//------------------------------// // Of Men And Horrible Tentacle Monsters part 1 // Story: And Then There Were 10...Er...67 // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// Jason barely had time to roll out of the way as Zed rushed at him, her jaws nearly clamping onto his leg. “Fuck!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet. “Omnitrix, Heatblast!” he commanded, morphing into a flaming, rock-like creature. Zed growled, her Nemetrix glowing, shifting her into a rocky, crab like creature. “Damnit! I forgot about that!” He threw a few fireballs at her, which fizzled out harmlessly on her shell. Zed roared, charging at him, knocking him into a tree. “That... hurt...” he groaned, stumbling to his feet. Looking around, he noticed a blue vial amongst the splintered remains of the tree. He dove for it, just in time to dodge another of Zed’s charges. Gripping the vial, he heard the oath before holding it up in the air. “Look hunter guy! I could use some damn help here!” he shouted, though this time he was unable to dodge Zed’s charge. She snapped him up in her jaws, putting out the struggling Pyronite’s flames. In the sky above Jason, the air rippled softly. Then, without warning, the was a sound akin to a rip and a massive figure fell through the portal. He fell quickly, landing directly onto Zed’s back who released Jason from her grip with a howl of pain. He wasted no time however, he dug his hand under her collar, then turned and threw her. She sailed a short distance before smashing through a tree, then dug her claws into the ground to slow herself. The figure’s eye lit up red, and he began to growl before he hunched over, then smashed his fist into the ground, which cracked from the impact. “STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS!” “Well... I wasn’t expecting you, thanks for the save,” Jason said, getting to his feet. “I’m Jason,” he smirked, bursting into flames once more. Zed roared, charging again, her horn aimed at the interloper’s chest. Nemesis took the charge head on, catching her head between his arms and digging his feet into the ground. Eventually, Zed’s charge came to a halt. “Nemesis,” he answered, then turned and tossed Zed to the side a second time. There was a hole in his trenchcoat where the horn went in, but he didn’t seem bothered by it. “But by the sound of things you already knew that.” He reached behind him, unlatching a large, black rocket launcher with the ‘Umbrella Corp.’ logo on the side of it. It was almost as big as he was. His voice sounded distant, like he wasn’t focusing on what I was saying more than he was the one who just tried to gore him. “Omnitrix, Humungousaur!” Jason shouted while rushing forward, his flaming form replaced by a large brown scaled reptile. He grabbed Zed’s leg, swung her around, and threw her into a cliff face. She roared, getting to her feet and shifting into a huge Tyrannosaurus-like worm with multiple arms around legs. “Aw crap.” he said his eyes going wide “Okay that’s... that’s definitely new,” Nemesis replied, suddenly feeling like an ant. “It can shift into the predator of whatever species I turn into!” Jason shouted, diving behind a boulder to avoid the webbing that Zed fired from her horn. She roared in anger, swiping her tail at them and leveling most of the trees in the area. Nemesis jumped clear of the tail, landing further away. “So it’s built specifically to counter you?” Nemesis raised his launcher, leveling it evenly on his shoulder as he let a missile fly. “Who the hell did you piss off enough for them to sic something like this on you!?” The rocket flew straight and true, then collided into Zed’s side with a bright flash and a loud explosion. Zed stumbled and roared in pain, the rocket obviously taking its toll on her. “Thats the thing! No one should have built it! It’s from the same show I got the Omnitrix from,” Jason explained, running various ideas through his head. He facepalmed when a certain fact came back to him. “How the hell did I forget that?” he asked shaking his head. “Omnitrix, Upchuck!” his hulking frame being replaced with a small green creature. “Just because you have doesn’t mean you won’t lose!” Charmcaster shouted, opening up her bag. She tossed out a few rocks, which grew into several large, purple glowing golems. “Get them!” she shouted, and the golems started to charge. Nemesis backed up a step. “Action now, questions later. Got it.” He reattached his launcher to his back as he unlatched his next weapon – a silver object that latched onto his arm, then stuck out at least 3 feet from his wrist. Slowly, the barrel of the weapon began to turn, then lit up the air around him. The golem in front of him quickly fell apart, and the ground around Nemesis’ feet became covered in empty bullet shells. He turned, and attempted to gun down another but it reached him first. Nemesis was flung backwards as the Golem punched him, he rolled on the ground before getting his feet back under him, his eye burned red. “Friends of yours?” “I am so going to kill Driba and Blukic!” Jason shouted, grabbing the remains of a tree with his tongues, pulling it into his mouth. He burped up a blob of energy, destroying the golem that was attacking Nemesis. “Quick, fire a rocket at me!” Nemesis gave him a look like he was insane, but was reminded what they were up against as a loud roar shook the area. He quickly swapped out his weapons again and levelled his launcher on his shoulder, this time at Jason. “Hope you know what you’re doing.” He pulled the trigger, and with the sound of a jet taking off a rocket flew. Jason grabbed the rocket up in his tongues, gulping it down. His cheeks and body puffed out as he held in the blast. Zed threw her head back, releasing a earthshaking roar, before charging at Jason. He waited until she was about to close her jaws around him before releasing the blast. A massive eardrum-rending boom filled the air and Zed fell to the ground, her limp form reverting to her normal self. Nemesis shielded his eye as the massive explosion ripped the ground underneath of them asunder. He blinked a few times before daring to look again. “Jason! You alright?” “Y-yeah...” the little creature responded, getting up and rubbing his head. “Upchuck is a tough little guy... “ “Oh Faust-damnit! Get them!” Charmcaster shouted, ordering the knights present to attack. Before she could join in herself, the other unicorn stopped her. “No Charmcaster, we leave now,” he said, shaking his head. “But Uncle!” she protested, looking at him like he was crazy. “This battle is lost, it’s not worth our lives,” he argued, turning to leave. “Fine, lets get out of here,” Charmcaster agreed, the two of them teleporting away from the battlefield. Nemesis watched the two unicorns depart, his eye color changing from red to white before he looked back at Jason. He approached him, then leant down onto one knee. “Heh, well you’d definitely win any belching contest we had back home.” “Heh... thanks,” Jason said, wobbling a bit. “We uh... still got company...” he pointed out, motioning to the knights that had surrounded them. Nemesis’ eye color shifted back to red as he stood up, towering far above them. “You let me worry about that… you look like you could use the rest.” Nemesis’ eye glowed brighter as his voice took on a sinister tone. “I swear..if any of you try anything…” He hunched over, several tentacles erupting from his body as he did. Then he roared. “I’LL RIP YOUR HEADS OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECKS!” The ponies in armor visibly paled at this, some of them dropping their weapons at the display. “W-we surrender!” one of them shouted groveling at his feet, followed by the rest of the terrified knights. “Well that was easy...” Jason mumbled, collapsing. The Omnitrix timed out, reverting him to his human form. “Heh, pays to look this ugly sometimes—” Nemesis glanced over as he heard a thump. “Shit! Jason?!” Nemesis pulled on his Genji Gloves before he slung Jason’s arm over his shoulders, helping him back to his feet. “We need to get you to town, or at least to someone who can help you.” Nemesis’ thoughts rushed as he tried to familiarize himself with where he was in the Everfree. Normally he had it mapped out like the back of his hand, but with his sudden summoning and being in another universe, nothing looked familiar. A loud buzzing filled the air as several dozen black spaces filled the sky. As they got closer, they were revealed to be very insect-like ponies, the largest one wearing a crown. She landed, her eyes going wide when she spotted the two. “Release him, demon!” she roared, blasting him away from Jason. “Please be alright!” she whimpered, dashing forward to catch the injured human in her arms. She held him close, glaring knives at Nemesis. Nemesis hit the ground hard for the second time that day, quickly rolling back onto his feet. The changelings were quick to surround him though, and he mentally sighed. I don’t think I’ll ever escape my ‘victim of circumstance’ bit… he thought to himself before standing up to his full height, taller than the queen. This gave him bonus points for intimidation, but not so much towards convincing them that he wasn’t a threat. “Look, I know this looks bad but this is a complete misunderstanding,” Nemesis began, pointing at the limp dog behind Chrysalis. “That thing was trying to kill him, he summoned me,” Nemesis pointed at himself, “To help! I think he’s hurt bad though, he collapsed after they,” A tentacle burst from Nemesis’ back, causing several of the Changelings to flinch in fear as he pointed to the cowering knights with his tentacle. “Surrendered! Are we clear?” “Was that before or after you shot at him?” one of the knights asked, causing Nemesis to give him a death glare. “It’s true!” a tiny voice shouted out, its owner flying out to Chrysalis. “We... saw the whole thing.” Driba panted out, hovering in front of her face. “That creature helped uh... whatever his name is fight off that other creature and those knights!” “Well then,” Chrysalis said, turning to Nemesis. “It seems I owe you an apology and a thank you for protecting my mate,” she signaled to her swarm, who surrounded the knights, encasing them in a sickly green goo. M-mate…?! Nemesis thought to himself, but didn’t dare say aloud. “It’s not a problem, if one of us calls we help each other out. He really does need medical help though, we should get him to the hospital nearby or at least to someone who can treat his wounds.” “You are right,” she said getting up, placing Jason securely on her back. “We best take him to Ponyville,” she said, spreading her wings. She ordered the swarm to return to the hive, taking the knights with them. “D-don’t leave Zed...” Jason mumbled out, pointing to the limp form of the dog creature. Nemesis glanced over to the dog, then back at Jason with a questioning look. Nevertheless, he walked over and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. “I’ll follow you into town, though I should probably come back to the Everfree after I drop her off, I don’t think my appearance in town will be received too well.” Nemesis grumbled, remembering the first time he came to a pony town… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Look, I’m just trying to figure out where—” “AAAAAHHHHH! A MONSTER!!!” “GODDAMNIT, WOULD SOMEONE LISTEN TO ME?!” “STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS!” A nearby building exploded in a massive inferno for absolutely no reason. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nemesis shuddered. “Yeah… definitely not.” “Do try and keep up,” Chrysalis said, taking off into the air. The two Breezies looked up at Nemesis, jibbering softly, the Omnitrix too far away to translate their words. Nemesis cocked his head to the side at them. “Don’t know what you’re saying, but you can come if you want. Just make sure you have a tight grip.” Nemesis made sure he had his Genji Gloves on tight before the breezies sat on his shoulders, gripping the fabric of his trenchcoat tightly. Nemesis crouched and jumped, clearing the treetops with each consecutive jump as the two made their way towards Ponyville. *** “I feel like I got hit by a truck... “ Jason said with a moan, wincing as sunlight hit his eyes. “Where the hell am I?” “You’re in the hospital,” Chrysalis said, sitting by his bed. “You’ve been asleep for a few days,” she leaned over, planting a kiss on his lips. “It’s alright to come in now Nemesis,” she called, looking towards the door. A tall, gargantuan mutated monster opened the door, and had to lean his head down to get inside. In his right hand he held a bunch of balloons, and in his left he had a bunch of ‘get well’ cards. He let the balloons hit the ceiling before he dumped the cards on his bed. “Pinkie Pie,” he stated, shaking his head a bit. “ANYWAYS, glad to see you’re finally awake. I was afraid I’d scrambled your brains or you’d been poisoned or something, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.” “It’ll take more than that to beat me,” Jason said with a smirk. “So what happened with the knights?” “Celestia has them,” Chrysalis spoke up, nuzzling Jason’s neck. “She took possession of them last night. As for that strange dog creature, it’s under Fluttershy’s care.” “Well that’s good to hear,” Jason said, putting his arm around her and turning to Nemesis. “Thanks for the help man, Gilgamesh really is a great judge of character.” “Yeah I heard about how he trained you,” Nemesis stated as he leaned against a nearby wall. “As well as what he did afterwards. Not that I can blame him, especially considering how hard he beats himself up over Kat.” “Yeah I heard about that,” Jason said sighing before holding his hand out. “But really, thanks for the save.” Nemesis grinned, or at least did what seemed like a grin, before he clasped Jason’s hand in return. “Not a problem.” “Massive genetic damage detected,” the Omnitrix chirped, interrupting their moment. “Repairing damage,” it announced, sending a surge of green energy into Nemesis. “What the—” was all Nemesis had time to get out before he felt like his body was being lit on fire. “GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” He screamed as he fell to the floor in a writhing green mass. “Nemesis!” Jason shouted, watching with wide eyes. “Oh Odin I killed him didn’t I!?” Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Then, very slowly, a human face peered over the edge of the bed where Nemesis had fallen. This was soon followed by a normal sized human body, wearing clothes that were obviously too big for him, and sagged heavily. “Wh—...wha-” His eyes widened, and he immediately started coughing. “I can—” more coughing. “Talk?! What in the name of—” more coughing. “Sweet baby—” even more coughing. “MOTHER OF—” You can probably guess what happened after that. He backed up a few steps, hitting his back on the wall as his eyes wildly scanned the room. “Okay, who the hell’s playing a joke on me?! This isn’t fucking funny!!” He looked down at his own hands, and then down over himself. “I... I can…” he took a deep breath through his nose, then blinked his right eye repeatedly. “I can... smell.” And then his clothes fell off. “Dude, seriously!?” Jason asked, covering his eyes while Chrysalis just laughed, her voice echoing throughout town. Nemesis quickly crouched to cover the goods. “JUST SHUT UP AND GET ME SOME CLOTHES!” He coughed again. Jason shook his head, taking his pants off, tossing them to the former mutant. “Oh come on!” Driba shouted, shaking his hoof at the Omnitrix. He was stuck as a Breezie but the big mutant could get cured? That was so unfair.