//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: A Displaced Spectrobes Master // by The Dark Brony //------------------------------// “Well, this should be interesting?” Twilight said as she limped over to Jack. “Twilight I know I said we’d do this, but pass me your gun and then stay in the ship. You're injured and won’t be able to dodge his blasts,” ordered Jack. “I’m not leaving, I have a dissection lined up for that insect!” Twilight all but screamed before going into a coughing fit. “You try to fight him, he will kill you Twilight. Get into the ship, that’s an order! If you want to help, use the turrets, but trying to fight him will get you killed!” shouted Jack. “The main turret is offline, remember?” Twilight deadpanned as she grudgingly gave Jack her blaster and started to limp back in the direction of the ship. Jack then turns around to look for Tiger-Roid and muttered “Now then, let's do this.” Seconds later Windora appeared beside Samurite as he held his sword in his right hand whilst holding Twilight's blaster in his left before he shouted, “Windora, blow away the rubble!” Seconds later small tornadoes appeared in front of Windora and headed towards two separate piles of rubble blowing the pile away instantly before turning towards a separate set. Immediately, Tiger-Roid popped out from behind a still intact pile of rubble and fired a barrage of energy projectiles into the air, causing them to rain down around Jack while Tiger-Roid himself ran in for close combat. Jack then shouted “Samurite!” before the Spectrobe charged towards Tiger-Roid once again before attempting to slash at him, whilst this happened Jack’s hand that was holding the gun began to shake uncontrollably as he attempted to hold it level. Tiger-Roid took the hits, each slash resulting in a spray of sparks, then returned with a set of fierce slashes with his claws, all the while charging a massive attack in his back artillery. Jack then noticed this and yelled, “Windora Voltronica!” With that, Windora turned around then proceeded to charge towards Tiger-Roid using the jets on its arms to quickly propel itself forwards before hitting Tiger-Roid head on. “Gwargh!” Tiger-Roid roared, releasing its attack early and sending a massive ball of energy into the air, along with shredding its back cannon. As the energy ball reached its apex, it exploded, raining burning plasma down upon the wreckage of the town. Jack then glared at Tiger-Roid before Samurite charged towards Tiger-Roid. The Spectrobe swung both its blades towards Tiger-Roid at the same time. Tiger-Roid stumbled back from the blow, sparking intensely until he finally fell backwards and exploded, roaring one final time as he died. “Hey, you alright?” Natsumi called out to Jack, sliding to a halt in front of him. “I’ll live,” admitted Jack before slowly standing up, “He was a bit of a pain to deal with, though.” Haruka rolled her shoulders, “Kamen Rider villains tend to be like that every once in a while.” Natsumi nodded, “So, that’s done with minimal property damage to what’s left. Now, what? “Well, I don’t know… maybe check that everyone in the camp is okay?” proposed Jack. “Makes sense. Let’s go, Haruka,” Natsumi waved Haruka over and the both of them sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind them. “Bye~!” Haruka called back as she left. Jack then sighed as he recalled Windora and Samurite before shouting, “Twilight, you want to head to the camp?” “Cant! Fixing the ship!” Twilight called back in a slightly annoyed tone. Jack sighed before walking into the ship and placing her blaster on the side, saying, “Thank you for letting me borrow it.” Jack then turned around and walked back out of the ship as Leo appeared beside him, bowing his head. Jack walked over to him, “Let's go to the camp, buddy.” Leo nodded his head as they ran towards the camp in the distance. Seconds later, Jack arrived in front of everyone before he jumped off Leo’s back while asking, “Was everyone here okay?” “Yeah, they’re all okay,” Natsumi replied, then waved over at Twilight. “Twilight, meet Jack. Jack, Twilight.” Haruka chuckled, “Play nice.” Jack then sighed before saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Twilight.” Twilight stuck out her hoof and smiled up at Jack, “The pleasure is all mine, Jack. So, you’re from another dimension, correct? I’d love to know what that’s like- would you mind me asking a few questions?” “Yes, that is correct. And I’ll answer your questions depending on what you ask,” replied Jack inquisitively as he wondered what she wanted to know. “Excellent! Come with me, please!” Twilight smiled brightly and began walking away towards one of the larger tents in the camp. Jack then recalled his Spectrobe before slowly following Twilight. Twilight levitated a clipboard in front of her as she prepared to take notes, “Alright, please state your full name, gender, age, species, and occupation, please.” “Jack Burgin, male, eighteen, human and I’m a patrol officer for the PPP,” Jack replied calmly. “Excellent! So, what’s your dimension like? Is there an Equestria? Are all of the inhabitants there like you or are there ponies as well?” Twilight began rattling off questions with abandon, clearly already having prepared a checklist beforehand. “Well, yes there is an Equestria but it’s not like this; from what I’ve seen of it since my arrival it mainly consists of the headquarters for the PPP, all of the inhabitants look similar to me but I haven’t seen any ponies that look similar to you… although I have met my version of you,” explained Jack. “You keep saying PPP…. what exactly is the PPP?” Twilight questioned, arching a brow with interest. “The PPP stands for ‘The Pony Planetary Patrol’ were basically a police force that looks after the civilians in our solar system,” Jack replied calmly whilst trying to remember the required information. Twilight blinked, “Your dimension has colonized your solar system!? Amazing! What level of technology do you have?” “Well did you see the ship that was in the sky earlier on?” asked Jack hopefully. Twilight stared, “.... There was a ship?” Then she shook her head, “Never mind that, what was this about an alternate version of myself?” “Ah yes, The alternate version of you is a Unicorn and is one of the top scientists in the PPP,” clarified Jack. “So she’s still a unicorn…” Twilight muttered, scribbling down notes at a feverish pace. “Describe to me everything you can about your ship, please.” Jack then smiled and says “it would probably be easier to show you.” He then grabs his communicator before saying “Twilight would you be able to bring the ship nearer to the camp?” “You sure? We don't want any civilians to panic.” Professor Sparkle responded over the communicator. “well considering they saw the explosions from the fight and I'm guessing the ruins we are parked by was their town… I doubt it could be much worse.” admits Jack. “Fine, but any panicking civilians will be blamed on you!” Professor Sparkle replied before the communicator shut off. Jack turned to Twilight, “Once we’re finished with the interview my ship should be nearby, I’ll show you around it.” “Really!?” Twilight’s eyes sparkled with manic scientific glee, her mind already running wild with thoughts of what could be on the ship. “Shall we continue with the interview?” asked Jack hopefully. Twilight shook her head, “Right, yes, um, next question…” “Hey, Haruka?” “Yeah, Natsumi?” “Why’s Jack’s ship coming over here?” “Probably because Twilight wants to see it.” “Good point.” “Always.” The pair watched Jack’s ship slowly rise and settle down near the edge of camp, prompting curious and suspicious looks from many of the townsponies, but not much else other than a general air of tension. Twilight had poked her head out when the sound of the ship’s engines reached her ears and was currently rushing towards the ship, dragging Jack behind her. Natsumi and Haruka, both being curious, decided to examine the ship as well. Once everyone got inside the ship, Twilight let Jack go as he muttered, “You didn’t have to drag me here, I can walk.” “Yes, but you were being too slow and- ooh, what’s this?” Twilight immediately darted over to the nearest piece of technology she didn’t recognize and began poking at it to see what it was. Behind her, Natsumi and Haruka giggled and walked up to Jack. “Hey, how do we even make Tokens? We have an idea of what we wanna make,” Natsumi asked, quirking an eyebrow at Jack. Jack sighed before muttering, “One second.” He then pulled out his communicator before saying “Twilight, would you mind looking after this world's Twilight for me.” “Coming!” Professor Sparkle shouted as she ran over, “Where is she? I have so many questions for her!” Jack then smiles as he points towards one of the machines near the wall before chuckling “over there… play nice.” Twilight then ran over to her winged counterpart and shut the door behind her. Jack then turned back to Natsumi and Haruka before saying “Sorry about that… anyway, what do you have in mind to use as your Token?” Natsumi held up two wooden fragments, “Well, we were planning on carving these into little tablets with our symbols on them.” Haruka nodded, “Sort of like a club pin or whatever. It’s cooler than it sounds.” “I bet it does, anyway, once you’ve got them ready you need to add a message or phrase into it to tell others who you are and how to activate it,” explained Jack. “Right… Hmm….” Haruka shot a sneaky look over to Natsumi, who grinned back and snickered. “Oh yeah, there’s a really good phrase that we’re using….” Natsumi barely held back full blown laughter as she and Haruka wandered away into the depths of the ship for a bit of privacy. Jack then shook his head in disappointment before saying, “If you’re willing to joke about her not knowing what to say, you’d better have a phrase planned already.” As they got into the lab Jack walked towards a nearby computer before Jack said “This is the ship's main lab, I don't really stay here much if I'm honest, but we basically use this area for awakening our Spectrobes.” “Fascinating…” Natsumi murmured, looking around at the lab with awe on her face. Haruka tapped her chin, “Y’know, you keep mentioning Spectrobes n’ stuff, but like… what even really is a Spectrobe?” Jack then tapped his chin and asked, “Well do you remember the creatures that I was fighting alongside earlier?” “Not particularly,” Natsumi admitted, “We were a little busy with our own thing.” “Yeah, apparently fighting at lightspeed gives you hella tunnel vision,” Haruka chimed in. “Okay then, fair point,” Jack admitted as a small, yellow and blue bird appeared on his right shoulder as he continued, “This is a Aoi, he’s one of my child level Spectrobes.” Natsumi blinked, “.... It’s a yellow and blue bird-” “-And it’s name is Aoi?” Haruka finished. “That literally translates-” “-To ‘Blue’....” Natsumi stared at the Aoi with a frown. “.... Did you name these things or…?” “No, Aoi was the name he was dubbed in the English version of the game, I chose not to change it because it was simple to remember,” conceded Jack. Natsumi and Haruka made faces of realization and spoke in unison, “Ohhh… that makes sense.” Jack walked over to the side of the room before returning with a fossil in his hands, “This is a fossil of a Spectrobe… specifically Ryza.” He placed the fossil into a nearby screen that it disappeared into almost like the screen was made of water. “So… what’re you doing with it right now?” Natsumi asked. Haruka was leaning in closer to see just what Jack was doing. “Well, this is the process to awaken a Spectrobe,” He explained before a low pitch whistle could be heard and until seconds later when a small blue cat like creature appeared in a flash of light from where the fossil was only seconds before. “Whoa!” Haruka exclaimed, rushing over to the creature and examining it from all angles. Natsumi chuckled, “Don’t smother it, Haruka.” Jack smiled as he walked back towards the other side of the room. He returned carrying four green rectangular minerals, saying, “I need to feed him these minerals, then he’ll grow into his next evolution.” Jack slowly fed Ryza the four minerals and the Spectrobe began to shine before being surrounded by what seemed like an egg. A moment later he pulled out something that resembled a pen. “Eh? What’s that?” Natsumi asked. Jack asked inquisitively, “Are you referring to the egg or the pen?” as he carefully placed egg back in the computer. “The pen,” Natsumi answered. “The egg,” Haruka piped in at the same time. “.... Both, I suppose,” Natsumi acquiesced. “Okay. The egg is the form Spectrobes go to whenever they evolve. There are three stages: child, adult, and evolved. The pen is used when they are in the computer to open the egg and complete the transformation.” Jack explained as he traced a line down the centre of the egg, causing it break open as a large blue panther with large black metal wings that pointed backwards appeared on the screen before disappearing only seconds later. “Huh. That explains that.” Natsumi nodded resolutely and went back to looking around the lab. Haruka, meanwhile, checked her watch and stifled a curse, “Oi, Natsumi, the camp is gonna be moving soon. Didn’t Twilight say she wanted us to help with that?” “Oh yeah, we gotta do that…” Natsumi muttered. “Well, then it sounds like we’ll need to cut the tour short… anyway it was a pleasure to meet you guys,” declared Jack whilst he held one of his hands out. Natsumi and Haruka shook Jack’s hands, then, as Haruka left to go drag Twilight back to camp, Natsumi asked, “.... Wait, how the hell are we supposed to send you back to your home?” “Well the only other Displaced I met just opened portal himself so I’m not really sure,” admitted Jack. “.... Great…. hey, I wonder what’ll happen if I…” Natsumi fished the Prizmod Token out of her pocket, then tapped her chin. “Hmm….” “What are you thinking?” inquired Jack. “.... What would happen if I just asked for you to go home?” Natsumi inquired, holding up the Prizmod as if it contained all the secrets of the multiverse. A moment later the wormhole appeared in the blink of an eye and consumed Jack, the ship, and Professor Sparkle while leaving Natumi, Haruka, and Princess Twilight standing where it had been before vanishing. As Jack’s ship and its crew exited the wormhole to return home they found themselves appearing above PPP HQ. Jack then slowly turned to Twilight before saying with a hint of regret in his voice “well Twilight I guess this is it for a while” “Mhm…” Twilight said as she went over the notes and objects they had gotten during their little trip to another dimension. “Oh, I hope you don't mind if I analyze these for a bit before giving them to Jen do you?” She asked as she collected her equipment as the ship started to land. “Not at all, just don't go trying to mass produce them,” said Jack. “Yeah yeah…” Twilight responded while rolling her eyes before walking out of the ship as it finished landing. With that, Jack left the ship and then made his way towards the hospital. “Jack? where have you been? Jen has been freaking out ever since you disappeared!” Sweetie Drops scolded in front of the room Jen was staying in. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Jack said as he reached for the handle to the door. “Try me.” Sweetie Drops huffed as she followed jack into the room where Jen was. “Another Reality.” “So you went dimension hopping like that sun guy you met?” Sweetie Drops asked. “yeah, Twilight got dragged along as well… that was not a fun trip.” “Well, I think both me and Jen can let this one slide then.” Sweetie drops chuckled as Jack was tackled from behind by a worried girlfriend. “Don’t do that to me again! If you get summoned take me with you!” Jen wailed as she weakly started beating on his chest. “And risk you getting killed? you really want that to happen to either of us?” “... No… But I was worried about you…” Jen sniffed, tears were running down her face and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in weeks. Jack then embraced her in a hug before saying “during the whole time I was away you were all I was thinking about” he then began to smirk before continuing to say “well after not being blown up by a weird tiger with a cannon on his back, so you were the second thing on my mind.” “I’m going to ignore that second bit and just be glad your back…” Jen said as she chuckled weakly before embracing him in a bone-crushing hug. Jack then laughed before saying “at least your back to normal, anyway what happened to your cast?” “As normal as I’m going to be…” Jen mumbled before jumping up, “It got taken off earlier today, now give me a moment to get changed and you can show me the ship the commander gave you!” “Well, I'm going to go and give my report to the commander… you can meet me outside his office or outside the building, it’s up to you.” admits Jack. “Ok, I’ll meet you in front of HQ,” Jen called from behind the curtain around her bed. Jack then smiled before he said “see you later” before walking out the room. “I’ll inform the commander that your back unless Twilight already has… see you later Jack.” Sweetie Drops said as Jack left.