//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: A Displaced Spectrobes Master // by The Dark Brony //------------------------------// As Jack and Twilight approached the planet Jack noticed that the whole planet was split in half straight through the middle and the two halves were far enough apart to fly a small ship through. this is more impressive looking than in the game! He thought before turning to Twilight and saying “this is different to what I expected.” “Same, it's more impressive in person than in the photographs…” Twilight agreed as she stared at the planet in awe. “So seeing that I’m your chauffeur, for now, where do you want to go?” asked Jack. “Well, first stop would be the mines. Might as well get work out of the way before we go exploring.” Twilight said as she teleported a bag full of scrolls of paper to her. “I thought the job was to explore?” said Jack in confusion. “Explore and find out what happened at the mine.” Twilight corrected. “Okay then so land on the main planet first… Do you know where the main colony is?” asked Jack hopefully. “It should be on one of these maps…” Twilight said as she rummaged through the bag of scrolls until she finally pulled one out. “It should be right around here…” she said as she pointed to a point on the map. As soon as Jack looked at the map he grabbed hold of the wheel then began to head towards the colony shown on the map. Once they landed on the planet Jack turned to Twilight then said “Okay then what exactly do we need to do whilst we're here?” “First we need to see if we can find any trace of the workers or what happened to them, and then we need to see if we can find the artifact they uncovered,” Twilight said as she stuffed the map back into her bag. “Okay then” replied Jack as Aoi appears beside him and he says “can you scout around and look for the workers, buddy?” Jack’s Aoi then flew high into the air and disappeared as he began searching around. “You ready to go searching around?” Twilight asked. “Just wait a second for Aoi to come back then we'll have at least some idea of what's going on around here” replied Jack as he heard Aoi overhead before it landed on his shoulder. “So what did he find then?” Twilight asked impatiently. Jack then looked towards Aoi and then said “seems there're a few people around but they're all in one location… everything seems dead for some reason.” Jack explains to Twilight. “That… Can't be good…” Twilight said with a shudder. “let's not think about that for now… we’ll just focus on finding out what happened,” admitted Jack. “Yeah… Let's do that…” Twilight said as she tried to compose herself. Jack then nods his head before saying “Okay then let's move” As they walked they stopped occasionally to excavate a few fossils and minerals for a while until they reached the mine. But the scene that they found at the mine… Let's just say, it wasn't pleasant... “Who could do something like this…” Twilight said in horror before throwing up at the pile of dead ponies in the center of the town where the miners lived. “Twilight stay close… whatever did this isn’t any Krawl that I know of they wouldn’t pile the bodies up like that.” said Jack… “that makes this either done by a clean up crew after an attack or by a group of survivors for some reason I don’t know off.” “Clean up crew? What kind of clean up crew would pile up dead bodies!?” Twilight asked. “Back in the middle ages it was common for bodies to be left like that… it’s not pretty but it happened.” admitted Jack. He then continues to say “What do you think happened Twilight?” “I-I don't know… this is the first time something like this has been seen in our solar system…” Twilight said as she averted her eyes, “I-I’m going to go search the houses… C-can you bury them in the meantime?” “I’ll do my best Twilight… but if you find anything… or something happens, get in contact with me.” Jack said as Komainu and Leo appeared by him. He then looked at Twilight and says “and take my sword… at least you’ll be able to defend yourself if something happens.” “I’m good, I have my blaster,” Twilight said as she pulled out what looks like some kind of laser pistol before wandering into the first house. Jack then sighed then said “Well then guys we need to get some burials done… Let's get started.” With that Leo and Komainu began to dig a large hole as Jack began to look over the bodies and try to see what cause the deaths. Once Leo and Komainu had finished digging a few holes I walked over to the pile of dead bodies and then began to carefully lowered the bodies into the graves one by one. Once the graves had been filled he grabbed his communicator and then said “how are things on your end Twilight?” “I have managed to search half the houses but I couldn't find much, but most of the houses are wrecked so there was certainly a struggle,” Twilight replied over the communicator, “Wait… I think I found something!” “What have you found Twilight?” askedJack “It might be part of the artifact they found… I’m coming back.” Twilight responded over the communicator. “Okay then I'll see you soon.” Jack replied as the communicator went silent and he recalled Leo. A short while later Twilight came back and she was holding what looked like a tablet with three empty slots in it. “So now that we have the artifact, and we have a vague idea of what happened what do we do now?” She asked as her Aoi flew beside her. “Well I'd say we head to one of the moons and see if we can find anything there or we report back to Equis, but I'm just the escort here I'm just following your orders.” admitted Jack “Well, We can check out the moons if you want. But it might be dangerous because of the appearance of the Krawl… That and the absurd levels of gravity on the moon's.” Twilight explained. Jack then looked up and said “well… I think we should contact the commander and get new orders then… don’t really want to crash this ship on the first day of having it.” “Ok then.” Twilight said before turning around and heading back to the ship with Jack in tow. As Jack and Twilight reached the ship they sat down in the cockpit and contacted the commander. “Hows your progress on the mission?” Commander grant asked over the communicator. “Well… it’s completed but… well.” Jack said hesitantly. “You can make your report when you get back if you feel uncomfortable, for now just return to base.” Commander Grant said. “It’s not that commander… when we got there it was quiet… we did find the miners but… they were all dead. They were put in a pile and left to rot.” admitted Jack. “... That… Is troubling… There seems to be an entity other than just the Krawl for us to worry about now it seems... “ Commander Grant said, “Get back to base as soon as possible then, we will decide our next move when you return.” “Okay commander we will be back soon,” said Jack before the feed cuts. “Alright, let's get out of here. I don't want to be seen by whatever did that to the miners.” Twilight said as she sat in the copilot seat. Jack then smiled as he started prepare the ship for launch and then began to fly away from the planet. But to both him and Twilight's surprise a wormhole opened in their path and they were sucked though. As Jack and Twilight exited the wormhole they looked towards each other in confusion. Jack asked, “Twilight, what just happened?” Twilight shook her head and replied, “We were just pulled through a wormhole of some sort- by all rights we should be dead right about now.” Jack looked out the window to see what looked like a destroyed town along with what appeared to be the remains of a large structure of some kind. Jack then looked back to Twilight with a worried look, “Whatever happened here, it must have been big… This definitely isn’t our world.” Twilight stared back at Jack in surprise then shouted, “How is this not our world!?” “I think we were just pulled to another Displaced’s world, similar to what happened with Sun when he came to ours,” answered Jack. “So we’re in another world, with no way to get back?” Twilight asked fearfully. Jack smiled, “There will be a way back… but we may need whoever it was that Displaced us to help.” “So land the ship so we can find them and get home!” Twilight hastily shouted. “I’m on it, just relax and I’ll get us down,” Jack muttered as he slowly brought the ship to land near the remains of the large structure. As the ship finally landed and the ramp extended the purple anthro-unicorn was the first to step out of the ship. “This place looks like a warzone… Jack have your Prizmod on standby, we don’t want to be ambushed!” she called back towards the ship. “I’m already ahead of you Twilight.” Jack replied as he carefully surveyed the area around them. Wreckage. Nothing more than smoldering wreckage with the occasional lump of misshapen, somehow unburned rubble to round out the collection. Far in the distance lay a vast swathe of billowing white fabric- likely a camp of some sort. Behind the ship lay the ruins of what appeared to be a crystal castle, great chunks of material still flaking and sloughing off from the larger mass. Jack then turned to Twilight and said “I think our best bet to figure out what happened would be to go to whatever those tents are for over there… there maybe some people there who can help.” Just then, a pair of beings slid to a halt before Twilight and Jack, both feminine, one with red armor, the other with blue. The female in red had a horn much like a rhinoceros beetle while her blue companion wore the horns of a stag beetle. “Who are you, and what are your intentions?” the red one asked, smoothly moving into a defensive crouch. The blue one remained silent, mirroring her companion’s position. “I’m Jack and this is Twilight, I am a Displaced, we think someone found my token and called us here.” Jack said calmly. “Oh my gosh! an unknown species of alien!” Twilight gushed. The blue one tilted her head, “Token? Displaced? The hell is that?” “Haruka!” the red one snapped, smacking her companion on the shoulder. “Ow! What’s your problem, Natsumelon!?” Haruka hissed, rubbing her shoulder. “Stop calling me that!” “Do you want us to wait for you to deal with whatever argument you are having?” inquired Jack. Natsumi halted, “Oh, shit, right, sorry. Um…. Wait, you said her name is Twilight?” She pointed at Twilight hesitantly, not quite sure what to make of an lavender anthro-unicorn. “Yes, my name is Twilight. Why do you ask?” Twilight said, snapping out of her excitement. Natsumi shook her head, “Because there’s already a Twilight living in the refugee camp past the wreckage… and she’s a three foot tall lavender unicorn with wings.” “My sister here was just wondering why you didn’t have wings,” Haruka spoke up. “No I wasn’t!” Natsumi insisted, stomping her foot in a fit of petulance. Jack sighed then grabbed his Prizmod from his arm and asked, “Did you find an object that looks like this?” Natsumi held up her own Prizmod and gave it a little shake, “Yeah, just fell out of the air. What is this anyway?” “My Token, it’s basically a calling card for Displaced, we’re humans who were send to another reality.” explains Jack. “Ooohhhhh,” Haruka made a noise of realization, then elbowed Natsumi. “Hey, we’re humans too. What happened to you? We got dropped two thousand years ago after buying some shit from a convention.” Natsumi nodded, “It really, really sucked.” “Well... I went to a gaming convention, and then once I won the tournament that was based on Spectrobes I was given a letter by a strange man. Next thing I know, me and my girlfriend got sent to our reality,” explained Jack. Haruka tapped her chin, “.... Maybe I’m just looking at a ridiculously small sample size here… but do most Displaced end up being Displaced at a convention of some kind….?” Jack shrugged his shoulders then replied, “To be fair I don’t know I’ve only met one other Displaced and I think he was Displaced at a convention.” Natsumi nodded, then rolled her neck as the metal beetle on her belt flew away. As her armor dissolved into shards and flecks of energy, she extended a hand. “Well, regardless, it’s nice to meet you anyway.” “Darn… they're just humans... maybe I can learn more about their species?” Twilight silently muttered to herself. Haruka’s armor did likewise, the blue stag beetle flying off to join its red rhinoceros beetle companion in the distance. “Say….” she muttered, “How the hell does one actually make a Token anyway?” “Well if I remember correctly you need to find an object that relates to you, with me it was my Prizmod, and then you’d usually add a message for anyone who finds your token to identify it as yours,” explained Jack. Natsumi sighed, “That might be a problem…” “We have like nothing to us except our transformation items, our clothes, and our phones,” Haruka finished. “You won’t need to worry about that when you go to send your tokens out you keep the original… you think I would have chosen my Prizmod if I didn’t get it back?” replied Jack. “Why don't they try making something that represents them?” Twilight suggested. Haruka snapped her fingers, “I was just about to say that myself!” “No, you weren’t,” Natsumi back-sassed. “Shut up I totally was!” Haruka protested. “Guys focus, you’re acting like a pair of spoilt children.” sighed Jack disappointedly. Haruka rolled her eyes, “Well excuse me for having an annoying twat for a sister.” “Pot, meet kettle,” Natsumi muttered. “I’ll be on the ship if you need me...” Twilight sighed before putting up her notebook and walking back into the ship. “She seems disappointed,” Natsumi noted. Haruka shrugged, “Maybe she needs to use the bathroom? Anyway, what do you think we should make, Natsumelon?” “Your guess is as good as mine.” “No, she’s disappointed… human’s are myths where I come from, we’re supposed to be smart and then she sees the opposite… would you be any different?” asked Jack sadly. “.... So you think we’re not intelligent because we argue like normal sisters….?” Natsumi stared coolly at Jack, an odd twitch coming to her eye. Haruka shook her head, speaking in a dramatic tone with her hand pressed to her forehead, “No no, of course, the beings you’ve known for less than ten minutes can’t be at all smart because they squabble with each other.” “That's not what I meant… she’s comparing you to my girlfriend who reverse engineered a Prizmod in less than a day… she expected that we were smart, creative and mostly above acting like children. As I said she expected the myths to be accurate for every human, which I know isn’t right, but she doesn’t.” Jack explained. “Wow, your Twilight is kind of an idiot,” Haruka muttered. “Be polite, Haruka,” Natsumi sighed. “She more or less implied that we’re idiots- wait, did it ever occur to her that she’s in a separate fucking dimension, so the myths don’t fucking apply?” Haruka’s face contorted into a delightful mix of indignation and confusion, along with a heaping mix of condescension and surprise. Natsumi was silent for a few telling moments until, “.... Yeah, she kind of is an idiot if she didn’t take that into account.” “You do realize she thought that the whole thing was impossible… we came through a wormhole and she’s a scientist. She didn’t think it was possible to survive that, at most she thinks we’re in a separate solar system, where the myth would still apply,” admitted Jack. “..... Idiot purple one aside, Haruka, what should we make?” Natsumi poked Haruka in the shoulder, prompting a shrug and a quick noise of indecision from Haruka. “How the hell should I know?” Haruka asked. Natsumi tapped her chin, “Hey, how about the Kamen Rider Scouts medal?” “... I barely even remember what that looks like,” Haruka muttered. “Well, we could- Duck!” Natsumi shouted suddenly, dragging Haruka and Jack down as numerous explosions went off around them, throwing up a wave of dust and smoke. “The fuck was that!?” Haruka coughed, trying to peer through the dust clogging the air. “Those bastards from yesterday must have had backup!” Natsumi answered, finally spotting their assailant through the dust. Jack then look towards the assailant nervously before asking Haruka, “Friends of yours?” Haruka looked over and groaned, “The fuck do you think?” “Shit, that’s Tiger-Roid…” Natsumi whispered, staring at the tiger-man with shock. “WHO CAUSED THAT EXPLOSION!?” Twilight screamed as she hurried out of the ship. “Get the fuck back now!” Natsumi shouted, covering her head as more explosions rang out, courtesy of the massive cannon growing out of Tiger-Roid’s back. “Gwahahahaha!” the tiger-man cyborg cackled, launching more explosive bullets from his artillery. “Oh? You think scaring me half to death is FUNNY!?” Twilight shouted at Tiger-Roid, her eye twitching. “Only half? I’ll have to fix that!” Tiger-Roid cackled, bending over and aiming his cannon right at Twilight, its barrel filling with an ominous crimson light. “Pathetic insect, you messed with the wrong scientist,” Twilight hissed as she teleported into the ship before whirring and clanking noises began sounding out. Moments later, two panels folded away from the top of the ship before a turret rose out of the hole and turned to aim at Tiger-Roid. Jack then glared angrily at Tiger-Roid before shouting, “You will not shoot my ship!” His Prizmod opened and a large creature that looked like a samurai wearing purple and red armor appeared beside him. Tiger-Roid simply roared out his challenge and made to fire, that is until an arcing bolt of blue energy slammed into the ship from behind the rubble. “Oh what the fuck now!?” Haruka screamed, slamming down her Gatack Zecter and transforming. Natsumi paused halfway through preparing her own transformation, “Wait… was that a…. Rider… Shooting…?” With a panicked look upon her face, she rushed through her own transformation, leaving her and Haruka back in the same armor they had come in. The turret fired a shot at Tiger-Roid before spinning around to see who fired on the ship and prepared to fire on them also. There stood a figure in blue and white armor, distinctively dragonfly themed, with a very odd gun leveled at the ship. With a palpable smirk, the figure pulled back the pull tab on the back of his gun and, strangely enough, disappeared as soon as it slapped a button attached to the side of its hip. Moments later, an explosion went off inside the barrel of the turret, as the same figure appeared atop the cockpit of the ship. “Shit, it actually is Drake!” Natsumi shouted, turning to Haruka and rushing off with a blur of red and vanishing. Haruka cursed and shook her head, until she too vanished with a, “Clock up!” Hissing angrily, Tiger-Roid began firing his own barrage at Jack, having easily dodged the plasma shot and uncaring that his backup had gotten into a brutal two-on-one fistfight at lightspeed. Jack then began to flinch away, however just before the barrage hit him the samurai jumped in front of Jack protecting him from the blast before running towards Tiger-Roid. “Graaah! Die die die!” Tiger-Roid roared, his barrage becoming more and more intense, with each bullet becoming larger with each shot. Exceed Charge A quiet, mechanical voice rang out as a purple bolt of energy raced out from behind a pile of still smoking rubble, directly at Jack. Jack then quickly turned around, but only noticed the bolt seconds before it struck him whilst being unable to avoid it in time. Immediately, a massive purple cone of energy formed around the impact point, holding him in place and allowing Tiger-Roid to walk up behind Jack and jam the barrel of his cannon right into the middle of Jack’s back, a loud whine building up as the tiger-man charged a shot. “Well well well… another human….” a new voice called out, a man in black and white, delta themed armor stalking into view. “Too bad you were just a momentary distraction before I take out those two bitches currently giving my partner a hard time.” “Get away from Jack!” Twilight shouted as she stepped out of the ship, covered in soot and her hair all over the place, before she started firing her blaster at Tiger-Roid and the new guy. “Hmph!” the new man darted back behind cover while Tiger-Roid released the massive bolt of energy he had charged up at Twilight, running away as the cone sticking out of Jack dissipated into harmless sparkles and faded away. Jack then quickly grabbed his sword from his side and spun backward as he struck one of Tiger-Roids cannons before he shouted, “Samurite now!” Jack jumped out the way as the Spectrobe struck him three times with the blades on it’s arms. Tiger-Roid stumbled, sparks flying as Samurite slashed him, then tucked into a sideways roll and leapt behind a pile of rubble. Immediately after, Kamen Rider Drake all but flew out of thin air and slammed into the ground, sparking wildly with crackles of electricity until he exploded, his gun and Drake Zecter flying into Haruka’s outstretched arms. “Score!” she crowed, holding up her loot with utmost victorious joy. Natsumi slid to a halt beside Haruka and looked to where Delta and Tiger-Roid had disappeared behind the rubble, “We’re not done yet, sis. We still have two more to go.” “Damn, I know Tiger bastard’s still there, who else?” Haruka slipped both items into the peculiar Rider Hammerspace behind her back, then searched around for any signs of movement. “Delta,” Natsumi muttered, eyes narrowed behind the lenses of her helmet. “Shiiiit….” Haruka sighed. Natsumi turned to Jack, “Hey, you alright?” “Thanks to Twilight,” Jack then pointed towards Delta, “Is that other guy one of you?” Natsumi shook her head, “If he tried to kill you, no. The only time Kamen Riders attack innocents for any reason is if they’re brainwashed or evil. Well that, or if said innocent is another Kamen Rider… funny how that always happens….” “Well do you want to deal with him and we’ll handle the Tiger?” Jack joked. Haruka nodded, “That’d probably be for the best. Kamen Riders are best fought by other Riders.” “Be careful,” Natsumi warned as both of them sped away to search for the errant gunman, leaving Jack and Twilight to deal with Tiger-Roid.