Ancient Warriors: Stag Beetles of Light and Darkness!

by ShogunWriter106

Gouram and Shapeshifter!

Author's Note:

Only crossover chapter with DJSkywalker's Ten Against One, this chapter may get emotional so be warned.

"AH-CHOO!!" Kuuga's sneeze echoed in the dark basement filled with cloth covered objects as the Canterlot Library seemed to jump from its foundation before crashing back down, "Sunset! When was the last time you cleaned this place!?"

Daguva coughed violently into one hand while he waved the scattered dust away.

"I'm sorry!" Sunset spoke up as she too coughed from the dust, "It's been years since this basement was last cleaned! I don't get it why we have to clean it up today!"

"Well for one thing! AH-CHOO!!" Kuuga sneezed yet again before he took out a red handheld vacuum and started to suck the dust inside it, "Princess Luna told you to get something from down here! When she mentioned something in her letter about a big stag beetle, she must have been talking about Gouram!"

"Who's Gouram?"

"He's my bike armor who has a mind of his own," Kuuga explained as he completely vacuumed all the dust in the basement before turning on the lights, "Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to store him in the Cube of Infinite Storage before Daguva and I were sealed away so I was forced to put him in a state of dormancy."

"So you think he's under one of these sheets?" Daguva surmised as he pulled off a random cloth to reveal a pile of chairs positioned like a japanese rhino beetle.

"Yep!" Kuuga stated as he looked under another sheet but he quickly covered it back up with a look of horror on his face as his armor turned completely white.

"What's wrong?" Daguva asked as he reached for the cloth, but Kuuga frantically nailed it tightly to the floor, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Don't look under there!" Kuuga ominously warned as he grabbed Daguva's shoulders, "You won't be able to unsee it! The Horror! THE HORROR!!!!!"

Daguva raised an eyebrow in confusion as he was rapidly dragged away, but he was unaware that a glowing pair of red eyes are glaring at the duo through a hole in the cloth before it took out a pair of scissors and started to snip through the sheet slowly.

---

After 30 minutes of searching, Sunset lifted a sheet and found a stone cube with a lid displaying Kuuga's symbol on it.

"Guys! Over here! I think I found it!" Sunset called in excitement but her expression turned confused as she watched Daguva slowly walked over to her with Kuuga clutching on his foot, "What's wrong with him?"

"He wouldn't tell me," Daguva growled as he shook his terrified brother off, "He's been like that since he nailed one of the sheets to the floor!"

"Would one of those sheets happen to have a hole in it?" Daguva nodded in confirmation. "That's the sheet that covers a terrifying creature known as the Stone Chimera of Terror! He hates to have it uncovered when he is sleeping under it."

"The what?" Daguva questioned before a growl was heard behind him, "It's right behind me, isn't it?"

Daguva turned around to find a chimera statue wearing ghastly armor as its breath heaved through its bared sharp fangs while clawing the floor. The red ruby eyes shined with great rage as smoke seeped through its stone nostrils.

"Oh... Hey..." Daguva squeaked as he waved pathetically as he pulled out a blue plastic bag of chips, "Would you consider taking a bag of hay chips as an apology for my brother disturbing your sleep?"

The chimera statue growled as it swiped the bag before grumbling back to its sheet, sewed it back up, and went back to sleep.

"Remind me not to disturb his sleep when we come back here to clean again!" Daguva whispered to Sunset as he hefted the stone box while Kuuga clutched onto it in fear and ran out of the basement.

"Agreed!" Sunset fearfully stated as she rushed after her housemates.

---

"Grgh! This lid is really stuck!" Kuuga grunted as he and Aria struggled to lift the lid off the container while Daguva, Sonata, Adagio, and Sunset watched their progress. After a minute of trying to heft the lid off, Kuuga and Aria stopped to take a breather.

"What am I doing wrong? Did I forget to unlock it?" Kuuga wondered in confusion as he leaned against it.

"Maybe we could grease it with butter?" Aria suggested.

"Done that."

"Pry it with a sturdy crowbar?"

"Did that as well."

While Aria suggested choices to open the box, Sonata walked over to the stone container and looked at it in curiosity and press her hand against the lid. She pushed it causing the lid to slide off and Kuuga yelped as he fell into the container. Aria watched in shock before she and Daguva glared at Sonata who smiled sheepishly.

"Thanks Sonata!" Kuuga spoke as he pulled himself out before looking inside, "Hey Gouram! Up and at 'em!"

After a minute of idleness, a black and gold metal stag beetle slowly flew out in a drunken manner as it wobbled a bit until it crashed back down in a heap. Its silver trimmed mandibles clicked drowsily as it struggled to keep its red eyes open while the beetle rubbed them with its front legs.

"Hey there Gouram! Do you miss me?" Kuuga asked as he squatted in front of Gouram's face.

Gouram looked at Kuuga for a moment to process who is standing in front of him until his eyes widened completely, and he tackled him and started to nuzzle against Kuuga's face affectionately while his mandibles clicked with happiness.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Okay! Okay! I'm glad to see you too!" Kuuga laughed as he push the stag beetle off of him gently, "Gouram, I would like to introduce to you some friends I've made."

"You know my brother, Daguva." Kuuga gestured to the white warrior as he causally waved at the beetle. Gouram blinked in confusion when he saw Daguva's knees shaking in fear.

"Here's Sunset, my housemate." Sunset placed her hand on Gouram and stroked his head gently while the beetle enjoyed the attention.

"And finally! Put your legs together! Here are the redeemed Dazzlings!" Kuuga spoke off like he was a annoucer, "Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk!" The three Sirens bowed gracefully in response to the comment while Gouram chirped as he flew around in pure elatedness.

"Yes, Yes. Gouram! I know you missed them as well! You must be excited from having a lot of energy within you! Do you want to burn some of it off for a ride?" Kuuga suggested as he pulled the BeatChaser out from the Cube of Infinte Storage before he got on the bike. "Come on!"

Gouram chirped before he separated himself in half before they folded down and attached themselves to the front and back ends of the bike, turning the bike into the BeatGouram!

"All right! Let's go!" Kuuga cheered as he revved up the bike while Sunset opened and widened the Canterlot Library doors with her magic, "YEE-HAW!!"

With a massive burst of speed, the red warrior was out of the library.

Daguva sighed as he watched his brother rode outside while he shook his head. A noise caught his attention and turned his head to see a metal badge with a grey hourglass shape sitting there on the floor.

"What?" He wondered as he went over to pick it up gently and his eyes narrowed when he felt a small trace of Void energy around it, yet all he can hear is silence coming from the badge.

"What's wrong Daggy?" Sonata asked as she came to his side.

Daguva said nothing as he got up with an apparent frown on his face as he took the badge in his hands, and he walked to the Cube of Infinite Storage and entered through the elevator doors.

---

"Whoo! That was a great ride! We should do this more often!" Kuuga stated as he pushed the back into the Library while Gouram tiredly, yet happily, flew back inside its stone container and fell asleep, "Huh, I guess he has grown used to that thing and made it his resting spot. Oh well! Better take this back to the Cube!"

Kuuga whistled as he entered the elevator with the bike, but his mood turned into confusion when he saw one of the buttons labelled 'Laboratory' flashing on and off. He hummed as he pressed the flashing button. When one of the elevator's buttons flashes, that means Daguva wants to see him for something important. Kuuga remained silent as the elevator made it to its destination and opened it doors to let him through.

"Thank you," Kuuga said as he walked into the laboratory with troubled unease, "That elevator didn't spit me out. Something must be wrong!"

"You can say that again," Daguva agreed as he continued to type on the computer as a badge sat next to it with multiple wires connecting to a strange device.

"What is that?" Kuuga asked as he gestured to the circular badge.

"Remember how that folder said about Displaced?" Daguva reminded, "It turns out other Displaced can send out Tokens to summon other Displaced."

"But we did that, remember?" Kuuga said as he placed his BeatChaser away, "What does this badge have to do with anything?"

"This badge is a deactivated Token," Daguva explained as he pulled out a sheet of paper to look over the information, "And according to this... It has been deactivated for quite some time."

"I don't get it," Kuuga said in confusion.

"The creator had a reason for deactivating this token, but I can't figure it out since this thing nothing more than a dead paperweight!" Daguva growled as he slammed a hand on the desk in frustration causing it to crack.

"What if we jumpstart it with our Token?" Kuuga suggested as he held out their summoning token.

"Kuuga, I have yet to fully understand the possibilities of messing with other dimensional objects! I don't want to risk it!" Daguva spoke as he crossed his arms before he sighed, "It's not that I'm worry about. It's the creator of this Token that I'm worried for."

"What do you mean?"

"When I touched that Token, I felt a strange sense of annoyance, irritation, and... sadness." Daguva admitted as he touched the badge gently, "It's like the Displaced who made this doesn't have the will to fight, yet they protect their world from trouble."

"So we're dealing with a pacifist?" Kuuga guessed. When Daguva nodded in response, Kuuga slammed his fist into his palm, "Then it's time we confront this guy and teach him a thing or two about compassion and helping others! If they don't want to fight, Fine! But they need to understand they must fight if they want to protect the people they care about!"

---

"I still say this is a bad idea," Daguva muttered as he watched Kuuga connected their Token and the badge to stone stands that are standing next to each other, "Using our Token to jumpstart the badge? Do you know how insane that sounds?"

"Not as insane on fighting an opponent who hates to fight!" Kuuga grumbled as he connected the last wire to the stands, "I'm not going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs, and watch a Displaced who doesn't like to fight just sitting in their dimension doing nothing to protect other dimensions!"

"Maybe you are jumping to conclusions," Daguva stated bluntly.

"What was that!?" Kuuga snapped as an aura of darkness appeared around him briefly.

"I'm saying you are jumping to conclusions!" Daguva snapped as flames appeared from his hands, "We need to get the whole story from this guy if we want to find out why he doesn't want to fight!"

Kuuga went still when he heard that and he lowered his head in shame.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him off with a slap of the wrist!" Kuuga pounded his fist again for emphasis.

"I knew you're going to say that," Daguva said as the Tokens started to spin on the stands before sparks started to come out of them, "What's happening?!"

"Look out!" Kuuga raised his arms to shield himself as Daguva did the same before they were consumed by the light.

---

Kuuga and Daguva opened their eyes to find themselves standing on a stained glass platform depicting the badge's hourglass symbol, Kuuga's symbol, and Daguva's symbol in a triangular formation while ten silhouettes of strange creatures surrounded the frame of the platform.

"What is this place?" Daguva muttered as he tapped one foot on the platform to test its structure.

"I don't know, but it looks like one of those Stations of Awakening from Kingdom Hearts," Kuuga muttered as he stood on the circle containing his symbol, "I'm guessing when the Tokens shined, they somehow brought us here."

"So we are in that Displaced's heart?" Daguva guessed, "Then why are our symbols are in here?"

"We are merely intruders to his heart," Kuuga explained, "If this was our heart, it would have more of our aspects."

"Then why are there ten silhouettes around the frame of the platform?" Daguva asked with unease.

"Relax Daguva," Kuuga ordered calmly as he transformed into his Titan Form while sparks briefly formed around the Amadam, "We'll see the owner of this heart."

"When?"

"Soon, but I suggest we give him an alert that we are here," Kuuga took out his Titan Sword and tapped against the platform lightly while sending a brief spark of power, "The power I just surged into his heart will alert him that we are inside his mind, and he will subconsciously be brought here when he is unconscious."

"How long do we have to wait for him to come?" Daguva asked as he snapped his fingers to conjure two flaming katanas.

"We'll wait... He'll come eventually," Kuuga stated as he leaned against the Titan Sword.

---

Ben groaned as he awoke with a massive headache, the last thing he remembered was laying down on the couch after a long day with Scootaloo. So why was he laying on a platform made out of stained glass that was showing the Omnitrix symbol and two others?

"Hello Displaced," A voice spoke from behind him.

Ben gasped and turned around to find two warriors standing behind him. One warrior was in purple and silver armor leaning against a sword while the other was a white monster wearing shoulder armor and black rings around his leg and forearm armor as he is grasping two flaming swords in his hands.

"Who are you?" Ben asked in annoyance as he got up from the stained glass floor, "What do you want?"

"We merely want answers to why would you deactivate your token," The purple warrior stated as he lifted his sword and shouldered it, "My name is Kamen Rider Kuuga, the Stag Beetle of Light."

"...and I'm N-Daguva-Zeba, the Stag Beetle of Darkness." the white monster introduced while spreading his swords out.

“And what is it exactly that you want?” Ben asked, crossing his arms with a raised brow. “I’m pretty sure this is a massive invasion of privacy.”

“We merely want to know your reason for deactivating your Token,” Kuuga answered as sparks started to form around the jewel on his belt, “If you don’t answer, we might respond aggressively.”

Ben actually started to chuckle a little. “Oh please, put your powers down, kid. I thought the simple deactivation was hint enough. Apparently not. It’s deactivated because I want nothing to do with your kind. Simple as that.”

But to Ben’s slight surprise, Kuuga started to chuckle before it evolved into full blown laughter as Daguva looked at him with concern.

“Ben… Ben… Ben.” Kuuga repeated as he pulled out another sword and the sparks started to become more apparent before his armor turned purple with gold trims and gold spikes encased the blades, “You really think you would give me such a simple minded answer from your mouth. Answer with your heart!”

Kuuga charged at Ben with his twin swords and aimed to slash him.

He simply sighed, stepping out of the way, Kuuga’s swords hitting nothing save for the ground where he had been standing. “Was that really necessary? I would rather not get my clothes singed… again. Rarity nearly killed me the last time it happened.”

Kuuga panted before he looked ahead behind Ben as Daguva raised his arms in preparation for something.

“Tell me Ben, have you heard of Axel’s fight with Roxas? How it started?”

“Who and who?” Ben asked in return, looking confused. “What the heck kinda nonsense are you spoutin’, kid?”

“The kind that will trap you in a wall of flames!!” Kuuga declared as Daguva raised his arms to summon a wall of fire around them.

Ben looked around him, giving a whistle of appreciation. “Clever. But now what? We’re trapped in a ring of fire and you’re completely outmatched.”

Kuuga somehow gained a tic-mark before he stabbed his swords to the floor causing cracks to form at their landing spots.

“You are really hard to impress, you know that? Chou-Henshin!” Kuuga called out as his armor turned red.

“Because I’m not going to be impressed by a bunch of kids trying to mug me in my own mind.” He crossed his arms, giving them a disapproving glare. “It’s quite rude, ya know.”

“Mug? I prefer the term ‘test’ if you will.” Kuuga chuckled before he cracked his knuckles, “A test to see if you have what it takes to protect your world. You may not have much problems in your world other than any incidents- Wait! Did you say outmatched earlier?”

“Well, duh,” Ben shrugged. “It’s not like either of you can beat me. As for problems in my world; One, you know nothing about my world. Two, you will never know anything about my world. And finally, get out of my world. Your a bunch of hooligans who don’t know what they’re doing and I will not let you continue your shenanigans in my world, let alone my own head.”

Kuuga and Daguva stared at him for a moment before the ring of flames disappeared as they walked towards him.

“Very well. If that is your answer, we’ll gladly accept it. But know this, if you start to face problems beyond your control, I suggest you should be careful who you are around with. Also, tell your friends to stop watching us. It’s kind of creepy. Look, if you hate the Displaced so much, then why do you keep their tokens?”

“I don’t. I destroyed them all save for the only one that mattered: my sister’s. Another thing, I can’t tell them what to do as they are not under my control nor do they like me for that matter. And one more thing!” His glare darkened upon them. “Never assume you have any right to judge me. My decisions are based upon what I know about your kind: your nothing but incessant children given g** like powers and throwing tantrums every which way. You’ll all destroy yourselves in the end and I’ll be here, safe upon the world I help to keep that way. Do not think you hold any authority or power to judge someone simply because you don’t agree with their methods. It will only end badly for you.”

Kuuga and Daguva sighed as they started to walk away. The latter was the first to disappear before the former turned to him.

“Before I go, I must give you a small warning. Beware the coming darkness, beware yourself!” Kuuga momentarily turned black with spikes on his armor before he shifted back to his normal red form, “Your personalities are unique, but they sometimes can share one common goal and one common enemy!”

Kuuga raised his fist into the air before crashing it down on the floor causing it to shatter in pieces!

“We will come back to talk someday,” Kuuga stated, “I suggest you should be careful with your actions and words. We will return someday in the near future.”

“And when you do,” Ben called back, “I’ll be ready to kick you right back out of my world, you cockroaches! Keep your worthless ideology to yourselves and leave me be!”

“Ben…” Kuuga said in pity as he held a mirror out to him, “Have you looked inside your heart?”

“Yes, I see a monster willing to keep other monsters from harming the only beings that would give him a chance. I gave humanity its chance and it stomped all over me, I won’t allow you to do the same to the ponies here. I can’t stop it everywhere, but at least I can keep you away from here. As I said, don’t assume you know anything about me or this world. It is not your position to judge how I choose my life. Go live your own away from me!”

Kuuga seemed to tensed at that as he snapped his fingers and the platform reassembled itself quickly.

“Kid, when you call me 'kid', it sounds like you are telling me I’m inexperienced with my powers!” Kuuga shouted as the platform shook, “That may be true, I also have a monster that is inside me that I won’t let out unless it’s a last resort! My final form carries a risk of going berserk! My brother also has to wear those Limiters to prevent his power from going out of control. We may not be in complete control of our powers, but we will eventually control them and the power of bonds and friendships will allow us to gain control over them!”

Kuuga sighed as the platform started to settle down.

“Look, I… Listen… A Token… It is more than a materialistic item. It’s a symbol of trust and friendship. When you destroy that item, you destroy that trust. Our token only appears in dimensions when they are ready to be accepted.” Kuuga explained, but he tensed when he saw a shadow creeping behind him and threw a right hook!

Daguva staggered back as he held his right eye in pain, “Ow! Kuuga! Really!?”

“Sorry!” Kuuga apologized before he sighed and turned to Ben with pity before he spoke with comfort to him, “Ben, whatever you are currently experiencing right now, don’t forget, your friends are your greatest strength.”

“And how does that relate to me?” Ben asked, more than a little miffed at being talked down to by a couple of punks. “I rely on my friends all the time. Twilight, Nyx, my sisters (all three of them, actually), as well as many others. Are you saying that because they aren’t like me we can’t be friends? Because that seems to be what I’m hearing. Simply because I won’t make ‘nice’ with rotten humans, I need to feel bad about not helping other worlds. Well, newsflash, kids, your view of the world isn’t the only one, nor is it the correct one for me. This is exactly what I’m talking about with you Displaced. You all think you’re something special, well time to wise up! You’re nothing but a pair of dweebs that went to a convention and got stuck. But that wasn’t me!”

Kuuga dismissed Daguva as he faded away back to his world and started to walk to Ben clenching his hands as darkness started to seep out from his body.

Ben, however, continued his rant. “I lived every waking moment of my life simply trying to get by. I had to fend for myself, always on the run, always wondering if I was gonna live to the next day or get locked up again to be some jerk’s experiment. I’m not here to be a hero. I’m here to live!”

The darkness was replaced with lightning as Kuuga appeared in a new form. His armor became gold and black and his crest became really long as his eyes remained red.

“Let me tell you something about us kids,” Kuuga growled, “I may be an immature, overconfident, naive, stupid, crazy, irresponsible idiot, but that doesn’t mean I have my responsibilities! I suffered greatly before my brother and I were thrust into this world, but that suffering eventually turned to joy when we made friends with the Sirens and Celestia and Luna and Star Swirl the Bearded! I may have felt great pain when Daguva and I was forced to let him seal us.”

Kuuga’s steps caused the platform to break apart again, but this time it became a hurricane of particles of memories. As images came up as he continued to walk towards Ben in controlled fury, the flames around his hands became more hot as they turned white.

“I have felt great sorrow when the Sirens were influenced by the Gems!”

The hurricane showed an image of Kuuga and Daguva crying tears of sorrow as they watched the Sirens fled into the sea when they were released from the Gem’s influence while Kuuga held the triangular star keychain in his hands.

“I felt a lot of pain when Star Swirl was started to become treated like a traitor, and I couldn’t let him deal with that pain!” Kuuga loudly declared as the hurricane started to wind down as he started to walk slower, “I was so tired and sad from feeling everyone’s pain…”

The hurricane slowly began to settle as Kuuga started to stagger and changed back into his Mighty Form, “I wanted to prevent as much pain as possible…”

Kuuga was about to fall forward to the nonexistent floor if a hand hadn’t caught him in time. He looked behind him and saw Daguva shaking his head stating not to continue any further.

Kuuga nodded before he turned to Ben with great sorrow and pity.

“Please Ben, you protect your world your way, and I’ll protect mine in my own way.” Kuuga said as he and Daguva started to fade away, “Please protect… your… world…”

Kuuga’s and Daguva’s forms faded away completely and all that was left was an empty circular locket as Kuuga’s voice spoke one last time.

“Keep this… You’ll need it someday…”

Ben stared down at the locket for a moment. “No,” he said, placing his foot on top of it. “I won’t.” He crunched the jewelry beneath his shoe, scattering the pieces away. “Stupid kids, bugging an old man with problems that aren’t his.”

The remains of the locket swirled for a moment before they restored back to a normal locket before it managed to float and disappeared without a trace like it never existed before a voice spoke.

“Is that your final answer?” The voice spoke with deadly seriousness as a familiar ring of fire surrounded Ben.

“It’s my only answer,” he replied in the same tone. “It’s not my job to pick up your slack. If you fall, you were meant to fall. If you live, you were meant to live. It’s not my job to change that. Now stop trying to force others to live in a way that they shouldn’t. Go back to your own world and stay away from my home.”

“Not before I have one spar with you,” Kuuga stated as he appeared in his Rising Ultimate Form wielding two gold and black swords with his eyes glowing red. “Let’s see what you got!”

Kuuga twirled his swords before he suddenly froze and started to cough and wheeze as the flames disappeared.

“What? What do you want, Understanding?” Kuuga asked to seemingly nothing before he froze as he started to ‘listen’ to the voice, “Very well, if you insist.”

Kuuga got up and started to walk away from the dreamscape as he disappeared in a trail of light particles.

Ben simply sighed, shaking his head. “Why do I always attract the crazies?” he asked himself. “I just wanna live my life in peace.”

---

Kuuga walked out of the portal as he took the badge from the stone stand and went to a picture of Star Swirl the Bearded to reveal a safe and placed the badge inside it.

“You’re not going to destroy it?” Daguva asked as he watch Kuuga resumed his Mighty Form.

“No, even though Ben made his choice on living through his life, that doesn’t mean I give up on him,” Kuuga stated as he started to close the safe, “However, I’ll leave him alone. For now.”

Suddenly, a water balloon came out of nowhere and splashed against his head.

“On second thought,” Kuuga reached into the safe and crushed the badge in his hands before it sparked and fizzled out of existence, “Discord from Ben’s universe, I suggest you should be more careful with that water balloon.”

“Then leave us alone, boyo,” a disembodied voice sounded out. “It’s very rude.” There was a loud ‘pop’ and the voice was gone.

Kuuga chuckled before he laughed in a heartfelt manner.

“You know, I kind of like that Ben. He actually taught me to leave certain Displaced alone! Ha Ha! Ben, I don’t know if you can hear me, but keep on doing the right thing.”

Kuuga and Daguva walked to the elevator as it closed behind them to bring them back to the Canterlot Library. As the laboratory dimmed its lights, a spark was seen as a green and black cylinder appeared on the desk in a flash of light as energy crackled around it briefly.

Comments

[bualls_magee]

What