Tales of the Battle Foals

by Sirdubya

Quarantine

The atmosphere of the island had gone from menacing to downright oppressive. Whatever unseen force that had its grasp on the island must have realized that it was time to up the ante, and the foals knew that they couldn’t let their guards down for even a split second. However, knowing that Greensprout could counter the ominous negative energy with her Gaia Root gave them a much needed boost of confidence.

With that confidence driving them, the foals and Frigg’s brigade marched towards the hole that Turf War had cracked open. No matter how crushing the air got, they persevered until they were right at that fateful threshold. They were readier than before knowing they had an advantage.

“Last chance fer any o’ you lot to chicken out!” Frigg said as she drew her sword. “So whoever cares to run away like a chicken their head cut off, cluck now!” No response was given. “Good.”

“We still need to be careful. I must suggest that we all move as one unit. I need to be able to monitor all of your conditions, especially with this corruptive magic being a hazard.” Greensprout said.

“I second that.” Fire Fight said.

Frigg eyed the two of them before looking at her soldiers; they seemed to be hopeful that their captain would agree. She sighed. “The swabs have a point, but me and their two li’l sages are leading.”

“By ‘sages’, Are you perhaps referring to Zebota and myself?” Quantum Tech asked.

“What do you think?” Frigg growled. Quantum just fixed her glasses and took a position in front beside the Captain.

Zebota faced his titan. “Shrapnel, remain in the back.” Shrapnel grunted in affirmation before getting behind everyone, and his master took his assigned position.

“See anything on yer doohickey, glasses?” Frigg asked Quantum.

Quantum Tech examined her instruments and scanned the area behind the hole. “Hmm… Well, nothing out of the ordinary, at least for this accursed island’s standards.”

“I too sense little immediate danger. We will just have to move carefully.” Zebota said.

“Then let us waste no time.” Shadow Shroud said, prompting everyone to start moving forward.

Air Slash and Bullseye hovered above everyone and had their weapons drawn and ready to strike at any ambush as the entourage marched head-on into the darkness. They found themselves in a crumbling but large hallway with only snippets of light snaking through tiny cracks and holes from one side, which was consistent with Ymir’s map detailing the existence of a courtyard. Frostbite peered through the breaches and saw nothing but overgrowths crushing the ruins.
As they treaded deeper into the ruined halls, they realized that they had broken into a cellblock and were now bearing witness to the iron and stone dungeons where so many inmates were incarcerated. The presence of the demonizing magic was already an oppressing thought, but the most sensitive members could swear that they could hear the screams of anger and pain echoing throughout the haunting hallways.

All eyes were peeled for trouble, but Quantum left her mech on autopilot while she studied the map that Ymir had provided. Having concluded that the well mentioned in the mysterious patrol records was a likely candidate for being the source of their problems, she ascertained their location based on where they entered the collapsed complex and planned a route to the desired location.

Quantum’s mech didn’t step very lightly, but everyone else made a point of moving as quietly as possible. Any doors that could be picked open were done so be Shadow Shroud rather than someone smashing them open, and every fork in the road was calculated carefully before a decision was made. There was a point where they were met with a huge hole in the floor that formed a chasm between one end of a hallway to the other, and Frostbite had to quietly exhale an ice bridge for them to cross over, which was an ordeal in of itself given that some of them were fairly big and heavy.

“It’s way too quiet in here…” Bullseye whispered.

“All the more reason to keep yer senses sharp.” Kickback said.

Spiral Galaxy looked back at Shrapnel. “Smell anything, big guy?”

The wooden titan lowly growled as he slowly scanned around.

“He says, ‘The silence watches us, little ones’.” Crazylocks blurted.

“What does that mean in English?” Frostbite asked.

“It appears to mean that our ‘opponent’ is fully aware of our presence.” Quantum said. “My scanners are detecting a constant presence of the dark magic, but it’s being controlled by something akin to brainwaves.”

“Hmph! So the bastard think he can eye us like a platter o’ meat, does he?” Frigg said.

“Save the gusto for when he picks up his knife and fork.” Shroud said.

Tidal Wave gulped. “Are we getting any closer to that well? This place is giving me the creeps…”

“Assuming the blasted thing still exists, it should only roughly a couple hundred meters to go, based on this ancient map anyway.” Quantum said.

“We are drawing nearer to this consciousness; I can feel it.” Zebota said.

“Then let’s be ready to greet our host.” Fire Fight said.

The final obstacle between them and their ultimate destination was a steel gate. Crazylocks and Frostbite lifted it open and allowed everyone to pass under before rejoining them; Frostbite froze it in place so it would stay open.

After passing what was clearly a security checkpoint, they turned the corner of the hallway, expecting to find their well…

“Umm… Quantum Tech, I know dat map old, but I’m pretty damn sure this ain’t s’posed to be no well.” Turf War said.

Before them was a large, circular chamber with only a steel gate for a roof. The greater amounts of sunlight that breached in illuminated a huge block of steel and cobblestone that was clearly welded, nailed, and cemented to the ground where the well should have been according to Quantum’s map. Curiously, there was a rope tied around its base.

“I-I don’t understand! The map legend indicates that the well should be in this room.” Quantum said.

A few of the guards circled around the rock, examining the rope. “Hey! Come check this out!” one of them called out.
Everyone followed them around the rock and found a wooden sign suspended by the rope. It was written in an old griffon font, but it was legible enough that the natives could read it.

“It says, ‘quarantine’.” Valkyrie said.

“‘Quarantine’? Was there an outbreak here or something?” Fire Fight asked.

“Pretty sure Ymir wouldn’t have been stupid enough to forget to mention something like that.” Bullseye said.

“I guarantee you that would’ve been purposefully forgotten about.” Frigg said.

Shrapnel began aggressively clawing the ground and growling as he fiercely glared at the stone.

“Are we to presume our suspicions to be true?” Air Slash asked.

“Yes… Something is underneath this stone.” Zebota said.

“And the negative magic is clearly originating from this point.”

“Then before anyone makes another move, I’d better fortify your defenses.” Greensprout said. She released a pulse of energy from her Gaia Root. It gently floated down onto everyone like an aurora and formed outlines of gently glowing light, which felt like an angel holding their hooves and talons.

“Cheers.” Frigg said.

“How much protection will this give us?” Spiral Galaxy asked.

“I’m honestly not sure, but I’m confident in its integrity.” Greensprout answered.

“So… should we move the rock, or…” Tidal Wave muttered.

“<RAAAAWWWWRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!>”

All of a sudden, a cacophony of violent roars rocked the chamber, and a horde of lizards the size of a picnic table came scurrying through the steel grate at the top along with more demonized griffons flying through.

“Maybe not yet!” Turf War shouted as he drew his hammer.

The slew of monsters overshadowed the sunlight as they swarmed the brigade. The lizards had scales patterned like a tiger’s stripes, but with blood red instead of orange beside the black; their clawed feet and gnashing teeth reminded the first few Battle Foals of the mole lizards created by Gene Splice, and it didn’t help that they had bladed tails and drooled purple fire like venom.

“YEEEE-HAAAW!!” Kickback quickly drew his guns and opened fire on the descending adversaries, namely the demon griffons. His electric bullets did little to stagger the abominations, but kept them distracted enough that everyone else could attack them.

Spiral Galaxy blasted an upward gravity wave that caused most of the lizards to lose their grip and fall. Everyone with a weapon and a fighting spirit unleashed the fire in their eyes, some more literally than others.

Fire Fight flame jumped into one of the demon griffons and did a front-flip kick to the head that launched him high up. He repeated this process until he was halfway between the ground and the grate, and he unleashed a blast of fire from all around him, scorching the befouled fowls. Shadow Shroud followed up by shadow cloning and swarming the air, slashing the staggered victims.

Valkyrie swooped in and caught him on her shield and activated her Valhalla before letting him ride back down. She thrust her sword downward and left a trail of golden fire in her wake that deterred the monsters from attacking, and the two went on the offensive along with everyone else.

Turf War was careful not to accidently smack the ground, walls, or his teammates as he went to town on the beasts. His earlier fear was channeled into raw aggression, and he went on more of an offensive with his shield. He felt no remorse finishing them off with the axe end of his hammer.

Frostbite exhaled on the walls and created spiky sheets of ice. He body slammed one of the lizards and dragged it across the ice wall before chucking it to the ground and blasting it with an ice shard. He then noticed two more lizards scuttling along unfrozen walls that brandished their tails at him, so he exhaled ice swords in either hand and dueled with them. They occasionally tried to scorch him with dark fire, but he either forced it back with his ice fire or flew out of the way entirely; he followed up by freezing his tail and plunging it into the neck of one of the lizards, killing it instantly. He then grabbed the corpse as it fell from the ground and smacked into the other, which was enough to distract it so that he could use the bladed tail to slice the other in half. Both corpses disintegrated in dark embers.

The ice melted fairly quickly from the residual heat from Fire Fight’s earlier eruption, and Tidal Wave seized the opportunity to take control of the dripping water and drew it around the blade of his lance. He’d relax the construct and use it as a whip as well as form it into a shield if necessary, which he followed up with a blast of pressurized water. There wasn’t enough water for him to fly, but it was enough for him to get creative.

Quantum Tech activated her railguns’ energy blade system, seeing as the chamber was a bit small for her large electromagnetic blasts to safely exterminate the hellish vermin. Beside her was Zebota and Shrapnel. The little mystic stuck to his tomahawk that he’d energized with raw nature power as his titan mauled every lizard he managed to wrestle, and Quantum managed to catch a demon griffon trying to ram her on her beam sword and blasted it point-blank with her magic turrets.

Valkyrie joined her brethren and together with Frigg rallied the guards into the air waged a skyward war against their demented cousins.

“<SCREEEEEE!!!!>”

The bearer of the Valhalla blazed her golden light as she fiercely swung her sword and raised her shield. The only thing fiercer was the old captain’s wrath; every swing of her bastard sword was packed with enough raw fury to ignite a forest fire whether she was going solo or working with small groups of her troops. At one point, she swung her sword hard enough to cleanly behead five demons in one slice. She then batted their bodies towards another small flock of them, knocking them around in the air and letting some spearmen impale their hearts.

“AYE, SWABS!! SKEWER THESE CUTS O’ ROTTED MEAT!!”

Crazylocks made used of her hardened pigtails to beat back a few of the giant lizards. One of them latched its tongue onto her hair, but she was strong enough to fling it around her and slam it into its friends. She then sprouted her horn and absorbed some of the dark fire drooling from the lizards and drew it around her body, interestingly causing it to sort of magnetize to the light shield that Greensprout had cast and giving the form of a dark fireball. She sprouted her wings and surged through the air, blasting into the lizards and any other foe unlucky enough to be in her path. “This is the craziest pillow fight ever!!”

Spiral Galaxy was careful not to tear the chamber apart with her gravity magic, but she was able to amplify Greensprout’s holy shield with her nova magic, and she fired blasts of it around, which horribly signed the creatures. Meanwhile, Bullseye forced any lizards on the wall to fall hard on the backs by shooting arrows into their paws; she’d swoop down and finish them off by jamming her bow into their necks.

Air Slash remained with Greensprout and guarded her as she went around tending to everyone’s health. Any demon griffons that got close to her were cleaved either by blades of magic flung from Air Slash’s swords, or the cold steel altogether.

At one point, a lizard nearly latched its tongue onto her, but Air Slash severed before it could make contact. “I THINK NOT!” Seemingly unfazed, the ravenous reptilian quickly scuttled towards them, and Air Slash steeled himself.

Greensprout stood ready to heal him should the need arise, but then she remembered something Quantum had said before, something about the dark energy empowering them being opposite of her Gaia Root. “Oh, dear. I hope this works.” She muttered. She rushed up to Air Slash’s side and channeled her staff’s energy into the beast.

“<HREEEEEEEAAAAAA!!!!>”

As she’d hoped, the beast writhed in terrible agony and even caught afire- holy white fire. She continued to channel her energy until it was naught but ashes.

Air Slash was awestruck at what he’d just witnessed, nearly forgetting that they were in the middle of a mass hysteria. “B…Brilliantly done, Greensprout!”

Greensprout giggled. “Thank you.” She then sighed. “Despite its agony, it had to be done.”

The onslaught of enemies was causing everyone to run low on stamina. Waves of monsters just kept coming and coming with no end in sight. “<pant>…<pant>…” Fire Fight was feeling the effects. “They just keep coming!”

Shroud let go of her illusory copies and took a deep breath. “We may have walked into a trap! Just keep fighting!”

Zebota examined his surroundings after retrieving his tomahawk from a dead lizard demon. The grate in the ceiling, the wet walls, and the taste of salt in the air suddenly gave him an idea. “Tidal Wave, spray the grate with your water!”

“Umm… O-Okay!” Tidal Wave hesitantly did as he was asked and fired his relatively small amount of water all the way up to the grate.

A rainbow faintly appeared for a quick second before dissipating, and Zebota smiled. “I see all is in our favor.” He muttered. He drew his boomerang, and his brooch gleamed. “All of you, retreat into the hallway when I toss my boomerang!”

“Huh!? What’re you up to down there, stripes!?” Frigg demanded.

“Just trust me!” Zebota answered. A glyph appeared underneath him, and he began chanting. No one could hear what he was saying this time in the midst of the chaos, but they could slowly feel a mass of magic swell from him. Shrapnel protected his master as he performed his ritual.

“NOW!” Zebota hurled his boomerang into the air, and it began violently sparking as it hovered halfway between the floor and the grate. Large arcs of electricity started jolting between in at the grate, prompting everyone to follow his order of retreating into the hallway, him along with.

Frostbite froze the threshold shut before any monsters could follow them, and they watched through the transparent ice, as the little storm became more and more profound. The grate was now sparking as well, and they could hear the distinct sound of storm cloud brewing right above them

<BANG-BANG!!!!!>

A humungous crash of lightning alit the entire chamber like a fireworks show, shattering the ice wall protecting them, and when all was calm, everyone looked out in amazement as every single demon that befell them had been charred and fried like wheat that had been left too long on the grill.

“Wow! Good thinking, Zebota.” Tidal Wave said.

Zebota nodded. “I am sorry that I gave so little warning. The situation was growing dire, and something had to have been done.”

“Aye. A bold move, that was, stripes.” Frigg said. Everyone looked at her, shocked that she’d give a compliment so easily, but she pointed out into the chamber. “Too bold, perhaps.”

The lightning had shattered not only the ice wall, but the ominous ‘quarantine’ rock, revealing a hole on the floor near as big as it and fuming with horrific dark purple smoke. Suddenly, all of the charred-grilled monsters disintegrated, and the ashes were swallowed by the hole.

“<HHHRRRRRRRGGGHHHH…..>”

A mild tremor shook the chamber, and Quantum Tech just about panicked when she read her scanners. “O-O-Oh my!”

“W-W-Would ‘What’s wrong’ be a s-stupid question?” Spiral stammered.

“I’d say so.” Valkyrie said.

All was crushingly tense for what felt like an eternity as they watched the horrible pit, anxious as to what might emerge…..and all became chaos once more when a terrifying mass of shadow erupted from the hole like a geyser of pure fear.

Comments

[Windy0]

You really know how to build tension with a single chapter. When's the next one going to be ready? Oh! And have you found anyone willing to draw the Battle Foals yet?

[Sirdubya]

9128520
I’m afraid I haven’t found anyone yet. My life has been hectic as of late, and I’ve focusing on other important stuff. I really hate that it’s causing me to not upload as often as I used to.

[Milo3020]

You know there are moments when looking for something to read that make me like this fandom. Seeing a story nearing 200 chapters is one of them

[Jonny Bench]

I love how the story is still going on! This has been the longest running story i’ve ever stuck with and I still love it to bits. I hope that someone makes a picture of all the battle foals standing together against their foes. That would be really fun.

[KingJoltik]

Uh-oh....that's not good.

[HB_DS2013]

Meanwhile, back in Griffinstone...