Chapter 1: the Tyrant and the Princess
the Tyrant and the Princess
Hades, the prison of the Netherworld.
It was founded by the first Netherworld president and built on the top of an active volcano to hold any demons who ran against him in the first evilection and survived. Over the centuries Hades has housed many different criminals ranging from pranksters who went too far in their mischief to fallen angels, overlords, and even world-ending megalomaniacs. Hades was also tasked with creating and training the prinnies who would be sent across the Netherworlds -and even to Celestia the realm of the angels- to work off their sins. This was how the prison was run for millennia after it was founded.
But, even in the Netherworld, change is inevitable.
A few short weeks after the 62nd presidential evilection and the 'Fear the Great' incident that happened in its aftermath a notice was sent to the top prinny instructor at Hades, from the newly elected president himself. A backroom deal had been struck to allow the souls from other dimensions to become prinnies and earn a chance to be reincarnated in their own world. While participation was strictly voluntary there were many worlds, many hells as it were, that had agreed and sent either the soul or the remains of who they each considered as some of their worst criminals to be reformed. One world in particular -with the approval of their diarchy and through their own prison, named Tartarus- sent as many of their deceased criminals as possible a second chance. But the unfortunate truth is, even if the chance is offered, there are still people, or should I say ponies, that would abuse it to revive their ambition.
It is one of these very souls that will give rise to tyranny not seen in centuries.
Acrid smoke filled Fenrichs nose as he gazed upon the chaos unfolding before him. Scraps of metal were scattered all across the floor, some still glowing with heat. Fires were burning uncontrollably in every corner of the room as demons of every shape and type were running around with small tubs of water trying to put out their respective possessions and in some cases each other. With the amount of manpower present and how little was getting done, it was obvious someone had to take charge. With a long sigh to clear his lungs he turned towards a group of penguin-like demons running around like chickens with their heads cut off and begun reigning in the situation, delicately.
"You, prinnies! put those fires out before they cause any more damage! We don't need another skin shortage now of all times." his low gruff voice commanded.
"A-aye aye dood." the group chorused with their high squeaky voices as they split up, half to fetch water half to move the aforementioned skin supply.
"You three! start collecting the furnace parts, get any replacement parts from storage if you must but we need this assembly line up and running before Lord Valvatorez gets back with the culprit!"
"Yes sir, Fenrich sir!"
'This month could not possibly get worse' the werewolf steward thought as he surveyed the destruction all around him. The main generator has been perforated so many times that it's a miracle in itself that it could still be identified as such, the furnace in question on the other hand looks like someone accidentally threw a prinny or ten of into it, and with the number of sporadic fires and still molten shrapnel scattered every direction possible, that could quite possibly be what happened. And if it weren't for two facts he knew he might have bought that. One: this was not the only incident today. In addition to this prinny production line three other lines were hit in a similar fashion before this one. From what he heard the Hades armory was also hit hard damaging most of the equipment inside, if not outright destroying it, Lord Valvatorez went to investigate while he inspected this most recent incident. And as for the second reason, when the explosion was heard, a black prinny was spotted fleeing from the scene by a guard responding to the noise.
No matter how you look at it this was intentional, and that prinny is the prime suspect.
'Speaking of prinnies thanks to that idiot president and his proclamation more souls from across dimensions are coming to Hades. The first few batches are just finally settling in and the next batch is expected to arrive next week. While lord Valvatorez is ecstatic at the prospect of instructing more prinnies it is distracting him from our-'
"S-Sir Fenrich! we've got another problem dood!" a prinny blurted out rushing up to Fenrich, eyes wider than they should be and sweat coming off every part of its blue penguin-like body except for his dripping red flippers.
"What is it now." Fenrich answered calmly but with enough emphasis to the unfortunate speaker to not waste any of his time.
"M-M-Meaver's been found stabbed near the dimensional gate dood!"
"What," Fenrich stood with eyes widened 'If Meaver -the dimensional guide of Hades- was attacked that means the dimensional gate will be out of commission until she recovers, or we find a replacement' . The implications beyond that however were a bit more worrisome. Regardless of how dangerous this situation suddenly became he still needs information on Meaver's condition. Taking a moment to compose himself he began "How bad are her injuries?"
"Bad dood. she was stabbed through the chest and her heart and left lung look like they've been cut in half dood," the prinny stated, obvious discomfort in its voice. "She lost a lot of blood before we could get her to the medic dood."
"Do you know if she's going to survive?"
"I-I don't know dood! I came to find you right after I dropped her off at the nurse's office dood!" the prinny explained waving its flippers towards Fenrich showering the still dripping blood on parts of Fenrich's clothes and face. The blood gained from carrying Meaver.
"I see," Fenrich said, his ire slowly growing as he wiped the blood off with his hand "what about the dimensional gate itself? where is it connected to now? was it used? and if it was who used it last and when?"
"I don't know any that either dood! I only got here a few weeks ago dood! and there was nothing like that in my old world dood." the prinny concluded now watching Fenrich's gaze change from irate to furious and finally closing his eyes altogether.
"I see," Fenrich said in a cold and malicious tone, his amber eyes slowly opening again revealing the tempest of rage he felt towards the incompetent prinny "then here are your orders; I am going to check on Meaver and then be rendezvousing with Lord Val, together we will head to the dimensional gates for our next course of action. YOU will find answers for all of the remaining questions I just asked as well as some useful information regarding Meaver's assailant and meet us in front of the gate. If you fail then I will be using your skin to write up my next report. Do I make myself clear. "
"Y-Y-Y-YESSIR, CLEAR AS CRYSTAL DOOD!" the prinny blubbered out before turning directly around and running as fast as it possibly could in order to literally save it's hide.
'The armory, the prinny production lines, and now Meaver...' Fenrich mused. While attacking the armory is rather obvious, especially taking into consideration this recent development, there was still something gnawing at the back of his head 'it's safe to say whoever is responsible for this is trying to make pursuit as difficult for us as possible. So why destroy the production machines?' with his mind still racing he began making his way to the dimensional gate, leaving the relief effort behind him. That was something Fenrich didn't need to deal with right now. "you! prinnies! go to the armory and assist Lord Valvatorez cataloging all the weapons, armor, foodstuffs, and relics that were lost or destroyed during the attack and give me the report once I reach the dimensional gates; you have one hour."
"Aye-aye dood" the group of prinnies answered in chorus and set off to work.
Valvatorez looked upon the armory, eyes widened as far as they could go, his crimson pupils shrunk down to mere pinpricks as he surveyed the scene before him.
The gigantic metal doors of the Hades armory had been melted through, leaving a hole big enough for a full grown human to pass through making the steel chains barring the door moot for most demons. The gargoyle guards stationed there were reduced to barely recognizable piles of rubble. Inside was far worse; every spear, bow, and magic staff seen in there was snapped in two, swords and axes were lying everywhere in shattered heaps and everything looked as if it was put to the torch. Smoldering bodies of prinnies were scattered here and there all with blank eyes, some moaning in agony or twitching randomly, others not making a sound or moving a muscle. But the worst part -and what currently held Valvatorez's attention- was the many foodstuffs he and his allies used in their many battles from somas and snake kidneys to chocolate and sodas-
"No...not the SARDINES!"
-and even the prinnies sardine rations were spilt all over the floor and charred nearly beyond recognition.
"Who...who could've done all of this!?" he yelled to no one in particular, his voice a mix of disbelief, curiosity, and anger, mostly anger.
"I-it was a...black...prinny...d-dood" wheezed a nearby prinny struggling to stand in attention but only able to push its body up off its belly with one flipper the other raised over its half-open eyes.
"What! a prinny did all this? tell me what happened." Valvatorez ordered kneeling down to be closer to that prinny's level, his curiosity tempering his anger...for the moment.
The prinny took a moment to catch its breath and get off its belly, now sitting and eye level with Vavatorez it began its recount of events through still ragged breaths "H-he blew through...the door...using pringer beam dood. He started...destroying the...weapons and...setting everything on fire, dood. Any prinny who...got close or...tried to stop him started...floating, dood. He threw us...into the fires and," the prinny taking a deep breath to prepare for what came next, both mentally and physically "said 'nothing will stop me this time dood once I return as king.' before...leaving us here...to die dood."
Once the prinny was done speaking Valvatorez got back up and reached into his pockets'This prinny survived being thrown and immolated, he's quite the resilient one even by prinny standards'. "What's your name prinny."
"Amon, dood"
"Well then, Amon," he pulled out his hands revealing a 1HL coin in one of them "Take this and go to the nurses office, get yourself patched up," he said, his tone, while regal and imposing, was not that of a lord addressing a peasant but a commander encouraging a soldier "After that gather every profile we have on any prinny that would fit the description of the one you saw and meet me in front of the dimensional gate. I'm counting on you."
Amon could only sit there wide-eyed. THE Tyrant Valvatorez, who was feared a millennia ago for his power, who faced off against and even injured the former netherworld president Death King Hugo was counting on him, a prinny, the lowest of the low on the demon totem pole. In that moment all the pain he was feeling went numb and through sheer will he got up and gave the salute he was trying for at the start "Aye-aye dood, I won't let you down lord Valvatorez!" Amon said with renewed vigor as he took the coin like it was a "free reincarnation" ticket and ran out of the armory, each step was agony but he didn't care. He was headed to the medic anyway and even though thousands of prinnies are made daily, only prinny gods were black 'and why would a god lower himself to only a king dood' and that narrowed down the possible canidates immensely already. He will find this guy and get Lord Valvatorez his file, even if it's the last thing he does.
"He must have taken what happened here personally, I haven't seen such a spirited prinny since the lass, it's rather refreshing actually." Valvatorez noted, a faint smile on his lips. The smile vanished the next moment however, being replaced by a scowl "but, for everything he's done here," his voice now seething behind the faux composure "I'm going to beat that damn black prinny to within an inch of his life and bring him back to Hades for a proper re-education, This I promise."
Twilight reveled in the feeling of flying she had now that she had finally mastered using her new appendages as she soared over the thick canopy of the Everfree forest, being able to move unhindered and in relative safety over the dangerous forest. The wind blowing through her mane and the occasional flap of her wings to keep her aloft. At least she would have if her attention wasn't focused on scanning the dense underbrush and the occasional clearings she flew over searching for anything that should not be there.
"Twilight, tell me again why we're up here." the small scaly passenger hanging onto her back asked, his claws holding on to her neck
"We've been over this before Spike," Twilight said " Fluttershy mentioned her animals have been very restless lately and that whatever is scaring them is in the Everfree Forest."
"But we've been out here for hours and haven't seen anything." Spike moaned
"It's only been forty minutes Spike, Twilight retorted "although the fact that we haven't seen anything from up here is starting to make me worry. With all the clearings we've flown over we should have seen a manticore or some timber wolves or...something by now but, nothing."
"Maybe an ursa major is down there eating everything." Spike replied sarcastically .
"That's impossible, all of Ponyville would have noticed it by now if that were the case not just Fluttershy's animals." Twilight said, missing one of Spike's claws letting go of her for a moment to meet up with his face.
After another sweep across the forest, and another fifteen minutes of fruitless searching not only for anything suspicious in the forest but anything at all Twilight finally spotted something, an unnatural color among the shades of green and brown, in a clearing near the ruins of the castle of the two sisters. From her birds-eye view the thing looked to be slightly taller than the average filly, if they were standing on their hind legs like that thing was, and definitely more rotund. It also had a long yellow nose of some sort but its dark fur was obstructing any more defined features of the creature. "look down there Spike," Twilight motioning to the clearing and the mysterious creature "I think we found our suspicious somepony."
"Are you sure?" Spike responded in disbelief, arcing an eyebrow at the small black splotch on the forest floor "That thing down there doesn't look very menacing."
"Then lets go check it out," Twilight descended aiming to land near the middle of the clearing "If it's hostile we can simply teleport back to the lib-er...the castle," she winced at the last part, remembering her battle with Tirek and the home she had lost in the crossfire "If not then maybe we can find what's really causing the animals to panic". As her hooves touched ground Twilight was finally able to get a better look at the creature while it noticed her presence as well. It looked vaguely like the penguins Fluttershy had, only this one was slightly taller and definitely fatter, as well as some other differences. For starters where webbed feet should have been peg-legs were in there place, the eyes were merely black irises surrounded by the white of the sclera. The black skin she thought was fur was smooth and ran down its sides curving up over its belly, contrasting the white hide of its lower body with large white stiches at the top of the stomach seemingly sewing the two monotone colored hides together. around its waist was a large belt with a saddlebag with a small skull shaped button attached to it on the front, covering most of the belly. Purple bat-like wings could be seen protruding from its back and the big yellow beak was currently directed at her, hanging open. 'well this creature certainly looks like it's not from around here, perhaps I can get it to Fluttershy and see if it knows what could be scaring her animals' she decided, now that her visual analysis finished "um...he-"
"HELP ME I'M BEING CHASED BY DEMONS!" a loud an rather squeaky voice bellowed.
'So much for that...wait...did that penguin just talk?!' Twilight's eyes widened and she looked back at Spike to make sure she wasn't hearing things. Sure enough, his expression was the same as hers as he pointed a claw at the strange creature. It was a only a moment after the shock of who said it that what was said sank in "wait, demons!?".
"Yes! real-life demons! they're trying to capture me so they can invade this world using me as-"
"A soldier?" Spike questioned.
"A spy?" added Twilight.
"AMMUNITION." the penguin cried, rivers of tears coming out of it's eyes.
"That's horrible!" Twilight could only stand in shock at the thought of demons using these weird -sentient- penguins as ammunition and a slight morbid curiosity as to how they could be used. But those thoughts were pushed aside for the more pressing issues at hoof and after performing her breathing exercises, helping her calm down slightly and think. With a plan in mind and her right hoof pointing to the edge of the clearing, she spoke "The town of Ponyville is just outside this forest, follow the path over there and you'll be able to leave here safely, once your there head to the castle, it's...pretty hard to miss actually," Twilight smiling sheepishly at the last part but quickly regaining her composure before continuing "I'll fly ahead and-"
"No, wait!" the penguin interrupted, making both Twilight and Spike flinch "If you leave me here those demons will catch me, but if you can slow them down that'll buy me enough time to reach the town, maybe even stop them from invading altogether. I even know where they'll be," the penguin pointed a flipper behind it to where the castle ruins would be "I'm sure they'll be in those ruins I passed back there."
"Twilight, do you think the penguin's plan is a good idea?" Spike asked, hopping off Twilight's back pulling her away and so their third guest doesn't overhear them.
"Honestly, no, I don't want to go looking for a fight and I wanted to send a letter to the princesses about the 'demon invasion' it mentioned," Twilight replied "but if time is not on our side then it's idea for stall tactics would be the best one, for now at least."
"What about teleporting?"
"I could teleport us to Ponyville sure, but..." Twilight hesitated, making sure she wanted to voice her doubts before continuing "those wings on its back and the stiches on it's belly seem...demon-y"
"demon-y" Spike chided.
"You know what I mean Spike," Twilight huffed "I'm not sure if its lying, I just don't think we're hearing the whole story."
"Then why not call him out on it?"
"Because that penguin will-"
"Can you two hurry, we don't have much time!" the familiar squeaky voice added in with obvious impatience in it's voice.
"-probably do that." Twilight huffed, turning back to their interrupter "Alright we'll do things your way, but you better be ready to answer some questions when we get back to the castle."
"Of course, anything to get moving."
"Well Spike, let's go," when Spike was once again on her back Twilight began her ascent, keeping an eye in the direction that would be where her destination would be while Spike simply watched the penguin. Once Twilight was clear of the trees, and with one powerful flap of her wings she flew towards what remained of the castle of the two sisters.
Once the Twilight and Spike where out of sight, the prinny's panicked eyes turned cold and his beak contorted to a slight sowl 'finally, that foal of an alicorn and that dragon whelp are gone,' the prinny then began to walk towards the edge of the clearing, deeper into the Everfree forest. 'I should thank them for being decoys in case those wardens manage to find a way to follow me,' the scowl twisting into a small, sick smile ' And once I reclaim my body and my empire perhaps I will, by making this country the first to fall under my new rule!'
Valvatorez entered the large room that served as his base during the evilection, the magma that was commonplace for the Netherworld prison flowing freely around the edges of the room and into the lower levels of the prison lighted the area. Surveying the damage as he walked towards the dimensional gate taking the time to stop at any notable damage. Immediately two things were caught his attention; the statue of the current netherworld president was reduced to rubble, an improvement in his opinion, and the Rosenqueen stalls were also reduced to piles of splintered wood and torn canvas in the attack and their respective owners could be seen sorting through the wreckage trying to salvage their wares 'hm, I guess what we have on us is all we've got this time,' Valvatorez mused, reaching his right hand back to his cape feeling the demonic energy still emanating from it as he continued towards his original destination 'we won't be replacing any of our weapons or armor anytime soon'.
Turning the corner and refocusing his attention Valvatorez could finally see the three gates leading to the different worlds located in Hades. But while the gates themselves were still shining in all their glory, offsetting the natural glow of the magma with their own pure white light, the gatekeepers weren't where they should have been. Instead of seeing the three guides in front of their respective gates, a small group had gathered in front of the dimensional gate, the main gate for entering and exiting Hades with Meaver in charge of its happenings and upkeep. Of the people in the group Valvatorez could identify the two other gatekeepers chatting with Fenrich with numerous reports in his hands and six prinnies at his side, one prinny with large blank eyes and drops of sweat the size of bullets dripping off his body as he faced the werewolf steward, another pinny bandaged from top to bottom leaving only his eyes, beak, wings exposed.
Strangely Meaver was absent from this group.
Fenrich's attention shifted as his master Valvatorez approached the group "my lord, I was just about to go find you," his even and composed tone greeting the prinny instructor "I'm afraid there have been some developments since we parted ways."
"Is that so Fenrich, does it involve why Meaver is not present?"
"It does, my lord" Fenrich pulled out one of the reports and handed it to his lord who took it immediately and began perusing the information as he continued "Meaver was stabbed through the heart with a standard issue prinny machete resulting in massive blood loss and numerous organs failing. I'd say it's safe to conclude that our black prinny was the one responsible for this and that he wanted enough time to use the dimensional gate himself but not allow us a chance to pursue him with Meaver being able to essentially warp us right on top of him. It was only through dumb luck that she made it to the nurses office for treatment."
"So she'll be fine."
"Yes, although the nurses had to resort to giga-class healing magic to stabilize her. Also she will not be able to perform her duties as the dimensional guide for quite some time. For all intents and purposes the rouge succeeded in his endeavor."
"Then how are we going to leave Hades, how are we going to catch that black prinny." Valvatorez's frustration growing with each word his steward said and the thought of their culprit getting an indefinite head start.
"Relax my lord, I already have a plan regarding our situation on that matter but I'll elaborate more on that in a moment," Fenrich confidently stated allowing himself a smirk before pointing toward the mummified prinny "this prinny here says he has something for you."
The prinny in question gave a determined salute before reaching into his now patchwork fanny pack and pulling out a small stack of papers and giving them to Valvatorez "Here's the profile on the black prinny dood, I gathered up all the information we have on him and I'm certain this is the soul responsible for this dood."
"So you were able to finish your job, good work. With drive like that you'll pay off your sins in no time Amon," the mummified prinny jumped slightly and gave a renewed salute before turning towards the other five prinnies to start boasting as Valvatorez started to read the new report.
"So our black prinny's name is 'Sombra' is it."
"Sombra huh, well now we won't have to refer to him as 'the black prinny' at least," Fenrich mused "so, what was this Sombra person like in his life?"
"Well for starters he wasn't a person but a unicorn," Valvatorez corrected "As for what he was in life, it seems he was a king of his own empire, at least until he was removed from power a thousand years ago give-or-take a decade."
The only reaction Fenrich gave to the correction was a raised eyebrow. While a sentient unicorn was definitely outside the norm for prinny souls, stranger things in the Netherworld were capable of sentience and stupider things could become prinnies, the slime party and the lass being prime examples. "That would make him one of the 'new recruits' from another world then," mentally adding the information to what he already held in his reports "I take it he was not popular with his subjects."
"Judging by the list of sins he committed he ruled through subjugation and fear, and used that fear to further empower himself and his rule, he was truly a vile soul. He even specialized in corruption and fear magic, not easy arts to learn by most demons even. If he were born a demon he might even be praised for some of his work instilling fear into his kind. But alas wherever he came from he was merely a mortal soul who was blown to bits in his last moments." Valvatorez, now finished with the report handed it to Fenrich who began to review the report for himself "but this just makes finding him and bringing him back to Hades all the more important, so tell me Fenrich; what is your plan for chasing Sombra?"
"It's simple really, my plan is-"
"Here's the armory report you asked for dood." one of two new prinnies answered, waving his report in front of Fenrich's face unaware of the situation and that he interrupted the one demon who should never be interrupted when talking to Valvatorez. Being late doesn't help either.
"Your thirty-five minutes late," Fenrich chided, returning the new report back to the prinny "as punishment your going to share your deepest darkest secrets over the intercom as well as read the report to us, in full detail, starting now."
"Yes dood..." the unfortunate prinny replied dejectedly and began his report "ninety percent of the weapons in the armory have been rendered useless...dood, ninety-five percent of the armor and all of the snacks are ruined," Valvatorez flinched as that last part "it can also be confirmed that two royal orbs and one of Valvatorez's testaments have been stolen too dood, as well as the experimental monster weapon the Nether-researchers have been working on codenamed 'Devil Matrix', the only items unaccounted for are the crystal swords, crystal bows, and the dainsleif...dood."
"The main prinny production line is also operational and the other three will be back online by the days end dood. I was also told to tell you that numerous parts had to be taken from storage including the soul-binding crystals and gehenna fire starters dood." the prinny concluded still in the same monotone voice he started with "that's everything dood."
With the report done and the prinny relaxing a little bit though still in his slump from breaking rule number six, Fenrich decided it was time to move on "an interesting report, something Lord Val and I will have to discuss when we aren't as pressed for time, but right now there is something else more important; you also broke prinny rule number five: never interrupt your superiors," at this any relaxation the prinny felt was replaced by twice as much tension "because of this you'll have to start at level one, again".
(Revised) level one prinny task: spongebathing the zombies.
"NOOO DOOD! NOT AGAIN!" the wails went on deaf ears as two of the prinnies present picked up the poor unfortunate soul and was then hauled off to parts better left unmentioned.
"Hmm, that prinny seems to have a hard time grasping even the basics," Valvatorez mused "perhaps I should enroll him in my
re-education course, the Zettai Prinny Project."
"Maybe later my lord," Fenrich stated, before anyone else could go off on another tangent "as I was saying my plan is to have the other two gatekeepers stabilize the dimensional gate long enough for a small group to pass through and recapture Sombra. we could then wait at our entry point for pickup, if Meaver hasn't recovered by the time we were done. It was Fortunate for us Sombra was not too knowledgeable on how the gates work, so long as no one used the gate after him and that there is currently no dimensional guide to reset the gate then the last used destination, being his, will be our destination as well, in fact the preparations are already being made for us to depart now."
"Excellent, then let's ready our equipment and get going. Perhaps we should leave a note for the others, just in case we're gone long."
"Allow me, my lord." at this one of the prinnies who was catatonic throughout all of this tensed up.
Valvatorez carefully looked over his sword, searching tip to hilt for any signs of damage or wear. The blade in question was a simple double-edged longsword with the hilt and guard reinforced to the point of becoming circular in order to withstand more advanced sword techniques, the blade itself was tempered to the point where while one edge of the blade would always shine in the light while the other would be pitch-black. His weapon of choice after his fall as a tyrant the 'Regal Darkness' lived up to its name in both appearance and power. Satisfied with the condition of his sword he drew it back into his cape where it promptly disappeared into it as if returning it to its sheath. With his weapon taken care of he then turned his attention to the suit and ring he was wearing, again checking both for any signs of damage. 'It's not my testament but it will have to do' Valvatorez noted referring to the enchanted ring taking the place of his stolen artifact "I'm ready whenever you are Fenrich."
While Valvatorez was inspecting his equipment Fenrich was making preparations as well. He was carefully adjusting the stained fingerless gloves on his hands so they would fit perfectly should the need to fight arise. Next he strapped a small watch shaped device on to his wrist, turning it on to calibrate it. With a slight hum he threw a few jabs and a quick three punch combo to gauge if anything needed to be fixed, the punches were accelerated to only just being visible. Satisfied with his results he turned the machine off and reached for a satchel, enchanted like the prinny fanny packs to hold more than it should, that contained each of the reports shold the need to review them arise, basic provisions such as charred newts, a tent, and prinny-sized shackles, as well as a labrys and swung it over his shoulder "All set my lord."
"We're ready too dood." the four remaining prinnies responded at once. Each prinny had their fanny pack outfitted with two basic machetes, one enchanted demon skull, a tub large enough to drown a prinny -or do laundry- should the need arise, and one hundred prinny bombs, standard issue for all prinnies. Included in the standard issue gear was a medical kit in case of an emergency at their destination, a portable B.A.S.E panel to make the return trip easier, and an energy scanner to help detect and determine the types of magical energies located at their destination as well as the overall strength and density.
"The gate has been prepared and is currently stable my lord." one of the remaining gatekeepers announced, the Item world gatekeeper if Valvatorez remembered correctly.
The group of six stood in front of the Dimensional gate Valvatorez and Fenrich stood at the front while the four prinnies stood behind them. The two remaining gatekeepers stood at the edge of the swirling cosmos of spatial energy channeling their magic into keeping the portal stable for as long as possible. "Then lets go, off to find our rouge prinny." Valvatorez said as one by one they stepped into the spiraling white abyss.
And found themselves in the ruins of an old castle.
As Valvatorez, Fenrich, and the four prinnies appeared one by one they began to look around indifferent directions, each taking their time to adjust to their new surroundings while the midday sun beat down upon them thanks to their rooms missing roof. While the prinnies looked in random directions mainly at the many different passageways on the sides of the hall they were now in, Valvatorez and Fenrich had their focus directed at opposite ends of the room. The vampire instructor looked at the far end, and the risen platform occupying it. The high-rise in question had two sets of ruined stairs with debris laying at the base and top leading up to it meeting two identically designed yet slightly damaged thrones under a pair of torn tapestries hanging overhead with a podium broken in half at the front between the twin thrones. The throne on the left was colored varying shades of blue ranging from a light cyan to deep indigo while the throne on the right was different shades of yellow. Above each throne were large tapestries with winged unicorns facing inward, eyes open and rearing back on their hind legs. above the creatures were a depiction of an azure crescent moon and a golden sun respectively. With Valvatorez examining the thrones at the back of the hall Fenrich chose to walk over and check what appeared to be the main entrance to the room, as well as the general stability of the ruins. On the way to the entrance he noticed a distinct lack of rubble, considering that the roof of their current room had collapsed, giving the midday sun that was overhead a prime spot to shine in unhindered. With a hypothesis forming in his mind Fenrich knelt down and swept one of his hand across a portion of the stone floor and his other hand on the doorframe of the main entrance. comparing the two, there was a distinct lack of dust compared to how old the ruins appeared at first glance.
With the cursory observations finished the two demons reconvened at the center of the room while the prinnies stood to the side awaiting their orders "So this is the world where that rouge prinny Sombra ran off to huh, I have to say the air quality is better than the human world." Vavatorez commented, closing his eyes to better take in the tranquility and fresh air of the foreign world.
"Can't argue with you there my lord," Fenrich said "although perhaps we could get back to why we're here in the first place"
"You're right Fenrich," Valvatorez sighed "so what can you tell us about these ruins."
"From what I've seen in this room the ruins themselves could be over one thousand years old, perhaps significantly more depending on the status of the rest of the ruins, what really interests me about these ruins though is that while thousands of years old there is hardly a week or twos worth of dust on the floor or walls." Fenrich stated with a hint of intrigue in the tone of his voice "Combined with the distinct lack of rubble, especially when there should be" pointing upwards towards the nonexistent roof and to emphasize his point "it's safe to say that these ruins were inhabited recently and were in the process of being restored."
"Does that mean these ruins are Sombra's old castle?" his lord inquired.
"Unlikely, a solitary king doesn't need two thrones in one room, most likely he chose this spot to avoid causing a panic with his return, I'm sure you've noticed why by now."
"Yes, while it's still present there is very little fear energy in the area." Valvatorez noted, his voice losing some of the gusto it normally carries.
"Exactly, right now he's weak and couldn't have gone too far, if we hurry we can find him by the end of the day."
"Alright then let's go," Valvatorez flared one side of his cape, regaining some of his lost enthusiasm in the process. Once his cape returned to it's normal state he singled out three of the awaiting prinnies, orders already in mind "you three prinnies, secure this castle, this will be our base of operation until Meaver has recovered or something better presents itself."
"Aye-aye dood." the three prinnies responded as they split up to wander around the ruins and evict any would-be settlers.
"You will be in charge of setting up the B.A.S.E. panel, set it up here at the steps of the stairs." Valvatorez directed to the last remaining prinny.
"You got it dood." the prinny said as he reached into his fanny pack pulling out the device in question and starting to head towards the twin thrones.
Satisfied that the prinnies will accomplish their tasks Valvatorez turned toward his steward, giving a slight nod. With the gesture returned the two of them made their way into the depths of the castle to find their rouge prinny Sombra.
"Where is that damn prinny?" Valvatorez remarked, completely annoyed that their target has not yet been found. Currently the pair had searched each of the towers, the garden in the back of the castle, and the various passageways lading to and from the ruined foyer currently placing the two at the main gate. "we've searched this castle top to bottom and there's been no sign of him."
"That just leaves the forest over there," Fenrich answered as he pointed towards the sea of green connected to the castle ruins by a single path and a rickety rope bridge spanning a rather large ravine at the bottom of the mountainside "with no other paths on this side of the canyon he must have gone in there, lets hurry before he gets an even bigger lead". With only a nod in agreement from his lord the two sprinted down the path to try and make up lost time. Shame they didn't get very far.
"Hey! Wait! You shouldn't go in there. That forest is dangerous, especially for humans like you." a feminine voice hollered
Both Fenrich and Valvatorez skidded to a halt at the sound of this new voice and answered each other in perfect synchronization "Humans?" with verbal confirmation of what they heard they turned their attention towards the source of the third non-prinny voice which was...skyward? Hovering in the air not fifty feet up was what appeared to be a winged unicorn, or perhaps a horned Pegasus -Fenrich decided to go with the latter- staring down at them with apparent concern. The creature, apparently female if the voice was anything to go by, had a light purple fur and feathers matching the color on wings that seemed too small to support her size unaided. Her mane was overall a very dark blue with two lines of stronger shades of purple running through it with the tail matching in color 'so this horned pegasus knows about humans, this will save quite some time, but she seems quite ignorant about demons, perhaps we can use this -and her- to our advantage.' Fenrich schemed, his eyes narrowing and face subtly darkening unknown to the others present.
"Excuse me, did you just call us humans?" a certain other demon asked a little too politely, one hand clutching his side while the other covered his face as one of his legs started tapping the ground.
"Um, yeah, you are humans...right?"
"Of course not!" Valvatorez exclaimed, eyes gone completely red as he once again flared his cape, this time in unbridled fury at the insult that was said to him."While we may have the same number of arms and legs as humans, we are nothing alike!" his eyes returning to their normal crimson daggers as he continued his tirade "We are demons! It is our duty to instill fear into the humans so that they will live conservatively and keep them in line, and as a proud and noble demon I will not stand for being considered anything else! besides look at him," suddenly pointing at Fenrich, specifically his ass "notice the tail, humans don't have tails!" moving his finger from the rear to the face "And the ears! Human ears are not that pointy! You had better take back what you said or I will show you what it truly means to be a demon." Valvatorez entered his fighting stance, his hand just in front of his cape which was now billowing in a nonexistent wind.
"Wait, your demons!?" the horned pegasus exclaimed, shock plainly visible on her face. The shock did not last long however as it soon turned to anger "your the ones chasing that penguin thing, aren't you." her horn now glowing a faint violet light "I won't let you use it as ammunition, and I certainly won't let you invade Equestria."
'or not.'Fenrich sighed. The first living being they meet that could possibly have all the information they could ever need about this world and more is about to be cut to ribbons for an insult while their quarry gets farther and farther away. While being called human was half true in his case it was just as insulting as his lord explained. Still if this horse were to escape or be killed then any information she knew would be gone with her. this was something that he could not let happen. as such he quickly started formulating a plan. 'this month couldn't get any worse'
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This looks good so far. I never quite finished Disgaea 4, but all the characters are acting like themselves, so keep it up. I'll be tracking this one.
5603838
Why, thank you. Always good to know you're on the right track.
This look awesome, i can wait to see Valvatorez use his specials
5634903
Funny you should mention that.
5647139 Yes, Disgaea 4 wass the first disgaea i play, i like his special when i level up to use the last one, was awesome, only wen i see the other ones i realyze it is like a comon mark that the last special on the main caracters be amaizing