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Human Realm
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Following the last secret lesson, Aria and Monster X regrouped with Adagio and Sonata. The tension among the three from having X sitting in the back seat was omnipresent throughout the drive. After the failed scouting mission to find the Equestrian magic source, as well as to play it safe, Adagio drove them far outside of town. While some clues were found, failure to locate the power source had soured Adagio's mood and diverted her attention. She kept glancing at the kaiju calmly sitting handcuffed in the seat behind her, a scheming look crossing her face as she looked at both X and her cousin. This was one face that Aria knew all too well. When Adagio began tossing one falsely light hearted question after another at Monster X; Aria unconsciously felt herself holding her necklace. One bad response would blow the lid off her ploy, and the thought was giving her the temptation to lash out if it came down to that. Fortunately the short, blank responses X gave her annoyed Adagio as much as they did Aria. There wasn't any interrogating, any prying for more information. Just the same blunt responses that answered her questions, but failed to give Adagio what she really wanted to know. Eventually, the alpha siren gave up.
That was nearly twelve hours ago and Aria Blaze was still just as restless. Getting dressed and heading out of the hotel room for the woods behind it, she didn't need to open the van door before seeing a pair of red eyes looking back at her through the glass. She instinctively jolted back a few millimeters, barely any more used to those blood red irises than the first time she saw them. Shaking it off, she popped open the door.
"You're already awake."
"Sensed your energy on the move. I've been trying to be careful to keep my awareness up in case 'it' comes."
She stepped back as X hopped out of the van and into the brisk winter night.
"We're safe. Over 100 kilometers in the opposite direction since last time."
"I don't take chances.... Now, why are you still awake?"
Aria motioned to a small divide in the pine trees just beyond the small parking lot.
"Empty patch of woods back there, you're awake and I can’t sleep. Do the math."
"... So be it, keep up and stay close. Consider this a warm up."
Monster X grunted before turning on his toes and sprinting hard enough to kick up an uplift of snow behind him with each kick off. Twisting around to keep her eyes tracked on him, Aria grumbled and ran after him. While nothing superhuman speed wise, keeping up with X through the wood was easier said than done. He wasn't moving in one direction, seeming to turn around and divert his path every time he saw a distant light to indicate civilization. The forest itself offered no favors. While the moon was half full, the tall, thick tree limbs and branches obscured most of its light. Accounting for the snow and pale light coming principally from the distant moon, the forest was a backdrop of solid black and white with little in-between. It looked otherworldly even without the irregular snowfall.
X spun on his heel, leaping up and kicking off a tree to change direction away from the fragmented glimmer of a street light. While she nearly stumbled while doing it, Aria successfully managed to copy most of the quick evasion maneuver, though was slowed down a bit. After running for a good three minutes straight Aria was wondering if they'd ever stop when she lost sight of X after he crossed by a wide tree trunk. Throwing on the brakes, the siren managed to avoid tripping on the snow underfoot despite her forward momentum. Just as she slid by the tree that made her lose track of the kaiju, a black arm swung out at her from the darkness; poised for her face.
She reacted on reflex, dodging before blocking and ducking her head down and to the side to let the limb sail over her. Just before she could counterattack however, an uproar of snow burst out in front of her and obscured the siren's vision. By the time she threw a side kick at where the attack had come from, her shoe's sole only managed to hit tree bark.
Aria kicked back from the blacked out region shadowed by the tree trunk, lifting up her arms and keeping a slight bend in her knees to enter the guard stance X's previous coaching had hammered into her head. She busily scanned her surroundings for a moment, before spotting movement just to her right. The flurry of blows that followed were barely even conscious, most actions and reactions to each other built off reflex. Incoming cross diverted away with a forearm strike to the inner side of the elbow. Her grabbing the wrist to yank it down and forward while launching an elbow strike that was caught by the underarm and ducked away from. Short hop to avoid a shin kick, only to have the dropping stomp avoided. Advice of hours past replayed through her head and she acted accordingly.
-"Try that again, you're throwing your shoulder too much. Punches come from the hip, not the shoulder."-
Without a pair of seconds spent, she pushed herself away and ducked under a spinning backhand; snapping her hips to throw a left cross punch that actually managed to land against a rib cage. Having not over-extended her arm, Aria was able to quickly reset and continue the attack. She pressed her offense, only to find her ensuing strikes easily predicted and batted away.
-"Too predictable, use the unorthodox." "-follow through quicker."-
Switching away from punches, Aria spun and pivoted herself around by the balls of her feet and launched a roundhouse kick. The shadow was forced to break off its attempted counterattack and block it. Shoving the kick away, it lunged at her too quick to dodge and forced her to brace both her arms in front of her head and chest.
-"Keep your knees bent. You're holding your stance too rigidly." "Now too loosely."-
Minding her stance with just the right amount of fluidity and firmness, she managed to absorb the shock despite the sting upon her forearms. Hissing as her gem glowed, she rolled her form along the outstretched arm. She was just about to land a weaving uppercut to the chin when the dance of combat forced her assailant into the moon light. Her fist froze up an inch away from X's scarf covered chin, the kaiju's red eyes looking back at her out of their corners. Aria felt something press up against her ribs and she stole a glance down, grimacing upon spying X's elbow from his other arm frozen right in front of her solar plexus.
The pair stayed frozen in that pose for a good minute, a cold breeze filtering through the woods and wrapping around them. Aria could barely hold back the temptation to shriek and yell obscenities at the kaiju for having the nerve to pull the stunt he did, being plenty steamed about the surprise sparring session. If X noticed her enraged shaking, he didn't react to it, instead gripping the siren by the wrist and turning around slightly. He peeled back her sleeve and checked her forearm for any bruising spurred by the heavy blow she had to block. Finding none, he glanced over and looked the siren in the eye, unreactant to the death glare he was getting.
"Your form has greatly improved. Still, had to be sure you remembered what I taught you earlier. No quicker way around it."
"You, are the worst..."
Monster X grunted, rolling his eyes and letting go of her arm to trudge past her.
"And your opinion implies I care.... Now come on. Time to give the gravity control another try."
Still fuming as she was, that got Aria's attention and she held back any further insults. Didn't stop her from leering at him as they entered a small clearing, but did give her thought for pause upon seeing Monster X entering a familiar stance. He stood about four meters away from her with his side facing the siren, as he still minded not to turn his back to his student. X took in a deep breath, snapping his arms out to either side with grasping hands. The trickle of snowfall around him stopped, each individual flake frozen in the air and idly drifting in complete weightlessness as the gravitons amongst them were redirected. X slowly shifted his stance, sliding one foot back into guard while crossing his arms in front of him, palms inward to continue shifting the graviton nexus to right in front of his face.
A familiar, golden light started to appear just in front of his eyes. Aria snapped to attention and gripped her necklace, remembering what happened last time and having made it her business to memorize the calming melody should things go wrong again. Fortunately, as X levitated a few inches off the ground, control was maintained. No flashes of nightmares obscured his mind, no surges of emotion that blotted out the world around him; just focus on manipulating a primal force. The graviton nexuses ignited and glowed with light, the tightened pull between the atoms combusting the matter into golden plasma. Despite the blinding light inches away from his face and having his eyes closed, X took aim and fired. Aria's eyes widened and she jumped back upon seeing spiraling beams of energy fly out of Monster X's face and hit a tree about twenty meters away. The beams exploded on impact with something large and solid enough, utterly destroying the trunk from the combined concussive and thermal blast forces.
Monster X reopened his eyes, stoically hovering half a meter in the air as the tree groaned and crumbled. Fragments of uplifted snow and flaming wood shards rained down on the snow several meters in front of him. Aria was a tad less calm about the exhibition, eyes wide. She was justifiably startled.
-Haven't seen firepower in full like that since last fall...-
She stole a glance to her necklace, eying the dim glow as the crisp air around them was released from Monster X's hold and blew across her face. The necklace, her heart, was glowing brighter, increasing to scale with her raising pulse. Tinges of gold shown through the crystalline surface and Aria could feel the energy flowing through her from it. The siren cracked a wide grin.
-And now I have it as well...!!-
X didn't have a moment of freedom after landing before Aria's words were upon him.
"Show me how to do that!"
She barked, biting at the bit for the opportunity. X looked back at the siren for a long moment, contemplating his options. This was the first time since she asked to be trained that she seemed eager for a lesson, and that was exactly what was making him hesitate. It was the first time he'd seen her crack any expression beyond the negative, but that grin didn't look like a smile he cared to see. His eyes scanned her glowing necklace and irises, which were now about as red as his were. Just when Aria's grin began to turn to a scowl, Monster X shrugged and took several steps away from her to make room, motioning to the patch of snow he'd been standing on to call her over.
"We'll start with levitation."
Aria's half crazed grin returned, forcing her to consciously stifle it as she hopped over to the spot indicated.
"Levitation is about manipulating yourself and the air around you with a balance, creating a self-directed telekinesis by canceling out your attraction to the ground and bolstering your attraction to the air around and above you. First, sense the matter around you and beneath your feet, get a feel for the gravitons they give off."
Aria nodded, attempting to mimic what she had seen before her. She closed her eyes and ignored the slight cold around her, focusing in on the matter itself. It took more effort than she'd hoped, but little by little, she started being able to feel it all. The air particles blowing past her, the water melted onto the top layer of her sweater, every snowflake tumbling down around her; and the ground beneath her feet. It was a bizarre sensation to say the least, but one she willed herself to get used to. Monster X watched on, able to sense and virtually see exactly what she sensed.
"Alright, now comes the remolding. Lift your arms out and focus on the air around you and increase the pull between you and what is directly above you. Keep the graviton movement rigid and straight."
She felt at the air above her and did as she was instructed. She could feel the gravity between the air and herself across her arms, but the process of consciously manipulating it wasn't coming to her without a fight. While she had managed to rattle the air and distort the gravity around her before, it wasn't quite the same as this. Those times were like tearing apart a house, just disrupting what was already there and tossing its remains all around. This was more like trying to tear down a house and then put it back together again in a new way. She had the pieces, but they refused to stay in place as she worked at them. Aria's upper lip winced and sneered a bit, the siren gritting her teeth as she tried again and again.
"Keep the movement straight, use the span of your arms as anchors."
"I'm trying!"
Straining grunts turned to snarls. Each attempt only gave marginal success. She could keep a hold of the particles and will them to move the way she wanted them to, but soon after would just lose control of them. The snowflakes falling around her, visual indicators for which way she was altering the air currents, began to fly around in erratic directions and collide with each other instead of moving in unison in any semblance of order. Failure was only furthering the siren's anger, this motion being completely alien to her. It was like having to learn to walk as a human all over again. Just before she could practically roar in frustration-born rage, a curtain of air flew past her and all her attempted graviton manipulation was canceled out. Knowing the source, she opened her eyes and turned to her side with a sneer still etched across her face. She tried to speak but X, having outstretched a hand in her direction to send out the canceling wave, wasn't having any of it.
"That's enough."
"No, I can handle it! I just need to-"
"I said THAT'S ENOUGH. You are too unfocused to hope to control it right."
Aria fumed for a short while, never breaking her glare.
"Yeah, your advice just isn't working at all! So what if I got a little angry?!"
X narrowed his eyes, pointing a finger at the siren as he loomed over her.
"An unmanaged fire will burn down everything around it before starving itself into coals. This power is a tool, but if you lose focus you'll make it and yourself a liability."
Aria, eyes still practically glowing red with bits of black invading her sclera, stomped a foot and balled a pair of fists. Monster X momentarily flinched, making ready in case a tantrum spurred fight broke out.
"I want. To use it. I'm just, having trouble with directing the flows!"
She barked, giving her instructor a glare he was obliged to return. The fringes of the siren's aqua green hair were beginning to turn gold at the base. X, despite being slightly alarmed at the observation, kept his voice as calm as it was stern.
"Then take a moment, and calm.. down..."
The siren stood there steaming for a moment, but much to the kaiju's relief, turned and stormed over towards a boulder nestled on the edge of the clearing. After watching her sit down on it for a few minutes, chin and arms stacked atop her knees; X silently followed her over and stood about a meter away with his arms crossed behind his back. A slow breeze passed through the clearing, lazily dragging Aria's long hair and X's scarves along with it.
Another ten minutes passed before one of them spoke.
"In the car ride, I could tell the alpha siren's questioning caused you some distress. Why haven't you told her about your...-"
He took a glance at her hair streaks. While the neon green had returned, her features remained slightly different on other parts of her body. Her skin was a slightly darker hue of purple, as was the majority of her hair; and while he wasn't quite sure, she seemed to have grown a few centimeters taller than when he first met her.
"-condition?"
Aria Blaze was still for a moment, raising up a palm looking at her hand in a manner that made X curious if she too had notice the slight color change. Regardless, she still said nothing.
"You must know she suspects something."
Aria's hand balled into a tightly bound fist.
".... Sometimes I trust my dear cousin only a bit more than I do you."
"Thought I sensed some internal hostility."
Aria Blaze shivered and jittered for a few moments. Her lips quivered briefly before turning into a snickering smile. Before long she momentarily broke into a spurt of laughter that was more than a little eyebrow raising for the kaiju.
"Hah..aha.. AHAHAHAHA! Aaaaaah! Hostile?~ Oh why would I eeever want to be hostile towards the Great Adagio Dazzle?! Out great leader who always strove to be the best of us with noooo competition? The prettiest, the most confident, the apex and the main singer of our little choir. The bold siren who spurred our glorious rampage across Equestria that got us stuck here! Cut off from home! In the bodies of some naked monkeys!"
Aria lashed out, but in the opposite direction to where X was standing. She threw backhand to the sapling beside her perch, hitting hard enough to snap a limb and crack the trunk despite opening up a cut on her hand. She hissed out her breath, letting her head droop down and fall limp. She still spoke with venom on her tongue, but a manner that seemed more saddened than enraged.
"I tried to caution her... I should have tried harder, but she. Never. Listens....If she knew about this power, how much stronger I am with it, she'd just mess it all up by wanting it for herself to avoid a threat. I'm done singing second chord."
"So, you want to exceed her, despite also wanting to use that same power to protect her and the other siren?"
Aria shrugged, pulling her striking arm out of the trunk and looking down at her amulet as she held it out.
"With our little choir, family never is a simple matter."
Not wanting to risk causing another tantrum and wasting the night, X diverted the subject away from Adagio. There was something about what Aria had said he'd taken notice of.
"You said before you came from a form different than the humanoid and lost your home with the change, but didn't specify. What was it? Where did something like you come from?"
Aria sighed, sitting back up. Memory traced itself back to another world, both figuratively and literally. For a split second, she had to resist a tiny smile from the nostalgia.
"The sea. We sirens can travel overland by floating if we wanted to, but we're supposed to live in the ocean."
"Haven't seen an ocean in a long time. We didn't have those where I was stationed most of the time. Hard to imagine all that water in one place sometimes."
Monster X muttered whilst staring off into space at the thought. Aria pulled her legs up and rested her chin upon a knee, shrugging as the tiny smile flat-lined. Being cut off wasn't something she fancied reminding herself about.
"Yeah, it's where I grew up. We'd travel overland sometimes, but always went back to where we came from soon after."
Monster X tilted his head in her direction, looking the saddened siren over out of the corner of his eye.
"You missing it is what's fueling your anger for the alph-.... for Adagio, isn't it?"
"You wouldn't be wrong... Tidal ebb and flows, kelp forests, moon beams at night and sun rays by day near the surface, with all the calm blackness in the depths; all the sailors or coastal folk we could ever hope to prey upon.... Yeah, you wouldn't be wrong in guessing at that reasoning."
She murmured with a snort. After a few moments in silence she picked her head back up and looked over at the soul she'd been conversing with, unconsciously shivering and growing a frown when she spotted his red eyes looking right at her.
"... And what's the deal with you? One week you're running me through the wringer and asking me to hand over my lifeblood on a platter, next week you're asking for my life story. What sort of place did a monstrosity like you come from? Did Starswirl go dredging through Tartarus to find a bounty hunter?"
She grunted with a raised eyebrow. X fortunately didn't get invested enough to take any offense, instead wordlessly looking up at the magnificent carpet of stars high above. It was a fortunate side effect of him picking a spot far away from any habitation for the session, meant less light pollution to filter out the cosmos. He waited a moment, moving his focus of vision about as if trying to locate something in the black sea of light and blackness beyond.
"I do not know who this Starswirl is; I'm not of this realm or the one you came from. But, based off the constellations above-"
He muttered, raising a hand and pointing at a particularly bright star near the middle of the horizon just above the treeline.
"-that blue one is actually two stars close together, you just can't tell from here. My earliest memory comes from orbiting the fourth planet in that system."
Aria squinted, spying the star, or rather stars, in question for a good five seconds before the realization dawned on her. She spoke in a disgruntled tone, half convinced she was being lied to or misdirected again. If there ever was a concept she found ridiculous since learning human culture, it was the sixty year old science-fiction movies Sonata kept watching.
".... Seriously, you're a space alien? That's ridiculous."
"Said the mind controlling sea witch in human form ."
"...."
"...."
".... Touché."
Monster X shrugged, leaning back on the boulder Aria was still perched upon.
"Anyways, I woke up on an asteroid orbiting a planet called Xilian."
-Woke up at? Odd way to word it-
Aria briefly pondered at the wording before deciding to close that bit of thought, shifting to something else she'd been wanting to know.
"Well, if Starswirl didn't sic you on us, then who? Why are you hunting us anyways?"
"It's nothing personal, I'm just following orders. My master told me to come here and scout around, bring back anything of value. Your necklaces just happened to be the most promising targets."
"Your 'Master'? Who is he?"
In truth and hindsight, Monster X's response should have been "I'm not telling you that.". However the last few days had caused some wavering of faith. Maybe it was his lack of word from command, maybe it was the lack of back-up that had been sent after him; or perhaps the strain the visions and mental attacks he'd undergone punching holes in his resolution. This was the longest he'd ever been deployed without word of instruction. Even when he returned to the statue briefly during the day to try and contact Zenith for information or call for help, the old portal site was barren. When he first resolved to destroy the shadow being, it was in the name removing a rival to his master. At this point, he was starting to hope that its destruction would at least get his master's attention more than anything else. For the first time in his life, the Xilian Vanguard felt vulnerable, abandoned for reasons he couldn't guess at no matter how much he simultaneously wanted and dreaded speculating why. He had always been loyal to those he called 'master', what had he done to be left here? His unease affected his answers before he could catch himself, growing stress overriding common sense to silence him words.
"I don't know."
"Why do they want our power?"
"I don't know."
Aria grew more than a bit miffed at getting what she had since dubbed the "X Treatment" and feeling like she was talking to something that was somehow less alive than a telemarketer. She turned towards the kaiju and lifted an arm in a confused gesture to match her facial expression.
"Why are you working for them then? What are they offering you in return? You don't seem like the wealth and power type, so what is it that you could want?"
The winter air around Aria and X halted under a tight grip that matched the fist balled in Monster X's hand. She couldn't have guessed she hit a chink in the armor until X shifted his stand to turned to face her. As one who literally fed off of emotional energy, Aria could tell there was something strong going on with him despite the creepily deep monotone he spoke in. Exactly what emotion was being projected by the Xilian kaiju however was extremely hard to tell. He was definitely angered, but seemingly in more of a frustrated manner than enraged at something. However, a stolen glance at his red eyes seemed to convey something else. For a split second, they almost looked saddened.
"Because, I want to know something.... Anything. My first waking memory is finding myself entombed in a rocky prison I later found out was an asteroid, with no recollection of how I got there or how long I'd been trapped. I was alone with nothing but my voice and thoughts for decades before I saw what was outside. By the time I was let out I found myself orbiting a planet I somehow knew by name, but not by memory. I've been across a dozen worlds and seen more species than I could ever hope to count, and still there is nothing close enough to me for me to even get a hint as to where I came from."
He shrugged his shoulders, his body language shifting from angered to strained. The graviton flows that were shaken by X's frustration relaxed and ebbed away.
"... And now, I find myself grappling with some kaiju I've never seen before, dealing with power surges I've never had before; and getting bits of memories about things I never recalled doing while apparently having bouts of insanity and never remembering it. The master has promised me a reward for my service, the first time I've ever been offered anything. He offered me clarity, and I do believe him to be powerful enough to do so."
"And yet you're willing to obey someone just because it might help you out in the end? No questions asked?!"
The kaiju shrugged, holding up a hand and placing it on his mask. Despite his brief outburst, Aria felt herself curiously leaning closer when she thought he might take it off. Her wish went ungranted, when all he did was put his hand over his face, shifting the white mask up just enough to rub his temple. X closed his eyes and let a tired shrug push its way out. His voice sounded equally tired and spent.
"It's the only thing I know how to do right.... I am 'X', a placeholder for something unknown. Whatever happened in the past is in the past, unlike you, I have no sea I can hope to go back to. I just want... something to make sense so I can move on. Following orders is the only thing I'm good at, and if doing so for the right master can earn me some clarity, so be it."
He removed his hand, pushing his mask back into place without so much as offering an unintentional glimpse. X rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, pulling out of his slouch and lifting himself up from his seat. He took several steps away from the boulder, letting something run through his head. Aria frowned and snorted, still thinking through just what exactly happened. If anything, the fact she saw something actually get under X's shell did raise an eyebrow and got her attention. X shifted and looked back at Aria as she did the same to him.
"... Break's over, are you ready to resume?"
He muttered with a grunt, still looking at her through the bottom of his eye.
"Already?"
"Only if you are fit enough for tonight. Your recollection gave me an idea. I think I know why what works for me failed for you. I was using an unfamiliar lens."
Curious and a bit of her previous eagerness returning, Aria hopped off her perch and took up a place a meter away from X.
"What's your game?"
"You said you were a marine creature, a sea witch. Whereas my true form still had a similar pasture and body plan to this body, I've always been terrestrial. Thus, yours must have been very different."
Aria ignored how annoying the "witch " label, accurate as it might be, was getting and just answered simply with a snippy tone.
"Yes, so?"
"That means you wouldn't feel the kind of familiarity I do when controlling the gravitons, because your mind is wired for a different type of body. You've got the physical reflexes of a human martial artist, but the instincts of a creature that lives underwater. Your oldest memories are about moving amongst a more variable environment than the terrestrial. Stuff like currents, flows, and the like. Shifting the water at point A to push off with a fin also causes movement at point B. Am I correct?"
Aria was able to follow the logic being laid out for her, nodding. X returned the gesture and continued on with that bit of affirmation.
"Then forget what I said earlier about rigid movements and use those aquatic principles here. Close your eyes and hold your arms out and down."
Ignoring the annoying worry that this would just result in another failure due to the similar set up, Aria Blaze closed her eyes and did so. X's instruction continued.
"Now, like before, focus on the matter around you and feel the way the gravitons flow between them all to cause the gravity that ties it together. But, instead of just shifting one place like I told you, treat it like water. Don't pull yourself up through it, push yourself against it and let your movements affect the graviton flows around you like a current."
Taking in and releasing a deep breath, Aria embedded her focus in what was around her; feeling it all like seawater on her scales. Instead of fighting the resistance, she used it to push off from and felt every action and reaction to those movements. Instead of a rigid control, this felt natural and more like an extension of her sense of touch. With fluid, weaving motions instead of X's rigid commands, she could feel herself pushing against the ground and air beneath her. Admittedly, the sensation caused the siren to zone out. X said something, but in the state she'd entered she couldn't quite catch it. She was too... happy. For a moment, she almost felt like she was back home, able to swim again without breath.
Her movements were stopped by a downwards tugging, something holding onto her arm. She was forced back into reality and momentarily lost her focus. Reopening her eyes she could see Monster X stoically holding onto her arm by its wrist, though the first thing Aria noticed was the curious fact she seemed taller or higher up than he was. As it turned out however, despite her brief falter, the last statement was entirely correct. Both of them were hovering a good three meters in the air, hair and scarves floating about in the weightlessness.
Monster X let go of her, crossing his arms and levitating up to her parallel. Despite a quickened breath and being a bit rough on the controls enough to cause her to bob a few centimeters up and down, Aria managed to maintain her height.
"I think I'll call this a success. The next step will be energy projection. I have a regretful feeling you'll be wanting to move onto that."
To his surprise however, Aria put her hands out, briefly causing her to drop a few more centimeters before compensating, and shook her head.
"H-Hey, I know I was in a big hurry earlier but.. Could I, keep doing this for a bit? Kinda reminds me of home-"
Not to express genuine happiness in front of the kaiju however, she quickly backtracked. Aria closed her eyes and offhandedly waved her palm, speaking in the familiar, defensive snippiness as per her usual tone.
"To get fully used to these powers of course!"
Even with her eyes closed, she sensed a distortion in the gravity flow that indicated X had levitated closer to her. She expected a scolding or offhand remark to cause her to fume. Instead, she heard three words that brought a tiny smile to her face as soon as she was sure he wouldn't see it after floating away.
"... As you wish."
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Miles outside of Town
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Enjin took a pause in its otherwise tireless pursuit. The kaiser energy was still detectable, and in many ways the signature was stronger than before despite the distance only growing. Standing atop a forested hillside, the echo of the land aspect regarded the low lands before it. Literally able to sense the energy it hunted like a radar, it knew which way to go. Just after it started in a downhill sprint and crossed over a frozen pond, Enjin stumbled on its footing and nearly doubled over like it was in pain. The shade halted and held its chest, the dark energy composing its solid form briefly writhing and twisting. Fiery lines across its form emitted a stressed, rapidly pulsating glow. Completely losing its footing, the revenant stumbled out onto the ice, slipping across the surface. Enjin’s mask was beginning to melt off amongst the smoke billowing out of its body by the time the revenant re-established its bearings. Unable to pick itself off the ground, the deformed Enjin clawed its way across the ice to get back to solid ground. Reaching the edge of the pond, Enjin swatted away the snow on the ground to dig its fingers into the rock and dirt below. Dim lines of energy, almost invisible, traveled up through its arm and into its energy core. The convulsions, evaporation, and melting halted; allowing the aspect to successfully reform its constitution.
Picking itself off the ice and walking back onto solid ground, Enjin looked back at the lowlands and to the kaiser energy signature far away. Had it the will to emote, it would have scowled. The signature had been relocating every twelve hours or so, swinging through and around the town too fast and too far for Enjin to catch it despite getting close a few times. And now it was experiencing a whole different problem, one Bagan had never encountered before.
-Prolonged existence in separate realm from host causing aspect instability. Next convulsion estimated in one celestial cycle or less.-
All too conscious of the time, Enjin regarded its situation with calculative logic. It was too far away and it was running out of time. Desperate times called for desperate measures, or at least creative ones. Concentrating and recalling its form’s alterations when it was undergoing deterioration, Enjin’s core pulsed with light through its chest after it planted all hands and feet on the ground. Repeating the process in a controlled manner, the shadowy mass again convulsed and writhed under its black epidermis. Excess bulk evaporated off, ribcage tightening and contracting, the heel traveled off the ground and into a new leg joint, and a growing light slicing into the cold forest air sent any lifeform that could see it fleeing for their lives; as the earth rattled beneath them.
The hunter kicked off from its position and broke into a sprint, moving in a series of bounds and lunges as much as it was running, and covering much more ground than before.
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Crystal Empire
==============
Xenilla reflexively winced and shifted upon feeling an encompassing cool wrap around him from multiple angles, the familiar sensation of being immersed in liquid cloaking him all around. He felt his eyes lazily open for about a second before shutting again, glimpsing sun beams dancing across a rippling surface. While he tried to keep his eyes open to get a clearer picture, they continued to just open and shut in a loop that granted him only glimpses at his surroundings. Mounds of rolled sand at the bottom with a wall of blue in either direction eventually confirmed he was somewhere on the sea floor. He unwillingly felt his eyes shut and stay that way, momentarily sensing drowsiness slithering down his eyes.
It was in the theater of blackness behind his eye lids that the visions were projected. A voice akin to Xenilla's and yet distinctly different muttered through his head almost like it was speaking between his ears.
-What? What's this?-
He saw a distant island alone in a cold sea, a grassy landscape largely devoid of trees and bearing a series of jagged highlands in its interior. The view zoomed in abruptly and Xenilla spotted three lights across the three realms, in the air, amidst the sea, and on the ground. The blue lantern, a slithering leviathan cut and coiled around the waves with thrashing tentacles occasionally breaching the surface. A green sphere of light moved amongst a shroud of storm clouds, a crack of lightning revealing a long form with four wings. The last of them was in the darkened highlands. Waves rattled and the earth shook as a simian form, with a fiery light from its chest that reminded Xenilla of lava, tore its way out of a mountain.
The voice from before that was and yet wasn't Xenilla's spoke again like something was talking to it; but Xenilla himself only heard one side of the conversation.
-Aspects? Who are they? Why should I care?-
A white flash settled over the view, taking Xenilla away from the island and across brief glimpses of a myriad of lands. Seas broiled into a savannah of steam, with thousands of every manner of sea life limply floating to the surface or sinking to the bottom in droves. Another flash took him to an overhead view of a biome so featureless he couldn't even begin to guess what it once was, the land scorched to a sea of glass and half melted rock. One last flare of light brought him over the only really recognizable biome in the form of a large conifer forest bordering the ocean. He saw many lifeforms below, the odd sensation that such a place made for a good territory settling over him. Though Xenilla felt baffled by such a thought, as he didn't seem to be the one thinking it. Regardless, such thoughts were silenced when a sudden blast wave of energy blew through and left no guessing as to if there would be any survivors.
An aggravated snarl rang out around Xenilla, heralding that familiar voice he was starting to recognize.
-"A threat then... Where?"-
The view was engulfed by white, filtering back in to show a similar shot of the seafloor Xenilla spied at the beginning of the vision. The focus quickly shot up to the surface and headed north at blurring speeds. That same island as before came back into view, seas roaring and lightning striking a peak before the white shroud followed by the blackness returned.
Xenilla, or rather whatever was in control of his body, woke up to find themselves yet again at the sea floor's basin. The sun's rays from above had been replaced by eerie moonbeams that raked across the blankness all around.
-"They'll try to kill everything..."-
The voice muttered to itself, the gears in Xenilla's head still turning as to where he'd heard it before. The view looked up to the surface and movement ensued, first upwards to the illuminated upper levels and then racing northward with a thrashing tail. The water temperature began to grow colder as time slurred by, the alternating avatar spheres of night and day indicating a journey of at least a day.
-I care not for any humans, but they're a threat to me as well.-
Suddenly the voice clicked and Xenilla's eyes widened considerably. The view breached the surface, passing a spooked pod of whales and rushing headlong into the storm engulfing the horizon. In the flare of lightning, a single island could be glimpsed coming into view through the downpour of icy rain.
The narrator's thoughts, the speech of a ghost that died almost two decades ago, muttered one last line.
-"I will stop them..."-
-F-Father?-
Xenilla unconsciously choked in a small gasp and snapped himself awake, thankfully for real this time. He stood his head and neck up as he hyperventilated for a few seconds. The sight that he was on his bed in his quarters, repaired of the damage he caused some time ago, helped the unicorn calm down and catch up to his pulse. It still took him a good few minutes to calm himself back down. With his senses back in working order, the first thing he noticed was the calm breathing and soft, warm, furry feeling on his back. Xenilla tilted his head around and looked down, instantly deadpanning upon seeing an armorless, and judging from her tiny smile, very content Blade Dancer laying her head across his stomach and midsection; apparently napping. Instantly the baffling confusion of his dream was lost and Xenilla narrowed his eyes.
-Well... this is mood whiplash and a half.-
Xenilla flexed his shoulder muscle, which the mare had rested her chin upon, to try and jostle her awake.
"...Why are you in my bed?"
Either a light sleeper or having just been resting her eyes, Blade Dancer maintained her close eyed smile as she spoke.
"Because you requested I come in last night, but were so drawn up with your study you fell asleep."
She peeked at him through one of her eyes after opening it a sliver.
"And you didn't tell me to leave before you conked out."
"That doesn't explain why you are in my bed, while I'm still in it... And were you using me as a pillow?"
"Because I'm a lady. I'm not sleeping on the floor if I have the option. Besides-"
She winked out the half opened eye, before rubbing her neck and chin further into Xenilla's fur.
"-you don't seem to mind, given that you've yet to throw me off of you~."
And now it was Xenilla's turn to close his eyes, half mutely grumbling in a manner that earned a tiny giggle in response to his accidental roommate.
"Well, just don't do this when we get to Canterlot."
"Canterlot?"
Blade Dancer grunted in a half confused tone. She lifted her head up, still keeping her hooves around her heated pillow, and raised her ears. At the mention of her older post she let the momentary worry that she'd been replaced fly past her.
"But my shift here isn't done yet? I'm not due back there for awhile."
Her fears were unknowingly put to rest by the kaiju's next comment.
"Nothing to do with your 'vacation'. The Celestial Diarchs requested the six kaiju meet back at the capital one week after we were first dispersed to check in on progress and our 'resettling'. Given a few days delay due to recent events, my summoning letter came in yesterday. They especially want me present along with Empress Cadenza to give the full debriefing about King Sombra's sporadic return and second violent impeachment."
"Aaand, this involves me how?"
Xenilla shrugged, rolling his eyes slightly as if half annoyed he had to fully explain it all.
"Simple, you're my bodyguard and I put a request in to the good Empress that; should I go, that you accompany me. Means you would be stuck with me. That is, unless you'd wish otherwise?"
He let himself crack a tiny smirk along with a raised eyebrow. It got the exact type of reaction he was hoping for. Subtle, but effective. A slight redness settled over Blade Dancer's muzzle and her jaw clenched. Just when her eyes were beginning to contract, she must have mentally kicked herself in the rear. Grunting a bit to clear her throat while putting a hoof to her chest, the guardsmare managed to regain a sense of professionalism.
"Ahem, it would be my honor to continue my role as your protector, Ambassador Xenilla. When do we depart for the capital?"
Though Blade Dancer's smile faded under her facade, Xenilla's grew slightly even as he held his head high and crawled out of bed. He spoke while casting an idle stare out the window towards the imperial city below.
"This evening, we'll be due to arrive tomorrow morning on the first train shift."
He could hear the rustling and joint popping behind him that signaled Blade Dancer had followed him out of bed and had stoically come up behind him to share the sight.
"Alright then Ambassador. I shall leave you to your morning.... Oh, and Xen?"
The kaiju raised an eyebrow but didn't bother to glance down. If he had he would have seen the devious smirk slithering across his bodyguard's muzzle before she turned around.
"Yes, Blades?"
....Whap! A playful wingslap shot across his flank and elicited a disgruntled frown from the kaiju. He shot his head around to spot a smiling Blade Dancer heading towards and out the door with swishing tail and rocking hips.
"You make for a good pillow~."
Xenilla, leader of the Mutation faction and first 'born' son of the great Godzilla Senior; was stuck standing in place for a good three minutes after she left with a flabbergasted scowl stenciled onto his face. Eventually, with no small amount of effort, he managed to steal a moment to think back to his restless sleep.
- Too early to have been spurred by Sombra's hex. That was like back at the Apple family barn. Definitely not a dream, but a memory.-
His expression shifted into a slight frown, the visions of a distant island with three terrors surrounding it raking its claws across the back of his head. Thankfully, if the eldest son of the old king was anything, he was savvy. While he'd had no clue what was going on with these memories he had no recollection of, be it the entities and sights within them or voices he could not remember talking to him; he knew generally what caused such baffling circumstances.
-Magic is afoot here... Oye...-
Xenilla shrugged, turning around and starting out the door to follow Blade Dancer. He managed to mask the pondering look on his muzzle for a neutral deadpan. As much as he hated to admit it, Terran magic wasn't something he was acquainted with, and he needed an expert. Fortunately or unfortunately, just such an expert would be reachable in Canterlot tomorrow.
=======
Everfree
=======
Mothra Lea followed Twilight down a narrow, descending tunnel. Having dropped her alicorn disguise, she rolled her shoulders in relief, shifting the loaded saddlebags thrown over her middle. All of her and Twilight's packs were filled to the brim with the ancient tomes and manuscripts from the ancient castle. Having a flock of gyaos randomly drop down on one's study tended to throw off research plans, so the duo had returned to the abandoned castle to recover some of the materials left behind during the attack. After having done such, Twilight had shifted the focus to something she'd mentioned to Lea but hadn't gotten the chance to show her just yet.
Upon entering the chamber of the awaited, Mothra stole a gasp as she beheld the Tree of Harmony's sanctum. The radiance of the structure was complemented by the way the breeze from the forest beyond moved about within the cavern, the ensuing melody favorably comparable to a wind chime. The Guardian of Mortals and the Biosphere's response was an understatement, spoken in low breath as the sight instinctively gave her a smile.
"Wow, you didn't exaggerate."
The little alicorn beamed, trotting around the dazzling formation while holding her gaze up to it with a twinkle in her eye.
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna say this predates even them. Starswirl the Bearded once described it as a nexus. Just being around it is enough to feel some comfort, and good magic seems to be even stronger around it."
Lea still felt a tad odd around Equestrian magic, light or dark. Being so closely tied to Terra's magic, she was used to her home's rules. Equestria has been a whole new ball game, but one she was beginning to understand well enough. Yet, even as a novice in Equestria's hexes, the peacefulness and warmth of the Tree's aura was infectious.
"I can see what he meant there."
Lea said, looking across the Elements of Harmony and recognizing them based off Twilight's descriptions. After looking over the two other emblems on the trunk, a stylized sun and moon, her eyes were soon upon what Twilight was looking at. A growth from the floor about two meters in front of the tree supported what would best be described as an ornate, hexagon shaped box. Raising an eyebrow, especially after seeing the slight frown on Twilight's face, Lea looked closer and traced her friend's line of sight to the six openings resembling key holes ringing the box.
"So, what's the story with this?"
The changeling muttered, motioning to the box with a hoof. Twilight shrugged in response, pouting somewhat.
"That's, the problem I was working on until the kaiju showed up. That chest emerged from the tree when we put the elements back into it and nopony seems to know what's inside."
"Well-"
Lea quipped, looking up at the Tree of Harmony as it subtly pulsed with a comforting light.
"-if it's tied to the Tree of Harmony it must be important.... Hm, seems to have six keyholes. Looked into that any?"
Twilight didn't share the hopeful expression, half mumbling in a downtrodden voice.
"To be honest it was the first thing I did look into. Nothing so far though. There isn't a single mention of the chest in any records from Ponyville, Canterlot, or the castle above. I was just about to look through all my old notes to see if I might find some inspiration or clue when you showed up."
The alicorn shook her head slightly, mind still locked onto the kaiju problem at hand. For practicality's purposes she and Lea had switched up their study on finding the kaiju a way home to finding any sort of method to locate any stray kaiju who'd ended up in Equestria. With Gamera's word to go off of, the gyaos were just the tip of the iceberg. In some ways it gave her some ease. If they focused on sending the original six kaiju back home and somehow managed to do so, they'd just leave themselves even more open to attack by who knows what else that crossed over from Terra. Still, the thought of a myriad of monsters running loose in the far reaches of the continent wasn't doing her nervousness any favors. So far the primary study had been on trying to track and locate any stragglers as an early warning system.
"I just hope I'm up to the task. Whatever is in there, I have a feeling we'll need it now more than ever..."
Lea moved over and put an assuring forelimb around Twilight, pulling her distressed friend in closer to her. She cooed softly with a dim glow, letting some of her aura rub off on Twilight to ease some of her stress away.
"We'll find the solution to this, just like we'll solve the dread my world has brought to your's."
Twilight let a tiny smile cross her lips, stretching up a bit to put a wing around Lea's back to return the hug while she rubbed up against her friend.
"It's not your fault Lea."
The changeling sighed, not sure if she should nod or not. The thought of her arrival bringing her conflict onto this peaceful world wasn't something she fancied. Fortunately a stray thought crossed her mind after looking again to the Chest of Harmony.
"You know, Equestrian magic might be a different breed than Terran; but magic is still magic on some level. And I think I know someone, or rather someones, who could take a look at this."
"Oh? Who?"
Lea smirked as she looked upwards towards the ceiling.
"Two folks you haven't seen in awhile. Moll, Lora, are you with us or are you back in the castle?"
Two tiny orbs of light, one red and one blue, zipped down the stairwell the alicorn and changeling had come from to take rest on Twilight's muzzle. The Princess of Friendship's eyes widened, earning a giggle from Lea.
"Hello friend!"
Two tiny, feminine voices chimed. While their true forms were heavily obscured by the glow accompanying them, Twilight could swear she saw the twins take a bow or curtsy.
"Oh, nice to see you two again! Where have you been?"
"Yes, we've been gone for awhile. I almost worried you forgot."
"We've been making use of the wings these new forms have given us to scout around this castle."
"New forms? Can I see? Sorry, with the light show it's a bit hard to make out what you two look like other than Epona's assistants."
A dual giggle ensued and as requested, the lights dimmed to reveal two tiny breezies on Twilight's muzzle. Miniscule, even by breezie standards, they both wore relatively simple garb that vaguely reminded Twilight of south seas attire. Moll and Lora, clad in red and blue respectively, also were covered from head to hoof, and in light of their breezie bodies, wings, in rune-like tattoos that seemed to glow dimly. The twin faeries giggled and waved at the alicorn, thankfully used to addressing folks hundreds of times their size.
“Moll and Lora have been in service to my mother’s family for generations, with their sister Belvera back on earth serving my father's line.”
“Yes it’s true,”
“, we were the ones who stood watch over Lea’s mother’s egg for centuries.”
“And we spent much of that time on one of the few remaining, heavily enchanted areas on Terra.”
Lea nodded and smirked, “My thought was to let them have a look at the box’s locks. If Equestrian magic has no account on how to open this thing, maybe an outside magical authority could offer another perspective.”
“Huh… Well it certainly couldn’t hurt. Would you two mind doing that?”
Twilight chirped, literally looking down her nose at the duo. Moll and Lora turned around and regarded the puzzle box for a moment before turning back to Twilight and giving her a smiling nod. With that, they fluttered off her nose and returned to their glowing, will-o-wisp-like state to inspect the chest. Knowing it would take the twin fae a moment, Lea looked away from the inspection and noticed something shimmering on the edge of the cave. Trotting over to it, she avoided the urge to reach out and grab it, instead biting her tongue and furthering her telekinesis practice. For someone used to channeling magic through her whole body, directing it to specific points was a bit of a reflex taboo. Doing so in her old body either meant a very powerful spell was being cast, or that she was about to fire out a beam of mana charged plasma out of her eyes, antenne, or chest. Successfully reminding herself that concentrated energy in horn didn’t automatically equal death beams, she picked up the half buried object and brought it closer while Twilight trotted over.
The object in question was small, about the size of a large coin, and rectangular in shape with rounded points. It’s exact color was hard to match, given the way it glimmered with an iridescent vibrancy in the sun and Tree’s light, though it most often bore a turquoise hue. Twilight recognized the shape from the biology books she’d devoured between chewing on magical tomes, namely from the microscope section.
“Looks like a butterfly scale. Oooonly much, much bigger judging from I don't need a magnifying glass to see it…. Let me guess, one of yours?”
She said, casting a glance to Lea in time to see the changeling confirm her with a nod.
“Must be one of the scales I shed during the battle with the gyaos flock. Haven’t seen one up close like this in while.”
She glanced over to her friend, noticing the sparkle in the alicorn’s eye.
“Would you like it?”
Lea chirped with a snicker, causing Twilight to blush sheepishly. Smiling, she levitated it over to Twilight and placed it onto the alicorn’s outstretched hoof. Twilight managed to forget some of her earlier stress as she nudged the scale with her nose.
“Haven’t ever seen this sort of light reaction outside of the Elements. Wow, Rarity would do a backflip if she could make a dress of these!”
-Attire huh? Well maybe not a dress buuut...-
Lea smirked, nudging Twilight and motioning for her to sit down. The alicorn did so, with the changeling plopping down across from her.
“I know the situation is dire, and there is no doubting it is. And with someone as kind and bright as you are, your mind is growing in worry just like mine was back at Ponyville.”
The guardian spoke whilst running the edge of her hooves across the ground to trace her symbol. Weaving her flora magic into the ground, Lea called forth an altered root she began to work towards the surface, narrowing it over its journey.
“You worry about that offering from the tree just like I did for you when Destroyah was on the loose. I thought your world was, vulnerable, not as hardened as mine and thus unable to cope with this conflict. I thought I had to protect all of you and keep you completely discluded from the chaos; that you needed to be coddled... But, I learned something from the little exhibition back in that town. Our two worlds might be cut from completely different cloth, but then again, so are most dresses.”
Twilight, still eagerly watching Lea’s work as the root emerged from the ground, snickered.
“You should tell Rarity that idiom… Sorry, go on.”
Mothra Lea snickered a bit before she sighed contently, waving her hoof around in a slow circle. On command, the root twisted and spun itself around, binding the fibers into a tight cord.
“Different as they might be, as long as we stick together in this situation and keep up the balance between rational calm and controlled fear’s readiness, pool our resources and maintain morale; I doubt there is many an issue that we can’t weave a solution from.”
She cooed in a placid voice, before motioning for the scale. Upon having it hoofed over to her, Lea plucked the root from the ground and bored the tip through the scale; before looping it around in a wide arc and tying off the tip.
“After all, you and I both know what magic can accomplish; and in this world, friendship literally is magic.”
She finished, gently easing the new necklace over Twilight’s head and under her mane. The little alicorn looked down at her new piece of jewelry with a growing grin, some of her previous tension being exhaled out with her sigh.
“Like it?”
“Tis regalia fit for royalty, Lady Lea.”
Twilight chuckled with a playful, spread wing bow before holding her hooves out. The changeling giggled and shared a hug with her friend, whispering a few last words of encouragement.
“We’ll all get through this, you’ll see.”
“Thanks Lea.”
As if on cue, Lea’s horn, the magical focusing stand-in for her true state’s antennae, hummed with an alternating red and blue light that both took notice of.
“What’s that?”
“Oh! Looks like Moll and Lora found out something!”
The duo split a smile and raced back into the chamber to find both faerie hovering above the Chest of Harmony. Taking their halt, word came after Moll and Lora landed before them and bowed.
“The magic in this vessel is different than Terras,”
Moll explained, pointing to the box.
“-but magic itself comes in many forms and we did notice a few similarities.”
“Go on.”
The blue faerie, Lora, fluttered up to the chest’s side and landed atop it before motioning to a keyhole.
“There is a powerful locking mechanism spell in each of the ports, each unique to it and using a magic different from the others. While we can only infer so much, it seems that the mechanism is deactivated by a specific form and magic associated with it. Both must be present.”
“So they really are keyholes. And the keys are both physical and magical in nature so an unlocking spell, no matter how strong, won’t work.”
Twilight muttered, rubbing at her chin. Lora’s ruby red sister, Moll, took to the air again but levitated up higher and approached the Tree of Harmony itself, motioning to the lowest hanging element’s holster.
“While we don’t know where the keys might be, it seemed the energy given off by the key ports is similar to the energy given off by these articles on the tree. It’s not exact, but it is similar.”
“So whatever is in the box is related to the Elements of Harmony.”
“Could the Elements themselves be the keys?”
Lora and Moll exchanged a puzzling look at Twilight as the latter rubbed at her chin. After some thought, she shook her head.
“Hmm, doubt it. The box only emerged after we put the Elements in. Wouldn’t make sense for the Tree to unlock the box right after we gave it the keys. For all we know, taking the Elements out might cause the box to retract.”
Mothra Lea similarly put the available puzzle pieces together in her head, motioning between the Tree and the Chest.
“So the Elements themselves and the keys are related to each other, but they aren’t the same thing. That’s a conundrum and a half.”
The twin fairies hovered back down to Twilight’s level with tiny frowns across their faces, speaking in unison.
“Our apologies for being unable to figure it all out for you, your majesty.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle took in a deep breath, shrugging off the stress before it could even become such. She shook her head slightly with a widening smile.
“Ah don’t fret. We’ll figure this out just like we will the kaiju problem.”
She beamed at the breezies while playfully nudging Lea with her wing, parroting the changeling’s words.
“Stick together, pool our resources, and keep our chins up and every problem will have a solution. After all, what’s today’s challenge but tomorrow’s achievement?”
=======
Zenith
=======
Flashes of pale and indigo wings entered Bagan’s chamber from one of the open tunnels. Dropping to the ground and letting her talons scrape against the obsidian below to give Irys enough traction to stop, she shivered as she tucked her wings in. Zenith as a whole was as cold as it was dark, but the central chamber within the dark temple was near unbearably so. Between the gnawing pain in her stomach that tore through her innards and the numbing stings that engulfed every inch of her skin, the last of the gyaos was miserable within moments of entering the circular, impossibly tall throne room. Panic had fortunately driven her here quickly, as while Gigan had far too much machinery to seem palatable, Megalon was still a pretty even fifty fifty split. Fortunately the older of the cyborgs got the memo as to why she was bolting off again after assurance she wasn’t about to suicidally pick a fight with Grand King Ghidorah again. The chamber itself looked slightly different than when she had last been here, almost like the room with its multiple entrances and ever growing ceiling were slowly morphing. Most curious to her however was the minuscule swirl of black and purple energy on one of the far walls, looking almost like an inky whirlpool sinking into the structure itself. She did her best to ignore it and walked in, stopping just short of the central pedestal.
Noticing that the rune covered orb in front of her seemed to be glowing dimly, Irys figured her master was conscious enough to listen. She bit back the pain within her and kneeled, bowing her head.
“M-Master, in return for my service I was promised food to curb this hunger. I, understand I failed my mission to secure the tree, but I promise to try harder again like I have continued to!”
It took an eternal five seconds for her to get a response, and by that point her hunger was maddening enough cause her pulse to pound between her ears. If she didn’t eat something quick, she was about to maul the first thing edible she saw.
“I know of your battle with Ghidorah,-”
The gyaos winced, about to cast her plea before the orb pulsed with an eerie light and word. The master’s voice seemed to be coming into the chamber from all angles like an omnipresent force.
“-but it is of little concern. I would have intervened had I felt it had grown out of control, like I did with Monster X. You are a loyal servant, greatest of the gyaos. You did supply me with the latest artifact, and a god doesn’t go back on their word…. Very well, I shall set aside a portion of my power to maintain your true form so you may graze.”
“A-Actually, that might not be needed my lord.”
Irys, still shaking from having a voice feeling like it was both all around her and in her head, rose up slightly. Even with the promise of food, she could practically feel the knife’s edge she was tentatively standing on.
“There was... a realm I know of that wouldn’t require that. You said your reach was limited in some realms, but you m-may recall the place you sent me alongside Monster X on my first mission.”
The gyaos grunted, holding her stomach inwards to try and suppress the pain.
“As you recalled, I was turned into a human there. My hunger persisted, but to a lesser degree and required much less to curb. If you sent me there you could save expending any bit of yourself with me. After all, which is easier to feed? Someone of my stature or one human?... If, this is agreeable to you, master. All I would need is an hour.”
In truth, there were two realms Irys could visit that she knew for sure would turn her into a human. She only brought up the one because not only did she know the layout of the town better than Maretropolis, but there was the off chance she’d find someone else there. It had only been a short time, but with all the chaos within her flock with Monster X’s rampage and exile, Irys couldn’t shake the paranoid need to check in on...her.
Unbeknownst to the gyaos however, fateful luck was on her side. With Enjin deployed, a constant psychic tether between the aspect itself and Bagan was needed. Given dimensional differences, that required an open portal. And with holding a portal open whilst controlling an aspect was doable for Bagan in his current state, the conditions weren’t right for opening a second. Doubling that feat to send Irys to the human Maretropolis, a realm twisted and woven into the realm Enjin was in, was too chaotic for him in this state despite an invisible attempt. If he tried to force it to send Irys through, the tether to Enjin might be severed. There was also the issue of having a ravenous Hyper Gyaos being stuck in Zenith. Irys was more use to him alive than dead; and given her recent ties to Gigan and Megalon, offing her would only drag in more problems. But if he left her alive here, instinct would quickly take over and she’d endanger more of his forces. And as the final compound that meant he couldn’t either just kill her on the spot or send her away was appearance. His troops didn’t know their true role in matters yet. To most of them, he was a generous benefactor that earned their loyalty out of gift as much as he did threat. True, he was well aware some like Ghidorah were, or already are, plotting against him; but Irys wasn’t in that number.
-And with wild cards like Ghidorah, I’ll require as many loyalists as I can. She and the cyborgs have already proven themselves formidable, had the battle continued they might have slain the hydra with the loss of only two of their number…-
He didn’t like the possibility of the gyaos spoiling his plans for Monster X’s termination, but fortunately there was one loophole. While two portals to two different realms was more trouble than it was worth at the moment, twin portals to two different locales in the same realm was child’s play. He’d opened over six times that number when pulling his forces out of Terra and into Zenith in the first place. Bagan gave the mental command and reshaped his surroundings to his will. The swirl on the back wall widened and expanded into a full sized portal, momentarily flickering as Bagan set the second location to kilometers away from both the kaiser energy signature and Enjin.
“You have one hour, no more. Don’t test my patience.”
Irys wasted no time charging through the portal with a mixture of eagerness and desperation, reappearing inside a city not far from Crystal Prep Highschool.
Forty five minutes and a raid on a local corndog stand with some clever misdirection later, and Irys managed to fulfill one of her objectives after wolfing down her fifth dog. Still, as she stood on a street corner whilst looking to and fro, a frown crossed her face as soon as she was done ripping into her sixth corndog. Not only had she not seen hide, hair, nor detected any energy signature to tip her off to X’s whereabouts; but she hadn’t been able to find Sunset Shimmer. Still ignorant to how humanity functioned at times, she tried to stick to the obvious and stay in the well populated areas on the grounds that humans were social creatures; but that in some ways only complicated the search. She remembered Sunset’s look and smell, but in huge clusters like this it was hard to pick people out. Inability to locate her friend only drove her fear, misplaced as she told herself it was, further; not helped by the fact she was running out of time.
Still resolved to look around while making her way back to the pick up spot, Irys started down a new street whilst using her energy tracking to home in on the master’s portal. As the former kaiju passed by a group of young females however, she couldn’t help but overhear some of the conversation.
“I tell you, I was z’ere when it happauned! Fortunately, I had my camer’ra on my person. At first I z’haught z’hey were shooting a movie with z’he stunts and explosion.”
“Why were you at the hospital?”
“My unc’ale had a turkey fry’ar incident during z’he holiday. Turned into a mortar on him. He’s fine, but I was near z’he back parking lot when z’he alarms sounded off and explosion happened. Saw z’his chap flying out z'he back window!”
One of them, light blue in color with white hair, held up something. Keying in on the movement, Irys unconsciously glanced over in time to see the woman hold up a photograph. Noticing something on it, she paused in her walk and leaned closer.
“What happened to him afterwards? Don’t remember seeing this on the news.”
One of the other women muttered, holding up another photograph whilst tilting her head curiously. Irys’ eyes locked onto the large black shape on said photograph and slowly widened.
“Z’here seemed to be some other fellow in a costume who followed suit-”
The first woman belted in a loud, heavily accented voice that Irys largely ignored as she loomed over her; all focus on the newest photograph.
“-z’ehn some van pulled in and rammed into z’he second one before pulling z’he first guy in. Since z’he second guy got right back up afterwards, I z’haught it was some kind of stunt scene with bad timing.”
Irys lurched forward, snatching several of the photos and busily looking through them. Her initial thought was entirely confirmed, immediately recognizing Monster X’s human form lying unconscious on a partially crushed car roof. A second being was unrecognizable, between the dark coloration and odd distortion it seemed to cause to parts of the image, making it into nothing more than a vaguely human shaped blur. It approached the downed X before a larger blur flew in from the side and knocked it out of frame. Flipping through the last few images revealed to Irys both the second blur, evidently a human automobile with some very colorful drivers, pulling X in and leaving; and the black blob getting back up and running off into the nearby forest on the last image.
The owner of the pictures however was quick to notice the theft and whirled around to glare at Irys through her huge, purple glasses.
“EY! Z’hose are mine and- HAAAAAAAAAAUH!”
Her shouting ending in a gaping gasp, causing Irys to look up at the worst possible time; looking right into a camera lense.
“HOLD Z’HAT POSE!”
Gyaos, being largely nocturnal, hate bright light. Being an albino meant Irys hated sudden flares of light even more than most did. So needless to say, looking directly at the flashing camera whilst Photo Finish opened fire on her wasn’t a good experience. Momentarily blinded by the explosions of light, Irys reflexively jolted back and tried to cover her eyes. Thinking she was just eager, Photo Finish didn’t let up, hopping around her to get more angles.
“Oh you are GORGEOUS! Z’he coloration, z’he snow white, z’he royal pur’ple accents, are z’hey natur’raul?!”
Now with alternating seas of white flashes and red dots all over her vision, Irys got a whole new feeling upon hearing the loud hum of a fan being started up by one of Photo Finish’s aids. The machine revved up and blew into her. Clothes and long hair now billowing in artificial wind, Irys could only blindly flail around to try and grab or tear at her ‘attackers’.
“Oh yes yeeeesss! No! NOOO no no! Yee-No-Yeeeesss! Oh you are a radiant swan, an iridescent statue of marble with a flowing mane! Z’hese poses you make, strike z’hem, strike z’hem!”
While Photo Finish was getting glamor shot after glamor shot of the pale beauty, Irys’ modeling was actually her snarling and lunging at the sea of flashes and red around her; the photographer’s quick stepping to get a new angle unknowingly causing her to dodge away from her attacker. A cold feeling washed over Irys’ mind and she could feel a loud ringing calling out to her, the tell tale signal that her master’s time limit had waned enough that she needed to return soon. Fortunately the camera barrage stopped as soon as it started. In an instant following a finger snap, the blinding camera flashes and fan blowing in her face stopped.
“ENOUGH! I go!”
And like that Photo Finish and her posse took their exit. Irys stumbled around for a good minute, rubbing her eyes to encourage her vision to return. There were still red dots attacking the world around her, but it was seeable enough to be workable and she was quick to head back to the pick up point a few blocks away. Photo Finish and her crew might have reclaimed the photographs of X, either to take them back on purpose or to remove an obstruction from their latest surprise model, but Irys remembered the details to the number.
-X is definitely in this realm with Tanaka knows who and obviously in conflict with something. He’ll need back up!-
She rounded the corner to the alley containing the portal, the tiny swirl of black energy hidden behind a covered fence that stretched across half the alley. Irys had just reached the middle of the alley right before the turn to the portal, when a glimpse stopped her in her tracks. In a plaza in front of the other end of the alley was a sizable crowd gathering outside a movie theater. While Irys didn’t know it, Photo Finish being in the city was no coincidence. Many Canterlot High students were here for the new Daring Do red carpet premiere. Including one wearing a pith helmet and khaki vest while talking with her friends, fiery hair and amber gold skin visible as she stood with her side facing Irys. The gyaos spoke on reflex before catching herself, the master’s call only growing in strength.
“Suns-!”
Sunset Shimmer, being on the edge of the crowd nearest of the alley, had a clear line of sight when she caught a blur of white out from the corner of her eye. She found herself locking eyes with the gyaos and both froze up. As the seconds ticked by, an instinctual smile spread across Sunset Shimmer’s face. True, she had a lot of stuff on her mind to ask Irys; not the least of which being what in the name of her teacher Irys was doing in a Power Ponies comic, but happiness upon seeing a friend again took precedence. For a moment, Irys’s lips looked like they were about to curl up into a smile as well; but quickly turned sullen. The expression on the albino’s face was a bizarre one to read, but the mixture of sadness and fear was evident. Irys started taking steps back into the alley.
“Irys?...”
Sunset mouthed, tilting her head a bit at the first step Irys took back; before reflexively holding out an arm as Irys continued to back away slowly. Irys turned and ran away from the crowd, a worried Sunset breaking out of line to follow her.
“Irys, what’s wrong?!”
Sunset shouted as the one called upon turned a corner, pulling down a trash can as she fled to obscure the path. The former unicorn almost thought she saw Irys crying upon glimpsing the side of her face.
-Stay back! Stay back! Stay back!-
In the darkness Sunset noticed a brief flicker of purple hued light reflecting onto the brick walls surrounding them. The confused senior rounded the corner Irys had lept into, only to find herself at a shallow dead end. Even with the winter air around, Sunset Shimmer unconsciously shivered at the biting chill seeping through the air in the pocket of the alley. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, having noticed her departure, ran up behind Sunset in a state of bafflement as to why their friend had suddenly charged off. Sunset felt a frown cross her face as she touched the back wall that Irys’ trail through the shallow snow and debris lead to before disappearing. The aged brick was so bitingly cold it practically burned.
======================
Zenith, a sometime later
======================
Irys flew back into the team’s quarters so fast she had to weave around Megalon, who was entertaining himself by juggling and bouncing napalm grenades off the flats of his drills; and nearly collided with Gigan in her haste. Managing to avoid slamming into the startled mountain of walking cutlery, she swung her feet around and drove her claws into the roof. She was shaking and jittering constantly during her roost with her back to her flock. Gigan whirled around to face her, the cyborg’s visor glowing in the darkness.
“Hey where’s the fire?!”
Megalon, having been similarly taken by surprise from the white blur zooming past him, hopped backwards on one foot before tumbling over. The napalm grenades got tossed into the air and rolled past them, hitting the back wall and unleashing a liquid curtain of flames streaming down the wall. Megalon snickered, laying on his back and happily clapping his drill’s flat together while watching the distant inferno.
“Hehe! There it is!”
He giggled, oblivious to Irys dropping her head down and bending her neck so far backwards she was looking at the pair behind her. The wide eyed expression on her face and fact she was completely ignoring the flames past her instantly tipped Gigan off to something being wrong.
“Irys what’s wrong?”
“I-I-I-”
"Spit it out!"
She took in a deep breath and smacked herself on the side of the head, hissed her breath out of her nostrils to regain her focus.
“I FOUND X!”
“What?! Where?! How? Is he back here?”
Gigan turned off his visor’s charge and took a step towards the bat kaiju whilst a squealing Megalon lurched off the ground and broke into a clapping dance.
“Found out on a food run, he’s in the human realm-”
Irys quickly clarified her words upon spotting Gigan’s visor instantly clicking back on and phobia born fear causing him to revv up his buzzsaw. She flicked her wings out and held up her hands.
“NONONONO! Not that one with the crazy hair lady! The one X and I got sent to on my first outing.”
Gigan relaxed his stance and cycled his saw back down to a halt almost instantly.
“Oh. Well that makes some sense then. If the master needed to send him somewhere he’d be less destructive, putting him somewhere he’s stuck as a human would work. How’d you find out, did you meet up with him?”
“No, I found out some human had taken a few pictures of him. But there’s more, there was something else in that realm with him. I don’t know what it is but whatever it was, it was strong enough to give X trouble. And now he’s in the hands of some other group. I have no clue what’s going on over there, but it’s obvious he’s in conflict and it’s with something in that realm on the attack! We have to help him!”
Irys barked, still obviously a bit frantic. Gigan flinched before taking a moment to process everything, putting the blunt of one of his scythes to his beaked chin whilst clicking his horizontal mandibles together. He puzzled through his thoughts as he turned his back to the others, running some simulations through his mind with growing uncertainty. He wasn't fond of the idea of them rushing into this. He had to be sure the threat his own friend posed had past, as that side of X, the kaizer dragon, was something he knew well to fear. After all, Kaizer Ghidorah was the reason he was the way he was now; after that fateful encounter a century ago that all but destroyed Gigan’s original mostly organic, gold and green body. That attack had left him to be rebuilt as he was now, much more mechanical than he was supposed to be. That attack left him so badly damaged it spurred the creation of Megalon. X never did know he was responsible for his oldest friend being mauled so badly he required as much machinery as he did now just to stay alive. Gigan never told him, leaving the Xilian kaiju to assume King Ghidorah had done it. Basic point was, Gigan knew better than any of them just how dangerous Kaizer Ghidorah was; getting a reminder every time he looked at a reflective surface. He wasn't letting that sort of danger near his little brother, or his team if he could.
Still, all too conscious of his promise to Megalon and Irys that they’d get X back as soon as possible; Gigan resigned himself to keeping only a rational caution.
“...Was he still in the Kaizer Ghidorah state? If so, we'll need to wait longer; even if there is a risk.”
“No, from the photographs I saw he has definately reverted back. He looked the same as when I crossed over there with him. Gigan, X is not Ghidorah anymore.”
“… Well, if something over there is attacking X, usually I’d be content to let him handle it, but since we have no clue how Mothra suddenly popped up during your mission we can’t assume he’s somehow figured out how to return to his true form while over there. That could mean trouble....”
Gigan grumbled, the uncertainty still evident in his half robotic voice. The ground beneath Gigan shook. The older cyborg calmly stepped to his right just before a spinning Megalon burst out of the ground next to them, sticking his torso out of the shattered obsidian like some kind of giant gopher. Megalon, cracking the closest approximation of a grin one could manage with mandibles, chirped.
“Oh oh! So if Mr. X isn’t hulking out and stuck in a human form, he'll need some back up! Can we pop back over there for a team reunion and bust some legs!?-I call kneecaps!”
Irys couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile at the younger cyborg’s eagerness, as weird as Megalon was. The situation was serious, but seeing some enthusiasm to back her up was well meaning. Gigan however kept his head down, clearly thinking things over. He shifted, walking past the two and stopping just short of the chamber entrance with his back to them, like he was blocking their way out.
“Big brother?”
Irys’ maw flat lined. She clawed and crawled across the ceiling, each of her talon’s holds digging out bits of raining black stone. Being amongst a non-verbal flock for so long, body language was something she had to learn at a young age. Saved her from getting eaten more than a few times. And even though the Nebulan creation was far removed from any gyaos, some features still played true.
“Gigan, I know he’s dangerous. We all are. But he helped me out once when I needed it, and I wouldn't be here without it. if Kaizer has passed and X needs our help now, I’m inclined to return the favor. That’s what teams… friends… are supposed to do right?”
Gigan picked his head up and straightened his posture. His tone was as stoic as it was formal.
“This isn’t a reunion run, it’s a rescue mission. Come on.”
Irys’ smile returned, the gyaos dropping down from the ceiling and following Gigan into the main hallway. Even at the near impossibly long distance the duo could see the light coming from the master’s chamber. The nonverbal command was given and the pair broke into a sprint, kicking off the ground and taking flight on pounding wings and ignited booster rockets. Trailing them, a trail of arched and cracked floor grew in size mid-pursuit. Megalon shot out of the ground like a swimming dolphin, unfolding from his drilling stance and flipping open his beetle-like wing casings to fly.
“TOOO THE BOSS BALL! Danenenea!”
==============
Human Realm
==============
Adagio Dazzle sat at her desk, chewing on her pen whilst propping her head up with another hand on her cheekbone. Below her and splayed out on the hotel room’s desk was an extensive portfolio of pictures and notes taped to a large fold-up map of the county. It was something of an investigative spreadsheet, tracking both the sirens’ feeding grounds as well as magic signatures they’d picked up across town. Someone in Canterlot had Equestrian magic, that she was certain of since last Fall. But who exactly remained to be seen. They’d discovered traces of magic in a few neighborhoods, the mall, and music stores, but no smoking gun. And with as many humans as there were, wasting time trailing only possible suspects was too monumental and too tedious for her.
But, as the tightening series sketched lines, circle marks, and trail of leads indicated; they were getting closer. Whoever it was seemed to frequent the Canterlot residential area. Adagio narrowed her eyes at the map, almost feeling the pair of red eyes looking at her from the van parked outside. Had she been the more nervous type, a bead of sweat might have rolled down her head. Her rush to find the magic and regain her full power was only heightened in the past week, and the kaiju’s arrival was a big reason. Hate was a strong word, even for a being who spreads discourse. Adagio hated Monster X about as much as she did that shadow demon. She hated how tight lipped he’d been about just where in the realms something like him crawled out of, she hated that creepy as all get out look he had stenciled onto his face 90% of the time, she hated the threat he posed to her family; of which that he was quite adamant about when they struck the deal, and she hated the fact that by song or by force of will he had the gall not to back down when she commanded for top spot in the pecking order like everyone else should.
-Then again I barely got more than a few seconds of song out before Aria and Sonata stopped it…-
Adagio leaned back in her seat while still fuming. Setting aside her frustration, she focused back at the map.
-Just need to find the magic to get back to full power. Then we’ll be able to overpower these monsters and not worry with them again…. Or control them? Hm, that’s an appealing thought.-
“It’s probably tied to the high school.”
The voice of Sonata chimed in and interrupted her big sister’s thought. The siren in question was laying across the bed on her stomach, eyes poised to the television. Adagio raised an eyebrow and turned around in her seat to shoot her sibling a confused look on her face that might as well had been reacting to Sonata saying “My wallet tastes good.”.
“The what?”
Sonata glanced over to Adagio with a small smile.
“The high school. In TV, power shenanigans are almost always at least partly tied to the nearest college or high school. Seems like with humans, crazy magic or weird powers tend to happen a lot at a young age. Teenagers getting summoned by a giant head in a tube, geek bitten by a spider, magic portals to fantasy realms across a veil; you name it, it spills into the nearest school.”
Adagio raised her hand with the palm facing upwards and cracked a confused scowl, before rolling her eyes. Sonata was her little sister so Adagio did occasionally give her a little leeway during these bizarre ideas she cooked up, but even that had its limits.
“That’s-”
Adagio stopped herself upon glancing back down to the map. Sure enough, most of the notes and locations they’d picked up magic traces at were in the heart of the town. A location that happened to include Canterlot High School. While it wasn’t a smoking gun and Adagio felt half tempted to lecture Sonata for bringing up such ridiculousness, there was nothing to immediately discount the school.
“Um… Sis? What’s up?”
Sonata quipped, tilting her head slightly after Adagio had suddenly dropped out of the conversation and gone back to puzzling over the map.
“Nevermind.”
While making a mental note to check the school out next, Adagio’s attention shifted to the groan of the bathroom door opening. Aria Blaze, having changed out of her sleep attire, was back in her outdoor gear and heading for the front door without a second thought. Oddly, despite being inside, she had her hoodie’s namesake slung over her head and obscuring her face. Adagio put her pen down and slid her chair back to cut Aria’s route off.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
Adagio was used to a grunting tone from Aria. Her cousin had been noticeably grumpier ever since they arrived in this human world, and it showed up in her speech. Still, she knew Aria; and while Aria might throw a snark her way, her cousin never had to the gall do so while looking her in the eye. The dark purple siren in question didn’t avert her vision or hide behind a slouch or grumble, instead she just answered Adagio while looking directly at her through a pair of sunglasses.
“Out. X will be wanting another bit of training soon and we can’t exactly do it in the parking lot.”
Sonata called up from the bed. All too obvious to the glaring contest between Adagio and Aria, she cracked an awkward chuckle whilst gritting her teeth.
“Um… Sooo how it’s going? You’ve been his babysitter past few runs.”
“... Efficient.”
“Hmmm, so it’s paying off and he is stronger than before?”
Adagio, voice still full of swagger, pouted and rolled her eyes whilst scratching her cheek with a nail. Aria narrowed her eyes before trying to move past her.
“Seems like it’s not the only one who’s changed.”
Adagio Dazzle snapped, grabbing Aria by her arm and causing the latter to stop.
“You disappeared last night. I was still awake when you crept out and I saw you two running off into the woods. And don’t think I’ve been oblivious to your recent behavior.”
Adagio turned Aria around and grabbed her by her shoulders, taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes. She had to work to keep her tone from wavering. Couldn’t let any of her genuine concern show through, instead entombing it under piles of scorn and suspicion to maintain dominance. Adagio opened her eyes back to a leer, lifting a hand and pointing it at her cousin’s obscured face.
“You’ve been running off without telling me, acting out more than usual, you’re a lot less reserved than you are supposed to be, and you’ve been insisting on keeping an eye on that thing more than anyone. I’m not an idiot. You’re hiding something Aria Blaze, and unless you feel like speaking up about it, I think I’ll go and watch the kaiju this time. Maybe see if I can get him to squawk after we get our powers back.”
Aria didn’t budge nor speak as the seconds rolled by. Adagio’s leer grew into a frown and she rolled her eyes.
-Hmp, push over…-
The older siren attempted to straighten her arms to push her cousin back, but again, Aria didn’t budge. A tiny glow trickled out of Aria’s siren heart. A lustrous streak of gold momentarily passed across the ruby red surface, grabbing Adagio’s attention momentarily. As it turned out, Aria Blaze had been slouching under her baggy clothing. It was when she straightened out that Adagio got her first indication something was wrong. The siren’s human forms all had some variation. Sonata was the shortest at about 1.55 meters and with a bit of pudge from her eating habits despite taking up swimming. Aria was in the middle at 1.6 meters, having a tomboyish figure with some slight muscle toning. Adagio stood the highest at 1.75, and had paid attention to fit the human beauty standard for more adoration. But when Aria stood up straight, she didn’t just match Adagio’s height, but exceeded it by a few centimeters.
Before Adagio could react, Aria snapped into motion and grabbed her right arm by the wrist in a firm grip Adagio couldn’t break. Aria Blaze rocked her head back to swing her hood off, reaching up with her free hand and removing her sunglasses. Adagio and Sonata’s cousin looked noticeably different than before. Her violet hued skin and magenta hair had considerably darkened to the point some of the fringes of her hair looked almost black. The neon teal streak in the middle siren’s hair had swung towards a yellow-green hue. And, most disturbingly, blood red had bled into almost all of her usually purple irises.
Adagio’s face instantly shifted away from surprised and into something she didn’t openly express often. Her brow lifted and her jaw dropped slightly, the alpha siren’s whispering tone having plummeted from smug superiority to a mix of concern, sadness, and confusion.
“Aria, what’s happened to you?...”
Aria meanwhile bore no such softness in her voice, almost as much a growl at it was speech.
“Don’t. Ever. Get in my way again.”
And with that she turned to the side suddenly and effectively yanked Adagio off her feet to toss her onto the hotel bed, and clear her path to the door. Sonata scrambled to help catch her sibling whilst Aria stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut hard enough to rattle the walls. Sonata was saying many things to Adagio, mostly worried demands as to if her unresponsive big sister was okay. Adagio, eyes still just as wide as when Aria first stood up to her and revealed her altered form, just stared out the closed door. She was petrified like that for a good minute, still processing all that had just happened. Her brow furrowed and her upper lip winced and curled slightly every few seconds. She absentmindedly touched the wrist her cousin had grabbed, the skin and nerves still tingling from the rigid grip and toss. Sonata, oblivious still, sat up with her sibling propped up against her and shook Adagio every few seconds to try and elicit a response.
“Sis? Sis?! ‘Dagi?!”
Adagio’s face winced and contorted into a scorn upon spotting Aria release Monster X from their van and walking off with him. By the time they were in the woods, Adagio was scowling. Sitting up away from Sonata, an irritable Adagio Dazzle swung herself off the bed and marched back to her portfolio to snatch it up. Swinging on her jacket, Adagio marched for the door.
“Get the room key and lock up, we’re going on a drive for an hour or two.”
“Without Aria? With everything happening to her-”
-If she wants to sing her own tune, fine!-
“She’ll be occupied for a bit and I don’t feel like inviting her right now to be quite honest. Now come on! We’re doing some location scouting around the high school.”
Sonata Dusk flinched from the snap in her sibling’s voice, but grabbed her hoodie and rushed out to follow Adagio.
“But, what if that thing shows up? We haven’t relocated yet and we’d be leaving Aria behind!”
She yelped, lowering her head into her shoulders a bit upon seeing Adagio stop in her tracks and clearly fuming at the moment. It wasn’t often when she or Aria did something contradictory to Adagio’s orders, but it never turned out pleasant. And what her cousin had just pulled was easily twice as worse than anything prior. If Adagio could get cranky over losing a lead chord to someone, Sonata didn’t want to test her too much. Still, family was at risk and she had to at least bring it up.
Adagio took in a deep breath and at first Sonata was worried she’d get a very, energetic, reaction out of her sibling. Thankfully the alpha siren kept her voice to a tranquil level of infuriated; and if Sonata really dug into it all she almost swore she could hear hints of the previous concern in the words.
“With as much as we looped around yesterday and it walking, it’ll still be far outside of town by the time we get back to pick them up. Besides she’ll have the other monster with her, and with as strong as he’s gotten there shouldn’t be a problem.”
-Not a problem for that shadow thing anyways… With mask mouth getting better and whatever in the name of McCarthy he’s done to Aria happening, I’m NOT getting left behind in the dust…-
“Now get in.”
Adagio snapped as she climbed into the driver’s side after unlocking the vehicle, and slammed the door shut.
============================
In the Forest about an hour later
=============================
Monster X held his head down and his eyes closed in standing meditation. The air around him churned from the manipulated gravity surrounding three soccer ball sized stones he had been manipulating, stacking them on top of each other in a pillar before repeatedly moving the bottom one to the top whilst suspending the others in the air in zero-g. The unending loop wasn’t a strenuous activity, but it along with the sirenous melody carrying through the air, it kept him focused. Aria moved her hands in tandem with her song, almost as if guiding her magic to physically pull the anger and discord out of a compliant Monster X; spinning it into plumes of red smoke that she was all too eager to absorb into her gem. If the session to make sure he wouldn’t lose control again was helping Monster X feel focused, it was helping Aria Blaze feel powerful. Monster X still had far more questions than he fancied having present. About the power surges of days past, the blank spots in his memory both old and new, nature of his newest enemy; and the ever present questions centuries old. Ever since that blue witch had sang to him, his problems had only grown; as if Sonata’s discord-inducing melody had helped to open a flood gate. Magic was still a force that confused him a lot, to a degree he tried not to think about it too much. But, he knew progress when he saw it. If the blue witch had helped open a gate, the violet witch was helping to close it.
After all, he wouldn’t have willingly asked to be subjected to Aria’s singing if he didn’t think it would help. Last thing he’d want is to lose control during the approaching battle with the shade, so this was a preventative measure. With his strength returning to near full power, the time to stop running and confront the demon was drawing near and he wanted no mistakes.
X stacked the last stone and Aria let her song fade out. X opened his eyes and immediately noticed Aria’s heart glowing. The change in her was subtle, but attention to detail noticed it none the less, especially since he first saw her. Her skin and hair were even darker than they were in the morning, getting patches of black in a few places. Gold strands had crawled up the fringes of her hair and were beginning to displace the teal just like the same color had done to her necklace’s edges. Between that and the red hues that had completely taken over her irys, encircled by a medium gray sclera, he almost grew worried she was about to have another outburst. Thankfully her content smile that shifted to a confident smirk upon testing one of her strengthened hands said otherwise.
“Lovely melody.”
“Pfft, someone as weird as you would like a tune that strange.”
Aria quipped, rolling her eyes after a chuckle. As blunt and near robotic as the way he said it though, X was being honest. A melody that liberated strain and helped keep a calm mind seemed strange to someone who’d spent her life singing variations of a tune meant to control and stress, but the kaiju actually did enjoy hearing it. In some ways he almost felt even better now than he did in his calmest moments inside his prison within the asteroid of Gorath.
Aria shrugged her shoulders, not noticing or at all minding the changes she’d undergone.
“Still getting used to singing as a soloist I guess, usually I’m on backup.”
“About that. I saw how you were with Adagio.”
Monster X muttered while crossing his arms, keeping in mind not to refer to the oldest siren as the “alpha witch” or "alpha siren" again. Aria Blaze’s smile melted away in an instant and her expression went through a morph. For a split second it looked like a sneer was forming on her face. She dropped her arms, balled a fist and slid a foot forward in a defensive half step, gritting her teeth and looking Monster X in the eye. The kaiju didn’t move, not wanting a reaction to possibly set her off. Instead he locked vision with her, red eyes looking into the like. Aria winced in frustration briefly, before straightening her stance back up. Confusion mixed into the anger, causing her to relax her hands and look off to the side with a quiet grunt. She felt like she should have been happy. She’d finally stood up to Adagio Dazzle and stopped her cousin from holding her back. This was something she’d been wanting since they got here, to exceed the siren who’d taken her away from everything! The martial arts classes she’d taken, the disagreeable attitude she’d given herself, her hoarding the biggest power source she’d ever seen in this world instead of sharing it; everything was about going against or subverting her control freak of a cousin. And it had finally come to a head today, she finally did what she’d been wanting to do for months!....
Aria Blaze shifted between shrinking back and scrunching her eyebrows in anger, not sure if she should be confused or frustrated at being confused. She stood up to Adagio Dazzle, something she’d been wanting. Then why did remembering the scared expression on the faces of her family, her only remaining family, bring a cold drop of sadness to her conscious?....
Monster X took a few steps forward and planted a hand on his protege’s shoulder. He didn’t have to bend his knees as much to look at the siren on eye level thanks to her growth spurt.
“Don’t burn the bridges you got while you still have them.”
“She started it anyways…”
Aria muttered, before flinching and turning her head back around to shoot Monster X a defensive look.
“And- What? Going to say my plan is stupid after hearing me out last night?!”
Monster X maintained his stoicism, merely shaking his head.
“...No. If you want to assume leadership, that’s your call. Just be sure not to isolate yourself and make you a leader of none. The lone are never the strongest.”
Aria’s leer loosened a bit, some of her anger ebbing away to make way for more confusion. The only deadset thought she had in her head was to make sure not to show any sadness in front of the kaiju. She wouldn’t display weakness.
“You seem to get well enough by yourself…”
“Personal might has its limit, and everyone reaches it eventually. From there, it’s the ones beside you, not against you that make one stronger.”
A silence passed between the two of them. Aria Blaze forced the image of the shocked, concerned Adagio out of her mind. She shrugged and rolled her eyes in a masking display X saw coming a mile away.
“Oh look, more fortune cookie advice? What a shock.”
“It’s the truth. Strong as I may be, I have a team I work with. And, if you need proof.”
Monster X nodded his head subtly as he tilted it to the side a bit.
“I couldn’t have regained my strength here without your help.”
He motioned to her siren heart. Upon seeing a hand moving towards her gem, Aria flinched and normally would have instinctively sought to clutch it protectively. But oddly enough, she didn’t do much more than budge. She told herself it was confidence in that he couldn’t yank it away if he tried, buying her own lie.
“Neither could you have allotted yourself such power without my help. What happens in your family is your choice. I’m just saying not to deprive yourself of one. You’re not the only one of your kind… Aria, so don’t force yourself to be.”
Hearing Monster X speak her name instead of “witch” was such a rarity that she almost didn’t even catch it. It spurred a tiny smile for a few moments. Aria Blaze took in a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, I guess a run as lead singer does sound better than a solo run.”
She rolled her eyes before looking back up at Monster X. His jaw moved a bit under his scarf, as if he’d been frowning at first but was now infected by her smile. He took his hand off her shoulder and backed away a half step.
“You’ll need all the help you can get after the shadow is disposed of. I promised I wouldn’t be maiming or lethal, but I did not promise to hold back.”
Aria Blaze snapped her fingers and mock pouted. While she didn’t like remembering the nature of their temporary alliance, the talk overall had helped her feel a bit better nonetheless.
“Darn, and I was just starting to like not completely hating you.”
X paused momentarily. He didn’t show anything outright or expressive, just closed his eyes and shook his head in a mildly jokative manner; letting his professionalism slip for a moment.
“The time will come soon enough. As for the present, ready for another round? This time it’s energy projection.”
He noted, taking a step before making a few quick movements to flawlessly manipulate the gravity around him, and levitate upwards a few meters. Upon hearing about what she was about to learn, Aria Blaze didn’t bother to try and suppress her grin. With a few movements, more curved and weaving than X’s straightforwardness, Aria joined him at about ten feet off the ground.
“Let’s begin!”
A half hour of explaining, demonstrations from X, half a dozen failed test fires from Aria; and they were on attempt #7. Good choice in number as hopefully this attempt wouldn’t result in an explosion or a runaway torrent of gravity sending the siren falling sideways against a tree and to the ground before X could catch her. As instructed, Aria focused her breathing and fine tuned her movements to manipulate the graviton flows around her. X hovered a short distance away and studied the siren closely. Like her levitation technique, she added her own flair to the steps after her attempts to copy X became a no-go. More fluid and arcing currents were present in the graviton flows and her movements that directed them, each playing off the other like Aria was immersed in a liquid. And contrasting to X’s calm focus whilst using the attack, Aria’s focus instead was coming from energetic drive emanating from her necklace; a controlled fury and pride that kept her mind honed. X nodded his head amicably as he saw the seconds tick by and witnessed that the alterations were having a positive influence.
-She’s definitely adapted the methods to suit her. Changed formula yet with similar results. And she does that in a few days while I haven’t changed up much of anything in a century. Impressive, to say the least.-
A ball of energy formed just in front of one of Aria’s closed eyes. The heavy compressed atoms, engulfed by a pressurized net of gravitons; were converted into a contained plasma and packed in tightly.
“And now, take aim. Then, quickly release the compression on the point you want the beams to go by breaking the graviton net. Release the grip and let the beam decompress and fire in that set direction.”
Aria grunted a bit from the strain. The luminous pile up from the energized plasma was growing to an apex. Just when it got to the proper strength, Aria swung her head out and did as she was instructed. Spiraling beams of graviton-encased plasma shot out from her vision and rolled through the air in a uniform manner. However as the encircling beams reached about three meters away from their sender, the tight radius they wound around faltered and the rays flew off in random directions. One managed to skim the target, a dead pine tree, but the others either took a nosedive and hit the ground, shot off into the sky; or arched around and shot out into a random part of the forest. Momentarily overwhelmed by focusing on the beams, Aria’s levitation faltered and she dropped. She would have hit the ground, which thankfully wouldn’t have been too dangerous on several feet of loose packed snow, had Monster X not been quick to react and hook an arm around her midsection.
Had she not been frustrated at being so close to succeeding and yet still managing to find ways to fail, she probably would have wondered why he didn’t just let her take a tumble. Instead she was too busy hissing, leering at her target like she blamed it for her failure and crossing her arms with a grunt.
“Damn it! Lost it again!”
Monster X rolled his eyes and shrugged, taking note of where the energy streams had all flown off to.
“Close. Controlling not only the gravitons directly, but also a dangerous discharge of mass through said gravitons is nothing simple. It didn’t blow up in your face like it did for me, so we’re making progress. The fact you managed to pull it off with your own variation of the technique is commendable. In fact, your innovation actually gives me an idea.”
“What’s that?”
She muttered, still a tad snippy in her tone.
“New technique. I’ll try it out once you manage to pull off the graviton flares.”
“Oh, great!”
Aria Blaze shrugged, rolling her hand by its wrist in a circular motion.
“I can’t do this spell and you’re already coming up with a new one.”
Monster X shared her expression upon her calling his abilities ‘spells’. Spells were magic, a force with often few rules. His however, while fantastic to the layman’s eyes, were all physics. True, even he didn’t fully understand how exactly all of it worked, hence his surprise at Aria’s unique methods, but they were all tied to a universal law. He elected to ignore it for the future. Still, through her words he got an idea.
“Well if your attempts at the flares today fail, my test comes tomorrow. So there is little need to rush.”
“... You think I can’t handle eye lasers today? What was that you said about me being commendable?”
X didn’t need to see a raised eyebrow and pout on Aria’s face to know she’d taken the bait. Few days in training with her had taught him a few ways to get her motivated if she was caught in a frustration streak.
“You were the one speaking in a defeatist attitude, not me.”
“Oh wanna bet?!”
She spun around in the grip X had on her thanks to her baggy clothing, pointing a finger at X’s nose.
“Two more tries. If I can’t get the flares down on attempt number nine, we’re getting to your training right away without waiting for me.”
Monster X expected an energetic reaction out of her, he wasn’t expecting it to go all the way into a bargain. He raised an eyebrow under his mask.
“That sounds like only part of the conditions, you haven't stated your half yet. And what happens if you do manage it within the second following attempt?”
Aria Blaze paused briefly for about two seconds, eyes scanning around as she thought up the rest of the bargain. Couldn’t exactly ask for a new technique to learn, they were already on one of the two she’d been biting at the bit to get at; and it wasn’t like she could ask to learn something X hadn’t even tried out yet. A sideways glance to an ivory white caught her attention and a smirk crossed the siren’s face.
“You. If I can get this flare stuff down in time, you have to take off your scarf and mask for the rest of this training run.”
X actually flinched. He had a lot of reasons for keeping his mask on all this time. Since this attire seemed to be an approximation of his true form’s body, the mask was one for his helmet. If he wasn’t wearing it and he ended up going back to Zenith, he worried a bit about if he’d end up harming himself due to his helmet equivalent not crossing over with him. But, he knew an obvious lie when he heard one, especially if he said it. The helmet he’d been wearing for centuries had been secured to his head all that time. It was what enemies saw standing against them and what friend’s saw standing beside them. For all intensive purposes, it was his face. He couldn’t remove it if he wanted to……
… at least in his true form. Monster X unconsciously reached up with his free arm and touched the edge of his mask, pressing against it slightly and feeling it freely shift. He had a chance to see what he looked like without it, and as much as the thought disturbed him; he was curious. And evidently, so was Aria.
-Maybe…-
The siren in question rolled her eyes and waved her hand nonchalantly, having noticed the kaiju’s uncertainty but ignorant of the ramifications.
“Fiiine fiiine Mr. Melodrama. If I win the bet, mask comes off and I’ll promise to make good with Adagio when we get back.”
A brief silence passed, Monster X taking in a deep breath and shrugging it out his nose as they levitated down towards the ground.
“So be it. But everything goes back on when we return.”
Aria’s smirk however was cut short soon as they touched down a few secondly later. Monster X hadn’t released her, infact he’d only tightened his hold on the siren to pull her up against him. A red flush briefly crossed Aria’s now dark purple skin and her eyes briefly widened with embarrassment upon becoming conscious of their position. She put a hand on the kaiju and shoved herself away a bit to loosen the hold, but to her confusion X hadn’t budged. His eyes were locked onto the rocky wall twenty meters behind them, and when Aria pushed against him she could tell his muscles had tensed up. Something had his attention. Monster X stayed locked in place, gripping Aria firmly by her wrist and pulling her behind him after widening his stance.
“Aria, get. Behind. Me…”
His use of her name again instantly got her attention and the siren stumbled around to his side, X letting go of her and instead holding his arm out in front of her. Aria snapped into a readied stance, popping up on the balls of her feet and curling a fist. She followed X’s line of sight to the top of the rock wall after several pebbles bounced down the side.
What she saw on top was a cloud of shadowy mass blowing away in the cold breeze. It was perched, standing on the top of the uplift and looking directly at them. Monster X mentally swore, having been too focused on Aria to sense the dark energy coming until it was too close. A blur of blackness swung itself around an outcropping and slid down the steep stoneface. Knuckle spikes dug into the rock amongst a shower of sparks as they cut trenches into the face. Reaching the bottom, Enjin kicked off the stone face and landed on the ground with a crash and uproar of thrown snow.
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Reader Works!
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Time to brag about you guys and gals again! Now be aware boys and girls that the creators listed here got TONS more artwork, both original and Bridge related. To keep this section from being enormous, I'll just be listing one creation, but I highly advise you check out the rest of these creative folk's galleries.
Evowizard giving his video making a spin with this picture show of Faith's and Pyrus' art, set to Fairy Tail's music!
Falljoydelux giving us their version of a female Gojira!
Zeroviks definitely showing where he stands on the shipping lanes!
Gollum123 giving us our first Enjin fan art!
Issacholt trying to give us diabetes!
LionPatriot show us genetics influence behavior in these lineages 
Pyrus-Leonidas never ceasing to deliver on the good stuff with this 4v1!