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// Validation of Strength and Return of Another 
// Story: Xenoblade: Another World 
// by IAmNotSmartest 
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The Spirit of Bionis was honestly quite disappointed by the scenery surrounding him. The trees were barely ten meters high at the most, the undergrowth was nearly nonexistent, and when it came to overlarge creatures, there were next-to-none. The forest wasn't even pleasant to look at; nothing glowed or shone, it was all dim and drab colors, there wasn't even contrast in the flowers- just more shades of dark purple and brown. It bored him, almost as much as the inane questions the ponio would ask.

"Did you hear that?"

"What was that?"

"For Celestia's sake, why are we still even in here?"

The pair had been walking within view of the forest edge for barely half an hour, and the ponio was being incredibly paranoid for no obvious reason. Zanza could feel thousands of life forces in the forest around him, not one of them approaching the two. He continually reassured her that he saw and heard nothing, though he still kept vigilance in the near area. 

'This is likely one of the most dull places I have ever had the displeasure to visit,' he mused. 'Hardly inhabited, colored so darkly, and holds next to nothing ether-wise. I haven't even seen a crystal deposit. There has to be something here to toy with.'

His pace slowed as he drew his focus to extending the range of his senses, hoping for something to make this trip worthwhile. A moment's search later, he detected a number of life forces not much farther in. Three of them seemed to be pulsating wildly, huddled together on the forest floor, and the other three surrounded it, walking around what he assumed was their prey. 

'How pathetic, he resisted a sigh. 'Now, how am I to convince the princess to follow me there?'

Three screams sounded off in unison. 'Perfect.' 

He grabbed the princess by a nervously raised wing, and bolted through the thin underbrush, dragging his reluctant watcher behind him. He burst into a small clearing, tossing the ponio to his left (into some bushes), while he readied the Monado. Three small ponios, that he assumed were the young of the townsfolk, were cowering in fear of the same number of  wooden quadrupeds — some variation of a volff, if he saw correctly. The sudden appearance of an even larger creature throwing their ruler to the side only caused the younglings to clutch one another even more tightly in fear.

The volffs turned to face Zanza, snarling viciously. He gave a smirk of contempt, and grasped the Monado in both hands. He called to the children, "Fear not, little ones. These creatures shall not harm you."

He swung the Monado from the left, the blade searing the nearest volff's side, while the second leaped at his right. Sidestepping, he butted the volff over the head with the pommel of his sword. The first bit Zanza's leg while he regained his stance, his plating absorbing most of the damage.

'How dare this wretched beast bite me!' he raged silently. He swung the Monado overhead, and the ether-blade grew to three times it's usual size. He shouted, "Monado — Buster!"

The blade crashed down on the volff, utterly annihilating it, it's being dispersing into raw ether. The second beast, witness to the destruction of the first, bolted, stumbling with it's injured foreleg. Zanza immediately regretted his rash action, but not because he destroyed the volff in anger — more so because the ether he used in the attack was not restored by the volff's, not even by half. He sighed, deactivating the blade and returning it to his back. The young ones had stopped quivering, but still looked upon him with fear. The princess had finally managed to clear herself from the underbrush, and looked around frantically for the volffs.

"Zanza? Where are the timberwolves?" She asked him. "I saw one run away, but —"

"The other is gone. I had to destroy it, and the sight of it caused the other to flee." Zanza replied casually.

"And what about the third one?" Twilight's eyes widened.

'What — ?'

Zanza was tackled to the ground, face-down. The last timberwolf was on top of him, pinning him to the forest floor.

'Why did I not search for ether signatures?' He thought with mixed anger and regret. The volff bit at his neck, which, while hardly painful, was a massive disgrace. 'Infernal creature! You will regret this!'

The deity tensed up, preparing to flip the volff off his back but suddenly found the weight missing. He rolled over into a crouch, prepared to strike, and then saw the timberwolf smoldering behind him, dead. He looked for the source — Twilight's horn had a small trail of fading smoke emanating from it, the young huddled behind her, peeking at the corpse, and himself.

Zanza's face burned red, anger and shame welling up within. 'How dare she. I had this completely in my hand, and now I've wasted precious ether. This was supposed to be my chance to demonstrate my strength. Not hers.' He rose from the crouch, brushing the forest's debris from his plating. 'What's worse, now I have to thank that miserable wretch for wasting my time.'

"Zanza, are you—" She started with a worried look.

"Fine." He said quickly, avoiding bitterness in his tone. "Because of your quick action, I sustained little damage."

"It bit your neck!" The small white ponio pointed out.

He gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Look," He turned around. A small amount of ether particles danced across the surface where he'd been bitten, restoring  the wound to it's original flawless state. Zanza's posture slackened slightly, for a moment, but he hid the fatigue the healing caused. 'And now ether wasted on healing, too.'

The three little ones looked upon him with both awe and trepidation, stepping out from behind the princess, brushing foliage from their short little cloaks. Zanza knelt down, and asked soothingly, "And you three? Have you been harmed?" They shook their heads together. "Good, now then," He stood again, crossing his arms. "Why would three children wander into an explicitly dangerous forest without a guide or protector?"

The ponio with a bow in her hair kicked a pebble, then said sullenly, "We were goin' to go visit Zecora, but we got attacked by the timberwolves and had to run away. We got surrounded here, and then you showed up, and..." she trailed off. "Wait, hang on— who're you?"

"And what are you?" The orange one bravely demanded, then faltering and stepping back.

'I never thought there would come the day where a god has to answer to children.'

"I am Zanza. A homs," He managed to abstain from allowing his contempt to leak into his voice. 

"What's a homs?" white inquired. 

'Mere bacteria I had the mistaken whim to confer intelligence upon.'

"A being from the realm I come from." 

Now, though, annoyance was breaking out on his face. What is was about children that irked him so, he was unsure; likely their incessant yearning for knowledge they need not. They were not the least valuable form of life, they still were among the lowest to him. The only time he had ever come to like a child was when that miserable wretched homs showed up in the ruins, a body for his own use. And that did not last long at all.

"Why're you—"

"Haha, alright girls, we should be getting you all home now, heha," Twilight started to guide them away from Zanza, seeing his growing distaste for their blunt questions.  As she herded them out of the forest with him following behind, she gave the god a smile, which he returned insincerely. 'At the very least, she had the sense to quell their curiosity.'





The children were safely escorted back to town, and sternly warned not to enter the forest without an older pony watching. 'As if that had stopped them this time. And is it not dangerous to their elders as well?'

That done, Twilight started walking him back through town. Still they cowered, and still he amused himself by seeing which ones fled from his gaze. That is, until he picked up on something the Princess said to him.

"That was really brave of you, saving the Crusaders like that."

'At last, recognition—'

"Even if you did need saving to, that was still very impressive." 

'Take the praise where given,' he reaffirmed himself. 'ignore that backhand of the compliment.'

"Thank you. You yourself showed a great aptitude for quick thinking."

"You think so?"

'No.' "Of course. You're reflexes did save me a great deal of trouble with the beast." 

"Heh, thanks," She rubbed the back of her head, bashful at the praise. She continued, "I think Spike should be back by now. I'm sure he'd like to meet you."

"Then lead the way," he said, barely preventing the growing boredom from seeping into his tone.


-=|Two days prior|=-


She lay there in the valley, inanimate. Only the slight breeze wafting by stirred a silver lock that had broken free from the metallic headdress. How long she lay there, she knew not; how she came to be here, she knew not; all she could remember was her last moment, her sacrifice for the future of her children. Her last words, wishing them a world with no need for her or any god. Days passed. She did not notice.

Meyneth was her name, but it had been long since she heard it. She may have lain there forever, blissfully unaware of the world around her, were it not for the massive release of ether energy, far to the south of her. As sudden and quickly as thunder, her brilliant ruby eyes shot open, dilating mechanically in the sunlight. Her complexly plated dress shimmered in metallic black and cherry blossom pink in the twilight, casting flashes of light across her steel-gray skin. It was shorter than she recalled; it did not really matter. Faintly, three circles of blue light flickered behind her before phasing back out of existence, a similar event induced in the highlights of the headdress she wore. A flash passed across the design inscribed on her brow. She rose unsteadily to her plated feet, looking to the sky grimly.

'I know who that is,' Meyneth thought solemnly. 'I only wish it were not so.'

Unused to her body after so long, she staggered up the hill, and looked to the horizon. Not far from the direction of the surge she saw a castle— no, an entire city, seemingly made of glass. 

'There are mortals here,' she realized. She had hoped not, for their sake. Meyneth stumbled back down the ridge, and with growing ability, began to run to the city. 'They are in grave danger if he walks their realm. I must warn them, before it is too late. I cannot let this happen again.'

She cared not for the absence of her Monado; right now, they must be warned of Zanza, lest he destroy them all.