Strike 43- A New Journey Part 1
When Lightning Strikes- A New Journey Part 1
Sumeragi Headquarters
Over the past few weeks, after their partnership with the criminal known as the Countess, Sumeragi had been operating in secret while the public’s attention was on her recent string of incidents in Sun Fransokyo. Their leader, Nova, was hopeful of the organization's success. Even with the defeat of both Hot Spot, who was in charge of their weapons manufacturing operations and also another villain that was another pony he trusted named Third Eye; who was assigned with the crucial job of establishing and protecting the Amaterasu Radio Tower in Seaddle, Nova refocused on the options he still had remaining along the east coast of Equestria. This included Merak’s ocean base along the coast of Baltimare and also the operations of two other main storage facilities used by Sumeragi for different ponies.
There was knock on the door to his office as Nova soon spoke, not even turning to the door. “Enter.” He boldly stated, followed by the doors widely opening as the earth pony soldier that was once outside his office soon stepped inside.
“Master Nova, I bear some unfortunate news…” The Earth Pony spoke. “First and foremost, in an altercation with the Adept known as Gunvolt in Sun Fransokyo, our newest ally known as the Countess was captured by the hero team named Mane Hero 6 and her colleagues are at Power Pony HQ in critical condition…” This did not cause Nova to budge as he still looked outside the window of his office and looked across the sky and the endless domain of clouds.
“That is… rather unfortunate… but we right now already got what we needed from them. Her and her allies are no longer needed at this stage in our plans.” He knew that the pony was a lieutenant because of the reflection of the pony’s ranking patch along the right foreleg in the window in front of him. “Tell Zonda to drop the Countess and her colleagues from the active roster and-.”
“Actually… there was something else that needed to be addressed,” The soldier added on. “Around the same time that she was captured… One of our convoys that was delivering supplies to Merak’s operations was attacked. Evidence indicates that the assault was carried out by an adept with a Septima we have yet to identify. When we sent a recon team to investigate, we found the supply convoy sliced apart and several soldiers inside impaled by swords made of ice along with this symbol frozen on the inner wall.” The picture soon emerged in front of Nova after the soldier pressed a button on his foreleg that had it emerge in front of him. “We have tried multiple times in order to contact Merak about the situation, but we have lost contact with him some time after finding this. He’s been radio silent for the past few hours. How should we proceed?” Processing all of this inside his head, Nova had to put together a few different pieces together… and all of them lead back to the symbol that was presented to him.
“We shall treat this like any other threat. Whoever these ponies are, they cannot be allowed to interfere with our operations. Is that recon team that reached the convoy still in the field?” Nova asked, turning his head to see that the soldier nodded his head. “Have them try to establish manual contact with Merak and his team at the Aquabase, but proceed with caution. If this Adept that’s on the loose is still out there and approaches you, take them out. They don’t seem to be the cooperative type given the evidence presented, so use whatever methods you have at your disposal to dispose of it.”
“Yes sir.” The pony acknowledged, leaving the room with a salute as it walked down the hall. Unknown to Nova though, the pony was grinning as the small reflection of a mirror glimmered in the darkened hallway.
The Mighty had been fooled. For the mirror belonged to the adept that went by the name known as Zonda… and he believed that Nova was a fool. Foolish enough to trust him… and foolish enough to allow for him to add new and eagers souls to his cause. For when the time was right… The love of Eden will spread through the world like wildfire… and cleanse the unclean.
Power Pony HQ
It had been a couple of days since the events that rocked the city of Sun Fransokyo and since then, things had began to calm down. Octavia was living with Vinyl while she was helping Mane Hero 6 with cleaning up the damage left behind by the attacks with the Countess and her allies. Speaking of which, some of those same ponies were in the infirmary in order to get out the bombs that were implanted inside their heads. Lance believed like with the ponies that were with Sparkler and Ash, all of them deserved a second chance. But in order to get that chance, they need to surgically remove the bombs before they could help out.
It was in that time that Lance had also tried to reach Max and Seph, but was unsuccessful in reaching them. It just made him wonder what was going on in Max’s world… but right now, the Azure Striker was in the control room and right now, an idea came to his mind as he spoke up. “Hey Aurora, are you busy right now?”
“A bit. Working on learning programs for Lola. Cause she’ll need to learn about stuff I haven’t implanted into her yet.” Aurora stated. “Why? Is there something you need?”
“Actually, it was something I just thought about that I wanted your input on,” The Azure Striker spoke up. “Remember how you can possess electronics? What if we can come up with some new gadgets that you can interact with in the field and expand what you can do in the field?” He had thought of this when watching Humdrum trying to experiment with some gadgets of his own, only to end up having to do multiple test runs after the first few of them blew up in his face.
“Huh, that’s a good idea. Would you carry them, though?” Aurora asked.
“That’s the thing. We’ll need to find a way to make them portable so I can put it inside my coat. I thought of one idea though that you might like since it can give you more space to move around and a little more freedom in the process.” He told her, taking a deep breath before speaking again and pulling up an image on his armband. “Are you familiar with quadcopter drones? Like those miniature helicopters the military or army would use?”
“Uh… No…” Aurora stated, annoyed.
“Well, they’re small portable devices that can fly through the air very fast. Not to mention that some can be equipped with cameras and in some cases, weapons. I thought that if you could be able to control one of these, not only can reconnaissance be easier, but you can also assist in taking down and capturing bad guys too.” He explained to her before dismissing the image. “I just thought you wanted to have a bit more freedom than just be standing still inside a computer monitor like with the last few missions. I think we can even add a cloaking device to the drone so nopony can see you fly around.”
“Okay! But it’d have to be light in order to keep it flying.” Aurora stated. “Anything else?”
“That… I’m going to let you come up with,” He said to her, surprising her in the process. “I thought that the best way to come up with gadgets that you can interact with is for you to come up with them yourself. You know your powers better than I do, so I thought you can come up with them. I wanted to have these gadgets so that way you have something to interact with if you happen to come with me next time a Displaced summons me.”
“Come with you?”
“Think of it… The only times that you have been able to come along have been to places where there has been some form of technological equipment for you to interact with. Unfortunately, that only has been when we went to see Max and a couple other of occasions. And if I have more tools in your arsenal you can interact with, we can be able to work more as a team in other places… Besides, it must be boring having to stay here anytime I get summoned right?” Lance told her, thinking that Aurora would agree with him on that subject.
“You rarely take me along anyways…” Aurora deadpanned.
“I know and I want to change that.” Lance told her as he had his arms at his sides. “You have been a MAJOR help for me in the field and to me, you’re more than a partner Aurora. You’re a really good friend that has really helped me in a lot of sticky situations and I am really grateful for that. I just want to be able to take you with me more often so you can help me even when I’m not in Maretropolis.”
“Okay… I’ll need Humdrum for it, though.” She said to him in response while finishing the last few bits needed for the algorithm she was working on for Lola.
“I think he was in his room last time I saw him. He’s been trying to work on some gadgets himself… and yet in the trial runs, some of his devices have blown up in his face.” He said, just as they heard another small explosion from Humdrum’s workshop. “Case in point…” Followed by a huge cloud of white smoke as Humdrum soon emerged with a fire extinguisher in hand as he had to blow the white powder from his eyes.
“How hard can it be to make something that doesn’t blow up in your own face!?!” He groaned, trying to clean up the mess that he made accidently.
“Yeah… I think he may need some assistance. Despite his talent, he can’t do everything himself.” The Adept mentioned to Aurora. “Of course, that’s when you’re done with what you are working on with Lola.”
“I suppose. Anyways, I’ve got other projects, like… Stuff.” Aurora stated boredly. “Like locating a new base for your new team, telling Ash and the others, get something together to track adepts, and lastly something to get Octavia blood supplies.”
“Just take it one step at a time. That’s how I do things in the field and it works for me.” He advised her so she didn’t have to take on too many things at once.
“Lance, I’m doing them all right now. Well, most of them anyways. I don’t know how, but my brain's processing has been speeding up lately and I’ve learned how to do four things at once. Weird, right?” Aurora laughed nervously.
“Yeah… Just make sure to take breaks. Even if you think you can take things on like that, it also leaves a bit of a margin for error,” Lance told her, before feeling something pull at his shoulders. It was a familiar feeling to him and all it did was make him sigh to himself. “Well, speak of the devil… Aurora, we may need to pick up on this conversation later. Someone Is summoning me now… First time someone has in a few weeks.”
“Good luck, Lance. Oh, and I’ll tell the others of your plan for a new team.” Aurora stated, in which Lance acknowledged shortly before he disappeared in a flash of lightning and leaving a burn mark on the ground… which only made Humdrum more agitated.
“Oh come on! I just cleaned this floor an hour ago!!!”
In a flash of light, The Azure Striker found himself in an unusually large room completely made of marble and with red tapestry hanging from the walls that had the emblazoned emblem of a golden phoenix. It was definitely different from what he was used to, but whoever summoned him did have class to say the least.
“It seems your the one my spell has summoned here,” A voice called out, he turned to see a tall bird like hybrid in golden armor as wings of fire came from behind him as he slowly turned around to face the creature.
“Would you happen to be the one who summoned me?” Lance asked him. He was rather curious to hear what the response would be from this… individual. He assumed that it was a male from it’s voice, but back where he was from, not always is everything what it seems to be.
“I am and I’m in need of your help,” The figure told him in response, which prompted Lance in order to come up with a follow up question to say in response to the avian like figure.
“Okay, but could you please tell me your name first?” He asked for inquiry. It would be best for him to know the name of the one who asked for his help and summoned him here. After all, some would see the motion as being polite.
“I am Zsoltan, the newest member of the Elder Siblings, and as for why I called you here it’s because I need your help to find my mentor; Lord Suicune, who resides in an unknown world. The other Elders have deemed him a traitor even though he hasn’t committed any crimes whatsoever and are offering a price for his head,” he explained.
“I’m not a bounty hunter, I’m a hero back where I’m from and I don’t capture or kill for profit-.” Before he could finish, Zsoltan raised his hand in response, which had Lance stop speaking so he could listen to what he had to say.
“I’m not asking for you to hunt him. What I want is for you to warn him about what’s going to happen. This world is a prison for those who fall prey to the mysterious email they receive, therefore I cannot leave this world without a means of transportation which is forbidden here. But you can, you can deliver my message to him, before it’s too late. He must live to save both worlds, for I fear if he doesn’t live than not only my world will continue to worsen, but your world may suffer the same fate.” That part definitely caught the Adept’s attention. If anything were to happen to his world, then that would mean that other worlds would be next… including Max and Seph. This was definitely a task that wasn’t going to be easy, but to him, this was important and something he can’t ignore.
“He isn’t strong enough to fight the other Elders, but if he has some help, than he may have a chance to save our corrupt system.”
“Then where can I find him,” He responded, surprising Zsoltan in the process. “And what exactly would I be up against? Because it feels as if the moment I go looking for him, anyone else who is looking for him will consider me as a target. The more prepared I am, the more likely I can get your message across to your Mentor.” That, had surprised Zsoltan. He didn’t even get to finish fully trying to convince the Adept to help him before he said yes. Whoever this was, he seemed rather determined to do the right thing.
And that was the kind of person he was looking for. “I admire your courage, but as I said before I don’t know where he is, but I do know someone who could help you, but I warn you she can be a bit… quirky ever since he left.” He explained. That made Lance curious, having him think to himself before responding to him.
“Can she find out where his last known whereabouts were?” Lance then asked him. Around now was when he noticed something in particular with this… Zsoltan character. That over the course of this conversation, he never asked for his own name. He would’ve thought that he would’ve wanted to know that first. Even if he did not use his token to summon him here.
“She’s the only one to know, but she wiped her hard drive when he departed to the other world, but I think you can activate her backup drive.”
“Trust me when I say this… Something that may be wiped isn’t fully gone and some have a tendency to leave a trail behind.” He said, looking at Zsoltan as there was a bit of electricity coming off of his hands. “But before we start… let me ask you something… How come you didn’t ask for my name when I first arrived here?”
“Because I already know who you are, Lance Walker. I have special insight that allows me to see into other worlds, but I’ve never had to use it until now.” He explained to him, clearing up some of the confusion that was in the Azure Striker’s head before continuing with what he was saying. “Anyway, I believe we should get to the point, her name is Exuberant Witness and she’ll be here shortly. I want you to take her with you. She can help you find Lord Suicune, wherever he may be.”
When he heard the request to take this person with him, the Adept soon became concerned. Sure, she can be a help… but it will divert his attention to not only finding this Lord Suicune, but also making sure she was protected as well. It would all depend on who or what this Exuberant Witness was and if it was possible for her to defend herself. “And how long until she arrives here?”
“It shouldn’t be much longer, but once she gets here I want you to be calm. She has been having troubles as of late,” Zsoltan advised him, after all this was a stranger he hasn’t met yet, but the Adept was unsure by what exactly he meant by troubles. Sure, someone can have troubles, but what kind of troubles was something else.
It wasn’t long until humming echoed throughout the room, soon the one known as Exuberant Witness entered the room. “Oh, Lord Zsoltan I wasn’t expecting you to bring a guest.” When Lance first saw the Exuberant Witness, he was surprised honestly. He was expecting a person at first, but it turned out that the witness was actually an AI core. But something told him that there was more to her than meets the eye.
“Exuberant, this is Lance Walker, he’ll be taking you to find Lord Suicune. I suggest you get your little project that you’ve been meaning to try.” That made Lance raise an eyebrow as he heard that. What did he exactly mean by ‘project’? And how exactly was it going to help them? “I’m sure you're curious about her project, she has been working on building her very own body.”
Now that reminded him of Aurora for a bit as he looked back at her before looking back at Zsoltan. “Her own body? I know I’m in no position to judge, but I’m curious as to why would she need her own body.”
“Must you really ask that? I’ve done nothing but float around for the past two thousand years. So yes I think it’s time for me to actually have a body!!” She shouted, causing both of them to back up just a bit by her outburst.
“Like I said, I’m not judging. I was just curious. Sometimes, the more information I have to process, the easier a task is for me.” The Adept explained to her, smiling a bit. “I’m not trying to ruin things for you.” Exuberant Witness really reminded him of Aurora because of her enthusiasm and temper. And in a way, he felt happy for her that she was getting her own body after so long. “Speaking of tasks… maybe we should begin focusing on the task at hand now that you’re here.”
“Hand? What do you mean by hand? Are you implying that because I don’t have hands?” she asked as her usual purple eye changed to a dark shade of red. Zsoltan couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he watched her temper rise.
“Like I told you she has been having troubles controlling her emotions ever since Lord Suicune has left, but her new body should help her control them to some degree,” Zsoltan explained.
“Ah. My apologies then,” He then replied before looking back at Exuberant Witness. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I was just using a figure of speech. What I mean is-.”
“I know, I was just teasing you,” She laughed. “I’ll be back momentarily, I need to upload my schematics to my lovely body.” Okay, now that part was not like Aurora. In fact, it reminded him more of Max than anything else. But what she said also meant that he and Zsoltan could be discussing something in preparation for the journey ahead.
Yet, it was also now that someone… else was awake as Lance felt a bit of movement in his hair and looked up to see Lumen, his Breezie companion, waking up a bit before looking at Lance, yawning a little. “Uh… Lance? Where the hay are we?”
“What a peculiar creature? Tell me what is it?” Before Lance could respond, he heard Lumen personally sound scared as she hid behind him.
“Lance, he’s not going to eat me now, is he?” She asked, sounding worried. At this, Lance just chuckled as he facepalmed himself.
“No, Lumen. Zsoltan summoned us and he needed my help with something important,” He told her, before looking at him and answering Zsoltan’s question. “Lumen here is a breezie. She’s been helping me out a lot and was actually the first person I met after getting displaced and like me, she’s… special.”
“Interesting,” It wasn’t long until he began hearing footsteps. “I believe that is Exuberant on her way up.” Lumen was going to ask something, but instead just kept it to herself as the Adept turned around towards the direction in which he heard the footsteps from. Soon, a blue android entered the room, looking back towards both of them.
“Ah, Exuberant I presume?” Zsoltan asked.
“Yes it’s me Zsoltan and I’m ready to go now.” She answered as the synthetic soon noticed the little small wisp by Lance’s head that was Lumen.
“W-who is that?” she asked, a bit scared by Witness’ new appearance as the Adept she was with sighed a little.
“That’s Exuberant Witness… She’s going to be helping us right now.” Lance replied, taking the chance to give her a simplified version of what was going on before looking back at the android. “Well, if everything is in order then, how are we going to find Lord Suicune?”
Just as they were about to leave, alarms began to go off, frightening Lumen as Zsoltan got up from his chair and pulled out a golden curved sword. “You three need to get out of here right now!”
“What about you?!” Lance shouted, worried for him as he felt Exuberant grab hold of his wrist tightly. “We can’t just leave you behind!!”
“Listen, I didn’t tell you this, but the Elder Siblings have decided to release an old foe of ours four thousand years ago. I’ve only heard of them from legends, but they have been the Displaced greatest enemy before we locked them away and they’ll attempt to kill Lord Suicune.” Zsoltan explained as the doors began to shudder from the loud banging.
“Who’s that suppose to be-!?” Lumen said before hearing something break. Now Lance was concerned as he looked around and told Lumen to stay with him. Looking at him, the breezie listened as the Adept told him one last thing before he followed Exuberant.
“Thank you… I won’t let you down, Zsoltan… Be safe.” With that, he turned towards the android and bolted down the hall as she closed a door behind him. “Lead the way, Exuberant.”
“Listen, we need to head to a secluded area where I can activate my teleporter,” She explained to him, as they took a right turn down the hall.
“Can someone please explain what is happening!?” Lumen asked, partially panicking now. “And who was that old foe that Zsoltan was trying to tell us?!!”
“It’s enemy from not only Lord Suicune’s past, but mine as well. They were known as Prometheans and they were all created by a Displaced named Warden Eternal, but he was defeated before the third war with Vlitra…..Why would Lord Yasha want to release him?” She wondered as she opened a blast door. Now though, Lance thought this over and then realized something. Church gave him a collection of weapons that he never happened to use yet, but he did take some of the weapon mechanics of some of them and turned them into bolts.
And now seemed like a perfect time to use them. “Whatever the case is, if it’s a fight that they want, then they got another thing coming. Are we getting closer to where you need to set up the teleporter?” He asked, preparing his weapon with one of the custom bolts he forged called the “Carbine” just in case if their pursuers got through the door.
“Don’t worry we’re here,” She said, as a holo projection of a keypad appeared from her wrist and began typing as fast as she could. Lumen looked around the room as Lance held his ground as he heard loud pounding coming outside the doors.
“There’s nothing in here!! Where’s the teleporter?!!” Lumen shouted, panicking as she flew around, as Exuberant typed faster.
“I’m working as fast as I can! It ain’t easy using this new body you know. I’m trying to activate right now!” She explained, just as Lance began to hear voices outside the door.
“YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE US!!!” Yup, definitely not a good sign at this rate. Given the circumstances they were in though, the Adept decided to try and figure out a way to buy Exuberant some time. And the best way for him to do that was to add a powerful electrical charge to the blast door. So that was anytime one of those creeps did slam it, they would be greeted with a powerful electric shock that might disrupt their systems since it was with the same amount of power as an EMP or plasma blast. But this was just focused on the door itself and not on anything in the room that could disable what was protecting them from everything outside.
“Okay, I tried to buy us some more time! How much longer until that teleporter is ready?” Lance asked, hurrying over back to where Exuberant was at.
“It’s ready, but we need to go now!” Without hesitation, Lance went to the android and prepared himself to go through the teleporter with Exuberant next to him.
Soon the doors burst open as a Promethean Knight, roared in rage as it charged. Lance turned around, drew his weapon and fired at the knight’s exposed chest several times and throwing a flash grenade for added effect. “Let’s go!” He yelled, leaping through the teleporter before any of the other prometheans can regain their vision and chase after them.
“Let them go…..they don’t even realize that they’re playing right into my hands,” The tall Promethean said as it entered the room.
“Of course Warden,” One of the other soldiers replied, walking over the fallen body of one of their own as the Warden noticed it on the ground before it began to degenerate until nothing was left. Whoever was in the room at the time… just killed one of their own. That to him… was a concern. But only just a concern. Especially with what he had in store for them.
Those two will lead us straight to Suicune...it’s only a matter of time.
When Lance was able to get back on solid ground, he found himself in a totally different place. Not like where he originally was just a few moments ago. Unlike when he was talking with Zsoltan and Exuberant, which took place indoors, they were now outside… in the middle of a huge and big forest no less. Lumen herself was trying to get her senses together while Lance was looking to make sure that Exuberant made it through the Teleporter with them. “Exuberant, you alright?”
“I’m alright….it’s just hard to imagine that the Elder Siblings would risk releasing them,” Exuberant said, as she looked towards Lance as a sly grin appeared on her cybernetic face. The Adept offered a hand to help her up, hoping for it to be a kind gesture to her.
But he soon received a surprise hug from the android. Which caught him by surprise… especially since his arms and the rest of his body were locked in an extra tight vice grip because of that single gesture. “Uhh… ouch?”
“Thanks for helping me get out~” she said, seductively.
“Uhh… You’re welcome?” He gulped, still not budging from the way she was holding onto her. Good lord, Exuberant was now reminding him of his fiance more and more the longer she was helping him. And he wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing.
“So where are we exactly?” Lumen asked, as she flew out of Lance’s hair once more. Looking around as her body faintly began to glow a little and provide some light.
“I… don’t know, Lumen.” Lance said as Exuberant loosened her grip on him as the Adept turned around to face the android. “Do you possibly know where we are, Exuberant?”
“From my calculations I think we’re on planet Equus….” she answered.
“Hang on… Like a different Equus than the one we’re familiar with?” Lumen asked, only getting a nod from Lance in response. He soon noticed a sign on the ground as he walked over to it and looked at what was on the wooden board. Reading the words Everfree Forest across the front of it as he set it back down.
“Guess we’re in a place called the Everfree Forest…” The Adept said, based on what he knew and also the wooden board he found. “Now how do we proceed?”
“Well… uh… funny you should ask?” she said, fiddling with her fingers. That had the Adept think of something for a moment as he looked around his surroundings. Listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the environment of the forest around him before coming to one solid conclusion.
“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” The Adept asked, before turning around and not seeing anyone there. “Nope, guess not.”
“Uh...no the thing is I don’t know where he is exactly…. I only knew that he was on this world after upgrading my hard drive. I did managed to retrieve a few photos to give you a clue about what he looks like.” She explained. That did help, but the Azure Striker needed to analyze the photo’s first before trying to piece everything together.
“May I see them?” He asked politely, she handed him the photos of this Lord Suicune. Each one of these looked to be in a different location, but there was one feature in each of the images that did stand out to him upon observing its contents. Each one of these shots showed him nearby a big open lake with some trees along one side of it. It made sense to him, since Suicune is a water type pokemon. The question though… is where was the lake?
“From what I can understand it’s only images from my memories. I vaguely remember him since I was told to wipe my hardrive,” She replied to him, which was understandable given the circumstances. Fortunately though, there was only one possible way out of the forest. So by sticking with the path in front of them, they would find themselves out in the clearing soon enough.
“Well we better get out of here soon, the last thing we need is to run into trouble,” Lumen said, flying around Lance’s head as the two of them followed the pathway out of the Everfree. It took them ten to fifteen minutes on foot in order to get out of the woods and enter an open clearing, but in that time they covered a substantial amount of ground… and Lance was surprised at what was waiting at the end of it.
It was the lake. Like the one from the photographs. He even cross referenced the two to make sure that he arrived at the right place. “Do you think this is the place, Exuberant?”
“It looks similar, but the lake in the photo was from my world.” she said.
“No two worlds are exactly the same, yet sometimes, certain things can bare a similar resemblance if you take the time to analyze it long enough,” It was then that the Adept also happened to notice what appeared to be a cave near one side of the lake. If his assumptions were correct, then there was a possibility that the person they were looking for was just inside that cave. The only way they were going to find out though was by going to have a look for himself. “Can you stay here? I want to take a closer look.”
“Alright, but I don’t think he’s here, after the first Displaced war he…. Changed.” Lance looked back at her for a moment, wondering about what she meant before he walked closer. For one thing, he did feel that something was in there. But he wasn’t sure about what that something was. Another things was that he was confused as to why these Displaced had gone to war in the first place? Was it a dispute? A crusade? What would justify such acts of war? And… were the prometheans somehow involved?
“What happened to cause this war?” Lumen asked, leading to Lance facepalming. He was trying to be discreet since it was possible that Exuberant’s memories of the war vanished along with the wiping of her main hard drive, but curiosity got the better of the Breezie than self control.
“I’m not sure if she really wants to talk about that, Lumen.” Lance told her, despite what the Breezie said next.
“Come on! Aren’t you the least bit curious.”
“Yes, but I rather be respectful. Some subjects such as that may be hard for someone in order to talk about. Back where I’m from, some soldiers returning from war get post traumatic stress if they’re asked to recall on such things.” Lance informed her. “And with Exuberant having to erase her main hard drive, she might not recall as much information on the subject.”
“I wasn’t part of the first war considering it happened over four thousand years ago, but I know enough to at least give you a general idea.” she said, pulling up her holo projector. “When the Elder Siblings first founded the realm of the Displaced, there was a total of Eleven leading and back than there was a total of 400,000 Displaced back then. But as after a century had passed the one named Warden Eternal had discovered a way to make Prometheans and that’s when he became corrupted with the idea of power and managed to convince four of the other Elders to join him. 150,000 lives were lost in the first war and The Warden and the other four were imprisoned by the remaining Siblings.” It was hard to believe that someone would go as far as kill so many people. Lance and Lumen could hardly believe it as Exuberant went on.
“I may not know much about Lord Suicune like I used to, but the first war changed him after seeing so many lives die. Than we have the next wars roll in and it only made things worse for the Displaced. We’ve only had peace for about a century, but now possible the universe is at stake now. I can’t tell you about the other two wars, but what I can tell you is that The Prometheans are dangerous and if we don’t Lord Suicune than everyone in this world, my world, and your world will suffer the same fate.” She stated loud and clear as she began to head down the same path that would hopefully lead them towards a town. Lance took one last glance at the lake, before following after Exuberant.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lance replied back. “But I have seen war like this before… so I know how he might feel.” With is, he looked around, trying to see if there was any possible sightings of the person they were looking for. Most of the ponies that were there were quadruped like the ones on his world. But their presence seemed to possible startle them. Perhaps even scare them with the frightful look he was seeing in there eyes.
“Lord Suicune was here, since my detectors are picking up a trace of a Displaced, and from the readings it’s very strong,” Exuberant explained as she closed her holo projector. “I suggest we avoid any contact with these ponies…” He did agree with her on that point, but he had a feeling that avoiding any contact with them was next to impossible. Especially if he thought that Pinkie Pie was out trotting around. Lumen herself just continued to hide in Lance’s hair as the two went around the perimeter of the town while Exuberant kept track of the trace she was picking up.
“Lance? Are you sure we can’t just leave? I mean this isn’t really our fight?” Lumen asked.
“Lumen, if this isn’t stopped now, then those prometheans may come for our world next,” Lance told her. “We need to stop them now and to do that, we must find Suicune.”
“Alright, but let’s try to hurry please...I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Lumen told him as Lance assured her that he was going to be fine. As long as the two of them stayed together, they could get through anything.
“Damn it! The trail ends here, it doesn’t make any sense. My new body’s detector should have led us to him, but instead were left at the center of a pit.” Now that definitely caught his attention.
“Do you think something might have happened here?” Lumen asked, peeking her head out of Lances hair for a small minute.
“If I had to guess a fight must have broke out a few days ago seeing that this pit is actually a crater.” She pointed out, looking at the ground and scanning the residue on the floor.
“He’s right, I’m picking traces of another Displaced here, but I don’t recognize it,” Exuberant said. Now that had Lance a little more concerned as he looked back at the her as the android was scanning.
“Where does it lead to?” He asked, fearing the worst as he looked around the area for any other signs of damage. If Exuberant could pick up the trace of the other displaced and this fight was going on right now, it meant that the adept needed to hurry if he were to reach Suicune in time.
“I don’t know, but it looks like it ended in a draw, meaning that this can’t be Lord Suicune, because if it was him than his trail would have still be intact. But then again, he could have been holding back,”
“I mean what direction.” The Adept interjected. “I got a bad feeling that something is happening and if we don’t act now, it may be too late for us to save him.” He wanted the answer to come out clearly. If he was given a direction, he can run and catch up before anything bad were to happen. But he needed to know about it and needed to know about it now. Because there was no time to lose.
“But like you said, this happened days ago, there isn’t a trail for me to follow. I can think of a few theories they could have either teleported or something must have taken them,” That was when Lance realized something… He remembered that he could trace energy signatures. Placing his hand on the ground of the crater, he closed his eyes and felt the two traces that she was referring to… but felt something else too. Those same traces… just farther away from where they presently were. One was weak and the other was stronger than it. He didn’t want to second guess anything and instead, opened his eyes.
“Found them…” He said to himself, looking back at Exuberant. “Stay here for now… I don’t want you getting hurt in the process.” With that, Lance placed his index and middle fingers from his right hand on the front of his forehead and transmitted himself to the location of the two energy sources. Meeting the Displaced Majin Buu helped the Adept learn how to read energy and also how to use Instant Transmission. Meaning it wasn’t long until he arrived at the two sources he detected.
Just as he got there though, what he saw… startled him. “I don’t know why you would bother challenging me again Monster X after you humiliated yourself a few days ago.”
“Our previous battle was only a minor setback, but this time I didn’t come alone,” With a snap of his fingers two Promethean soldiers and three Knights warped behind X.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Lance groaned. “I thought I had to deal with enough of those guys already!”
“You're just a fool Monster X, if I wanted it, you’d be dead already,” Suicune stated, as his eyes began to glow. The ground began to shake as a blue aura formed around him. “It seems that I’ll have to show you the true meaning of fear, X!”
“Activate it now!” Monster X ordered as one of the Promethean soldiers activated two generators that sent an electric shock, paralyzing the Elder Sibling as he roared in agony. “Did you honestly think I was going to allow you to humiliate me again. Once I deliver you to the Elder Siblings they’ll make me one of them!”
Now was the time to act. “Oh HELL no you don’t!!!” Rushing in, massive amounts of electricity began to surge from him as massive static chains emerged from the ground as it struck the promethean soldiers and caught the Kaiju’s tail. This was only the first step in what came next as the Adept soon released a huge amount of power into obliterating the prometheans and their contraption.
By the time that the skill was complete, Lance was now back by Suicune’s side, but standing in front of him as he growled and gritted his teeth. “That was for what you did to Zsoltan, you heartless bastards.”
But Lance soon received a right hook from the Kaiju as it stood up unharmed. But it in itself did little to affect the Adept. Sure it was painful, but he ignored the pain because of the amount of anger he had.
“Did you honestly think that attack would affect me? HA! All you did was give me a power boost from both the electricity and radiation coming from those troops,” X stated.
However, all the kaiju saw was just Lance smirking as he said something that surprised him. “Who said that you were my target?” That was when X realized a little too late that the machine that once held down Lord Suicune was destroyed and nothing more than broken machinery as the pokemon itself got back on all fours.
“Your first mistake was underestimating this Displaced, and the second was to think that could hold me down forever!” Without a second thought Suicune unleashed a powerful air slash at the Kaiju, causing its armor to crack, feeling nothing, but pain.
“Damn You! This isn’t over just yet fools! Beast King it’s time!” X called out, soon a large humanoid lion came out of hiding with a vile smirk on it’s face.
“Hehehe...I thought you said you didn’t need my help X,” he stated.
“Just shut up and deal with that runt! Than help me finish off Suicune,” X said as he tackled Suicune further into the forest, devastating trees in their path. Lance himself had little time to react as he had to think of a way in order to take down Beast King. He felt that, given what X was capable of, a change in tactics may be necessary. But he wanted to know the full extent of what he was dealing with first.
“Hehehehe….looks like I get to enjoy playing with you, Runt!” Beast King said with glee as his claws came out. “Lion Slash!”
Multiple waves of air slashes appeared in the air as Lance used his speed to dodge it and get behind him. He didn’t attack though, because he wanted to analyze how quick his reaction time was and how long it would take for him to notice where he was at.
The power of Beast King’s attack made a clean slice through dozens of trees. If he had been caught in that attack than he would have been killed for sure. “Hahahaha! I take it you're impressed by my power? I’ll let you in on a little secret, that was only a taste of what I’m capable of…” Oh he knew that already… and he had an idea of how to deal with him quickly. But unlike a friend of his back in his world, he couldn’t defeat the beast king in one punch… But he could do it in a single attack once he had the right amount of power. Now, he had to focus on looking for potential weak points.
The Beast King could only smirk as he walked towards the Azure Striker. “For a runt, you’re fast,” With a quick blow to his chest he sent Lance hurdling towards a tree, causing it to crack on impact. “But not fast enough!” Yet when he did hit him though, he got a powerful shock of electricity through the arm he used to hurt him, making it numb and unable to move on his own.
“You're only making this more enjoyable runt, I still have one arm and two feet to use.” That Lance knew and it was also something he was going to change. Despite the Beast King being mostly animal, he still had a human like bipedal structure. Meaning there were certain parts in the nervous system that he could disable with his electricity and make the Beast King unable to use his arms or claws. “What’s wrong? Cat got ya tongue?”
He soon stepped in a puddle of water, something that Lance did not see before, but must’ve formed when Suicune was there earlier. With quick thinking, he switched to his Vasuki Bolt clip and tagged the Beast King’s foot and electrocuted it with his septima. Sending massive waves of pain through the beast with the amount of electricity that was currently shocking him.
The Beast King collapsed to the ground, drenched in water as steam of smoke came off his body “Maybe next time you should be more aware of your surroundings instead of taunting others. Anything with water can easily react to electricity since the two don’t mix very well.” Now though, he had to see if everything was okay on Suicune’s end and if he was able to deal with the Kaiju he was facing earlier.
Before he knew it the Kaiju was sent flying to where The Beast King laid. Noticing the volts of Electricity on his body he absorbed the energy to increase his strength as much as possible, but he soon realized where Lance was standing and a vile smirk creeped across his face.
“Why didn’t I see this before? You are the edge I need to not only defeat Suicune, but to surpass the Elder Siblings!” He shouted as he tackled Lance to the ground and began to absorb the electric energy off of him. However, there was one thing that he did not know… and that Lance had remembered.
Two can play this game. And with a quick shot to the eyes, Lance grabbed hold of X’s head and began to re-absorb the electricity that it stole from him. With X blind, he could not see the adept and was flailing his arms aimlessly as the Adept recharged his strength before kicking the Kaiju off of him. “Hit him now!!” He yelled, noticing that Suicune was just returning back to where he was a few moments earlier.
At great speed, he soon vanished from his spot and appeared behind X as he tried to recover from Lance’s surprise counterattack. “I warned you not to underestimate this Displaced.”
With one final attack, Lord Suicune unleashed a powerful Hyper beam, incinerating the Kaiju to dust. Monster X was no more and the Beast King was done for the moment and just a roasted lion right now. Suicune soon turned towards Lance with a glare as he approached the young Adept. “Who are you?”
The Adept sighed, taking a moment to catch his breath before speaking. “My name is Lance Walker, but back in my world, I sometimes go by Gunvolt… Zsoltan sent me and Exuberant Witness to come find you.”
“Return home Lance Walker, you’ve done enough as it is,” Suicune said spitefully.
He shook his head, holstering his weapon before looking at Suicune. “I can’t. Not right now and not after getting this far. You’re needed right now and Zsoltan put his faith into me in order to find you before the prometheans could kill you! The Warden Eternal is free… and he is looking for us. We’re being hunted now… and if we don’t stop them now, they could hurt my world and many others next.”
“Do you think I care about him or your world? I’ve slayed hundreds of those Prometheans since they’ve arrived and I killed thousands of them during the war. I could care less about you or your world. My only concern is protecting this one and nothing else.” he stated loud and clear with a scuff.
That had Lance form a question then. “Then why did you care about me? I want to help you and even risk my life to help you because I know it’s doing the right thing. I don’t care if that Lord Yasha or whatever he is calls you a traitor, but I was asked to help you and I decided to do it because if I can’t help them… then who will?” The Adept then sighed as he caught his breath and looked back at him. “Zsoltan sacrificed himself to make sure I can find you… I’m not going to let that sacrifice be in vain.”
“You still don’t get it do you? He can’t die, he’s a Phoenix! All you’ve done was waste your time here. Also I never said that I cared about you. I said that X shouldn’t underestimate you. There’s a difference.”
“I know…” Lance told him, “And I don’t care about that… What I care about is making sure that not only this world is safe, but mine and many others are too… and I don’t care if I have to risk my own life in order for you to see it, but there is something that’s worth fighting for and I am not going back on what I promised. Because that would be me just lying to myself.”
“I see, well I’ve heard all that I need to hear from your arrogant mouth! All you care about is your world. Tell me if you didn’t have friends, family, or even a lover would you still protect that world? I said all that I need to.”
“I LOST ALL OF MINE BEFORE AND I AM NOT GOING TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!!” The outburst from the Adept caught Suicune off guard. “My life before this one… was sh*t… being displaced gave me the chance to start over… I saw wars start that began with a mere misunderstanding and how that tore apart everything… And I don’t want it to happen to any world after what I’ve seen.”
“SHUT UP!! You don’t know the first thing about loss kid. I have lost everything and I endured war for thousands of years. You know nothing! Go and protect your world and I’ll protect this one. They aren’t after you, they are after me. I’ll be returning to Canterlot and if you know what’s go for you than I would leave now and prepare for a war once again. Besides enduring it once nothing compared to what I’ve been through, ” With that said, Suicune was about to take off… until someone else decided to speak their mind.
“Alright, just WHAT THE HELL is wrong with you!?!” That did not come from Lance, but instead from Lumen as the Breezie furiously flew over and got in Suicune’s face. “Can’t you see that Lance and I are only trying to help you!?! You obviously know that this is something you can’t do alone, but you just ignore it and still charge into the fight anyway!! If it weren’t for Lance and I showing up when we did, you would've been captured by those freaks and this world would’ve been threatened by them!! Where’s your goddess damned respect, you jerk!?!!”
That… caught Lance off guard. He never actually would’ve expected Lumen of all people to do something like that… Like at all. But she did have a point about what she was trying to stress to Lord Suicune. The only problem though was that he did not want to hear a thing about it. He still thought of this as his problem to deal with and that they should stay out, even though the evidence from their last encounter clearly stated otherwise.
“I did not ask for his help, and I already had a counter to deal with it myself. I won’t here another word that comes from the mouths of you Displaced, even if you aren’t little breezie. You befriended one and that’s a mistake you’ll regret in the future. This world is under my protection and I will protect, even from you. So I’ll leave with a warning, if you try to interfere again, I’ll see to it personally that you won’t see the light of day again,” Without another word, Suicune dashed off into the forest, not to be seen again.
“What a jerk!” Lumen stated. Lance couldn’t believe that Zsoltan put so much faith that Lord Suicune could restore peace to the universe, but instead of meeting a hero. He was met with a heartless being with no care for his own kind. What exactly happened to him? What could have made him this way?
“We need to go find Exuberant and head straight for Canterlot,” Lance said, as Lumen flew back on his head as he began walking back, but he began to hear a loud groan from the Beast King as he sat up.
“Now do you see why the Elders want him dead?” he asked as he leaned back against a broken tree. “He only cares for this world and nothing else. The Displaced is dead to him and he’ll kill every single one of us.”
“You’re wrong, Zsoltan knows what the other Elders are planning and Suicune is the only one who can stop the Prometheans,” The Beast King could only laugh in response to the Adept as he growled back at him.
“The Elders can take care of those rust buckets anytime they want, you’ve been played….hahahaha…” His laughter was soon ended as Lance pulled his weapon out, switched to his Carbine Bolt and shot him right between the eyes.
“Like I said, you’re wrong.” He spoke firmly, “There was a reason why Zsoltan put his faith in me… and for that matter, why I must put my faith in him.”
Back at Canterlot
Celestia sat alone in her bed chambers, pondering what the future may hold. For three weeks now she has come to know a legendary Displaced and has come to see him as a close friend. She felt his familiar presence in the room as she got up and turned her head towards the direction of her dear friend.
“How long did it take for you to deal with those other Displaced, Suicune?” She asked, giving a genuine smile.
“I’d rather not talk about Princess,” he answered. The answer in itself surprised the alicorn, for she did not expect this kind of tone or response from him at all. In fact, something about him really made her concerned.
“Is something wrong?” She then asked. “It looks like something’s on your mind.”
“It seems there’s more Displaced entering Equestria, but this one isn’t from the realm of the Displaced, but somewhere else. It’s mind boggling, and I don’t like it,” He replied, only for Celestia to giggle in response.
“I’m sure it’s nothing and I’m sure the problem has been resolved,” Celestia positively spoke to him, even though the thought in itself meant something completely different to Suicune.
“I hope so, the last thing I want is for you… or the girls to get hurt,” He said, avoiding eye contact as a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.
“But I have to ask you? Was this Displaced evil?” That… had Suicune freeze up a little. He was unsure of what to say to her in response for a moment before thinking it clearly through his head.
“No…. but I don’t trust any Displaced, whether they're from another world or my own.” Suicune replied. He never wanted to trust another Displaced again, especially after everything that he had been through over the years.
“Suicune, if this displaced isn’t evil, then there should be nothing to worry about,” She told him. “This one is not like the ones that you had seen before and not every two displaced are the same… Tell me though… why were they here?” Celestia was curious as to the reason why this displaced, whose name had yet to be mentioned, was here if it wasn’t to cause trouble in her kingdom. And she had a feeling that Suicune knew the answer.
“I… he wanted to help, but my rage got the best of me again. I just can’t bring myself to trust any of the Displaced.” He admitted shamefully to the princess as she looked back at him. Sighing a little, she walked over and placed a hoof on his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Suicune. We all sometimes make mistakes we later regret… including myself,” She said, remembering when she had to banish her sister to the moon all those years ago. “If he wants to help, then let him. Let him see you the same way I do.” With that, the alicorn sighed as she looked back at Suicune. “There’s no shame in asking for help from others. You don’t have to take everything on yourself.”
“Fine… But I would rather you summon them here, I’d rather not go as far as meeting them in person. Even what you say is true…. I still don’t trust any Displaced.” he replied, before laying on the ground and fell into a deep slumber.
“Sleep well my friend… still, you’ll see that whoever is trying to help you… can be a close ally or even a friend.”
End Strike 43
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Looks like things are heating up!
7670646 Indeed they are. And this is just the beginning
7670646 Aye, friend.