Out of the castle and into the forest
"Just how complicated is this place? Even the Firestorm Citadel was less convoluted." Dusk groans audibly.
After Delta Squad found themselves in a new world thanks to the machine transporting them away from Cradle, they had attempted to leave the castle in order to get their bearings. Because of how linear all of the castle-like areas in the Clockworks were, they were not used to complex lay-outs.
Blast looks ahead. "I'm preeeeeeetty sure that... oh nope, that's the same statue we passed three times already."
Volt looks at the statue uncertainly. "Are you sure that's a statue we passed?"
"Pretty sure! There's a certain nick on the head that makes it stand out. Still can't figure out what these things are, considering they look like quadruped trojans."
Now Flame groaned. "How are we even going to find a way back to Haven, or Cradle in general, if we can't even get out of a lousy, partially cleaned-up ruined castle?"
"We could always use our area map!"
Dusk gave Blast an annoyed glance. "How is that going to work on an alien world?"
"I don't know. I just tried mine and it works!"
The rest of the squad look at each other before activating their mini-map and area map. Like Blast said, it activated and showed them a simplified map of the area's they've walked.
Dusk growled. "You've got to be kidding me..."
Flame sighed. "Only Blast would think of something like that. We haven't used our maps in forever and, as a result, simply forgot about them."
Volt looked at the map on his HUD before pointing to the left. "There's a place we haven't explored yet over there."
Flame nods. "Then we'll start that way. Even if it doesn't lead to the entrance, we can still get more of this place explored for future reference. Let's go and stay frosty." He holds his Combuster sword at the ready as he walks forward. They had agreed to change their weapon loadouts to what carried them through all their missions to Vanguard (Champion in Volt's case) because of how highly adaptable they are.
Just as they reached what appeared to be an entrance-way to a lower level, Dusk stopped them. "Do you hear that?"
Flame focused for a second. "That sounds like... voices."
Volt looked around, startled. "D-does that mean someone lives here, a-and that we're trespassing?"
Blast on the other hand looked ecstatic. "Yaaaaaay, intelligent life-forms! Do you think they like parties?"
"Worry about partying later, Blast. I would rather not get caught trespassing if someone does indeed live here and avoiding confrontations with anything is a must until we can get our situation sorted." Flame looks down the stairs. "While this might lead to the main floor and closer to whoever 'they' are, we can't stay in one spot forever.
Blast let out a disappointed huff before following his squad. "But they might be friendly like the Strangers!"
Dusk looks at Blast with mild annoyance. "That's a possibility, but they might also be hostile like the gremlins. Plus it's just the four of us, not an entire ships worth of knights. Even with our status as the 'most offensive' squad, I doubt we would last long if we were found."
Flame nodded. "Agreed. We can establish communications with the intelligent life-forms here later."
Dusk and Volt simply nodded. Blast had a disappointed look on his face as they descend further into the castle. He knew of his squad's paranoia, especially when it came to accepting gremlins who rebelled against their order, yet it was amped up due them possibly being the only knights in this land. Blast prided himself on being open-minded, but it will be hard to make a good first impression on a new species with paranoid squad-mates.
Volt looks around, hearing the talking get louder. "I think they're headed this way..."
Flame sighed as he referenced his partially filled map. "Let's take a slight detour... this way." At this point he was whispering.
Dusk sighed as he got out his Callahan. "Probably not going to lead to the exit."
As it turns out, according to what their auto-filling map told them, the way they went was full of dead-ends.
"Wait guys!" Blast had wandered into what looked like a washroom of some kind and was leaning close to the wall. "I feel a draft here. Maybe we can bomb our way out."
Dusk looks at Blast before looking at Flame. "If we want to get out of here ASAP, then we will have to do this. That, or risk going back and getting caught by whatever is here."
Flame sighs before looking at Blast. "Do it."
"Maybe... whatever landed here already went into the Everfree?" Applejack dared to ask her friends. They had found what appeared to be four impact marks on the main floor of the castle, close to what remained of a bedroom.
Pinkie bounced over, eye twitching. "Nope, they're still here, I just don't know where."
Rainbow sighed. "This is lame. It will take forever to comb this castle for whatever caused these marks."
"Maybe not..." Twilight was studying the ground when her horn sparked briefly. "Whatever landed here left traces of magic in their wake, like a breadcrumb trail. I think I can track it."
Fluttershy looked at her alicorn friend with worry. "D-do you think it's harmful?"
"Nope, this energy almost feels like a more processed form of the magic naturally in the air. All I have to do is lock-on to it and everything will--" She was interrupted by an audible explosion accompanied by the whole castle shaking.
Rarity gave an unladylike squeal. "What in Equestria was that? AH, DUST, GET A... ah... A-CHOO!"
Rainbow looked at Twilight with an impatient look. "We need that tracking spell or else whatever caused that is going to get away!"
"I almost got it... okay, I'm locked-on. Let's go girls."
Pinkie's ears start flapping. "Oh, flappy ears and pinchy sides. That means somepony made an overused joke!"
"Blast, how many times are you going to make that bad pun? You're beating a dead trojan." Dusk gave his overly happy squad-mate a glare through the disturbed dust.
"Aw come on Dusky, this moment was perfect for that joke!"
Flame was looking at the newly-blasted hole leading outside with curiosity. "That's odd... Nitronomes don't usually explode with that much force..."
Volt tapped Flame's shoulder with a panicked look. "W-what if s-someones h-heard that?"
Flame snapped out of his stupor. "Right, we need to leave NOW. Dusk, Blast, stop squabbling at each other and get moving!" Dusk gave Blast one more irritated glare before moving while the latter countered with a happy look.
As they skirted around the perimeter of the castle, they heard the voices shouting something inside. Quickening their pace, they crossed a rickety-looking bridge, much to Volt's displeasure, before finally clearing the tree line.
Flame looks around, deep in thought. "All these trees look the same... easy to get lost in, even with our area map."
Dusk looked back where they entered the forest from. "We should probably stick close to the tree line. We might find a cave to set up camp in."
"Or we could just go down into that ravine!" Blast pointed to what looked like a small cave system underneath the castle they were just in.
Flame looks at it. "That could work, but for now, it's a little too close for comfort to whoever is in the castle. Let's explore the parameter of the forest, if only to fill our maps in, then come back and set up camp."
Delta Squad agreed unanimously, with some hesitation on Volt's part, before heading further into the forest. They kept a careful eye on their mini-map as they explored the unfamiliar terrain.
"Geeze, The Gloaming Wildwoods have nothing on this place. I'm so used to having flat ground all the way through an area that places like this throw me for a loop," Blast said out loud.
Dusk had his Riftlocker out in case some beast-like creatures decided to attack them. "Not to mention all of the possible hiding places for creatures to utilize to their advantage."
"True. Keep a weapon out at all times." Flame had brought out his Blitz Needle. Blast shrugged and switched to his Dark Briar Barrage while Volt brought out his Sudaruska due to his lack of a piercing weapon.
There were many times when Delta Squad aimed their weapons at what sounded like rustling bushes in false alarm. Flame quickly switched his Blitz Needle out for his Furious Flamberge, not willing to risk filling an innocent creature with piercing energy needles.
This continued for a while until they heard a scream from deeper in the forest.
"Sounds like someone is in trouble! We need to help them!" Blast had already started running towards the source.
Dusk didn't look too pleased. "We still shouldn't come into contact with--"
"Dusk, they could be innocent beings with no way to defend themselves. As knights, we have to protect them no matter the cost!" Volt was the one to interrupt Dusk before running after Blast.
Flame casts a worried glance at Dusk before running after their squad mates. Dusk grumbled before taking off as well. "Sometimes I think we take our duties as knights just a little too seriously..."
Volt quickly caught up to Blast right before they reached a clearing. There were three small creatures that looked vaguely like the statues in the castle surrounded by wooden constructs that had a resemblance to wolvers.
One construct leaped at the creatures in the middle as they huddled together, screaming. Both Volt and Blast realized they couldn't make it in time to block or interrupt the attack.
Until a golden-white bullet streaked past them and hit the wooden wolver in the head, causing the creature to burst into wooden fragments.
"That might of been my best shot yet," Dusk stated with a hint of pride in his voice as he blew the smoke away from the muzzle of his Argent Peacemaker. He was quite the distance away, yet he could see and shoot into the clearing just fine.
While the wooden wolvers were confused, Flame had rendezvoused with Volt and the both of them proceeded to shield-bash their way into the clearing before taking up back-to-back positions with the small creatures in-between them, Combuster and Sudaruska at the ready. Blast and Dusk quickly joined them as the circle was closed by the constructs.
"W-what's going on?" Flame and Dusk resisted it, but Volt and Blast gave the creature who spoke a curious look. It sounded... SHE sounded like a young child.
'So they DO talk', Flame thought before refocusing on the things that surrounded them.
Because of the tight formation and the patience to wait out their prey, he knew these things were more intelligent than the monsters in the Clockworks. Yet one shot from the Argent Peacemaker was enough to disassemble one, despite the gun's weaker individual bullets. He entertained the thought of taking out his Wildfire to take advantage of their apparent fragility before discarding it and sticking to his sword.
"Blast, I want you to lay down as many Deadly Crystal Bombs as you can while Dusk and I fight them, I want minimal collateral damage. Volt, stay by the children and make sure they remain uninjured. Lash out as you see fit."
No words were spoken and Flame knew they understood.
The 'wolvers' attacked after Dusk got the first shot off with his Arcana. Most of them were focused on Flame, Dusk, and Blast, as they were the active attackers and the biggest threats. A few of them tried attacking the children in the middle, but they quickly got deconstructed by Volt's blade. Volt kept them mostly safe by keeping them behind his sideways-turned Ironmight Plate Shield and deflecting any attacks that came from above or the other direction.
Flame was dodging strikes left and right as he countered with quick sword swings. He even managed to split one directly in half, discovering that the 'wolvers' were completely made of wood, unlike lumbers. He didn't have time to think about it as one of the strikes connected with his side, injuring him a bit.
Dusk wasn't faring any better, as gunners are lightly armored and more about doing damage from behind their allies. He got many glancing blows before he switched to his Hail Driver and froze some of the 'wolvers' in place for some crowd control, preventing himself from getting ran over.
Blast was having the best luck. Due to the tricky nature of shard bombs, he had taken out most of the competition before any of the 'wolvers had a chance to strike. He kept moving while humming a happy tune, occasionally snickering at an unfortunate victim an out of place shard explosion.
"Alright, just a few more to go." Flame was slightly panting and he was covered in scratches, some deeper than others and leaked a blue liquid energy. However, right as soon as he got ready to strike that last few, he saw one of the ones he busted earlier reconstruct itself. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
"The gremlins would kill to have constructs that reconstruct themselves..." Dusk slid back to Volt and the children with Flame and Blast.
Flame remembered what he saw earlier. "They are made completely out of wood. I think the only way to put them down permanently is to ignite them, yet I don't fancy starting a forest fire."
"T-then what should we do?" Volt's bravado was starting to fade.
Flame gave Blast a 'look' and the bomber nodded. Flame turns to the children they were protecting. "I can only think of one thing. Apologies in advance for what we are about to do." All he got were looks of fear and confusion.
"Ready!" Blast was holding a primed Shivermist Buster over his head. Flame looked at Volt and Dusk and they nodded as well before looking in the direction they came from. Sitting near the 'wolvers' paws was a ticking Nitronome, sitting there now because of Blast's 'bowling-bomb' trick
The ensuing explosion was enormous, but it was the signal.
"NOW!" Flame, Dusk, and Volt picked up the orange, yellow, and white beings respectively, enticing a few squeaks and cry's of surprise, and dashed through the opening the blast gave them. Blast started laying down Shivermist Busters to freeze any pursuers as they ran back to the ravine they designated as their campsite.
As Delta Squad retreated, the confused whines and yips followed them as the 'wolvers' found ice creeping up their legs and keeping them in place.
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What are the Spiral Knights? Are they a video game? A cartoon? A movie?
Video game on steam and a good one, basically you're a 'knight' on the planet and roam dungeons FOREVER :p I like it quite alot though it seems to be killer on my hard drive right now : / though laptop explains alot.
;ajf;oiawehf;ai Starlight you're name is literally the reversal of my oc (check my pick, it's the foal next to the stallion in the top hat)
I'm gonna have to apologize for the accidental publishing of 'Out of the castle and into the forest. I have no idea what I did, but i guess I hit publish instead of save.
I apologize for this immensely and will try to have the proper chapter up by tomorrow.
5615628 It's a really fun F2P game on steam. I play it myself.
5616857 Good. I am LOVING this story so far!