KAMI: Malicious Edge

by Tai Ichi

Chapter one: Malicious Edge

Chapter One

Malicious Edge

When he regained consciousness, Tayson was laying on a cold concrete floor. The only thing he was able to perceive were the two brutes who just kidnapped him, sitting at a table with a little light bulb lighting the little room they now were in.

Tayson could smell a fishy odour which spread through the room.

They brought me to the harbour. WH-Why the harbour?

Tayson was still groggy and head felt like being run over by a squad of train-ponies.

How long was I out?

Tayson glanced outside the window and was able to see the last few fireworks shooting skywards, indicating that Luna’s performance was over and that the festival would continue.

“How long are they going to make us wait?” One of the brutes smashed his hoof at the table.

“Relax, the boat will be here any time soon.” The other brute tried to calm his companion mood while he flicked through the pages of his newspaper.

Tayson groaned. “Seems our little buddy is awake.” A mischievous grin crept across the face of the unicorn. “Why don’t you just go back to sleep?” The brute’s horn lit up and a purple shine was forming around Tayson.

The earthpony threw his newspaper bundle against the face of his accomplice. “Don’t damage him anymore, the boss wants him alive you bonehead.”

“Fine, whatever,” his horn stopped glowing and the aura ceased to be, “but if he starts screaming then I’m going knock him into a coma.”

“As long as you face the consequences alone, you can do whatever you like.” After that last sentence the two brutes fell silent again, the earthpony picked his newspaper up and continued his reading while the other just stared out the window.

The room was silent, only the occasional miscellaneous sounds the two brutes made filled the room with sound. Tayson just lied down on the floor. A thousand thoughts roamed free through his mind, but only one kept returning over and over again.

Why?

He wasn’t able to process what had happened. Nothing made sense, why would they want him? He wasn’t special, he wasn’t rich. He was literally of no value to them.

Yet he lay in this room, his hooves tied and apparently waiting for some kind of boat to ship him somewhere where nopony will ever be able to find him. His face only wore the expression defeat, grief and denial. A single tear rolled of his cheek as he realized that he won’t ever see his grandmother again. His friends, classmates, teachers, literally everypony he had ever known; he won’t see them ever again.

His thoughts vanished as a light shone through the window. The two brutes became active again. “Looks like our ride is finally here.” The unicorn was definitely relieved that he didn’t have to wait any longer. He took Tayson in his levitation field and the two left the building with their hostage.

As they left the building, a motorboat stood there with another brute driving it.

“Finally!” The unicorn stepped towards the boat. “Thought you’d let us wait here forever.”

“Stop whining and throw him on board, the boss is getting impatient.” The other brute sneered.

As Tayson realized, that after he stepped on the boat his life would be over, panic got hold of him. He thrashed and screamed, all in a futile attempt to get as far away as possible. This, however, only annoyed the unicorn who was levitating him.

He glared at Tayson and was ready to break the spirit of the stallion in his levitation field with bare hoofs. He gritted his teeth and was now ready to punch Tayson in the face.

“Didn’t I tell you to be qu–”

His words ceased as he ran his hoof over his neck and got hold on a wooden stake that had pierced his neck. However, before he could even attempt to pull it out; his head got crushed to the floor. There was a sound of something snapping and on the—now—dead unicorn’s head stood a brown mare with a mane which was coloured in multiple tints of green, with a darkish green as main colour.

She had her back turned towards Tayson. However, Tayson was able to see on the expressions of the two other brutes that they did not saw this coming. The two glared at the mare and took battle ready stances.

The one in the boat took a sword in his hooves, jumped out of the boat onto his hind legs and charged at the mare. This seemed to be a mistake as another stake shot out of the ground. The attacking brute was able to evade the attack with no time to spare, only to be tackled by the mare. The attacker bounced back towards the other brute, got back on his hooves and nodded towards his companion who in his turn took a step forward; he took a deep breath and exhaled crimson flames towards the brown mare. She in her turn stomped her hooves and a barrier of thick tendrils formed in front of her, deflecting the blazing flames.

As soon as the flames ceased, the barrier was pierced by the sword wielding brute.
The mare was able to evade the attack in time and jumped sideward so she could face the—now—stuck brute who tried to free his sword out of the tendrils. The mare stomped the ground again which made a wooden hammer grow in front of her. The mare took the hammer, brought it all the way up and back down on the head of the sword wielding brute.

The last brute, who saw his chances of survival fading away, clapped his hooves. Soon he was encircled by a ring of fire. The blue eyes of the mare widened as she realized what he was up too.

“Don’t you dare to run away!” The mare stomped with all her force on the ground and a wooden dart shot out the ground trying to kill the last of the brutes. But instead of piercing the flesh of her enemy, the dart pierced the wall a wooden shack.

“DAMMIT!” The mare groaned before she turned her attention to the stallion who looked with a combination of relief and fear. The mare’s gaze softened a bit. She stepped towards Tayson, tapped the ground with one of her hooves and a wooden dagger shot out of the ground which she caught it mid-air and leaned towards the stallion to cut the rope that kept him from running away. The mare helped Tayson back on his hooves and smiled. “Well you’re lucky that I was able to save you before they shipped you off to Celestia-knows-where.”

“A-are they dead?” Tayson’s gaze looked in terror at the two corpses that lay on the impromptu battlefield.

“Sadly yes,” the mare shook her head, “I had planned to take the last one as prisoner so we could get some information from him.” The mare’s face distorted as she realized that the third one got away. “We need to run, if that guy informs his boss we’re screwed.”

“C-can I trust you.” Tayson had a tremor in his voice.

“Well you don’t have much choice, but yes. I promise you that I get you home before the sun rises.”

“I-I… Ok.” He followed her towards the dark part of the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two were running through the streets.

“Where are we going?” Tayson panted as he followed the mare’s pace.

“I’m trying to get you back at the festival. They’re not stupid enough to disturb the festivities knowing that there are four princesses and more of my kind there to kick their flanks.”

“What do you mean with ‘your kind’? What was that anyway, why were you able to do those crazy things? I mean, you’re neither a unicorn nor a Pegasus.” Tayson’s questions came to an end as both suddenly stopped at a corner. The mare shushed the stallion.

“Hush now.” She peaked around a corner and saw two more brutes who wore the same attire as the ones whose heads she had crushed. “Horse apples.”

“What now?”

“I need to get some data.” She took a deep breath and exhaled a green miasma. She waved a bit with her hooves which made the miasma follow the movement of her hooves, following the corners of the buildings, all the way towards the two brutes.

The green cloud poured into the ground and a black dandelion started to bloom.

“The wiretap is placed.” The green mare exhaled a second cloud who poured into the ground before her. This time a messing coloured daffodil started sprouted. After a few seconds sound came out of the daffodil.

“Those two idiots weren’t even able to kidnap a stupid teenager.”

“Hell, if they wouldn’t have been so incompetent, we wouldn’t have to stop those two brats to get back to the festival.”

“I hope the commander will be here soon, that filly isn’t a problem but if another member of KAMI gets here we’d be in big trouble.”

The mare looked as if she was in deep thoughts. After processing all the information she got, she opened her eyes in sheer determination.

“Well… I’ve heard enough.”

She stomped her hooves and a branch sprouted out of the wall of one of the buildings, crushing the head of one of the brutes against one of the other walls. Before the other one could react he got impaled from beneath by giant bamboo sprout. The plants disappeared as fast as they appeared and let the lifeless bodies of the brutes fall to the ground.

Tayson looked in terror at the lifeless bodies of the two brutes. He stared for a few minutes before the bodies caught fire and a black purple fire reduced their bodies to ashes which were then carried away by the chill night wind, erasing every trace of the existents of the brutes.

“Their bodies always catch fire when they die, it’s their way to destroy any evidence or possible information they could deliver. Come now, we need to get going before their boss catches up with us.” She put a hoof on his shoulder

“No!” Tayson slapped the hoof away and backed down a bit. “You just killed two ponies without the least of restraints. I’m not coming with you before you explain me what’s happening. Why are you able to do these things? W-Why…”

“Maya.”

“What?”

“My name, Maya.” She sighed, “Look, I understand that you’re afraid but you have to trust me. These guys are evil, they show no mercy, no restraints and if we don’t leave we’ll have to deal with their commander and I’m not strong enough to deal with him. I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as I find another member of KAMI.”

“What’s a kami?”

“We’re an organization, but really we have to leave before...”

The sound of something heavy falling resounded through the streets. Maya’s ears flattened, she turned around as her eyes widened. She gulped and winced.

"Shit….”

In front of the both ponies a Minotaur, with the same attire as the brutes, got back on his hooves. Despite her fear, Maya did her best to regain her posture.

She threw a taunting smile at the Minotaur. “Hello Stringy, how’s life? Tell me, did your miserable little gang really need to resort to foalnapping to appease your mad boss?”

“That’s Pulling Strings to you,” the Minotaur balled his fist as he snorted some steam through his nostrils, “give me the boy and I might let you live.”

Maya snorted, “Wow, where did you get that line? Out one of those bad action movies or did you come up with that one yourself?”

The Minotaur sighed, bit his thumb and let some blood drip to the ground all while maintaining his stoic gaze. Soon two oversized wooden pony anatomy dolls crawled out of the ground and turned their faces towards Maya and Tayson.
String spread his arms towards the two dolls and spread his fingers.

“Last chance Maya.” String sounded more annoyed than threatening.

“Hmmmmmmm, how about—” the mare touched her chin “—No.”

“As you wish.” Out his fingers shot strings which attached to the dolls. Like a puppeteer he waved his arms and the two puppets started charging Maya. Maya turned her face towards Tayson and motioned with her lips: “Run”.

However as he turned around and started to run towards the lights of the festival, his path got blocked by the same brute who ran away at the harbour.

At the same time Maya tried her best to evade the barrage of kicks and punches that came from the two dolls. However it didn’t take long until the two puppets pinned her down to the ground. String released one of the puppets from his duty and used his, now, free hand to shoot some strings towards Maya. Maya got wrapped inside a cocoon with only her head sticking out. She turned her defeated gaze towards her String. String smiled at the fact that it was so easy to defeat his opponent.

The two stared at each other for several moments until both got startled by the sound of a blast behind them.

“GET OFF!!!” A light flash could be seen and the brute falling to the ground.

Maya was shocked as she saw what Tayson just did. The Minotaur just sighed at the defeat of his subordinate.

“The boss warned me that this could happen—” Pulling Strings shook his head “— well let’s apply the sealing tag.”

He stretched his arm towards Tayson and used the same trick he just used to wrap Maya in a stringy cocoon.

Tayson looked back for a moment until continuing to run away. He looked at the strings shooting in his direction and flattened his ears.
He tried to run away but string after string engulfed his barrel and hooves. Tayson tried to pull away from the strings but got eventually overwhelmed.
He let a scream of despair escape his muzzle as he tripped and fell to the floor.
The Minotaur walked over with a devilish grin on his face. Tayson now faced his captor and was completely overshadowed by... well… his shadow.
String took what looked like a piece of paper out of his pocket and attached it to Tayson’s forehead.

“Now be quiet. I need to send a message.” The Minotaur turned around and took a piece of chalk out his pocket and started scribbling at the nearest wall.

“I’m sorry….” Tayson looked with a blank glaze in the direction of Maya’s voice. He looked at her only to see that the mare who had saved him back at the harbour was sobbing. “If I-I had been stronger, th-then I would have been able to save you.”

“It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been so stubborn he wouldn’t have caught up with us.” Tayson started to shed some tears too. Rage, fuelled by hatred and frustration, summoned a glare on Tayson’s face which would have molten through solid steel. He glared at the Minotaur. “Hey bonehead! Pulling Strings is the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard! I bet your mother never loved you and now your sick mind is compensating for the lost affection by kidnapping teenagers! You’re just a mere bully! A! Big! Fat! Worthless! Pile! Of Trash!”

The Minotaur stopped scribbling and turned towards Maya and Tayson. Tayson’s ears dropped as did his rage. As he walked over towards Tayson the words String had scribbled on the wall ignited in green fire and vanished. String grabbed Tayson’s and Maya’s cocoon and started to walk towards the harbour.

His walk quickly stopped as an arrow pierced the ground before his hoofs. String frowned and turned his gaze towards the direction where the arrow came from. His gaze quickly shifted from a frown to a sly smile.
On the roof of one of the buildings stood a steel coloured earthpony with a bow in his hooves. His black M-styled mane flowed in the wind and his expression was that of pure determination.
He jumped of the building, made a summersault and landed on all for his hooves.
He lifted his gaze and continued to glare daggers at String, who simply kept on smiling.
String released the grip on the two cocoons and let Tayson and Maya plummet towards the ground. He took five steps forwards, took an aggressive posture and let out a war cry.

“Steel Needle.” A mocking tone filled String’s voice. “Finally we meet again.”

Steel needle maintained his cold gaze and complete silence.

“Today we’ll end this once and for all. You see, the last year I had the privilege to be trained by none other than Malicious Edge himself.”

Steel Needle gritted his teeth and Tayson could swear he saw Steel’s shuriken cutie mark shine with blood thirst.

“I’ve grown since our last encounter and I am more powerful than ever BEFORE!” String’s voice grew in volume. “I will crush you and I’ll take this colt and your little adoptive daughter to my boss and claim my reward. BUT BEFORE THAT I’LL KILL YOU. So. Any. Last. Words?”

Steel Needle jumped on his hind legs, spread his forelegs and a thousand needles appeared out of thin air. “IRON MAIDEN, 1000 NEEDLES” He crossed his forelegs and the needles shot forward and pierced every inch of String’s body. The Minotaur cried out in agony and fell on his back.
Steel Needle stepped towards the Minotaur and glared even more holes at String.

“You can steal, threaten, murder whatever or whoever you want and I’ll find you. But lay one finger on my daughter and it’s personal! You got that?”

String could only groan in pain. Steel Needle took a step towards Maya and Tayson before turning back to String.

“Oh and by the way. That was the worst speech ever.”

Returning his attention to Tayson and his daughter, Steel took out a knife to free them. Once out of the cocoons, the pair stretched their limbs.

Maya hugged her adoptive father and started to cry tears of joy and relief.

“Thank you that you found us, thank you that you saved us, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“I wouldn’t dream of letting that pretentious douchebag take you away.” Steel continued to comfort his daughter for a few more minutes.

Tayson still struggled with the new information he received over the last few hours.
He had been kidnapped, saved by a mare who could let plants appear and disappear by will. He had seen a pony breath fire, four ponies getting killed a Minotaur controlling two puppets with strings he shot out of his fingers and a pony who seemed to be able to summon metal stuff.
Tayson cleared his throat in an attempt to get the attention of both his saviours.

“U-Uhm, I-I’m sorry but could somepony explain what just happened?”

“HOW ABOUT YOU EXPLAIN SOME STUFF! YOU’RE A GOD TOO, WHY COULDN’T YOU HELP ME OUT WITH FIGHTING THAT OVERSIZED BULL!” Maya snapped her face from the comforting shoulder of her father and glared at Tayson.

“U-Uhm, what do you mean?” Tayson cringed and took a few steps back from the raging mare.

“THE FLASH! I SAW THE TECHNIQUE YOU USED TO DEFEAT THAT BRUTE…”

“Shhhhhh…” Steel Needle tried to calm his daughter, which resulted in Maya seeking comfort again in Steel’s shoulder. Her sobbing continued and Steel Needle turned his attention back to Tayson while petting Maya’s back.

“Tell me what happened?”

Tayson gulped as now he had to explain everything that happened.
Tayson told Steel everything he knew; at first he stammered a lot but grew more confident with every sentence he said. After Tayson had told Steel everything that happened from when he was at the festival till what had happened when he defeated the brute while Maya was fighting String.

“You see, I don’t know what happened. I was just so scared and as I looked in the eyes of that brute, something snapped. H-He just fell.”

Maya, who had regained her calm, looked with red, exhausted eyes at Tayson while she still snuggled at the side of her father.

“A visual technique…” Maya muttered to no one specific, Steel Needle tapped his chin and was silent for a moment.

“Where did that brute go anyways?” Tayson looked around.

“He probably teleported away as soon as String captured us.” Maya looked at Steel Needle. “What are we going to do with that jerk over there?”

“I’ll take him to the HQ and interrogate him, maybe I can squeeze some information out him…” Steel Needle got cut off by the sound of the Minotaur behind his back getting back on his legs.

“NEVER!!! YOU WON’T GET ANYTHING OUT OF ME!” The Minotaur spread his bleeding arms and again, two puppets crawled out of the ground, this time facing their master. “I RATHER DIE!” He flicked both his fingers which made the two puppets take an aggressive stand. Their mouths opened and each revealed a set of razor sharp teeth. Three sharp claws shot out of each hoof they had.
The two puppets stormed at their master and began to tear him apart.

Tayson, Maya and Steel Needle looked at String. Maya and Tayson shared a shocked expression at how far the Minotaur was willing to go to keep the secrets of his organisation. Meanwhile Steel looked in disappointment at the lost possibility to get some steps ahead of them.
As soon as the puppets had finished their job they lay beside their former master and after a few seconds String combusted in black and purple flames. The flames devoured String and his puppets until everything was reduced to ashes. A breeze carried the cremated remains of the Minotaur away and with that every trace of him perished into nothingness.

Steel Needle sighed. “Why do they have to be so radical?” He turned his gaze towards the stunned Tayson. “As soon as I knew that Maya disappeared I alarmed every god at the festival. They are now patrolling through the streets so it is safe for you to go home and get some rest.”

“I-I want an explanation. What did they want from me? What is this Kami? Wh….” Tayson got cut off by Steel Needle.

“Look. I want you to get some rest, DON’T tell anypony what happened tonight! You get that?” Steel Needle glared at Tayson which made clear that this was no request but an order, his glare softened as he continued. “I want you to be at the central park at twelve o’ clock. One of our members will pick you up there and bring you to our HQ and then you get the explanation you deserve.”

Tayson looked uncomfortable at Steel’s proposition to go home alone. “What if one of these brutes return?”

“Again, there are gods patrolling the streets now, if you get in trouble just shout for the help of KAMI. They will be with you in no time and don’t forget DON’T tell anyone.”

Tayson nodded and started his way home. After a few steps he looked back only to see that the two ‘gods’ had disappeared in thin air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the night was uneventful. Tayson hadn’t bothered to look after his friends. Whatever had happened between the two could wait after he got some sleep.
He was home early considering that the festival lasted until sunrise and he wasted no time to get in bed.

Tayson woke up when a loud disturbing electrical sound filled his room.
His alarm clock, not being able to see that his master wanted to continue his sleep, just kept on cluttering.

Tayson wanted to smash the damn thing, but sanity regained control and he just stopped his alarm.
He groaned and rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes and threw his blanket out of bed. He took a few breaths and jumped out his bed.

He left his room and went towards the kitchen where he could heard the simmering of oil. He looked at the clock: 11:30.

“Good morning honey, how was the festival?” Crystal looked over from the frying pan.

Tayson froze at the question. He was a good liar… when it came to deceiving other ponies. Yet his grandmother was another story. She seemed to be able to see through every of his lies. So Tayson always told her the truth since lying seemed to be a futile attempt.
He remembered the glare of Steel Needle and decided that he could decide between having to lie to his grandmother and being killed by a metal summoning stallion. He chose the first.

“Oh fine, but I came home early. It got a little boring in the end.”

Crystal stepped towards Tayson and her peaceful expression turned into a concerned frown. She touched Tayson’s cheek which made Tayson wince and pull away from the painful touch.

“You’re a terrible liar you know that? Just like your father. Your face is covered in bruises and so is your body.” Crystal frowned. “Now tell me what really happened.”

Tayson, now aware of the damage that his body suffered last night, tried to come up with a reasonable explanation of what happened.

“Well u-uh you see, I kind of got in involved in a fight… They broke my phone and, uhm, well…” Technically, Tayson was telling the truth. But after Crystal raised her brow in disbelief, he knew that it was useless.

“Ok.” Crystal went back to monitoring the hay bacon and the conversation seemed to just die.

“Well uhm, I, have to leave… I was going to meet Silver and Lily at the park. If that’s ok with you.” Tayson gulped nervously as his grandmother just let the topic slip off. Normally it meant that she was disappointed if not angry with Tayson for lying to her. This however seemed not to be the case as she took a plate and put a slice of hay bacon on a sandwich.
“Of course not, but not before you eat something.” She now had again a warm smile on her face.

She knows everything!! Tayson smiled sheepishly.

After he finished breakfast he started to go to the park where, hopefully, all his question would be answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Tayson arrived at the park it was five to twelve.

He sat down at the nearest bench.

And now we wait.

For the next five minutes he just sat there, watching as the city came back to life after yesterday’s festival.

The five minutes passed and nothing happened; no “god” arrived to pick him up. Well that’s fine, maybe they’re just running late? Ten minutes passed, fifteen, twenty and still nothing. Tayson grew impatient, his face now wore a frown and he had his forelegs crossed. Twenty-five, thirty. That’s it, screw them, I’m going to catch up the rest of my sleep.

He stood up and started to take his leave home only to be stopped by the sound of a mare yelling at him. “HEY!” Tayson turned around to see the brown mare who had saved him yesterday. The mare sprinted towards Tayson and stopped right in front of his hooves. She was panting but still able to smile sheepishly. “Sorry to make you wait, I kind of overslept.”

Tayson raised his eyebrow. “Overslept?”

“Yeah sorry, saving your flank and getting beaten by a puppeteer Minotaur who is able to shoot strings out of his fingertips tends to drain my powers.”

“Touché.”

“Well we should get going, luckily it isn’t too far from here. Actually it is right around the corner.”

The two started their way towards the HQ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The turquoise Pegasus frowned at the chalk message that had formed on his desk.

To: Lieutenant Borealis.
Mission failed. Agents of KAMI interfered.
Pulling Strings failed his mission, as did agent 733, 859, 562 and 854.
All of the above were killed, except commander Pulling Strings who committed suicide.
Awaiting further orders.
From: Agent 745.

Borealis was more than afraid, only five minutes ago he had gotten a message from commander Pulling Strings that he was able to capture the colt Tai Ichi.
The Captain will kill me when he gets the news. But if he doesn’t get informed he will kill me anyways.

With aversion the turquoise Pegasus left his writing desk and made his way to what would certainly be his death sentence.

Why did I even sign up for this?

He went down the hall, turned left, right and left again before he stopped in front of a large black double door. There wasn’t much lighting and the few rays of light that permeated the hallway were only perceivable thanks to the golden ornaments that adorned the two black doors in what looked like some kind of magical circle.

“Ah, Lieutenant Borealis, how lovely of you to report back. I take the mission was a success?”

Borealis froze and turned towards the source of the sound, where he could see the gentle smile of his feared Captain. “C-Captain Two Face. I-I-I…”

“STOP STUTTERING AND SPEAK CLEARLY YOU WORTHELESS PIECE OF TRASH!” An ocean blue Pegasus stepped out of the shadows and the glare of his emerald eyes pierced the very essence of Borealis’ soul.

The turquoise Pegasus took some anxious steps back and made peace with himself.

“I-I’m sorry sir, but the mission failed.” Borealis swallowed, now sure that he won’t see the next sunrise. He cowered closer to the ground and started to pray to whoever or whatever would listen to his pleas for a short and painless death.

“Oh my, are our agents safe? I hope they’re not hurt, it would be a shame. They are always so loyal.” Two Face’s smile returned.

“W-Well they are dead…”

“Oh… well, can’t be helped, how about you take off for the rest of the day? You must be tired of making all these extra hours. Don’t worry; I’ll tell the boss. We both know that he can be a little scary sometimes” Two face snickered and turned towards the black doors.

Borealis gulped. “U-Uhm sir? Agent 745 survived and asks for new orders.”

“TELL HIM TO GO TO HELL.” The manic glare of his emerald eyes pierced through the darkness as were his white gritting teeth. “HE IS GO TO THE LABORATORIUM TO SERVE AS TEST SUBJECT FOR NEW CHEMS, THAT COULD BE TO DANGEROUS FOR THE TEST ANIMALS!” He glared daggers at the cowering pony that lay in front of him.
Borealis wasted no more time and ran as fast as possible back to his office so he could give agent 745 his new orders. No wonder he got those two masks as cutie mark, I never know if I survive the next conversation with that guy.

When Borealis was gone Two Face knocked at the doors and entered the room.
The room was drenched in complete darkness, the only light entering the room coming from the hallway.

“My lord. Your agents have failed their mission.” Two face bowed as he entered the room, leaving the doors open so he could see his master approaching.

There were steps echoing throughout the room yet their source wasn’t traceable. After a few seconds, however, there was a manic chuckle audible through the room.

“Well, well, well.” Right in front of him, Two Face could see his Malicious Edge stepping out of the shadows. The black coat and obsidian mane of his master were now visible. As were his yellow sunglasses with black frame. His black trenchcoat draped across the room. He was now next to Captain Two Face. Both facing opposing directions.

“Maybe, I should do it myself,” The Malicious Edge chuckled again, “It’s not often that I get a chance to visit my brother.”

Malicious Edge stepped out of the room and closed the doors behind him.

Two face was now engulfed in complete darkness. He began to chuckle, his emerald eyes were still piercing through the void. His chuckle evolved into a manic laughter that filled the room and the rest of the hideout.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tayson and Maya stood in front of the Manehattan town hall.

“Seriously?” Tayson glanced at Maya.

“Yup.” Maya said in a cheery voice. “Didn’t see that one coming, now did you.” She looked back at Tayson with a big smile.

“But why. I mean, isn’t it dangerous to put the HQ of an entire secret organization in the most public building of one of the most crowded cities in Equestria?”

“Actually, our main building is in Canterlot.”

“But… I mean… never mind, let’s go inside.”

The two went down the hall and entered an empty elevator. The door closed and Maya started to push what looked like a random sequence of buttons one and zero.
The elevator went two floors down and then started to go back for a while until resuming to go downwards. Except for an annoying elevator jingle there was complete silence.

After the elevator descended, what Tayson would estimate to be about five floors, the elevator doors opened. Tayson had to cover his eyes for the bright white light that burned on his retinas. Maya didn’t seem to have that problem and just stepped outside and turned towards Tayson who was recovering from the sudden light.

“Welcome. To the Manehattan seat of KAMI.” She gave Tayson an inviting smile and spread her forelegs in a welcoming gesture. “What do you think?”

Tayson left the elevator and looked around in awe. The walls were painted in the purest white, a few plants stood next to some black waiting seats and there was a secretary doing some paperwork.

“It is… white.”

“No shit Sherlock.” Maya gave Tayson an annoyed little glare.

“What?” He shrugged.

“Come on, this way.”

Tayson followed Maya as they went through the building. The halls were all painted in the same white only to be occasionally interrupted by an oaken door, a potted plant or a painting.

“Isn’t there any security?”

Maya stopped in her tracks and looked dumbfound at Tayson.

“Well I mean… This seems to be a very secret building, so I imagined that there would be a lot of security.” Tayson shrugged.

“That’s a weird question you know? But yes there are some guards here, but they mostly protect the entrance hall, the archive and the prison. However, we don’t have to deal with intruders very often. You can think of us like some sort of guard. No sane criminal would break into the guard. However, in Canterlot you would be right. Our main archive lies there so there is a lot of protection there.”

“Oh, well ok.”

The two resumed their trot until they stood in front of a large wooden double door.
Maya knocked at the door and waited.

“Come in.” A muffled voice resounded from the other side of the door.

Maya opened the door and the two entered the room.

It was a large circular room with three doors, each on the same distance from each other and something that looked like a stage between two of the entrances; a portion of the floor stood higher than the rest of the floor.

There were some cushion laying in the middle of the room, forming a circle with on one of the cushions Steel Needle sitting. He turned his head towards Tayson and Maya and smiled. In the middle of the circle lay a fancy tray with a steaming teapot and some cups.

Maya sat next to her adoptive father and Tayson took a seat in front of his two life saviours.

“Good to see you again,” Steel Needle filled Tayson’s cup with tea, “I take that you had no trouble getting home?”

Tayson took the cup and nodded. “Thank you.” He took a sip from the tea.

“Wasn’t the boss coming today?” Maya asked Steel Needle as he filled her cup.

“He will be here in a second. In the mean time, we have some time to talk.”

Maya looked at the tray and saw five cups standing on it. “Are we expecting somepony else?”

“No, that is just in case I’m right with something. But never mind that.”

“Why is your boss coming?” Tayson looked a little nervous, not sure why. It’s not like there was a link between him being abducted and their boss coming.

Steel Needle put his cup back on the tray and took a more formal stance, the smile he had just carried now made place for a serious face. “Because I invited him. What happened yesterday was out of the ordinary, even for us.”

Maya looked in confusion at Steel Needle. “But we deal with these guys at a regular basis, why is this time so strange? Yes they tried to kidnap a random pony and we had. To. Deal with a commander… Oooooh I see where you’re coming from.”

Steel Needle nodded. “Exactly, normally they only act against other gods and even then it is rare to see that they send a commander.”

“But why do they need me? I'm not special, I’m not…”

“A god?” Steel Needle interjected.

Tayson froze at the sudden implication of the grey earthpony. “C-Come again?”

Steel Needle took a long thoughtful sip from his tea before he spoke again. “A god.”

“Well that would explain a lot.” Maya said.

“But I’m not a god, I don’t even know what that actually means.”

“Look, Tayson. These guys aren’t normal criminals, they are very dangerous and very careful in their actions and in who they send. They are one of the most notorious criminal organisation that are known to the KAMI organisation and I can reassure you that they’d never waste time and resources on kidnapping a normal colt. The Lotus Dragon would never be interested in you unless, you’re a god.”

“A… god.” Tayson looked in disbelief.

“And one with a great potential, after what I’ve heard yesterday.”

“Huh?”

“Well after you were gone, I asked my daughter to tell me what she meant with that you were a god. She told me about the flash and that it felt like a raw burst of pure energy.”

Maya nodded. “It surprised me that that brute actually survived your technique.”

“B-But I don’t know what happened! I didn’t…” Tayson was cut off by a waving hoof of Steel Needle.

“Don’t worry about that, we’ll discuss that after our boss arrived. For now I would like to ask you a question,” Tayson calmed himself and prepared himself for the next question, “what’s the name of your grandmother?”

Of all questions, this was the one he would’ve never expected to be asked in this conversation. “U-Uhm, Crystal Clear, but I don’t see why that’s relevant?”

Steel Needle sighed at Tayson’s answer and started to fill the fifth cup. “Yeah, I was afraid that you’d say that.” As soon as the cup was filled the same door where Tayson and Maya had entered the room, was sent flying across the room.

“YOU FILTHY LYING CLANDESTINE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING IGNORAMUS…”

The train of insults went on until Tayson recognised who was yelling them. “G-Grandma?” What came after those words was a sequence of incomprehensible gibberish as a result of a mental blue screen of death.

Behind the rampaging mare came the secretary. “I’m so sorry sir,” she bowed, “I tried to stop her but she didn’t want to hear anything of it.”

“I told you to NOT, I repeat NOT, to even try to initiate him into KAMI.”

Steel Needle waved a dismissive hoof at the secretary. “It’s ok Lyra, I'll handle it.” Lyra nodded, looking at the doors that were catapulted through the room and muttered something about that she already had enough paperwork to handle. He then tried to smile as sincerely as possible at the light grey mare.

“I’m so sorry Crystal, but yesterday some brutes of the Lotus Dragon tried to kidnap your grandson. If it wasn’t for my daughter, they would have succeeded. Afterwards I had to save both when they had to deal with Pulling Strings.” Steel Needle tried to force himself not to flinch from the glare of Crystal Clear, “He wanted an explanation and since I didn’t know of his heritage I just told him to come here and to not tell anypony. The boss will be here soon and then we can discuss what to do. What do you think of it?” He smiled sheepishly. “I got some tea, and it is your favourite flavour.”

“DON’T. EVEN. TRY TO LIE TO ME!” Crystal Shot Steel the angriest of glares in recorded history, a glare strong enough to pierce through hardened steel.

Steel Needle tried to maintain his posture but his coat started to darken as the result of the quantity of fear induced sweating. “OK YES!” He finally cringed. “But come on, the cutie mark, the colour pattern and the mere fact that Malicious Edge wanted him. Only one clan in recorded history had those characterizing features. It was obvious!” He threw his hooves in the air from desperation.

“Then why didn’t you erase his memories and report to me like I ordered you to do.” Her glare only intensified as she leaned in, narrowing the space between her and Steel’s face.

“Because, whatever my brother’s up to, he needs to be stopped and if he wants that colt, then we’re going to prevent him from taking him.” A new voice rang through the room.

Steel Needle’s and Maya’s ears perked up at the voice, both turned around and saluted at the White unicorn. He stood at the entrance where the door, that Crystal Clear had catapulted through the room, lay. His right eye, which wasn’t covered by his light-brown-reddish mane, coldly analyzed the current situation and his stoic face showed no sign of any emotion as. He lowered his gaze in an elegant manner where he closed his eyes and spoke. “At ease, we have no time for formalities.”

Maya and Steel Needle relaxed. Meanwhile Tayson’s blue screen of death was fixed and his mind rebooted, now able again to process new information. Only Crystal Cleared seemed not amused to see the, taller than a normal pony, unicorn.

“Time Gale! What is the meaning of this? I’ve told you to leave my grandson alone!”

“Miss Clear, I understand that you’re upset. But if my brother gets what he wants then we’re in bigger troubles than your little family affair.”

Crystal stomped at the floor. “Then have at least the decency to inform me!”

“Hey it’s not my fault that you’re overprotecting your grandson!” Steel Needle interrupted.

“DON’T EVEN DARE TO LECTURE ME! WHIPPER-SNAPPER!”

“LISTEN OLD HAG, I TRIED TO BE REASONABLE! BUT YOU’RE WASTING HIS POTENTIAL!”

“HOW DID YOU…”

“ENOUGH!!” The amplified voice of Time Gale boomed through the room, much like the Royal Canterlot voice. The gust sent the tea and the tray it was on flying. The two arguing gods became quiet and decided to choose their next words with proper care. Time Gale returned to his calm and stoic expression. “How about we let the colt decide for himself.” He turned his expression to Tayson who sat perplexed on his cushion.

“I’m not going to talk around the subject, you’re in danger. My brother wants you for Celestia knows what and we can assume that it is bad. I’m giving you two choices. You can either choose to resume your daily life, we’ll erase your memories and set you under constant supervision. OR you can join the KAMI organisation, we’ll train you and you’ll be strong enough to defend yourself.”

“But why me?”

Time Gale sighed and turned his gaze towards Crystal. “I think you owe your grandson an explanation. We’ll leave the two of you alone.” He nodded at Steel Needle and Maya who left the room at command. Time Gale followed shortly after and shut the doors with telekinesis.
Only Tayson and Crystal remained in the room.

“G-Grandma?”

“I’m so sorry Tai Ichi.” She lowered her gaze.

“Why… why didn’t you tell me?”

She sighed. “I wanted to keep you safe. After what happened to our family…”

“They, they didn’t die in an airship crash… did they?” Now it was Tayson’s turn to lower his gaze.

“No… I-I’m afraid not… They fell prey to that monster…” A tear rolled from Crystal’s cheek.

There was a silence for a few minutes until Tayson opened his mouth again.

“C-Can you tell me? Tell me what happened, I mean.”

She made herself comfortable on the cushion in front of Tayson and began her story.

“It was sixteen years ago. You were still a foal of course. Every member of our little family worked for KAMI, well except your sister, she was still too young. The night it happened I was on a mission and…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The council was talking for an hour straight and the diplomats were still arguing about whatever matter they had to decide on. It was Crystal’s first mission in a while, but she had hoped for a little more exciting job than playing the escort for an presumptuous noble.

“And with that I am sure, gentlecolts, you will agree with me that we should limit the Zebrican emigration.”

Crystal bonked her head against the table. Oh my Celestia, who the hay cares!!!

The diplomats in the room huffed at the sudden outburst of the escort of the equestrian noble. The noble himself threw an annoyed glare at Crystal. “Is there a problem Miss Clear?”

Crystal gritted her teeth. “Misses. And yes, there is a problem, why don’t you take your oversized e…”

She was cut off when the doors of the conference room went open, a Zebrican guard stood there with a scroll in his hooves. “Misses Clear,” His Zebrican accent gave an exotic tone to his Equestrianese, “There is an urgent letter for you here.” He went to her and gave her the letter. There was a white seal with a green ring around it. A message from KAMI. She unfurled the roll and read it, and completely ignored the other diplomats in the room. When she finished the letter she froze.

“I’m also here to inform that there’s an airship for you ready on the platform.” The guard saluted and left the room.

The noble cleared his throat and spoke. “Is there a problem Misses Clear?”

“I need to go…” She stormed out the room and headed for the airport.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It was then that I’ve learned that our family house was invaded by Malicious Edge and his gang…” Crystal was now silently crying. “There were no survivors.”

Tayson gave his grandmother a few minutes to calm herself before asking. “What happened then? Where was I?”

“Well, I left Stone-Water city and returned to Canterlot…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crystal ran through the streets of Canterlot. She exited the city gates and went for the forest near the city. Crystal ran as fast as she could until she could see the family house of her clan.
The mansion was roped off and some Pegasus guards were stationed near the entrance.

“Halt! Who goes…” the guards crossed their wing to block the entrance until they saw who was nearing, “Misses Clear, we’re so sorry. Please continue.”

Crystal Clear slowed down to a trot. “How very kind of you to allow me to enter my own home.” She sneered and glared at the guards.

The guards gulped. “We’re sorry about what happened. Time Gale is waiting inside.”

Crystal ignored the two guards on their last statement and just entered the family estate. She walked through the garden until she reached the devastated front of the house. There hung a scent of burnt wood. The once white walls were black and the roof was filled with holes and broken tiles.
The inside wasn’t a better sight, the wooden floors were covered in dirt and blood.

Every piece of furniture was broken, every window shattered and every wall cracked.
Crystal walked through her home, on the verge of crying, but no tear escaped her eye.

She reached the main hall where she saw Time Gale sitting at one of the tables. He was drinking some tea while looking through some paperwork. As soon as he saw that Crystal was in the room he put the papers away and turned to her. “Misses Clear. I’m so sorry for what happened.”

Crystal didn’t respond, she walked over to the table and sat on the opposite side of the table. Time Gale poured her some tea in a cup and looked through the papers.

“The attack happened three days ago. The forensics have detected remnants of energy codes that are identical of my brother... They probably attacked at night and took them by surprise.” Time gale fell silent for a few moments before resuming his report. “There were no bodies found, so we assume that he has taken them to get information…”

Two streams of liquid ran from Crystal’s face. She didn’t look at Time Gale.

“Crystal, I…”

“You sent me away.” She cut Time Gale off, there was a tremor in her voice and she spoke these words with an unusual high tone.

He recoiled a bit. “S-Sorry?”

“YOU SENT ME AWAY!” She slammed her hooves at the table. “FOR A STUPID DIPLOMATIC MISSION!”

“Crystal, please I didn’t…”

“SHUT UP!” She send the tray flying through the room. “I SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE, I SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED THEM! BUT NO! I HAD TO ESCORT ONE OF THOSE UNGRATEFULL SPOILED NOBLES SO THEY COULD DISCUSS ABOUT IMMIGRATION LAWS! I-I...” She glared daggers at Time Gale and clenched her teeth while tears streamed down her face.

“Crystal, I-I’m…”

“NO YOU’RE NOT! GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”

Time Gale sat there for a moments, completely lost until he got up and started to walk out of the room. He stopped at the door and turned his face at Crystal. “If you ever need anything, just let me know. I’ll let my guards here to watch over you… I’m sorry…” With that he left the room.

Crystal sat at the same spot for a few minutes, her face still filled with anger. She let out a scream of rage and sorrow which decayed into a weep and lastly into a sob.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, as Crystal was telling her story, she too was crying at the memories of loss and sorrow.

Tayson sat in front of her, not sure what to say. “But I don’t understand…” he finally spoke, “There were no survivors… then… what about me?”

Crystal interrupted her sob to smile at her grandson. She wiped the stream of tears out of her face and continued. “You have to thank your sister.” She was still crying, but it seemed that those were tears of joy. “She was a smart filly…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was hours after Time Gale had left, the guards were patrolling the estate. Some gods had come to give their condolences. Even the princesses had come. However, she sent them all away. She didn't wan't their apologies, she wanted her family back.

She was now strolling through the broken halls of the mansion. Every trace of memories was replaced by the feelings of pain and grief. The once warm corridors now only were empty and the rooms all had lost their colours, their warmth. The gardens were unrecognisable, most of it had been burned or in another way destroyed.

This wasn’t her home anymore…

She now headed for the room of her grandchildren. A sign on the door announced the room of her granddaughter. Mirage’s room. A smiley was drawn on the door and some paper stars were attached to it giving it the flair of the room of a young filly. She entered the room. Toys and books littered the floor and her bed and desk were destroyed. Crystal sighed at the sight, she wanted to cry yet all her tears were already spend. She sat on the demolished mattress bed and picked a copy of Perception filters for advanced up. She was such a smart little filly… Crystal looked around, with the hope of finding a memento. However everything of emotional value had been destroyed, except for the book in her hooves. She put it in the saddlebag which she hadn't bothered to take of yet.
She moved on and went towards the room of her grandson. Tai Ichi’s room.

This room was no exception. The crib had been completely demolished, the baby supplies had been thrown through the room. The only thing that was in a halfway acceptable state was the cupboard on which laid a scroll. For Granny Clear. Love Mirage.

She touched the scroll, but before she could attempt to open the scroll it exploded in a smoke cloud. Crystal coughed as the smoke entered her lungs. As soon as she realised that there was another sound, the sound of a foal crying, adrenaline shot in her blood. She sprinted towards the nearest window and opened it. The smoke lifted until it was completely vanished, Crystal searched for where the sound came and cried in happiness as she saw a foal, wrapped in a red cloth, laying on the intact cupboard. She sprinted towards the foal to be sure that it was really Tai Ichi who laid on the cupboard. When she was completely sure that it was her grandson, she took the crying foal in her arms and started comforting it. With tears in her eyes she shushed the foal to sleep. “Don’t worry Tai Ichi… It will be alright… You’re safe now…” She took the mattress and tapped the ground. Soon the mattress was embraced by a new glass crib. She laid the foal in bed and smiled. “I’m… Thank you… Thank you for being alright.” The foal had calmed and was now drifting away to sleep. Crystal stood at the crib and thanked the sun and the moon for this wonder. As soon as the foal slept, she grabbed a piece of chalk out of her pocket and started writing on the wall.

To: Time Gale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I sent Time Gale a request, in which I asked to be re-stationed somewhere safe and for you to be kept in the dark about your heritage and abilities. I know it sounded stupid but I was afraid that if word spread that a member of our clan had survived that he would come after you. I didn’t want to lose you too.” She said the last sentence with a wince.

It was silent for a few moments, Crystal’s gaze was lowered in sorrow and shame. Tayson just sat there, not sure what to think, what to say.

“However, it seemed I was wrong… In the end it didn’t matter, he has found you.” Crystal lifted her gaze to meet Tayson’s. “In a minute now, Time Gale will come through that door… and he will ask you if you want to join KAMI or if you want to resume your normal life,” Tayson gulped, “no matter what you answer. I… I will support you...” With that she stood up and let the waiting gods in. She didn’t look them in the eyes, she just made a gesture to tell them to enter. Everypony gathered at the circle and looked at Tayson. Time Gale cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I take that you’ve gotten your explanation?”

Tayson just nodded absently.

“Then you already know what I want to ask you?”

Again, Tayson just nodded.

“I see... Well then, it’s up to you. You can return to you old life or you can enter the service of KAMI. Of course you don’t have to join. You can also just become a member of the god society.”

Tayson looked up, he opened his mouth but it took him a minute to form a coherent sentence. “I-I would like t-to go back to my old life.” As those hollow words left Tayson’s mouth, he cried a bit. “I-I’m…”

Crystal laid a hoof around her grandson’s neck and drew him closer. “It’s ok Tayson…”

Steel Needle looked a bit disappointed and sighed. “A shame, you would have made a good soldier… Well it’s your choice.”

Time Gale just nodded. “Do you wish that we erase your memories?”

Tayson shook his head. “No I… I’d like to remember everything… please… I don’t want to live in a lie.”
Steel Needle smiled. “I like your attitude colt. If you ever need anything or you want to know more about, well about anything. Then you can always ask me. I will also teach you how to use your abilities if you’re interested.”

Maya smiled too. “I can show you the city if you’d like. Well the part of it that you haven’t seen yet.” She winked.

Crystal hugged her grandson. “And I promise to never keep a secret from you again….” She chuckled a bit. “By Celestia that sounded cheesy.”

Tayson returned the hug smiled. “Thank you.” He released the grip and turned back to the other ponies in the room.

“And you too, again, thank you for saving me last night,” He smiled at Steel Needle and Maya and then to Time Gale, “And thank you for giving me a choice.”

Time Gale, who hadn’t shown any emotion throughout the whole conversation, now just laughed at the last statement. “Well, you could thank Celestia for that. You can’t be friends with her for a thousand years and still be the same harsh leader, whose will is absolute.”

“Celestia knows about this?” Tayson rubbed the last tears out his eyes.

“Of course, but that will be a story for another day. I think that it has been enough commotion for today.” Everypony nodded in unison stood up ready to leave the room.

“READY OR NOT, BUT HERE I COME!” Before anypony could react, Steel Needle was cut in half by black clouds, Crystal was pinned to the floor and Time Gale and Maya were smashed against the walls covered in black clouds.

“Night Sky?! How did you…” Time Gale was cut off when the clouds, that chained him against the wall, discharged. He spasm in pain and went limp for a moment until he found the strength again to lift his gaze.

“Hehehe, well it is nice to see you too brother, but you seem to mistake me for somepony else.” Malicious Edge gave his brother a fake sulk.

“Stop this, Night, or I’ll…” Another shock silenced Time Gale.

“You’re the older one, so you should be the wiser one. Yet you seem to be unable to remember your brother’s name. Tsk tsk tsk.” Malicious shook disappointed his head. “Well, never mind, I’m here for something else.” His manic gaze turned to Tayson who cowered against the nearest wall.

“Don’t you dare to TOUCH him!”

Malicious Edge looked at the raging grandmother with an uninterested look. As he turned his head back towards Tayson the yelling grandmother was silenced by a shock of her cloud.

“Granny!” Tayson cried out.

“Oh don’t worry about her,” Malicious spat, “I think you’re in bigger troubles. Well then, where were we?” Malicious tapped his chin. “Oh right, Tai Ichi, the colt who lived. Wait no… that’s from a book…" He facehooved and groaned. "I can't quote a book when I'm trying to fullfill my evil masterplan. Well never mind, I did it and we'll have to live with it,” he chuckled a bit as he returned his attention towards Tayson, “you can’t imagine what a pain you were to find. I had to look everywhere.” His rambling came to an end as a wooden stake went right through his head.

Malicious just stood there for a moment looking around, at the same time Tayson could see the hole at the side of Malicious’ head. The hole quickly closed as dark clouds seemed to bind the ends of the hole together, and as soon as the hole was covered, the clouds fused to his head, which made it look like nothing had happened at all. Meanwhile, Malicious had found the source of his disturbance. Maya had somehow managed to free her hoof, and one could see where the stake had shot out.
Malicious just sighed.

“Really?” He shrugged. “Cuz, I thought my brother had at least told you that you can’t kill me like that. I just come here to get something that belongs to me and you just attack me? I even spared the guards and that mint green chick at the entrance, I think that I’m actually more than reasonable for the moment. Also, I thought you’d be cleverer than that.” He flicked his tail which caused Maya to spasm in pain as electric currents flowed through her body. “You see that? I can do that all day.” He proved his point by letting the room fill with the screams of agony and pain. Malicious laughed.

“Shocking isn’t it.” He chuckled manically and returned to the terrified colt. “Enough bad puns for today, back to business.”

“Please…” Was the only word that escaped his mouth.

“Ohoohoh, don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you,” He grinned and placed his hoof over his chest, “I have ponies who do that for me.” Malicious took a few intimidating steps towards Tayson until he stood right in front of him. He brought his face closer, close enough that Tayson could smell his greasy mane that covered his right eye. “You look a lot like your mother you know that?” He just kept on smiling. “The same eyes… Your mother’s eyes” He booped Tayson’s nose, “those eyes, were the same eyes that looked at me. Normally, I would have taken you that same day. But we could. Not. Find. You.”

“MALICIOUS I SWEAR…” Malicious’ face fell, he disappeared in black clouds and reappeared in front of Crystal Clear.

“I told you to be quiet.” He slapped her face.

At that moment something snapped in Tayson. His fear just vanished in thin air, he stood up and cried out in pain. All the colours in the room disappeared, the tiles under his hooves cracked and air started rushing towards him. Naturally this attracted the attention of everypony in the room. Malicious turned around and smiled a smile that soon turned into a grin and finally in manic laughter.

“WONDERFUL, kyahahaha.”

Tayson too started to smile in a manic way. His pupils and irises were replaced by two taijitu. He took a step forward; and where his hoof touched the ground, a pulse started to flow through the room, returning the stolen colours.

“Oh, I love it. The chaos mode is such a rare sight lately.” Malicious admired the sight of Tayson’s rage, Crystal however was not so happy to see her grandson in such a state and neither was Time Gale.

“TAYSON, DON’T! PLEASE, TRY TO REMAIN STABLE!” Time Gale cried out in a futile attempt to inhibit the anger induced rage.

Crystal just looked and a tear rolled from her cheek. “Tayson…”

Their concern fell on deaf ears as Tayson opened his mouth and stuck his tongue straight out.
At the tip started to form a sphere of white energy, and a smaller marble of black energy formed as such that the tip of his tongue, the white orb and the black marble stood on one line. The marble started to accelerate towards the white orb and as soon as it touched, a beam of energy shot out.

Malicious dodged the beam by turning into clouds and forming a hole through which the beam shot. The clouds rushed towards Tayson and fused together into a Malicious Edge, ready to crush his face with an overhand punch.
The punch hit and the blow catapulted Tayson across the room, he didn’t reach the wall as his image disappeared like a fading picture and reappeared in the exact same fashion above Malicious. Tayson rushed at Malicious and used his momentum to crush him into the floor. Tiles shattered and Tayson stood on top of his, almost, defeated enemy. He formed white spears of pure, untainted energy and used them to pin down the limbs of his enemy. He brought his hoof on one line with Malicious’ head. Black packets of energy started to form around his hoof and rushed towards the tip of his hoof, where they assembled into a black orb. However, before Tayson could blast his bloody head of, a muffled sound interrupted his attack. “Backdoor.”

Malicious escaped the grip of his opponent, not with the usual ‘transforming into black clouds, disperse and reassemble somewhere else’ fashion instead he just vanished from one second to another. The black beam shot, it pierced several layers of concrete, yet what it didn’t pierce was his opponent’s head.
Malicious just reappeared in front of Tayson, completely unharmed. His trenchcoat, however, wasn’t that lucky.

“Ethereal attacks. Gehehe, smart. Only way to kill an elemental user isn’t it.” Malicious kept laughing for a few moments until resuming his ramble. “But I guess I don’t have to waste my breath on you, you can’t hear me anyways.”

Tayson jumped on his hind legs and pointed both his hooves at his opponent, and released a barrage of white and dark energy. Malicious dodged every last of the energy orbs, by using the same technique he had used to dodge the energy beam. He then materialized in front of Tayson but before he could start a counterattack, he was tackled by Time Gale.

Malicious stumbled a bit but succeeded in landing on his hoofs and quickly regained his posture.

“How did you?”

The question died as he saw his brother’s left eye. Malicious couldn’t do other than grin. “Ohooh, of course. Completely forgot about the sun eye. Have you finally managed to control the power?” His question was answered when Time Gale coughed up some blood. “Hmm, maybe you should try…”

“Shut up.”

Malicious shrugged. “Your choice. As you can see, I have managed to channel the power of the moon eye and…” His boasting was interrupted when an orb of black energy smashed him at the nearest wall.

“LUNADAMMIT! DO YOU GUYS HAVE TO KEEP INTERUPTING ME?” since Tayson didn’t seem to listen to reason he just ignored the question and charged the wall with both his hooves who were surrounded in white and black energy.

Malicious was able to dodge that attack just in time and reappeared in front of his brother, the manic grin he had worn through the whole battle had vanished and had been replaced by an expression of frustration. “Fine, you’ve won this time brother dear. Backdoor.”

“DON’T YOU…” Before Time Gale could end his sentence, his brother already had vanished in black clouds. Maya and Crystal Clear were released from their chains and Steel Needle’s remains were freed. Time Gale sighed. “Every single time….”

The peace was of short while as Tayson started to resume his rampage, however before he could shoot another beam or deliver another blow, one look of Time Gale’s left eye silenced his rage. Tayson’s screams ceased, his eyes became dull, and his body limp. Eventually gravity took over and Tayson fell to the ground. Everypony else sighed, and that was the last sound that resounded through the room.

Author's Note:

Special thanks to NobleValor for proofreading this chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have questions or concerns, leave them in the comment section or send me a PM. I answer every mail and comment.

~Angel~

Comments

[Violetstar]

Nice story

[Tai Ichi]

4645774 Thank you

[Tai Ichi]

4697801
Thank you very much
Not at all, I prefer being corrected than having an error in my story.
Most of the errors are due to that I'm not a native speaker. Like the error with the bun, in dutch we call it a dot and I've looked for hours to find the dutch word for it. But I couldn't find the english word for it, even though I could swear that it was one of the translations.

Anyways, thank you very much, I'll do my best to make this one as epic as I imagined it