Waking Up
Darkness.
That was all the human had seen, for God knew how long, as he continued his walk into nothingness, not sure whether he was getting anywhere or not. But he was damned sure that he wasn't going to sit still and wait for someone or something to find him. 'God dangit, how long have I been walking?' he asked himself while he narrowed his eyes as he stared into the darkness, only to see darkness stare back at him. 'Argh, I'm getting nowhere. Might as well just stop, since it's clear that I'm making no progress.'
'You cannot give up now, you lazy bum. There is still work to be done.' Ryan spun with a curse towards the voice, a voice that he was certain that he knew well. Just as he had predicted, he turned to see a zebra standing behind him, yet she was giving off a silverish glow. The silver was more grey in the spots where her strips were, but it was still a zebra that he knew all the same.
"The hell do you want?" he snarled at her, only to get a chuckle in response.
'You have slept long enough. Time to wake up, the world will soon need your help.' Ryan swore as a blinding flash of light went off, erasing the darkness around him.
S=H=A=Z=A=M
"Well, it seems that after a couple of days the burns are finally starting to heal," Banner muttered after removing the bandages that had been covering Trixie's chest. Trixie never flinched while Banner poked and examined the scars that now covered her chest. "Unfortunately, with that wound it will be a few more days before I can even let you try to get back in the field. We are lucky that Billy knew how to heal magical wounds."
"Mom might not have let me learn destructive magic, but she sure taught me how to heal others," Billy said from beside Trixie's bedside, noticing that Trixie never looked at the pair and that her eyes seemed to be hundreds of miles away from the current conversation.
"What's the matter, Trixie? You've hardly spoken these past few days," Banner asked after a moment of silence, breaking through into Trixie's thoughts and snapping the pony back into reality. She gave them both a weary smile, and she forced herself into a sitting position, sighing in pain as she rubbed her scorched coat.
"I just...for the past fifteen years I tried to put my old life--a life of being selfish and only concerned with praise--behind me, to try to be a better pony. And yet, when I fought a version of myself that continued down that path, not only am I unable to defeat her, but I also learn that she has developed a magic far stronger than mine," Trixie admitted with a bitter smile, though both Billy and Banner could pick out the undertones of pain hidden in her voice. "Having your entire life's work get shredded in a single fight is pretty jarring, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is something that some people never recover from," Banner agreed before Trixie pushed herself off of the bed and to her hooves, wincing slightly as her eyes narrowed with determination. "But if I judged you correctly, then I would assume that you are not going to give up and that you will try to think of a way to win."
"You know me well, Banner. Billy, I hate to ask this of you, but I must know if the divine magic that you and Adam possess has a weakness of sorts?" Trixie asked as she turned her gaze upon Billy, who placed a hand under his chin while he thought about her question for a moment.
"Well...normally we could be tricked into saying the word and changing back to normal, but aside from that, the magic of Shazam is considered to be one of the strongest magicks in my world," Billy admitted, getting a shrug out of Trixie when she began to head for the exit to their room. "Sorry that I can't think up something, but at the very least we can both learn from each other now when we train."
"You might want to put that training off until you've heard what I've learned."
Billy was halfway through calling down the magic, as all three champions turned to face who had spoken, but the word of power turned into a cry of joy because all three sets of eyes rested upon a Pegasus that was covered in black armor that made her resemble a bat. "And trust me when I say, it's not good news."
"The fact that you have returned unharmed is good enough news for us," Trixie said with a friendly smile, but beneath the cowl Batmare's eyes rested upon the burn marks along her friend's chest, and a small snarl escaped her lips.
"I am sorry that you were hurt, Trixie. If I had been here--"
"Then you would not know the very information that you were about to tell us," Banner cut in, getting the conversation back on track. "Do you want me to call Luna in here or would you rather keep this between us?"
"Between us. First off, the mare was right. There is a hidden force that seeks to unleash the Sphere of Destruction and wipe out all ponies that aren't unicorns, or at least force them into submission," Batmare began with little emotion, yet her words gained an angry snarl from Trixie.
"Unicorn Superiorist. Why do some things never stay in the past where they belong?"
"Because they've got one hell of a leader leading them. Star-Swirl the Bearded is the main leader of the End of Days--that's what I'm calling them--and it also seems that he has fused with the Sphere of Destruction, similar to the silver mare." The room went cold at Batmare's words, and the group shared a worried glance with each other before Banner nodded for Batmare to continue.
"There are also a few other things I discovered while undercover. Star-Swirl has a force numbering in the thousands, all of whom would rather kill themselves than betray their leader. His power can now counter that of the silver mare and he has a secret weapon that even I could barely find anything about--something he called the god and the monster being on his side." Batmare paused for a moment to take in a breath and collect her thoughts before she sighed. "Not to mention that he has spies and agents everywhere, meaning that the six champions and the mare are the only ones that we can truly trust. Where is Bubbles?"
"Ever since the death of the convoy, he has been nursing the foals who lost their parents...when I screwed up," Billy informed Batmare with pained guilt in his voice, but Batmare shook her head.
"That's something else that I found out. You weren't responsible for the deaths of those ponies." Billy's head snapped up at her words with wide eyes. "They planted a bomb where the convoy was supposed to meet with the other forces and also tipped off the royal guard as well...wanted as many bodies as they could get, I suppose. It was their doing Billy, don't blame yourself."
Billy lowered his head with a sigh of relief, but then he looked down at his hands and rage seemed to flash in his eyes before he looked up at Batmare. "No, it is still my fault. I was the one that detonated the bomb and I was the one who lost control. If I had handled the situation better, the bomb may have never gone off," Billy admitted with pain, but there was still confidence in his eyes when he looked down at his hands again. "I will make sure that I never forget what losing control cost me. Despite it not being my intention, I am still responsible. But now I know who I need to go punch in the face. Hard."
"That's very mature of you Billy," Banner approvingly said with a nod before his brows furrowed and he looked down at the floor with thoughtful eyes. "Star-Swirl said the god and the monster would be on his side, right? That sounds like a description of Hulk and Marvel or Adam, yet all of them are his enemy, at least I assume Adam will be when he finds out. Who is he talking about then?"
"He also said that Celestia wishes to fight Luna and that they were preparing for the endgame," Batmare added, getting Banner's eyes to narrow even further. "He also wanted his army to cause as much chaos and destruction as they could and that they would make their move when the sun and moon collide."
"Then, that's when they'll unleash their plan, when Luna and Celestia's armies clash," Banner deduced with a snarl as he closed his eyes, lost in thought for a good ten minutes before his eyes snapped open again with clarity in them. "Then this is how we'll stop him. Clearly, he is waiting for the final battle to take place between our forces and Adam's before he makes his move, but we can use that against him."
"How's that?" Billy asked.
"The fall of the shield around Canterlot," Banner said with narrowed eyes. "When that shield falls he will believe that we are finally entering the city to take Canterlot, to end this war once and for all. Then, with all of that destruction and chaos, he'll try to unleash the beast within the Sphere of Destruction."
"Then we don't attack. We try to find a peaceful solution," Batmare offered, but Banner shook his head.
"They've been poisoning the two sides' minds for years, I doubt anypony besides us and Adam truly wishes for peace at this point," Banner growled while he placed the tips of his fingers together. "No, we'll go along with what they want for now. We'll take down the two remaining towers and prepare to "attack" Canterlot, but it will only be us. I will also find a way to tell Adam to evacuate the city and keep the royal guard away, to keep it between us and not risk any innocent lives."
"And how will you make him listen without the Hulk? Last time you guys talked it only ended in a fist fight," Trixie reminded him.
"I'll think of something, but let me continue. The two sides will "battle" to draw out Star-swirl and his forces, then we can work together to bring him down. Once we've revealed to the princesses the true face of evil that has been the main cause of the war, maybe then we can get them to calm down enough to consider peace and reconcile. And I'm certain that Adam will aid us as well, he seems to be hunting the End of Days too. Do any of you have another plan that you wish to recommend?"
"Only one problem with your plan. One of the towers rests at the bottom of the ocean while the other is heavily guarded in the Crystal Empire," Batmare reminded Banner. "And we're down the Hulk, and Adam has his ultimate form that even Billy can't compete with. How are we supposed to fight Adam and fight these forces of darkness, without all six champions to unleash the original Elements?"
Banner tried to think of an answer, yet to his dismay he found that Batmare's words rang true. He was saved from answering when, in a sudden flash of light, the silver mare appeared at the door to their room, her form positively radiant as she looked in on them with what almost seemed like a smile on her face.
"Sunny, what's the matter?" Banner asked as all four of the champions braced themselves for bad news.
'It's Ryan,' she said with a joy in her voice that she didn't bother to try to hide. 'He's awake.'
S=H=A=Z=A=M
"Dear God, I was out for only a week? Felt like an eternity to me," Ryan asked with some slight confusion after Banner informed him of what he had missed during his sleepy time. "And during that time, Billy wiped out hundreds of ponies, Batmare abandoned the team to go play detective, and Trixie got her ass kicked by her other half. The moment I go under the whole team falls apart."
"I changed my mind. Put him back to sleep," Trixie said with a smirk while Ryan felt his limbs, surprised to see that all of them were still working properly.
"Huh, either you've started talking softer since I was out or my ears are still horribly scarred," Ryan muttered, finding that it was hard for him to hear his own voice. "But I'm amazed to see the rest of me in one piece, considering the last thing that I remember before I was beaten into a coma, was that I was facing an angry green giant who was way out of my weight class and completely pulverized me without any effort whatsoever. So what became of our giant jade friend?"
"He..." Banner began, but he stopped talking because he hoped that the other guy would chose this moment to speak up. There was only silence. "He's been feeling incredibly guilty since beating you into a coma, to the point he believes that we would all be safer if...he never came out again."
"Holy shit. And you guys actually believed that B.S?" Ryan asked with a smirk that gained him a glare or two, but he ignored the looks while he continued. "We are fighting gods, demons and everything in between, and the Hulk believes that we'd be safer without him? Man, I knew that he was lacking in the brains department, but that lobotomy he got must have been effective, because that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard."
"And that's what you have to say in response to his guilt? That he's an idiot and he's brain dead," Banner said in a low voice that made those standing around him uneasy, but all the tone did was get a look from Ryan. The human pushed himself off of his bed and walked over to where his backpack and coat had been resting while he had been out, slipping both of them on without responding. "What happened out there nearly broke the Hulk. In the twenty years that I've known him, I have never seen him get like this, where he seems so...defeated. He now believes himself to be only a monster of rage that will kill anything in his path if I am not in his head! And yet you act like your usual...come with me."
"Why should I?" Ryan asked with a smirk, but Banner grabbed him by the collar and, with a strength that Ryan would never believe the doctor capable of having, dragged the other human through the door and down the nearly empty halls of the underground base. The two came to a stop at an empty room and Banner practically chucked Ryan inside, the human nearly falling on his face while Banner pulled the door behind him shut.
"Alright, I've put this off long enough. It's time that you and I had a little heart-to-heart," Banner said with such a tone that Ryan knew he wasn't getting out of the room until they were done. So with a shrug to show he surrendered, he plopped down on the floor and motioned for Banner to begin talking. "First, let's start with your little comment about the Hulk there and calling him an idiot for feeling guilty. What the hell?"
"Come on, Doctor, I thought you were supposed to be the smartest man in the base," Ryan teased with a smirk, but the cold scowl of Banner caused Ryan to sigh as he collapsed to his back and stared up at the ceiling. "There's no point in talking with you. Get the other guy out here."
'No.'
"He says no."
"Tell him if he wants to start making up for what he did to me, he needs to get his green ass out here now." Those words seemed to have an effect on the Hulk and a few moments later, Banner had taken a backseat while the Hulk looked down at the human with regret-filled eyes, eyes that caused Ryan to roll his own with a sigh of annoyance.
"Oh, stop looking so damned guilty, it doesn't suit you. You should either be angry or a dick. Those are the best versions of the Hulk," Ryan informed him with a smirk, but Hulk's face remained unchanged. "Alright big guy, let me hear it from your lips. Why do you feel so guilty, that you did what many wanted to do to me when you broke everything in my body?"
"Because...it made me realize what I really am, what I am without Banner to restrain me. I am nothing more than a beast filled with rage, a monster that seeks to kill all who enter my line of sight," Hulk admitted shamefully as he lowered his eyes to the floor. "I nearly killed my best friend and a mother when Tinker separated the two of us, and if you hadn't sacrificed yourself to slow me down, I'm certain that they would be dead now."
"So you get angry without Banner. How does that make you any different from regular Hulk?"
"Because I thought for the longest time that I could control my rage, that I could learn to be more than just a monster!" Hulk roared with such fury that the whole base shook with his rage, yet Ryan just raised an eyebrow as Hulk let out a guilt-filled sigh. "But when we were separated, I learned the truth. I learned that without Banner there to hold me back, to allow me to use his mind, that I am the monster that everyone on Earth feared. That I am an out of control killer." The Hulk lowered his eyes to the floor after speaking his mind and remained motionless while Ryan thought silently to himself for a moment before speaking.
"Bullshit."
The Hulk's head slowly lifted itself to look at the human, who was now glaring at the Hulk with a look of rage in his eyes as well. "That statement is bullshit. It's such a level of bullshit that if I didn't know better, I would believe that it was something that I thought up, that's how bullshit it was. Do not, do not, for a moment believe that without Banner within you, you are only a raged-filled monster that seeks to kill everyone in his path."
"But after what happened-"
"Alright, let's do a little thinking here. You are the Hulk," Ryan began as he pointed to the Hulk. "A guy who regularly fights monsters, demons and gods. And not only do you beat them, nine out of ten times you kick their asses so hard that your footprint will remain on their butts for all eternity. And that's when you got Banner in you keeping you "under control" as you put it."
"So, let's remove Banner from the equation and place you up against a foe far less powerful than a god or a demon or an immortal evil, say me," Ryan continued in a frenzy now, not giving Hulk a moment to speak. "You are enraged without Banner, so you attack me because you obviously know me and break everything in my body in the process of kicking my ass. Are you so stupid Hulk, so infinitely stupid, that you would believe that in your angriest state, which would place you near your strongest, that if you truly wanted to kill me, I would not already be dead?"
Ryan watched as the Hulk blinked twice, processing what Ryan was hinting at. "Do you mean to tell me that if you truly threw me with the intention of killing me, with an arm that could punch out Thor, Zeus and all the other gods, that I would only break everything in my body and be placed in a coma? No Hulk, heeeeeeeeeellllllllll no. I would be atomized. Obliterated. Even big G up in heaven wouldn't be able to put me back together after being hurled into the ground with that kind of force. Even a complete moron like me can understand that much."
"What are you implying?" Hulk asked.
"I'm saying that you weren't gone in that rage state, because you, the good Hulk, the Hulk that wants to help others, is what kept me alive. If you truly wanted me dead, I would be dead. But I lived. And that's because even without Banner in there to keep Hulk "in check," there is still a noble heart of a giant who chose to fight against evil despite the world hating him; who chose to protect the ponies despite knowing that they would hate him as well." Ryan glared into Hulk's eyes as he said this, making sure that Hulk heard every word.
"Banner might be the brains of the bunch, but there has never been a soul more noble or that has endured as much suffering--only to still help those who hurt him--as the Hulk. You are a hero--both of you are--whether you are together or apart." Ryan then turned away from the Hulk with a smirk on his face, knowing from what he had seen in the Hulk's eyes that he had struck a cord with the giant. He heard a small chuckle escape the Hulk's lips and allowed a small smile to cross his own face.
"You're right...I guess. Perhaps the good guy in me...prevented the monster from hurting anyone."
"Of course I'm right, I'm an asshole. We're always right." Ryan tried to walk by the Hulk as he said this, but to his surprise the Hulk then shrunk back down into Doctor Banner, who pulled his glasses out of a pocket and placed them on his face while he leaned against the door. "What? We talked. Now let me out."
"Yes, you talked to the Hulk like you wanted. But now it's my turn," Banner said in a cold voice that sent a few chills up Ryan's spine as he felt the piercing eyes of Banner rest upon him. "And I think that I've finally got you figured out. So, sit down Ryan and let the good doctor give you his diagnosis."
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Oh god, how I missed this asshole
HIEL STAR-SWIRL!
5794260 me to he reminds me of me at times because I love to troll my Xbox 360 friend 's
Are they gonna discuss their origins or something?
magics not magicks
I noticed something wrong.
Billy said 'Shazam' without lightning appearing? Did he suddenly get total mastery?
5795832
Yeah, he's mastered the word at this point.
Yay he's back!!
5795848 Twilight taught him how to master the word? So he only summons the lightning when he wants to? ...Twilight's got skill.
5795886 Well the New 52 makes only transforming when you want to standard. He can say it without repercussions in that reboot too.
5787602 You know you could do crossovers with cartoon network and nickelodeon characters. Ones like Danny Phantom and the Powerpuff Girls come to mind. Once again, I know you have others stories to do first. This is simply a suggestion for the future.
5798927
I know. I have one planned. (and I'm not giving it away)
5799205 Wait you mean one from the list I just gave?
5799270
No, but from cartoons.
5799272 Alright. Does it come after this story or are you multitasking?
5799278
It's still in the air, but it's either next or after the next.
I think you mean Supremacist, not Superiorist.
5802791 lets put it at mega super racist asshole