//------------------------------// // Case 7: Lessons in Displacement // Story: SPD Emergency // by cyberlord4444 //------------------------------// After Cruger sent the CMC back to the Delta Base via portal, once he radioed ahead for Time Stamp to hold onto them until he got back, he went to secure the bandits' loot. Once he had found the shack that they were hidden in, he prepared to send them back the same way he sent the CMC when something caught his eye. Lying on top of the various sacks of coins and jewels was a strange necklace. It was made of iron with a leather strap, engraved with a somewhat sinister looking helmet. As he picked it up, he heard a strange feminine voice speak from thin air. "To you, who hold this trinket. No matter if you wish to conquer or to protect. No matter if you wish to destroy or to create. I do not care if your Intents are black, white or any shade of gray, call my name and I will come. But be prepared for the judge of our actions will be Time alone. I am Umbra, the Overlady. The Mistress of Minions. And this is my token." As the voice dissipated, Cruger was left wondering, "Umbra?". As soon as he spoke the word, he felt a surge of dimensional energy and noticed a flash of light from outside the shack. Cruger's mind flashed three very important thoughts. One: odds were, Umbra was right outside the shack. Two: checking, yes he was still morphed. Third: he had to que up another song. (Umbra's POV) In the typical bright flash of blue light, I appeared... in front of a really shabby looking shack? To say I was a bit miffed would have been an understatement, since whoever called me caught me just seconds before I could devour a piece of pastry that was left from my trip to Ponyville. For whatsoever reason, the baked good had not made the trip in this Verse even though I had it in my hand just moments before. "Okay, whoever called me, you owe me a piece of marble cake with extra frosting! And where the fuck am I?" I yelled angrily. As she was yelling, Cruger stepped out from the shack, "sorry, no cake here. But if you don't mind, I think the cafeteria's serving chocolate." While Umbra studied the strangely armored figure, her gaze was drawn to the bags of coins behind him. "What the freakin fuck?" Was that a honest to goddess Power Ranger? And more important, where this back full of gold coins behind him? That made me drool a bit, thankfully under my helmet. "Heh, chocolate is fine too. So, I take you called me yes?" I asked in a chit-chat tone, my eyes still fixed on all that loot. "Hey, say, by chance, is that loot behind ya claimed allready?" "If you mean the loot that I recovered from a group of bandits and am going to return to it's rightful owners," Cruger said while fingering his sword, "yeah. Why do you ask?" "Aww, come on now. Don't be such a stick in the mud buddy. Bandits stole it hn? So, hey, I just thought, why don’t we tell the owners that you only found, dunno, some pocket change left and we split the rest between us hn?" I offered, feeling the urge to take it all for myself boil inside me. "Tell you what, since you did all the hard work, I´ll would even give you fifty five percent." Just to be on the safe side, I called my Minions, Reds and Browns, amassing a veritable mass of kobolds behind me, leaning my mace on my shoulder in a casual way. "Does not sound to shabby hn?" Cruger chuckled as he pulled out his badge, "Allow me to introduce myself, Commander Cruger, Space Patrol Delta, a cop. Besides, 35? Really? I was hoping for a hundred, you know, like in the show. I raided mafia strongholds that had more guys." "Aw bummer, I knew I had seen your armor somewhere." I responded, eying the badge. "Also, please don´t diss my little friends alright? They are way stronger than your regular mook, goon or whatever you normally get thrown at you." I swung my mace from my shoulder in a slight arc in front of me. "So, I take you will try to arrest me now hn?" Cruger put his badge away, "actually, since you were the first human I've seen in over a thousand years, and appear to have the abilities of one of my favorite games, I was gonna compare notes with you over a pizza. But if you want to try to take what ain't your's," Cruger drew his sword and energized it, "I can always put you in a containment card first." I chuckled, gripping my mace harder. "Why, ain´t you a charmer. You at least invite a lady to dinner before breaking out the serious stuff." Sending the mental signal to my Minions to bet ready for battle, I focused Mana in my left palm, prepping a Fireball. "Well, normally I would accept dinner in an instant but you see, I feel a bit adventurous right now. Sooo... let´s scrap!" My hand shot forward, sending my Minions into battle even though I added the mental command not to kill this guy. Just a moment before my Browns got in reach, I threw my spell, toned down a bit but still strong enough to knock Mr. Mighty Morphin´ off his feet. Just before the spell hit him, Cruger slashed the air in front of him with his sword, creating a rift that swallowed the fireball before closing. With another swing, he made another rift that launched the same fireball into a group of Browns, scattering them like ninepins. "Hey, that´s cheating!" I yelled, a smirk under my helm "I like ya!" Cruger chuckled, "I aint yo momma's Cruger." "Fitting reply!" I shot back, commanding my Reds to provide cover while the Browns and I charged. At this point, I really, really wanted to send that guy flying. A mental command later, my Browns made for a pincer maneuver to take Mr. Cruger from both sides, which would allow me to punt his blue armored ass all the way over to Mount Canter. Maybe I would invite him for a beer afterwards, provided he would be a good loser. I wasn't prepared for him to open a portal beneath him for him to drop into. However, I was less surprised when my browns smashed into each other when he disappeared. "You can port yourself too? Aw come on!" I harshly addressed my kobolds who tried to untangle themselves "Get yourself together, up you wastes of souls!" While I did that, I switched to my Ley sight. Maybe, just maybe I could track that fellows Mana residue, if his skills used Mana that is. >>Alright, I can see it, there is his residue.<< I thought with some degree of satisfaction, following the smoky Mana residue left behind by Crugers skill. >>Now let´s see, he left there and now he is... got ya now!<< Following the trail, it lead behind me, while a bit distant. The Beast prepped for a swing, I twirled around. Cruger was on a small hill with two small portals overtop each other throwing stones into them. Looking closer, there was a small waterfall of pebbles flowing between them. Noticing my gaze, Cruger turned towards me. "First rule of portals, speedy thing goes in," I paled as I figured out his plan, "speedy thing comes out." With a wave of his hand, Cruger dismissed the upper portal and summoned another, RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE! "OH FUCK!" was all I could yell before a hailstorm of pebbles rained down on me, clanking off my helmet for the most part but still enough of the stones it their mark and boy, did that hurt. Darkness be thanked for my sturdier body or I might had lost an eye. Still, that would leave me with a... well, blacker eye. "Owowowowowowow, my face, my beautiful face!" I yelled, stumbling back in a fashion the monster of the day in a Rangers episode would to as soon as it got hit. After the last stone had hit me, I made a show out of pointing my finger at Cruger, proclaiming loudly "I´ll get you for that Ranger!" Cruger chuckled, "you do know this isn't an 80's kids show right?" "Way to make me feel old and kill the mood in one go." I grumped back, beginning to sprint towards Cruger with my Minions. During the sprint, I griped a Brown at his scruff and threw the happily gibbering projectile towards my opponent. The moment the Minion left my hand, I built up a new spell, this time my Corruption Burst. A hail of Firebolts from my Reds zoomed overhead. Cruger swung his sword, using my thrown Minion's own momentum to cleave it in two. With another swing, he launched a burst of blue magic that swatted most of the fireballs out of the sky. However, to my great delight, he was unable to block my Corruption Burst. The disorientation allowed the remainder of the fireballs to hit their mark. I approached the resulting cloud of smoke with a bit more caution than previously, I may be as dramatic as a Power Ranger villain at times, but I was not as stupid. When the smoke cleared, he was nowhere to be found. Activating my Ley vision, I followed his port to the base of a nearby cliff. There was Cruger his armor scorched and looking rather pissed, that was when I noticed the boulders he was standing next to. Uh oh. "That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy," Cruger growled as he opened portals beneath the boulders. I just managed to get out of the way before his impromptu meteor shower squashed half of my minions. "Fucking fuck!" I just yelped as I scrambled to my feet. Quickly calling Minion reinforcements, I tried to come up with a good plan that would not involve ending up in a bloody smear. I send the whole of my Minions, Reds and Browns alike in a wave towards Cruger, intending to keep the space doggy immobilized until he calmed down a bit. Dying over some bits in another Verse where death could be permanent, nope, not wanna. The Minions gibbered happily as they threw themselves at the blue armored Ranger and clung to his arms and legs. He opened a portal beneath him, disappearing into it along with the minions holding onto him. While I readied my Lay sight to track him, the screaming of my minions made that unneccisary. Looking up, I saw that my minions had let go of Cruger, instead attempting to learn to fly as they fell from what looked like a thousand feet. The amusement of my minion's predicament prevented me from seeing the massive beam of energy until I was unable to dodge. As it hit me and everything turned black only one thing went through my head. >>Fuck<< I awoke, not really expecting to, in a strange white room. Looking around, I saw what looked like a piece of chocolate cake bigger than I was. >>If this is heaven, I'm cool with that.<< As I reached out to eat that cake from the inside out, my hands came into contact with a barrier. Just as I was bemoaning being sent to hell, I heard that bastard's voice. "I told ya I'd put you in a containment card." I hammered my fist against the barrier a few times, producing a gong like sound. With a pitiful moan, I then slid down the barrier. "You know that torture was banned by the Geneva Convention right?" Cruger chuckled, "it's not torture, it's incentive. If you promise to play nice I'll let you out here and now. A little chat, a little triple layer chocolate fudge cake, and you can be on your way. Sounds like a good deal right?" Grumbling something into my helmet, I raised a hand and mumbles a bit louder "Okay, uncle! There, I said it. Now please let me out before I go crazy because I have this ginormous piece of chocolate cake in front of me and can´t get to it." With a flash of light, the room disappeared leaving standing in front of a table with a much smaller, though admittedly generous, slice of cake. "Should have mentioned, objects outside of the card are larger than they appear." I turned around to see Cruger outside of his armor, though I was surprised to see that he actually looked the lovechild of a blue lizard and a German Shepherd. "Wow, no offense buddy but I suddenly have the overwhelming urge to rub your stomach to see if you would kick your legs." I stated as blunt as a battering ram. "Oh and... hehe ... sorry bout that whole thing over that loot. Guess being surrounded by dragons slash half dragons rubbed a bit off on me." Cruger just chuckled, "not to mention a certain sentient walnut who says 'evil always finds a way' every other sentence if my guess is correct. Now, if you don't mind, how exactly did you make Gnarl's acquaintance?" My eyes snapped back from the piece of heaven on a plate to Cruger. "Huh? Oh ya, Gnarl. Mind if we talk while we eat? My blood sugar is a bit low right now." Without waiting I took a seat at the table, that by the way stood in a rather spacious and Sci-Fi looking apartment , taking the fork besides the plate. My helmet found its place on the table for unhindered eating. Cruger just smiled as he gestured to a counter with a various assortment of goodies, "and why do you think I made my famous spaghetti and meat sauce if I did?" He loaded a plate with the succulent smelling combination of pasta, tomatoes, and ground beef and sat across from me, gesturing for me to begin. "Dude, I´m this close to smooching ya on the snout." I stated before stuffing my mouth with chocolaty goodness, not even bothering to suppress my blissfully moan. After swallowing and regaining my bearing a bit, I addressed the meat of the matter. "So I take that I am the first Displaced you made contact with then, yes?" Cruger nodded, "Displaced huh? Well that at least makes me feel a bit better about my situation." I stared at him in confusion as he explained, "now which would be better, being the only shmuk in the multiverse that this happened to, or one of several?" "Ah, so you know about the Multiverse theory already. Good, makes it easier for me there." I speared another piece of cake with my fork "First of, from what I have learned, each or better most of us bought something from a shady vendor on a Con and BÄMM! Grats, you are now in Equestria and are what you were dressed up as. Have fun surviving. Thus the name Displaced. In my case; I bought a new gem for my gauntlet and the next thing I remember was making an orbital entrance to the fucking planet. Fought for my life in the Badlands, met Gnarl and the Minions, erected a dark Tower and now I am jumping between Verses like a rubber ball on cocaine when I not try to find my lost hives." Again my taste buds where met by rich chocolate. "Sweet merciful Mother of Everything, this is some glorious cake! You with me so far?" Cruger nodded, "for me, it was buy my sword, teleport straight to Equestria," I cursed the multiverse, I become a meteor while he just pops straight to ground level, "get in a fight with a dozen Griffins," okay, maybe it just screwed with different people in different ways, "rescue filly Celestia and Luna, almost get blasted by their mom over a misunderstanding, become their bodyguard for five years, head of my own SPD for the next 20, and finally get locked by Discord in my own HQ for the following thousand. By the way, you see your Discord, give him a punch in the snout for me would ya?" "Will do. So, just to sate my curiosity, Celly´s and Luna´s Mom, is she really Faust? Y´know, white coat, maroon mane, Alicorn?" Cruger nodded, "yep, at least in this corner of the multiverse. But be careful, her talent might be writing, but a close second is DEFINITELY combat magic." Cruger took a bite of his pasta, gonna have to try some of that next, and pulled out my token. "Next question, what's this?" "Need to remember that. Kay, that, my dear canine friend is a token. More precise, my token. Imagine it as some kind of business card for us Displaced. It is more or less like the Soapstone's in Dark Souls, they let you call other Displaced for some jolly cooperation. They are made by infusing a item that represents you the best with a fraction of your essence/magical energy/ki/whatever you will call it and a catchy phrase. Then, the Void between the Verses sucks it in on its own normally and spreads it throughout the Multiverse. So far, I have these." I said, placing Wades Cube, Zinnias anklet and Black Alice's Ankh on the table. Cruger studied them, as well as the one in his hand, before digging into one of his coat's inner pockets. He pulled out a silver shield shaped badge bearing the profile of a dog's head and the word 'POLICE' at the top. As he infused his token he spoke. "I am Anubis Cruger, the Shadow Ranger. Should you need my aid, or merely my counsel, call on me. But be warned, you, as well as your foes, shall face my Judgment." As he opened he a portal and prepared to drop it in, he looked at me, "what do ya think, too corny?" "Puh~lease, you heard mine. I sound like a stereotypical bad OC, I mean, my color scheme even is red and black. All I now need is a katana." I responded, waving a hand around before re-collecting my own tokens, putting Wades token back in my pouch, tying Alice Ankh to my belt again and slid Zinnias token on my arm, even though it was meant for legs. "Well, that means you are now officially introduced to the Multiverse. Word of advice, tell your friends. Time works in strange ways when you are summoned. Days can be hours, seconds can be years and Darkness forbid, minutes could be decades." Cruger chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind." As he dropped his new token into the portal and closed, he looked back at me, "I wonder who'll get it?" I was about to answer as a portal opened and dropped a copy of his token, squashing the remainder of my cake. "Fuck you Murphy!" As I bemoaned the loss of such perfection, Cruger mearly chuckled, "well, that's one of life's little rhetorical questions answered." I did not respond to that, seeing as I was too busy licking the remains of my poor cake from my new token. Waste not, want not and all that. Finishing cleaning and stowing away my new token, I went for a plate of pasta myself. After taking a seat again, I took a look out of the window from where I sat. "Hey, what kind of Verse is this by the way? Feral or Anthro?" "Anthro, and as you may have noticed, omnivorous." Having finished his plate, he went over to the counter. I didn't notice what he was up to, but I had bigger things on my mind. When he said his sauce was famous, I didn't quite believe him, now I did. I was still slurping up the pasta when he returned, a plate of cake on top on a white box. He placed the box in front of me before removing his plate, "for the road." I salivated, knowing what was probably inside. "You’re a Saint among us Displaced Anubis." I breathed, my eyes watering from joy. "Also, fuck me running with a chainsword, another Anthroverse. Soooo jealous right now." "Please, just Cruger. Now, since something tells me that under normal circumstances these tokens have an arbitrary time limit, I think I can use my dimension magic to keep you from snapping back until after dinner." "Aw, I was right, you are really a gentleman." I purred, batting my eyes for effect. Must have looked like when someone pulled a curtain over a light source I imagined. "Yes, you are right. Tokens have indeed a rather random time limit. Can be hours, days, weeks. There is a phrase to send a Displaced back too. Just say 'X, our contract is complete.' with the Displaced's name instead of the X." "If it's all the same to you, I'll just pour a bit of magic into your token. Now if you don't mind, I think there's some Caesar Salad calling for me." As we ate, we discussed various exploits we had, I laughed at his tale of the wannabe mad genius who tried to take over Canterlot with a swarm of rock eating Parasprites, while he flinched as I told him of my extremely unpleasant near death experience. As we finished dinner, well, ran out of food, I got to my feet, cradling that white box like it was made of gold. Cruger fished out my token, "Before you go, want some advice?" I nodded. "First, you have skill, but not a lot of experience. I mean seriously, a simultaneous pincer attack on a single target by minions of dubious intelligence? You were just asking me to pull a disappearing act." "In my defense, all I had to battle until now where Diamond Dogs and two Chimeras. So simple maneuvers worked pretty well." Cruger nodded, "fair enough. Second, call ME a Diamond Dog and you go back in the card." There was a serious look on his face, he must really hate being called a Diamond dog. "Yes sir." Cruger's grin returned, "good. Third, I know you're an Overlord, but don't try teaming up with Tirek. Punching him, on the other hand, can be quite therapeutic." "Hehe, shame I have no grenades." I smirked, giving my best impression of my Saints Row character. Cruger chuckled as he charged my token, "finally, don’t use my token if your going to attack Equestria, I rigged it to explode if my summoner has bad intentions." As I felt the familiar tug of the void, I couldn't help but notice that last part. "Wait, what?" Before he could respond, I found myself back in my tower. Looking to see that the box was still there, I prepared to enjoy some chocolatey goodness when I heard Gnarl calling. "Milady, Milady where are you?" The pitter patter of his feet grew louder and my advisor came around a corner, into the room. "Thank Darkness, there you are again Milady. You were gone for almost a whole day." "Yeah, sorry Gnarl, I was summoned again." I admitted sheepishly. An unamused expression settled in Gnarls wrinkly face as he noticed the box in my hands. With a sigh, he slightly shook his head. "Well Milady, at least you brought cake."