//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Displaced Spectrobes Master // by The Dark Brony //------------------------------// “Jack, come down here! I Got the lab system set up.” Jen a called over the ship intercom as they approached planet Nessa. Jack then turns to Sweetie Drops and says, “looks like Jen’s sorted it.” Sweetie drops then says, “Do you think it will work?” “Who knows? But she’s basically a technical genius if anyone can get it working she can,” replies Jack “Let’s see if your right” replies Sweetie Drops as she sets the Ship to Autopilot and then begins to walk towards the lower decks of the ship with Jack in tow. As Jack and Sweetie Drops walked into the room, they saw Jen standing by a large computer like device with an almost liquid like holographic screen. Once they get closer Jack says “So you think you got it working?” “Well, let's find out,” Jen said as she pulled out the Komainu fossil Jack had gotten from the game competition as a trophy. “and you’re sure this will work?” asks Jack “There's only one way to know,” Jen responded as she handed Jack the fossil before stepping aside. Jack takes a deep breath and then says “Well let's hope this works” He then places the fossil onto the machine and it quickly moves forwards until it rests in the centre as three coloured beams make contact with it. He then looks at Jen and asks “So what do I do now?” “Well, what do you normally do to awaken one?” Jen said while smirking. “From what I remember, you spoke to them.” He then turns to the machine and says “wake up, wake up, Wake up!” Seconds later there was a flash as a small dog like creature appeared in front of them. Seconds later it jumped out of the screen and jumped towards Jen, causing her to squeak as she was knocked to the ground. Jack then laughs and says “I think it likes you.” “Bark!” Komainu said as it started to lick Jen’s face. “Ack! stop, that tickles! Help!” Jen cried as she was tickled by the Spectrobe. Jack then smiles and says “Komainu stop” It then looks back to him and walks towards his side. Jack then kneels down, rubs the back of his head and then says “that's a good boy” Sweetie drops then begins to smirk and then says “what wrong Jen can’t deal with a dog?” Jack then looks at Sweetie Drops and says “Komainu” Komainu then runs up to Sweetie Drops and tackles her as Jack just smiles as he helps Jen up. “It’s not my fault it pinned me to the ground and started to tickle me! I’m defenseless when being tickled!” Jen said sheepishly while blushing. “Although a dog looks good with you Jen. Good work,” smirks Jack. Sweetie Drops then shouts “Please get it off me, I give, I give” As Komainu licked her face. Jack then smiles and says “Komainu stop.” “Arf,” Komainu said as it hopped off of Sweetie Drops. “Not so easy is it?” Jen quipped as she sent Sweetie Drops a small smirk. Sweetie Drops then looks at her and mutters “So what I didn’t look cute when it licked me.” Jack and Jen then smile at each other as jack says “well actually you did look quite cute.” Causing Sweetie Drops to blush. “well, we should go see if we can find any fossils or minerals,” Jen said as she started to head for the elevator. Jack then smiled as he walked over to Sweetie Drops and helped her up and said “I’ve changed my mind on your punishment if you ask about our past. I’ll have Komainu lick you again.” Sweetie Drops then mutters, “Please don’t.” “Hurry up! Or is the ship going to land itself?” Jen called from next to the elevator. Sweetie drops then sighs as she runs out the room and whispers “this is only going to get stranger.” Jack then kneels down beside Komainu and says “welcome to the family little guy” while stroking it on the back of the head. They the walk out of the room, towards the elevator and head to the cockpit. Once the ship lands on Neyssa, Jack and Komainu step out onto what looks to be a landing pad in the middle of the desert. He then says through a communicator to Jen and Sweetie Drops “Okay then what's our target here?” “Do you see a building or camp of some sort? or possibly an entrance to what might be a cave?” Jen asked over the communicator. Jack then looks around to see what appears to be a small brown tent in the distance he then says “I can see what appears to be a single tent nearby, moving in to investigate.” “Ok, and make sure to see if you can find any fossils or minerals while you're out there!” Jen said over the communicator. “I’ll do my best, but finding them was never really the issue was it.” says Jack “Just try and bring them back in one piece.” Jen chuckled. Jack then turned to Komainu and said “can you see anything buddy?” To this, he just shakes his head as jack sighs and says “if you find anything just shout up” With that, they begin to walk towards the tent in the distance. As they got closer Jack realised that the tent that he saw was less than one solitary tent and more like a whole research colony. As he walked around he felt like the whole location was a ghost town. Jack then says “Jen the place feels dead, there’s nobody here. Are there any records of a research colony around here?” The only response Jack got was static before the communicator went dead. “Jen, Jen come in” he shouts “Yip!” Komainu squeaked as he nervously stepped closer to Jack. Jack then reaches towards his sword and says “stay close, we’ll see what we can find then check on the others, Jen should be fine.” He then looks around to see a dark tornado coming towards him as he says “Dammit the Krawl are here”. Seconds later he gets caught in the tornado as it engulfed him. As soon as Jack looks around him he sees that he is surrounded by three Krawl, these consisted of one Swar and two Swatrap. Seconds later both Windora and Pinorska appeared beside Jack as Komainu disappeared. Jack then quickly grabbed his sword as one of the Swartrap lashes what appeared to be vines at him causing Jack to step back and dodge it by a hair. Seconds later Windora launches two tornados towards the two Swartrap’s launching them into the air as Pinorska crushed one of them with its tail as the second one landed back on the ground. Seconds later I turned to see the Swar looming over me and pulling its head back ready to strike him, Jack then slashes his sword in an upwards motion catching it below the neck knocking it back, the then smiles and says “I knew messing around with them toy lightsabers would come in handy one day” Seconds later the Swar was crushed by Pinorska’s tail. He then looked back towards the remaining Swartrap to see it explode into a purples mist as Windora rams into it. Seconds later the tornado began to dissipate as Windora and Pinorska disappeared and Komainu reappeared near Jack’s legs cowering in fear. “J-ck! Ja-k! Ca-n you hear me!” Came Jen’s voice over the communicator as the static began to clear. Jack then grabbed his communicator and said “Jen, you okay?” “I picked up a Krawl on the scanners just as your communicator went out! are you ok!?” Jen shouted through the device. “Mostly, I just took a group of them out, just avoided a Swartrap’s tendrils from almost hitting me. I have got to thank Commander Grant when we get back,” says Jack “What the buck!?” Yelled a voice from behind Jack. Jack then quickly turned around to see a purple unicorn in a lab coat and then asks “what is wrong?” “How!? How did you destroy it!?” The purple unicorn asked as she walked over from where she was hiding. “Sorry Miss I'm afraid I can’t reveal that information,” says Jack. He then looks around and says “I’m with the PPP and for your own safety we need to get anyone in this camp out of here.” “I'm the only survivor officer, and before I leave I need my notes as well as the artifacts me and my team found.” The purple unicorn huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. Jack then nodded and then says, “Okay then miss I will request my team to bring the ship in closer to speed up the extraction, please collect up any equipment you need in the meantime.” “Ok, but I’m going to need help with one of the artifacts because my magic isn't strong enough to levitate it.” Jack then looks at her in confusion and says “magic? Isn’t that all Smoke and mirrors?” “What world are you from? everyone knows how magic works in this system!” The unicorn said as she started to walk towards one of the tents. Jack then smiles and says “likely not this one” He then opens his communicator and says “Jen could you please bring the ship in closer, we have one survivor for exfil, she will need some help bringing her research on board.” “Roger that,” Jen replied before the communicator cut off again. Jack then walks over to the tent that the mare went into to see mountains of research papers piled up on desks, along with multiple fossils and minerals laid out on shelves, which considering they were in a tent in the middle of the desert, it struck him as odd that everything was kept so organised. “You might want to step to the side.” The unicorn said to Jack, who was standing in front of a pair of bookshelves. Jack then looks at her and says, “umm if you're sure.” He then walks backward until he is standing just in front of the doorway. “Thank you.” the unicorn said before her horn began to glow. Moments later the pair of bookshelves Jack had been standing in front of started to faintly glow purple before sliding away from each other to reveal a sandstone staircase. “the thing I need help with is right down here.” She said as she descended the steps. Jack then looks at the staircase in confusion and says “why would something be down there?” with that he follows the mare down the stairs. When Jack reached the bottom of the staircase He saw the unicorn standing in a room that was empty all except for a large crystal in the center of the room. But what caught his attention was what was inside the crystal, a small white Krawl. Jack then looks at the are and says “Be careful whatever that thing is, it’s likely to be dangerous, It’s similar to one of the creatures I fought earlier.” “Interesting, can you help me lift it? I’m going to bring it back to base to analyze it so we can make more effective weapons against these things.” The unicorn said as she walked over to the crystal. Jack then looks at her and says “We will need to contact the commander and get authorization to bring it back, It’s a risk if it was to escape being that we have little that can harm them” “Sure, but let's get this on the ship first so that we can drop it in the sun if we don’t get clearance, just to be safe.” The unicorn said as she started to try and lift the crystal. Jack then sighs and says “Miss I can not move a Krawl without complete knowledge that we have somewhere to contain it back at base… For now, we will move the rest of your equipment and once we have clearance we will return and collect it” “Fine…” The unicorn pouted, releasing her grip on the crystal and following Jack back upstairs. As they walk back up the stars Jack gets back out his communicator and then says “Jen, Jen come in.” “Yes, Jack? We're just landing.” Jen said over the communicator as the ship landed in front of the tent. “OK, Jen I need you to get in contact with the Commander. We have a frozen white Krawl in here and the researcher wishes to bring it back to base. Could you get authorisation for us to transport it?” “got it… And request has been sent.” Jen said through the communicator. moments later Sweetie Drops stepped out of the ship. “Why hello agent, long time no see.” The unicorn said to Sweetie Drops. Sweetie Drops then smiles and says “Hello to you to Twilight, it’s been a while.” “Indeed, it has, hows your girlfriend?” The unicorn, now identified as ‘Twilight’, said. “Oh, Lyra… She’s doing well mostly, still searching for something different, I don’t think she’ll ever stop searching for that missing link.” jokes Sweetie Drops. “Yeah! I mean, humans? really? they couldn't possibly exist!” Twilight laughed. Jack then walked towards them carrying a stack of papers then says “Oh, hi what's this about humans?” “Oh, it's nothing… we were just talking about Sweetie’s girlfriend. She’s a Cryptozoologist.” Twilight replied while shaking her head. Jack then looks at her in confusion and says “a what now?” “Someone who researches mythical creatures,” Jen said as she exited the spaceship. Jack then laughs and says, “funny how us humans thought that unicorns and pegasi were mythical till today.” “Wait, what?” Twilight said before pulling out glasses and putting them on. “Holy buck! what are you!?” “Me and Jen are Humans or Homo sapiens is the scientific term for us,” Jack replies whilst walking into the ship putting the papers on the side and then walking back towards them. “I... what… How…” Twilight stammered before fainting. “I’ll go take a look at that crystal I heard you two talking about over the communicator,” Jen said as she walked down the hidden staircase. “Let me just take her back to the ship and then I’ll take you there. Don’t want it breaking free and attacking you” says Jack whilst he carefully picks up Twilight and carries her into the ship before walking back out seconds later. He then walks back towards the stair and begins to follow her down them. Once Jack reaches the bottom of the steps he finds Jen poking around the crystal. Once he gets closer he looks at her then says “I don’t recognise this one? Do you know anything about it?” “Ep! don’t sneak up on me like that!” Jen scolded as she turned to face Jack. “And yes I do recognize it.” “Sorry about that… Ok, what exactly is it? I can guess it’s Krawl but what type?” asks Jack. “Its an artificial krawl, or also known as a pure or typeless,” Jen responded as she turned back to the crystal. “typeless… must have been from origins.” He then laughs then says “I really should have got that but you never think playing games like that will be beneficial to your future.” admits Jack. “Well, then I won't tell you what happens in that game.” Jen chuckles mischievously. Jack then smiles and says “Well if it ever comes to pass that I will need that knowledge you better be ready to pass the information over.” “If I get the chance to tell you when it becomes necessary I will,” Jen said as she walked to the other side of the crystal. “Now help me get this thing onto the ship, I got clearance to examine it from the commander.” “Ok, then it will be best to wait for Twilight to help move this thing” He then smiles and says “I’ve got an idea.” He then pulls out a communicator and says “Agent Drops, we need to wake up Twilight, tell her we have clearance to move her crystal. If she still out you have permission to use cold water.” She then laughs and says, “Ok I will get her moving… Once she is set I will join you as well, just wait for us.” “Ok then see you soon” With that Jack shuts off his communicator. He then turns to Jen and says “Twilight and Agent Sweetie Drops will be with us soon.” “ARGH!” “Sounds like someone got the cold water.” Jen giggled. “yeah, reminds me of all the pranks I used to play on my sister.” jokes Jack. Seconds later both Sweetie Drops and a soaked Twilight walked down the stairs. “I will get you back for that… both of you…” Twilight said as she pointed at Jack and Sweetie Drops. “Now let's get this thing on the ship!” Jack then puts two hands up and says “It had nothing to with me Twilight and yes let's get this thing out of here” Jen rolled her eyes at Jack with a slight smirk before she and the others got into position around the crystal and started to lift it. after a while, the four of them had managed to carry the crystal up the stairs and over to the ship before they put it into a container Jen had rigged up, and pushed it into the lab space that had been set up in the cargo bay. Jack then looks at Twilight and says, “hey where did you find that crystal Twilight?” “It was right where I had shown you, but it had an energy barrier around it also. Though the barrier gave out while I was examining it before you arrived.” Twilight explained. “Good thing there aren't any cracks in the crystal then,” Jen said as she started to secure the container that they had put the crystal into so that it would stay in place. Jack then sighs and says “If it had, we would all have been in danger the moment. be thankful that it didn’t.” “Ok, shoo shoo! we can handle it from here!” Twilight said as she chased Jack and Sweetie Drops out of the cargo bay. Jack then sighs and says “No rest for the soldiers.” Sweetie Drops then sighs and says, “she’s always like that. You get used to it after a while.” With that, they both walk towards the ship's cockpit and prepare for liftoff. Unknown to them, though, they were being watched.