matt and lashed its tail at him, with Matt blocking off most of the hits with his blade. Counter-attacking, Matt pushed the tail out of the way before giving it a nice deep cut, slicing it in half, the worm then disappearing into nothing but black smoke. 

Akron flared his wings as two metal claw like things were summoned beside the demon, its core blazing in a bright neon red light. Akron's cloth then glowed red for a moment before a red beam from his horns was fired at the trio. Thankfully, Natalie's barrier helped them by a margin. 

"Hello?! Yea! Send in those prototype missiles that I asked for! YES! ON THE DOUBLE!" Lance shouted into his walkie-talkie, placing it back behind him. Moments later, a black missile dropped down from the sky, imploding into a huge black ball. 


"Seiken!"


Matt yelled out loud from the smoke that was left behind, directing two fingers towards the demon. Akron looked around in confusion for a moment. Then, a bright light emerged from above, a large white sword in the shape of Matt's 'Heavens Gate' appeared and descended from above, causing the demon to shield itself using its wings and a protective barrier, blocking the light blade and shattering it into shards

Matt then rushed forward without hesitation, bringing his sword down onto the large disfigured face, slashing it multiple times as Natalie and Lance assisted him from afar, shooting bullets and casting spells. Akron roared out in retaliation as the large demonic face opened its mouth, a black smoke enveloping the visions of the trio and Luna. 

Needless to say, when the smoke cloud dissipated, the trio's faces as well as Luna's were full of fear, Luna especially as she witnessed horrific visions. Horrible visions of nothing but darkness as bright red evil eyes looked down upon her with razor sharp teeth that could chew threw anything.

"Ugh...Gonna have nightmares after that" Matt muttered. 


"Judgement!"


Natalie roared out, a glyph of sorts appeared around the demon. Then, moments later, a beam of pure, holy, concentrated magic shot up, enveloping the demon as it cried out in pain. Matt noticed this and began to cast in more of the 'holy blades', with every one of the blade managing to embed itself into the demon. Akron roared in pain once again before he flared his wings once more, the spell coming to an abrupt end as the holy blades shattered into wisps of light. 

The two metallic claws then shot forward towards Natalie, causing Matt to react quickly. 


"Quick Slash!"


In a heartbeat, Matt suddenly appeared in front of Natalie, using his sword to block the attack as Lance fired off a concentrated  energy beam from his rifle, blasting the two claws into oblivion. Natalie gave her thanks as the trio then clustered up together, causing the demon to hum. "Hmm...You do have the potential...A shame, especially when you are about to perish!" 

Akron then fired another beam from his eyes, causing the trio to split up. In the split second they did this, the large face then fired three huge ball of energy towards both Matt and Natalie, causing the duo to fly back a bit as from the impact. Lance fortunately dodged the one that was aimed at him, by jumping high up, causing him to have a gap for a counter attack.

While still in the air, Lance pulled out 6 bullets from his jacket and quickly loaded them into his gun. With his 'Scanner' equipped, Lance aimed at the demon. 


"Unload"


Lance then fired his gunblade a total of six times, each time a burst of white light appeared as it struck the demon with precise aim, causing a portion of its wings to tear off and the wrapped cloth to sag, revealing the two scarlet red orbs that were Akron's eyes. The gigantic face then opened once more, letting out two more hideous worms, with the both of them heading straight to Matt. Trying his best to defend, he managed to block most of the oncoming hits from its tail, only to be surprised when he felt a huge stinging pain in his left leg, causing him to yelp in pain. Not a moment later, another stinging pain surged through his right leg, causing him to drop to his knees as he coughed out blood, with both of his legs bleeding profusely.

Taking a look, a spike with a skull on it had pierced through both of his legs. Matt tried to move but the spikes held him in place. Akron the let loose an ear piercing screech, causing the trio and Luna to cup their ears and shut their eyes from the sheer intensity. Luna slowly peeked one of her eyes back at the battlefield, finding Matt's eyes glow red before leaping into the air, shattering the spike that had impaled his leg into pieces. He roared in might at the demon, bringing down his blade swiftly, tearing through the demon's left wing. As he landed back onto the ground, he staggered back, dropping his sword for a moment as he coughed out more blood, wincing in pain.

"Dammit! Natalie! Help up Matt! I'll cover you!" Lance yelled as he landed back on the ground, bringing out his walkie-talkie once again. "Valkyrie! Code Scarlet-9!" Lance yelled into his device as he awaited for a response.

Meanwhile, Natalie had a rough job of dodging the various projectiles that were sent towards her. Magical ice shards, fireballs and even concentrated beams of energy were thrown in her direction to try and stop the white mage from advancing. Fortunately, Natalie was able to dodge most of the spells, also having to use her own spells to disjoint some of the more harder spells to dodge. Setting up a barrier to protect herself, Natalie kneeled down next to Matt, casting a healing spell to hopefully heal up most of his wounds.

However, just as Natalie was finished with the spell, numerous worms erupted from the ground behind her, causing her to stagger a bit, holding her staff in place to stop her from moving back any further. The worms oozed out a black substance from their 'mouths' before charging towards the white mage and the swordsman.

Thankfully, the attack was repelled when a sudden blast impacted on the ground next to the worms, causing them to fly back. Natalie and Matt turned their heads behind and found that Lance was approaching them on his Valkyrie Battle Tank. The two sub-machine guns that were on the front rained bullets towards the evil monsters as the main cannon continuously fired its canon shells. Stopping just next to his teammates, Lance looked below and smiled a little. "Sorry it took a while" He said, chuckling a little.

Matt grinned as Natalie smiled. Natalie then reached out to Matt and gave him a hand, which he grabbed to help pull himself up. Grabbing his sword that was laid on the floor, Matt stood with his teammates side by side. "You guys ready for the actual fight?" Matt asked, receiving an "Of course" from Natalie and an "Aye" from Lance.

The trio stared at the large demon that was their foe, with his army of worms and metal claws. Akron smiled. "Perhaps Man does have a future on this planet. We shall see if He is above God himself" He announced in his corrupted voice.

Matt raised his sword towards Akron and grinned. "Get ready. We won't be holding back". And with that, Matt let out a battle cry as he charged forward, with Natalie gently floating next to him, wisps of light surrounding her, and Lance on his tank, with two additional cannons next to him charging up to fire their deadly beam of energy. 

(You can stop the music here now, if you want)

However, a bright light tore through the entire setting of the place, erasing everything back to a blank slate. And soon after, when the bright light was gone, Luna had found herself back at the garden, with a sleeping Matthew that was laying on her lap. Her mind began to run questions of just how strong these warriors are. They had challenged a powerful demonic foe, and if what Matthew had said were true, they managed to defeat this monstrosity. However, there were still questions in her mind. Such as who was Lady Anna? Where did she hail from? How powerful is she?

Luna shook her before looking down at Matthew. It was odd thing though. Such an odd creature that looked so frail and weak can actually hold immense power in a highly destructive scale. However, even so, she knew they would only use it for good. They were kind-hearted beings, even if Matthew and Lance acted slightly barbaric at times. she couldn't help but chuckle. 

More questions to be solves in the morning, if the moment presented itself. For now, they shall rest. 

The Creators only knows how long they need it.