A Rift Between Worlds

by Cinders of War


Chapter 4: First Contact

Home Run had cycled back home and changed out into more comfortable clothes for baseball. Making sure he grabbed his bat and ball, Home Run headed back out, making his way to the nearby field for some practice. Friday was the day he would be able to play with the school. He had to make a good first impression.

Can’t get all sloppy now. Gotta keep up my game if what I’ve heard about the team is true.

In less than ten minutes, the baseball player had arrived at the field. Settling his bike under a shady tree, he headed to the big space near the middle of the field and got to working on his aim and form. He tossed the ball a couple of times, making sure he knew where he was throwing it.
After getting bored of pitching, he turned his attention to what he did best. Batting. He readied his bat as he tossed the ball up high, giving him time to get into form. Pulling his bat back, he watched as the ball stopped ascending, gravity doing its work. He readied his stance, keeping one leg behind the other. With a well-timed swing, he launched the ball across the field, watching it settle under the tree he had parked his bike.

“Still got it!” Home Run cheering, pushing his arms skyward. “The crowd cheers, as Home Run hit a home run!”

He sprinted to the right, training his running when he stumbled forward, almost tripping over something in the ground.

“What?” he mumbled as he searched for the source of his stumbling.

Home Run looked down, seeing something golden half-stuck in the ground. It was a shiny metallic object, round in shape but with tiny protrusions on its form. The blue haired boy tried to pick it up, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Huh… a stubborn one, eh?”

He bent down and gripped the object firmly. With most of his strength, he pulled back, using his body weight to help. Home Run felt the object budge, right before it came out of the ground, sending him tumbling backwards onto the soft grass.

“That’s right!” he shouted in triumph. “Don’t mess with Home Run!”

He looked at the object. It had two prongs at the bottom, making it look like it was supposed to be inserted into something. Just then, lights on the object activated, startling the baseball player. Blue light emanated from the golden piece, glowing brighter by the second.

“Strange…”

Home Run walked back towards the field to resume his baseball practice, when something heavy landed two feet away from him, the impact launching him off his feet.

“Woah!”

The grass softened his landing, but he still felt the hardness of the ground as he hit it. He shielded his face as dirt pelted down on him. Looking up, he saw some kind of metal pod in front of him, semi-burrowed into the ground from the impact.

Home Run got up, something inside him telling him to run. He finally listened to himself as gas started hissing out from the pod, taking off towards his bike as fast as his legs would go. He brought his bike up as his head looked to the pod again. A door opened like that of a draw bridge of a castle as two humanoid figures in green armor and white masks stepped out, pointing what looked like guns towards the teenage boy. That was all he needed to see. Home Run kicked off, cycling like lightning away from the field.

I must be dreaming. I think I took that history teacher’s lesson too seriously…

He heard some shouting behind him, but he was too far away to hear what they were saying. He arrived at the streets, making a left turn when he heard the first gunshots tear at the air around him. He paused for a second, thinking he was shot, but the shock wore off, allowing him to move on.

“This is not happening…” he said, trying to convince himself he was dreaming. “This is not happening.”

Home Run didn’t know where to go. He couldn’t go back home. That would only reveal his residential location. He cycled down the road, looking out for places he could hide in. He looked back, unable to see the aliens that were chasing him. He slowed his paddling, giving himself time to rest. The few seconds he had slowed, a flash of light appeared in front of him, forcing him to jam the brakes of his bike.

“What?”

The flash dissipated, revealing a man, taken over by a mass of armor and wires, his face as wrinkled as an old bag of prunes.

“The key!” the man demanded from him, grabbing Home Run’s bike and flinging the boy off.

“W-what key?” Home Run stammered as he tried to get as far as he could from the wrinkled man.

“Give it to me!” the man shouted louder, stretching a hand forward, expecting Home Run to put something in it.

Home Run pulled the object out of his pocket, looking at it once more.

Is this the key he’s talking about?

“Mine!” the man shouted, lunging for Home Run.

The baseball player brought his arms up to his face to protect himself from the impact, but nothing happened.

“Hmm?” Home Run hummed as he removed his arms from their defensive position.

Something had defended him. That something wore a suit of armor-like organic material, covering every inch of its body, including its facial
features, spouting a squarish horn on the tip of its forehead. It held a long blade, poised in front of itself like it had just blocked an attack.
The older man looked at the man in the suit and snarled, taking a few steps back.

“Tenno…”

Home Run took the chance to get up and hightail it out of the area, leaving his bike behind. His first thoughts were to just get as far away as he could from these people. He turned the corner at the end, hearing the clash of weapons as the two new beings battled it off.


Captain Vor tossed a shock grenade at the Warframe, aiming for its chest. His frown grew lower as the Warframe cut his grenade in mid-air, blowing it up safely away from itself.

“Why do you persist, Tenno?” he asked scornfully. “The Lotus has been nothing but trouble!”

The Tenno said nothing as it continued to block Vor’s attacks, skillfully cutting his grenades like paper.

“Gah!” Vor shouted in irritation. He stepped back as two of his Grineer lancers caught up, standing between him and the Warframe.

“Kill!” the captain ordered as he activated his teleportation device, beaming himself back to the pod.


The Excalibur stood his ground, readying his sword for a swift fight against the Grineer. Earlier today, the Lotus had contacted him, informing him of the threat that was to come, and the void keys they needed to awaken the others.

The Grineer wasted no time, aiming their hind rifles at him and firing, spraying their pellets towards his form. He timed his stance right and swung his skana, taking the bullets out of the air one by one.

“Hrah!” the Grineer grunted, realizing none of their bullets hit the Warframe at all.

They still haven’t learned…

The Excalibur charged the Grineer, spinning his body around as he neared the first one. The Grineer shot at him, but as he turned back, he slashed the bullets in half along with the first lancer. The second one took the hint and made a run for it, dropping his gun and heading in the opposite direction from the Warframe. Taking a crouching stance, the Excalibur readied his sword backwards and activated his energy pool, dashing forward at a high speed towards the escaping Grineer, passing him in a blink. The Excalibur stopped, creating sparks on the ground as he slowed. He sheathed his blade as the Grineer’s upper torso fell off its lower.

The armored man activated his trans-dimension communicator, opening a secure link to the Lotus. “Excalibur here. I’ve located the Grineer, but there’s been a complication… yes. There was a boy. Human. He has the key… no. He made a run for it. The princess is coming? Alright. What he looks like? Blue hair, blue skin, blue shirt. Yeah, I figured. I’ll do my best. Excalibur out.”

He looked up from his position. There was still work to be done. The humans couldn’t know about the Grineer presence. Right now, he had to play the cleaner.


Home Run couldn’t remember where he had turned, but he knew he had made a wrong turn at some point.

“Great…” he muttered. “Lost.”

He wandered past an old mechanic shop, never seeing it since his first day in town. Home Run looked around at the scenery, no idea of where in Canterlot he was. He blamed himself for not studying the town better before actually going to school. Perhaps if he did, he would have arrived at Canterlot High on time this morning.

Then he remembered something. Something he could have done to get himself out of the mess he was currently in. He went over to the mechanic shop, looking at the old man sitting behind a rusty old table.

“Hey there, son,” he said in a low, raspy voice. “What can I do for you?”

Home Run put his biggest smile on. “Actually, I’m lost. Could you perhaps redirect me to… Canterlot High School?”

The mechanic gave him a hoarse laugh before pointing him in the right direction. “Believe it or not, kid… Canterlot High is just down the road. Go straight and make a left turn, and there you are.”

“Wow,” Home Run said, unable to believe what the man was telling him. “I was that close… well, thanks, good sir!”

He waved to the mechanic before running off. He smiled to himself for at least thinking to stop and ask for directions, but frowned again, realizing he wasted time getting lost in the first place.

He continued down the road, periodically looking behind himself to make sure the aliens weren’t following him. It was then he saw the flash of light again as the ugly, wrinkled old man materialized right behind him, snarling at him.

“The key, boy!”

Home Run picked up his speed, willing his legs to push on. The man pulled out two little electrical spheres and pulled his arms back. Home Run recognized that stance. The man was getting ready to throw those at him. The blue-skinned boy looked for an opening in the side to get to before the man threw the orbs. He ducked down behind a dumpster as the electrical balls flew past him, attaching themselves to the ground a few inches away from him. Just in case they were explosive, Home Run dodged further into the alley, not wanting to get fried on his first week in Canterlot.
Nearing the other entrance to the alley, Home Run looked up just to see a lavender-skinned girl with long purple hair run up to the alley from the second entrance.

“Come with me if you want to live!” she beckoned.

Home Run found it strange that some girl that he didn’t know would say that if he wanted to live, he should follow her. Seeing as he had an angry wrinkled alien after him, this was the better idea, so he got up and went with her.

“Umm…” Home Run started to say as he followed the girl, running down the streets. “Do I know you?”

“No time to explain now,” she replied. “But I’m Twilight Sparkle, and you need to come with me. I can get you to safety.”

“Makes sense.”

Home Run started to recognize his surroundings as they turned another corner to Canterlot High. The lavender girl led him to the monument standing before the school.

“What are we doing here?” Home Run asked as she walked towards the statue.

Twilight Sparkle turned around to tell him, but before she could utter a single word, a flash of light took their attention.

“He’s here,” Home Run warned.

The alien materialized in front of the statue, taking a menacing step forward.

“I see you!” he sneered.

“We’ve got to get to the statue!” Twilight told Home Run, urgency in her voice.

“You’re not going anywhere, boy!” the man taunted.

He pulled out two more of his electrical grenades.

“Just what do I have to do to get through my first day of school?” Home Run muttered.

Then he thought of something. The old man had wanted that key from him since the beginning. Home Run didn’t see a use for the key.

“If you want it,” Home Run told the man, pulling out the key from his pocket. “Then go get it!”

He tossed it as far as he could to the road like he was throwing a baseball. The man turned his head to follow the key and went after it, giving Home Run and Twilight a straight shot to the statue.

“Let’s go!” Home Run said, pulling Twilight along. “What is the statue supposed to do?”

Twilight Sparkle looked at him then looked to the key as the man closed his distance to the golden object. “We’re supposed to go through it… but…”

Home Run wasted no time. In the last few hours, he’d seen the impossible, so he figured going through a statue wasn’t such a strange thing. He grabbed the distracted girl and jumped to the statue. He braced himself, just in case he was wrong, and smashed his face into the statue, but instead, he fell through it like it was jelly.

“Woah!” he shouted as he and Twilight went through the statue.