//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Displaced Part 2 // Story: Prince of the Everfree // by Golden Flare //------------------------------// Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep... I could hear the sound of the heart monitor Delsin was hooked up to even in the hallway just outside his room in the castle infirmary, I could only assume the princesses have this in case one their own were hurt. Speaking of the princesses, their glares directed at me did little to ease my nerves, considering this whole thing was my fault, I had just put Delsin, my first and possibly only friend in the Displaced universe, in the infirmary because of my stupid competitive streak. For most of my life, I had been a sore loser at a lot of things; sports, video games, card games, you name it, I just hated to lose, and it didn't help that I caught up into the heat of battle at the time. Being in Vanitas' body and having all these powers just gave me some kind of rush, like an adrenaline high, but I came down from it when I knocked Delsin's block off. I took off my mask and to the princesses eyes, I looked regretful, "Okay, I'll admit it, that was not my smartest move." "Verily." Luna commented. "I guess I was so caught up in the fight that I lost some of my control." Celestia sighed, "Just...see to it that it doesn't happen again." "I will, Princess." Just then, I felt a familiar pulse come out of the room Delsin and Second were in. "Guess he's awake," I put my mask back and placed my hand on the door, turning my head to the princesses, "We'll talk more later." They nodded as I entered the room and look at Delsin's awakened form, “Well look who decided to join us in the land of the living. Sorry for knocking you out, by the way, I was too into the heat of battle.” “Meh, I'm a glutton for punishment. No doubt, I'm going to get a horseshoe shaped bruise somewhere on my head from my fiancé when I get home.” “Oh, that reminds me, how DO I send you home? I never asked that.” “From what I gathered from Screwball's session on the Displaced, you say, ‘Our contract is complete,’ or something along those lines,” he answers, “However I refuse to be sent home until Nisled is dealt with. I don't trust Dusk Spark entirely to not try to insult Celestia’s love for cakes and sweets.” “Alright, so how do we deal with this bastard then? If what you're saying is true, even my strength won't beat him. How is this going to work?” “Step one,” he held out one finger, “Literally rip him to shreds. Step two: let him arrogantly pull himself back together. And step three: let a powerful chaos user do the rest. Simple, easy, and (potentially) entertaining.” “How do we draw him out, then?” “Two ways,” he answers, “Both involve him coming to us. Let him try to kill me or let him try to kill you...and neither of us are willing bait in either scenario.” “Well...what if I let him beat me to within an inch of my life, and you come to help? Trust me, in my old life, I’ve done crazier things, I even had a close brush with death, I can handle this.” “Just don't hold back. If he realizes that you're baiting him into a trap, he'll literally turn you into fried chicken and eat you alive.” “...Three things: one, your world has weird powers, two, I’ve been sword fighting since I was a little kid, and three, I'm not the kind of guy who takes a beating without a fight.” “Three more things,” he says in a mock Asian accent, “One, weird is reserved for Pinkie Pie and my father. Two, that won't matter if you're turned into a concrete pincushion. Three, good, that saves us a bit of trouble.” he sat up in the bed, and growled something I couldn't understand. “Uh, what was with all the growling?” “Unless you want your face to look like this,” he pointed to his neuro-tar scarred half of his face, “Then trust me when I say, I hate needles being stuck into my tattoo.” Jet Second rolled over in his chair, rubbing his tattooed forearm. “Mmph, stupid ants...tickling my arm,” he sleep spoke. “If you say so.” I said, “Alright then, after you get released, we’re going after your evil counterpart.” “We can start by cleaning up your new castle,” he says, “If we know the ins and outs of it, there's less of a chance of getting ambushed or being taken by surprise.” “Okay, let’s do this.” After waking Second up, we were guided to the castle gardens. We were planning on heading back to the Everfree via Portal of Darkness, with one end there and the other near the edge of the Everfree. However, Delsin stared at a certain spot and the look on his face made him appear like he had a sense of nostalgia, much like me when I went on bike rides back at home. “Hey man, you okay?” I asked. He jumped a slight bit at my vocal intrusion. “I’m fine. I was just remembering a conversation with Tia after my first meal in over a thousand years.” “Remind me to ask you about that later, right now, we better get moving,” I looked at the palm of his hand, “I hope this works.” I held it outward and opened the dark corridor, “Whoa! I did it! I can't believe it!” I could feel him roll his eyes at my excitement. “Hang on, I thought I saw something.” he said as he moved to what he saw and found three chests, one was larger than the other two "Hey! Check out what I found.” I quickly joined him and said, “Whoa, sweet! May I do the honors?” “One moment.” he sent out another one of those pulses, probably to see if there was anything harmful or noticeable in the chests, “Open this one first,” he pointed to one of the smaller chests. “Okay, you're the boss,” I walked over to the aforementioned chest and tapped it with my Void Gear, opening it. Inside it was some kind of glowing stone. “Whoa, what's with the shiny rock?” Delsin had a look of disbelief on his features, “What is a blast core doing out here?” “Oh, that's what it is? Well, you got me, but everything happens for a reason, that's what I was raised to believe.” He picked up the "blast core", with a bit of smirk on his face. “Since I have this, I might as well absorb it.” “Go for it, I can't use it anyway.” “Just, make sure you keep me safe. I’m gonna need to sleep this off.” he began to channel the Dark element through his arms and into the core. After a few seconds, the energy from the core entered him. He was levitated into the air briefly, with tendrils of Darkness extended out. he then fell to the ground, feeling sleeping, his eyes closing and falling asleep. I couldn't believe what I just saw, I didn't even know if he was alright, still, I was able say the only thing that could describe my thoughts, "...Well, that happened." Suddenly, pools of shadows appeared on the ground, and climbing out of them were... "Neoshadows! They must've sensed the blast core!" I shout while readying my Keyblade. "Neo-what!?" Second spouted. "Guard Delsin, if they get to him, our whole plan goes to hell!" I calculated at least eight Neoshadows in the vicinity, should be easy enough to handle, though my skills with a weapon might be a little rusty, so I should be cautious. The first leaped at me, only for it to take a horizontal swing from my Void Gear, making disperse in darkness. Three more charged towards me, but I followed up with a usual KH three hit combo, destroying them with little effort. Could I really be strong enough to take down Neoshadows so easily? I didn't get to think much on it as the remaining four made their move, good thing I rearranged my Command Deck before we left. I threw my Keyblade as it was covered in ice, freezing my enemies in place, my Keyblade came back to me and I hit them all at once with my Void Gear on fire, finishing off the last of them. After that was done, I hurried up and opened the other two chests; the big one had a map of Canterlot, and the other small one had a shining blue cube in it, I immediately knew what it was. Obtained! Map of Canterlot Ether These could be useful, I thought, then remembered the Neoshadows, how did the Heartless arrive here? They barely made an appearance in Birth By Sleep. Either way... I ran up to Second and the unconscious Delsin and picked them up, we're screwed if more of them show up. We gotta get outta here! With that, I ran into the Corridor of Darkness, not caring if I set the coordinates right. After going through, we arrived at the edge of the forest, and I set my two companions down. "Second, watch him," I ordered, "I'm gonna go scout ahead, make sure the path to the castle is clear of any dangerous creatures." "Of course." he complied. With no further hesitation, I rushed into the woods, ready to do my duty to protect this world. Clearing the path was easy; apparently the Manticore I saved spread the word about me and it left a good impression on the creatures of the forest, believing that they have a new protector. They listened to me and steered clear of the main road to the castle, once I arrived there, I immediately turned around and backtracked to the entrance of the woods, ready to let Second know the good news and hopefully Delsin will be awake by now. It was at that point that I found a Flood Unversed, but...something seemed off about it, either way, I somehow understood it; it told me Delsin sent it to look for me, to help me if I'm in trouble, and stay with me. At least now I had a travelling companion until I made it back to the entrance. As we got closer to our destination, I saw one of Delsin's pulses, Maybe he's awake again, I thought. I exit the forest and spoke to Second, “Hey, I'm back. Did he wake up yet?” I looked at Delsin, then Second, and lastly the Mane 6, who arrived at some point when I was gone, and for some reason Rainbow Dash was taking a nap on the ground, “Uh, did I miss something?” At that moment, Rainbow Dash woke up. Upon seeing me, she was instantly in the air and charging at me, but she didn’t make contact, as the first Unversed Delsin had somehow summoned tackled her and began to wrestle her. It lost, receiving a hoof to its head and dissolving, making Delsin suffer a massive, but not debilitating, headache. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's all just take it easy here—” I couldn't finish my sentence as Rainbow charged me again, but actually hitting me this time. She was about to bring a hoof down onto my visor, but she was knocked off by “something” invisible, holding her down. I was able to get up and continue. “Okay, let's try this again. How about we all calm down, and talk this out like adults?” “And what will you be telling us?!” Rainbow shouted out from under her unseen captor, “That you’re here to conquer Equestria! No Thank You!” She tried to struggle out, but Delsin sent out another Unversed to help Second. “No, far from it! I'm not here to pick a fight! Just cool down!” “Yeah right, like I’m gonna—" “Dashie,” Fluttershy interrupted, “I think we should hear him out...If that’s okay with you.” Rainbow looked as though she would object, but an "Ahem" from Twilight, and glares from the other mares, stopped her. “Grrr! Fine! Just let me go.” Second shimmered back to full visibility and the Unversed pulled itself off of her. She roughly pushed him away and bucked the Unversed in it’s groin. While it didn’t dissolve, it looked like Delsin still felt the pain...I wouldn't want to be him right now. “Ooh! That's gonna hurt in the morning.” I cringed, but recollected myself, “Okay then, I believe introductions are in order, my name is Vanitas,” I pointed to Second, “that's Jet Second,” then to Delsin, “and the guy nursing his crotch, is Delsin Rowe.” “I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and I'm certain you've met Rainbow Dash.” “Thoroughly.” I snarked, “Anyway, I just want to say that I mean you no harm, though I plan on living in the forest after I get things taken care of.” “Things? What kind of things?” “Personal stuff, you understand, right?” Twilight looks hesitant, but nods. “Good. Give me one second, I have to talk to my pals here,” I walked over to Delsin and Second and whisper, “How far away is your alter ego? I don't want any of these ponies to become collateral damage.” Once again, he growled something I couldn't understand and said, “I couldn’t be able to tell you, even if I wanted to,” he answered, “The best way to minimize collateral damage and/or casualties is to tell them to steer clear of him...and he’s more of a doppelganger than an alter ego. I don’t do Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” “Okay then,” I walk back to the girls, “Listen up everyone,” the Mane 6 turned to me, “There's a guy who looks similar to Delsin, and he's extremely dangerous, let us handle him and steer clear.” “And what if we don't want to?” Rainbow asked, condescendingly. “He’ll turn you into fried chicken and eat you alive,” Delsin deadpans. That turned Rainbow pale, as if she was imagining that happening. “It's true, this guy hasn't lied to me yet, so I trust him.” I added. Twilight stepped forward, “Well, alright then. But, after this is settled, you're coming back with us to test you, I can sense the powerful dark magic within you and I want to make sure it isn't hazardous—” “The princesses already did that, genius.” Twilight blinked, “...What?” “They stormed my home, I nearly got killed fighting Delsin and Second, and I had to fight my way back to this forest while he was unconscious.” “So that's why you were carrying him.” “Of course! What did you think I was doing? Carving him open and feeding off of him?” Rainbow suddenly had a sheepish smile. I deadpanned under my mask, “You did, didn't you?” Delsin snickered at Rainbow as she blushed in embarrassment. I sighed, annoyed, “Anyway, just go back to Ponyville and I'll come and see all of you when it's over, Delsin and Second will probably be going home after this.” “Okay, we trust you, right girls?” Five out of the six voiced their agreements, “Right, Rainbow?” “...Yes.” she grumbled. “Good, glad we're all on the same page.” I said. The Element Bearers turned tail and headed back to Ponyville, leaving me, Second, and Delsin at the forest’s edge. I helped Delsin up, “Okay, where in your vision did you see me get my behind kicked by your doppelgänger?” “Near the canyon/gorge some distance from the castle ruins,” he replied. “Alright, then let's get going, I cleared the path up ahead, so we should be safe for the time being.” We began our trek to the castle ruins, journeying through the Everfree without dealing with any of the dangerous monsters that lurk in there. After crossing the rickety rope bridge, we made it back to the ruins, with everything quiet...too quiet. “Okay, we're back,” I said, summoning my Keyblade, “if he shows up, I'll be ready.” Delsin didn't reply as he was scanning the area, both physically and with his pulse thing. I really need to ask him about that sometime. “Obsidian Shard! Dusk Spark!” he shouted out, “You can stop hiding! I know you're here!” Almost immediately, I heard hoofsteps and mechanical whirring sounding from one of the nearby bushes. From said bush, the two aforementioned ponies, Obsidian and Dusk walked out, the former looking sheepish, and the later looking rather miffed. I got into my battle stance, “Alright...who are you two and what are you doing here?” “Shut up, Bucket Head,” Dusk snapped, “I was asked...no, ordered...by Princess Stella Starshine to bring you back.” She paused, raising her head in contemplation. “However, I think I’ll just let you stay here. You probably have some reason to stay. And myself, personally, I want to see Princess Cello’s pissed off face when she sees you be late to the cuddle time she planned out.” “Bucket Head!? I'll show you a bucket head!” I was about to clock Dusk, but Delsin restrained me, “Let me go! I'mma bust his flank wide open!” “She a mare,” he deadpanned, then looked back to Dusk, “And you, can you ever not insult people?” She simply crossed her heart, flapped her hands, and pantomimed putting something in her eye. He raised his eyebrow at this. “The Pinkie Pie Promise you made with Discord?” She nodded. “Fair enough.” “Wait. That thing’s a girl!?” ‘Honestly? Couldn't the voice tip you off?’ he telepathically asked. ‘Well, from what I learned, Twilight’s rule 63 version of herself is named Dusk as well...hang on, how’d you get inside my head?’ ‘Telepathy,’ he stated, ‘And while this ‘Rule 63’ thing may be true, it isn't for her. She’s trying to forget her former name, due to the fact that she lost her family, friends, and pieces of herself to Nisled.’ ‘Oh...okay then, forget I said anything, let's just get down to business,’ I communicated. “So, you want to help us give Nisled a thrashing?” I asked the two. “As much as I want to, we can't,” Dusk answered, then pointed to Obsidian, “He's still has that report assignment to finish, and I still have to finish a ridiculous game of chess with Luna...and I'm sure you know how ticked off she'll be if I'm not back in a reasonable amount of time.” “If you have to rush, then go,” he told them. Dusk electrified her horn and opened a void portal, and left with Obsidian in tow. After she left, he could only sigh. “Lulu has gotten a bit more aggressive since Stella was pulled from her mind.” “We’ll talk more on that subject another time, right now we’ve got bigger fish to fry,” I looked around anxiously, because I thought Nisled would pop out at any time, “Okay...where is that S.O.B.?” “We'll find out...eventually,” he said, “In the meantime, we might want to busy ourselves with either training for the fight, or fixing up your new castle...Well, new in the sense of...You get the idea.” “Yeah, I know what you mean, and ever since our little fight, I don't think I'm ready to knock you out again when I need you the most, besides, the princesses chewed me out for that little incident while you were in the hospital.” “That's understandable. Besides, part of training can involve just seeing what you're capable of,” he explains, “For example: when I played Kingdom Hearts II, I didn't even know what Upper Slash and Finishing Leap was in the first ten playthroughs.” “At least you GOT to play KH II, I watched my brother play it, and he saved over every possible file, not only filling up our memory card, but not letting me take a crack at it, it sucked, honestly.” I took a deep breath, “But I get what you're saying, I mean, I have every skill and spell in KH:BBS, and I haven't used all of them yet, I just stuck to what I knew.” I think that got him thinking. “There may be a way for us to train that may benefit both of us.” “Oh? Enlighten me.” “As you may have already noticed, I've barely learned how to summon and use Unversed,” he began, “My idea is this: teach you how to summon and use Unversed, and we then see what we can do while fighting each other's Unversed. That, in turn, will help us build tolerance to the pain from our Unversed.” “Alright then, let's get to work.” We entered the castle and looked around until we came to what appeared to be an ancient training courtyard. Delsin turned to Second and said, “Scout out the castle. Map out every detail you can find.” He nodded and went to accomplish that. “Now, you ready to use Unversed?” “Yeah, I'm ready.” He activated his Dark suit, except the visor, and began. “From what I remember from earlier, you just need to let your negative emotions...surface, for lack of a better term.” Darkness coated his arms as he let said emotions flow before they manifested as Unversed...that oddly looked like Decadravens from TWEWY. “Odd, I thought I was summoning Unversed, not Noise. Maybe that's what seemed odd about the Unversed I first summoned.” “Maybe it works differently with different users of Unversed; if you're closer to Noise in TWEWY instead of normal Unversed, maybe that's the only type of Unversed you can summon.” “If I summon Noise-like Unversed, then perhaps I can do what the GMs can.” Concentrating on his negative emotions, he slammed my fists together and the area was filled with static. When it cleared, he was standing/sitting above me as an Ovis Cantus. He spoke with it's deep voice, “Welcome to my kitchen.” “I rather skip the appetizer and go straight to the main course.” I quipped. “I'll try to ignore that comment,” he said as he reverted back to his original size, “In the meantime, try summoning some Unversed.” “Okay, I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything.” I closed my eyes and focused on negative emotions as I muttered to myself, “Okay, Vanitas, think of your loved ones facing dangerous fate…” as several scenarios ran through my mind, I didn't realize Unversed started popping up, spreading like wildfire, and didn't show any signs of stopping. “DUDE! Slow down!” he shouted out as he pulled out Karmic Gear (his version of my Keyblade) and his chain and started bashing and slashing at my Unversed. “Ow! Huh?” I looked around when I felt the pain and saw just about a hundred Unversed, “Sweet Celestia, I overshot it!” I helped sliced through about half the entire horde, trying to ignore my self-inflicted pain, but stopped when said pain from the Unversed became unbearable, “MOTHER OF CELESTIA, THIS HURTS!!” I exclaimed as I crumpled to the ground. He tossed Karmic Gear, producing a combination of Strike Raid and a boomerang, knocking back most of the Unversed around me. He then rushed to me and used some kind of healing ability to try to ease my pain. While he focused on that, the Decadravens kept attacking the Flood of Unversed. “Agh, thanks for that, I don't think I could've used Curaga after all that.” I stood up, shaking off the remainder of my pain, “Okay, let's get this training started right.” Time for some music for the moment! he telepathically played a song into my head, loud enough for me to “hear” it, but quiet enough so as not to distract me. He then summoned several Decadravens and a Cornix Canor and sicced them on me. The Decadravens stayed at a low altitude to distract/harass me while the Cornix stayed out of reach, swooping down to either attack me or grab random debris to drop on me. I dodged their attacks and used my Afterimage ability to attack them as I created façades of myself, confusing his Unversed before they were destroyed, leaving behind Cornix Canor, which I finished off my Flame Burst skill. He aimed his hand at me and fired off a Dark Volley, peppering me with dark plasma. I took the brunt of the hit, but blocked a few stragglers with my Renewal Block plus regaining some of my lost HP and retaliated with Fission Firaga, catching him in an explosion. After he reached the ground after being flung back, he “melted” into the ground, leaving behind a small puddle of darkness. I then saw that more faux-puddles appeared while one of them flared a bright blue before going dark. All of the puddles started moving rapidly around at his command, most likely trying to confuse me. Once they were done mixing each other up, the puddles arranged themselves in a circle around me. In an instant, all of the faux-puddles started firing off their own Dark Volley's, while one puddle moved under me and Delsin launched out of it, striking with Dark Impulse. I was unable to avoid all of the attacks and took a huge amount of damage, even my Renewal Block couldn't help me. I panted heavily as if his attacks knocked the air out of me, “Okay...you win, just...let me...catch my breath...hoo! Man, I'm tired!” To help speed up my recovery, he summoned a few Pig Samba for me to take out and get either needed items or even a new ability (if there were any new ones, since I have all of the abilities). I defeated them quickly after regaining my lost breath, and received a few Hi-Potions as a reward. Obtained! Hi-Potion Hi-Potion Hi-Potion “You both done yet?” We heard Second say from the entrance of the courtyard. “I’m done with mapping the main portion of the castle.” His horn lit up and it lit up my visor as well. Obtained! Map of The Castle of the Two Sisters “Let’s get some rest,” Delsin said, “We need to be ready for Nisled when he comes. Second will take the first watch.” he turned to me. “Where can we rest?” “I found the princess’s old bedchambers, we can sleep there.” “Sounds good. Let’s get some rest.” Meanwhile, in a different portion of the Everfree, a cockatrice was fleeing from an unseen predator. While most creatures would flee from it, the cockatrice felt a need to flee from something. It didn’t even know what or where it was, it just had to flee. After a few minutes of running, it stopped inside some bushes. After it caught its breath, it went to leave, but smoke suddenly enveloped the bush. Coughing badly, it exited the bush, only to come face to face with Chaos...but not just any Chaos...Pure, Unfiltered, Chaos.