Repression (12)
I looked upon the crew who sat around the middle of the deck. Some were doing little jobs here and there like repair or cleaning but the rest had their attention upon me in my Dog form. “I told you all I was going to do it and here it is. Welcome to Combatives. Here you will spar with me and learn to defend yourself from attackers and how to fight back. Even if you don't want to participate, at least watch closely. I’ll start with hand to hand combat.” I held my paws up to show, “In a fight, this is your last line of defense and determines whether you win or lose. I’ll teach you grappling and some basic kicks, punches and blocks. Any victims, I mean, volunteers?” I said with a smile.
Some of the ponies looked nervous and the griffins seemed indecisive. The Dogs sat there stolidly. “No one? Okay then, how about….” I scanned the spectators and chose one at random, “you. Come here.”
The Dogs I pointed at stood up and came forward. He was taller than me by half a head and sported some big muscles in his arms and chest. His fur was a pale gray, almost white and had light grey eyes.
“What’s your name?” I asked. The Dog said nothing but instead gave a deep throaty growl. It sounded like a rumbling diesel engine through a bass speaker, but my universal translator let me understand him.
“I cast aside my name long ago. It means nothing to me. I have no name.”
Another Dog stood up. He was similar to the one in front of me except he had a darker gray coat. He spoke with a Russian accent. “Pardon my brother, he does not speak much aside from growling. He assumes everyone can understand him. He said-”
“I heard what he said.” This dog looked surprised, “I can understand any language.” I turned back to the nameless hound in front of me. “Well, it’ll be hard to remember you without a name. How about…” I searched my memory for a good name and then recalled a certain character who growled as well, “Meta?”
He stared me down, judging me and my suggestion and growled again, “It shall be suitable. For now.”
“Good, now I want you all to pay close attention to this. Ready, fight.” Not hesitating, Meta pulled his arm back and threw a wicked right hook at me. I dodged to the outside and grabbed his wrist. Without missing a beat, I placed a hand on his shoulder and kicked his legs out from under him, forcing him to the ground. Meta hit the ground with a loud thud, surprising him and everyone watching.
Still holding him, I spoke, “Can anyone tell me what happened?” A griffin raised his claw.
“You dodged and then pushed him to the ground.”
“Close.” Camouflage raised his hoof.
“You used his momentum to your advantage.”
“Correct.” I let go of Meta and helped him up. “Meta put his whole body forward into his punch. While that gives him power, it puts him off balance and makes him easy to take down. Another point is that his wind-up was completely unnecessary. It was simple to read and therefore avoid his attack. An effective punch should be quick and sharp. Again, Meta.” I turned to him and from a stand still position, my entire body shifted into attack mode as he lunged forward. I dropped my center of gravity and threw a solid punch into Meta’s diaphragm, doubling him over, and pulling back to my standing position, all in a few seconds.
“All I threw was a simple punch but Meta was almost to a knee.” Meta got up and shook himself, but seemed winded. I had to hand it to him. He took the pain well. “Thanks Meta, take a breather.”
“I can’t wait to spar again. I promise to return the favor” He growled eagerly before going back to his spot.
I laughed, “I expect nothing less.” I turned to the ponies in the crowd, “Now I'm more adept at bipedal combat techniques than quadraped techniques so learning for you ponies and griffins will be as fast as I can learn, so to speak. In the meantime, try to learn from experience and I will help polish your fighting styles where I can. So who’s next?”
“Me.” I turned to see Storm Cloud enter the ring. “I want to know how well you can fight. For all I know, you could be really weak.”
I raised an eyebrow in surprise. I didn't take her to be a fighter, then again, I don't really know her. Plus she could be scripted that way. Who knows? “If you fought me with my weapons, you'd probably die. So I won't use them to give you the benefit of the doubt. Someone give the call to start.” I set my self in a low, wide stance. She lowered herself and pawed the ground a few times, pointing her horn at me.
We stared each other down like one of those old western movies. Each of us prying for a weakness in the other's defenses. A bell rang and Storm Cloud moved first, charging me head on and ramming into my stomach with her hooves and knocking me back a few feet.
I took a deep breath to replace the one she kicked out and jumped over her before she could buck me where my balls were. As real as this game is, I do not want to feel that. I tucked in and rolled on the ground, cushioning my fall. I quickly got up and barely dodged another charge from Storm Cloud.
Kill her. Impale her with your bones. Carve out her skull. Drain her body. Let them fear you!
I felt my arms come up and aim at her, the words ready on my tongue. I realized the movement and quickly thumped my head on the deck, passing it off as an accident. ‘Dammit, I'm not trying to kill her. We're just sparring!’
Call it what you want. You should still kill her.
‘No. I will not kill her!’ I was shaken from my thoughts by a pair of hooves connecting to my face. I flew back and crashed into the wall. ‘Damn, she's got some strong legs.’
I pulled myself from the dent I made, “Screw this. Trans Form Base.” I turned back to my Base form and turned to Storm Cloud, who was still in the ring, “Ha! Try and hit me now!” I challenged.
She took the challenge and charged me, except this time she passed through my body and into the wall I just crashed in.
I stared at her in surprise. ‘Damn, I knew I couldn’t be physically hurt in this form, but she went through my body! I don't know if I should feel impressed or violated.' I made a mental note to experiment with this new discovery.
I flew myself over to the ring, wanting to distance myself from her. I spread my arms wide, “Now, what you gonna do? Hmm? You can't touch me anymore.”
I could see Storm's face darken with frustration. I giggled to myself at her expense. 'I love this form. Not only can I join shadows, but I'm impervious to any physically attack. Best. Ability. Eve- Why is she smiling like that?'
Storm Cloud now had a malicious grin on her face. Like she just got a good idea and it involved some one getting hurt, namely me. Suddenly, I felt very scared now for my health bar.
“What are yo-” Her horn gave off a few small sparks. My eyes went wide as I realized what she was going to do. Magic attack. Now that I think about it, I'm probably weak against it since I can't be physically hit in this form. To top it off, I don't think I have any magic defense either. Fuck my life.
“No.” Storm's horn began to pick up and give off more and bigger sparks. “No. No. No.” Her horn was now glowing an icy blue light, arcs of electricity trailing in the air. “No No NONONONONONONONONONO! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!” I said, as I barely dodged the lightning beam coming at me.
Storm Cloud lit her horn up again and fired, repeating this process like a semi-automatic gun. I recalled upon the best advice I knew for this situation: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge. So far she hasn't hit me yet.
I moved to the side to avoid a bolt to the head, only to take a glancing blow to my side. I felt the electricity course through my body like the time I stuck my hand in the electric socket and yelled “Chidori!” before having to let go. Shut up. I was thirteen at the time.
“HRRGG!” I grunted in pain. My health bar dropped a few days worth of energy from the attack. 'Dammit, I need to retaliate! Quick, What do I know about electricity?'
Electricity moves along a set path
'No shit Sherlock, but how's that going to help me? It's not like I can change it's direction...Oh, that's what you meant. This is going to hurt, won't it?'
I kept dodging the attacks, formulating the plan and spell I needed. Storm Cloud had done a number on the innocent walls and rails with her attacks. The spectators from before had scattered so they wouldn't get caught in the cross fire. I had to stop her before she sets the entire ship alight. I dropped from my running a few meters away from her. She locked her gaze on me and charged her horn. I got one shot at this.
She fired and time seemed to slow down. I watched the lightning bolt race towards me, intent on giving me pain. I raised my hand and caught the bolt. I felt the intense, burning pain course up my arm to my body. As it reached my chest, I spoke my spell, “Reflect.” The lightning continued on down my other arm, the pain not letting up. I idly wondered how many amps she put into this attack as it reached my hand. The lightning shot out from my hand, which was pointed at Storm Cloud, and flew back to it's owner.
Storm Cloud didn't react fast enough and was hit full on by her attack. He body flashed and sparked like an epileptic X-ray display, showing her entire skeleton. When the electricity dissipated, Storm stood shakily, her mane and tail all frazzled and a bit singed. After a moment of shaking, she fell over dazed and moaning.
Achievement Unlocked: That's gotta Hertz- gained 30 XP
Magic level increased
Combat level increased
I went over to her, “Medico. You okay?” She got on her hooves slowly and steadily.
“Shockingly, I'm still alive. That last bolt took a chunk of energy to make. I'm surprised neither of us are ashes right now.”
'Was she trying to kill me?'
“Just curious, if you could fight like that, then how did you get captured? And where did you learn to fight, like that?”
She grimaced, “The Dogs got the drop on me and my father taught me how. He's a prized heavyweight boxer in Stalliongrad. The magic was part of my training as well.” She gave herself a shake, “But, you're alright if you can last against me, even if you ran like a little filly when I started to zap you.” She laughed at that.
“Shut up. I'm not very strong against magic attacks. I was just making a tactical withdrawal.” I said defensively. 'Note to self: finish projects and find a way to increase magic defense.'
Storm waved her hoof dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, you still ran away. Still, we should do that again sometime. I haven't had that good of a fight since I found my colt friend cheating on me.”
I thought about it, my mind shooting off ideas in a web of tangents. 'Storm Cloud a good fighter and has plenty of potential. She is a unicorn that is good at lightning magic. Lightning is considered a plasma. Plasma is used in Energy Swords. Said swords are used by the Covenant Elites. Ergo, Storm Cloud could become an Elite. My logic is completely sound.'
I grinned, “Sure thing.” I held out a fist and she bumped it. I turned to the others, who were peeking out from their hiding spots, with a manic grin, “Who's next?”
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The rest of the week passed with the roughly the same day to day schedule for me: Get up, practice skills, eat lunch, practice combat with the crew, play with the kids, play few pieces with Honey and Crunch, work on projects until I fell asleep.
Methodical, organized and simple to remember. Very efficient and flexible for any changes.
But like any organized system, there's always a monkey wrench lying about in the gears. The Voice had been getting stronger since the fight with Storm Cloud. That night, I had to take some extra measures when interrogating the Dogs.
“Umbra. Crucio.” I said to the Dog in front of me. He silently squirmed in his ropes, trying to escape the unbearable pain I was unleashing on him as I listened to the Voice slowly fade away. I normally can't stand torture after listening to some of the stories my brother told me when he came back from his tours. Unfortunately, this was the only way to slake the Voice's blood lust. But that wasn't the worst part.
As I watched the Dog be tortured by my spell, I felt...complete. Like I found the missing element in my life and that this pain is what I lived for. This was my purpose. I wanted to hurt it. Just for being a dumb mutt. I was in control of its life and I could snuff it out on a whim.
It terrified me.
Yes, glorious pain. Let him suffer more. Make him beg for death but do not give it. Yes.
I felt dirty and nothing I do would ever make me feel clean again. This virtual reality is getting a bit too real for me.
When it was done, I mercifully killed the Dog, giving it a “Requiescat en Pace” before feeding upon him. I incinerated the body and then secretly disposed of the ashes on the next island we passed two days later, giving a quick funeral. I always respected the dead, but it reminded me too much of the funerals I've attended.
I didn't want to remember them.
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I was sitting on the bow of the ship, huddled in my Base form, munching on some fish the day we left the island I buried the Dog on. I tossed the bones in a small pile as soon as I finished them. When I was done, I just sat there, staring out into the horizon. I don’t know how long I sat there but I was broken out of my trance by the sound of hooves and a filled mug sliding in front of me on the railing. “Drink it, you’ll feel better.”
I blinked in surprise and looked to the origin of the mug. It came from a dark caramel colored Earth pony mare with a curly blond mane and a mark of a beer mug next to a smiling face. “I feel fine.” I said.
She gave a snort, “Gun, I’ve been a bartender for fifteen years. I know when somepony is having problems, no matter how much they try to hide it. Now drink it.” She pushed the mug closer to me.
I picked up the mug gingerly and held it to my mouth. I wasn’t entirely sure I could drink it since I had found out that objects could pass through my body. I took a sip and the drink spilled through my mouth and onto the floor below me. “Sorry, I can’t drink it.” I handed it back to her, “What is this anyways?”
“This is my special rum recipe. Name’s Rum Runner by the way.” She held out a hoof and I bumped it.
“Rum, huh? Isn’t that made by fermenting the ingredients?” I asked, and she nodded. “I suppose that I could eat the ingredients before you process them.” I said idly.
Rum Runner put her hoof to her chin. “Yes I think that could work.” She then sat down next to me, “Anyways I thought I’d try to help. I’ve met a lot of other ponies who have had plenty of problems that they want to drown in alcohol. If I had to guess, you have some bad memories you want to forget. ”
‘Can everyone read me like a book?’ I thought. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You sure? Talking about it could help.”
I gave a cynical laugh, “Ha, that’s what the doctor said, but they were only trying to pick apart my brain so they know what happy pills to give me.” I scowled again, “Bastards can heal everything except what's really broken.” I muttered.
Rum placed a consoling hoof on me, “Look, I know it’s not my place but it sounds like you've been put through a hell of a time.”
I gave her an icy glare, “You have no idea.”
“Maybe not, but keeping it locked up won't help you in the slightest. It'll only make things worse. Trust me. I've seen it happen, even to the best of ponies.” she grabbed the mug and trotted back up to the deck, leaving me back in my solitude.
I sat there in silence, at one point dropping the bones over the side to clean the mess. I huddled up into a corner, tucking myself into the cold comfort of the shadows. “I could really use some help now, brother.”
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For the rest of the week, I struggled to repress that memory and quiet the Voice like a personal vendetta. I was still afraid of it but just a bit less now. I had plenty of projects, training and crew members to help distract me during the days.
With those under control, I could worry about a bigger problem that was looming on my mind. I tried to keep this one secret from the crew but as we kept traveling from island to island in peace, my paranoia about it increased even more.
I was practicing my marksmanship with my DMR (silenced) on the port side of the ship. I took some pieces of useless junk I found and tossed them as far as I could and sniped them out of the air. Flamel was with me, he's a great person to converse ideas with, and we were discussing random topics as I practiced. It helped me distract myself from certain trains of thought.
“Have you ever tried mixing sodium with water?” I said as I pulled the trigger. That's a hit.
“No. What would happen?” he asked as I picked up another piece.
I chucked the piece and looked down my scope, “It makes a pretty nice explosion. I did it once out of curiosity and almost blew off my arm.” I shot the piece. I noticed my ammo was down to three clips, so I switched to my pistol to conserve it.
“Sound's pretty bad.”
“Yeah, but it was funny at the time.” I turned my back on the rail and leaned against it. I dropped my voice to a whisper, “Speaking of bad, I talked with Star Streak last night when he was still making his star maps. He said that on our current course and rate we would reach the mainland in about a week from now. Four days if we pushed it.”
Flamel gave me a confused look, “How is that bad? Arriving home is good isn't it?”
I waved a hand at him, “Yes, it's good that we get there, but my concern is what happens in the meantime.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven't you noticed how peaceful it's been since we disembarked? Not once have we encountered any pirates or sea monsters or raging dragons. It's been too easy.”
“Maybe luck favors us this voyage?” He said skeptically, “What makes you thing something bad is going to happen?”
“Because nothing is ever easy. There's always a trial or some sort of obstacle in the way and judging by how peaceful it's been, it's going to be something big. Very big. The problem is, I don't know when it's going to happen. Most likely it'll happen some time before or after we hit the mainland.”
“You're just being superstitious. Nothing is going to happen.” He said reassuringly. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that his ear twitched and he turned his head to look out over the ocean. “Hmm?” He lifted a paw to block out the sun and after a moment, I see his eyes widen. “Uh-Oh.”
I had a smug grin on my face, “Told you so. Now don't tell me, We're about to be attacked by a huge ass monster?”
He nodded dumbly, “Two red dragons.”
“Sharp teeth and claws?”
“Most likely.”
“Bring it on.” I said flatly before yelling, “BATTLESTATIONS!”
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>Not 100% what chess game of the gods is.
>read description
>favorite without doubt for the Emperor is my shield
I'm the G to the U-N-H-A-V-E-R and no matter how fast you run, you won't get very far. I'm Gunhaverlicious
I'm the M to the U-S-I-C-M-A-N and I'm trying to write these chapters as fast as i can. I'm Musicmanlicious.
OH GOD
"Emperor's new grove" reference!! Perfection!!!
It is technacly going to be
1215221 What?
Says: Nothing is going to happen.
Are you trying to tempt the universe, bro?
Dis gonna b good.
Dodge ball reference
OH MY GOD, ITS THE META!!!
Quick! lets GTFO!!
1215019
Chess Game of the Gods is a group of stories set in the same universe; the basic premise of each is that a human is brought to Equestria by some god, and for the most part they're set to roam free.
Some of the more notable players are:
Griffin the Griffin, leader of the Griffin Pirates
Echo the Diamond Dog, beta of the Cinderwing pack*
Missy the Cow, once and future head of "The Dairy"
Knightmare the Changeling (apparently Chrysalis' b***h)
"Mangojack" Khajiit the Bast
Ace the Satyr
Ember the Dragon
Skeleton Jack**
* Even though The Ballad of Echo the Diamond Dog started the Chessverse, Ballad and The Legend of Echo the Diamond Dog not considered canon.
** Skeleton Jack is not a human, but the daughter of Hades, and IIRC she sort of sent herself.
There's an "endgame" for the Chessverse stories, which we've seen a few glimpses of in a "VIsions of the Future" chapter for several of the stories. The Chess Game has also apparently happened several times, most recently in Atlantis. Draw what conclusions about the "endgame" from that as you will.
*pinches bridge between nose* That voice is really starting to get annoying. It's just far too much Id, like an annoying six year old with ADD, it seriously needs some pointers from Mr. Lecter.
OMG I SO LOVE YOU FOR THE CHIDORI REFERRENCE
Dude. Great references an love the one to DBZ abbriged!
"My logic is completely sound."
Heh.
1215047 im loving the story so far and when i read it this i just had to make how i'd imagine gunhaver saying it. i tried rendering a video with the audio 4 times to upload to youtube but it never worked...
but i uploaded a zip with both the mp3 audio file and the wav file so if anyone wans to make a video with it go ahead (its not the best audio but i tried
)
Gunhaverlicious <heres
Every CGotG fic seems to have airships and dragons...
So... that last reference? Not sure what it's from, is it Emperor's New Groove? Just guessing.
2407003>>2489848
1983780
Well, if I ever finish the fics I'm writing, I'll try to write one that doesn't. It'll prolly never happen, but I'll try.
1983780 you can't have the story without Airships and Dragons!! if you don't have Airships and Dragons, you can't have a story!!!