• Published 9th Aug 2012
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The Five Heroes - Phantom Shadow



When different dimensions fall into chaos from a new evil, five different heroes from five different dimensions will stand together and fight.

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Chapter 5: Investigations

Slowly and with much caution in their movements, the five of them began to move towards the downed machine. The yellow fluids still oozed out of the gaping hole on the side of it, splattering and darkening the sand beneath it. As they slowly approached the machine, the five of them investigated it, making sure that there was no power left in the machine; the last thing they needed was for the pod to reactivate and catch them off guard.

“Do you think it’s safe to touch it?” asked Sailor Moon as she looked at the blackened windows on the front of the pod.

“Let’s make sure this thing is down before we make a move on it,” suggested Kim, “For all we know, it might try and pull a fast one on us.”

Mew hovered over the top of the machine, looking closely at the holes where the missiles had fired from. He got as close to them as possible, looking at the holes from all angles he could muster. Soon, he flew right up to the machine and, with his tiny arms, began touching the machine. When his hand made contact, he immediately flinched away, thinking something bad was going to happen. However, pink creature saw that nothing was happening, so he hovered over to it and touched it again.

When he was confident that nothing was happening, Mew flew over to the others and nodded his head.

Mew, Mew,” he said as he hovered over to the machine again, touching it with his tiny arms for all of them to see.

“It looks like it’s not doing anything,” said Sonic, crossing his arms as he spoke, “I guess it’s safe to go near it. Still, we should be extremely careful.”

Cautiously, the other four began moving closer to the pod, looking for a way to identify what it was and for a way to use it to leave the barren wastelands.

Sonic and Kim walked over to the gaping hole on the side, where Mew had attacked it. When they got there, they saw several wires dangling from within and the yellow fluids pouring out of some of the pipes. They saw that there was a space inside of the machine, no doubt where the chain gun had been stored. However, as the two of them leaned in a little bit closer, they saw that there was much more space from within.

“What do you suppose this thing is?” asked Kim, as she leaned in closer to investigate.

“I have no idea,” said Sonic as he stood up, “But whatever it is, it was sent here to kill us. The question is who sent it here and why.”

“Clearly, that thing that Sailor Moon saw earlier sent it here,” said Kim, “Still doesn’t answer why, though. Hey, it looks like there’s some vacant space inside the pod.”

Sonic knelt down besides Kim and looked inside where she was looking. She pointed inside of the machine at the space where the chain gun had been stored. However, she leaned in a little closer and pointed to a much wider space inside.

“Looks like this thing has a hollow body,” said Kim, “That must mean there’s a way to get inside.”

“Okay,” said Sonic, “Let’s see if we can find a way in, shall we?”

As the two of them stood to their feet, they walked to the front of the pod. There, they saw that Sailor Moon was standing on the top of the ship, trying to look inside the blackened windows, while Twilight was investigating the nose of the ship, where the purple and white energy had fired from. Mew continued to investigate the holes on the top, where the missiles were fired from, as well as the back boosters.

“Did you guys find anything?” asked Sonic as he and Kim approached them.

“Nothing yet,” said Sailor Moon as she jumped down from the top of the ship. However, because of her injured leg, she stumbled a bit, losing her footing when she landed. Sonic quickly came to her aid and helped her stand up again.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said, “Anyway, it looks like those things up there are windows of some kind. I’ve been trying to see if there was a way to see what’s inside, but they’re too dark; I can’t see a thing.”

“Well, we already know that the insides are hollow,” said Kim, “That must mean that someone or something must be piloting this thing. We just need to figure out a way inside.”

“Hey, Twilight,” called out Sonic, “Did you find anything yet?”

The lavender mare trotted away from the nose of the ship and approached the others. “No, I haven’t. I was trying to see if there was a way to open the nose of the ship, like it had done earlier.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kim, “Why did it open the nose?”

“Well, do you remember the purple and white swirl from earlier?” asked Twilight. Sonic and Kim nodded. “Well, after Mew destroyed the other gun, the machine tried to get away. It opened its nose slightly and that purple-white stuff came out of it. I think that must have been how it got here.”

“If that’s the case, then there’s no way we can use it,” said Sonic, “If we took out the fuel of this ship, as we think we did, we can’t reuse that energy from before. It doesn’t have the power to...”

“That’s what I was thinking, too,” interjected Twilight, “But I have a feeling that energy didn’t run on the ship’s fuel.”

“How do you figure that?” asked Kim.

“When the ship tried to get away, it shot out the energy from the nose. It couldn’t escape though, but not because it didn’t have enough fuel to activate the energy, but because it didn’t have enough power to open its nose fully.”

Sonic and Kim shot each other confused glances. Twilight could only face-hoof.

“What I mean is that the energy didn’t run on the fuel. As it was losing fuel, the energy remained perfectly intact and unaffected by it. It didn’t escape because the machine didn’t have enough energy to open the nose of the ship enough to exert more of that energy. If it had, it would have escaped, but because it didn’t, it shut itself down.”

“So, what you’re saying is that we can somehow reactivate that energy from before and get out of here?” asked Sonic as he crossed his arms.

“I think we can,” Twilight said, “But we need a way to give the ship enough fuel to open the nose all the way. That way, we can use enough of that purple-white energy from before.”

“So, we have a plan,” said Kim with a smile, “First things first, we need to find a way inside of the ship without damaging it any more than it already is.”

As they began to discuss what they were going to do to get into the ship, Mew flew over to the gaping hole on the side, investigating the damage that was done. When he did, he saw that the wires and cables where dangling down in different directions. He cocked his head back and forth, looking at all of them swaying and bumping into one another.

Then, the pink creature saw that one of the cables was still pouring the yellow fluids out in a steady stream. With caution, the pink creature approached the cable, hovering as slow as he possibly could. Then, using his long tail, he tapped the cable, causing it to sway a little more than before. The yellow fluids still poured out, splattering against the sand. Again, Mew tapped the leaking cable, a little harder this time, causing the momentum to increase as it did. However, when he tapped it with his tail, the cable swung a little too far and hit another cable that was dangling right near it. When it did, the unthinkable happened.

As if the cables had a mind of their own, they began intertwining with one another, wrapping around each other like coiling snakes until the tips of them met together. When they did, they connected with one another, sticking together like a plug going into a wall outlet. Finally, when they were connected, they dropped down, untangling themselves when they did. Mew was about to inform the others what had happened when they machine began shifting again, causing him to back away.

The shifting caught the others’ attention, also causing them to back away from the moving machine. Eyes wide and hearts racing, the five of them watched as the machine swayed back and forth like it had earlier, like something was inside of it, moving around.

“What’s happening?” asked Sailor Moon, her voice sounding a little shaky.

“I don’t know,” said Sonic, “Did anyone touch anything?”

Before they could answer, they saw the nose on the ship beginning to open. When they did, they all backed away again, much further than they already were. Out of the nose of the ship, the purple and white energy began to fire out of it. However, because the door was only opened a little bit, only a very small stream of energy was coming out, about the size of a red laser pointer light.

Then, the machine gave off one last sputter before it was motionless again. Unlike last time, though, the machine didn’t have enough time or energy to close the small door on the nose. Since it didn’t have enough power and it shut down as quickly as it was started up again, the door remained open, firing the small amount of energy from the nose.

Several moments went by and the five of them remained exactly where they were, staring at the purple-white energy with shock on their faces. It shot in a straight line from the ship, parallel with the ground. It went on for about 2 yards in front of the ship before it stopped in midair, as if an imaginary wall was preventing it from going any further. They saw that the end of the energy was flat against the air and trying to spread, stretching out as far as it could go. Because it didn’t have enough flow from the nose, it didn’t go very far and only stretched about half an inch on all sides, making a small circle in the air.

“What is that thing?” asked Kim, as she slowly approached the energy.

“It’s the energy from earlier,” said Twilight, “That’s what was coming out of the nose when we destroyed it.”

“Looks like what you said was true, then,” said Sonic, “That energy doesn’t run on whatever fuel this thing runs on. Still, how did it reactivate?”

Mew,” said Mew in soft and guilty tone. The others looked at him, a saddened expression on his face.

“You did this, Mew?” asked Sailor Moon, “But, how?”

Slowly, Mew flew over to the hole on the ship, the others following suit. When they got there, they saw the dangling cables again. However, they saw that two of the cables were now connected with one another.

“How did you connect those cables together?” asked Kim.

As best as he could, he tried to explain that the cables had put themselves together on their own and that he had only touched one of them to make it happen. Unfortunately, none of them were able to comprehend any of what he was trying to say; all they saw was a pink creature flying around in circles and repeating his name over and over again.

When he had stopped, Sonic turned to the others and asked, “Did anyone catch any of that?”

“Does it look like I speak alien?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow at him.

Mew let out a small growling sound at the lavender equine; he might not be able to speak to them, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand them either. Because of this, he felt a little offended at Twilight’s comment.

“Sorry,” said Twilight, “But it’s the truth.”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how it happened,” said Kim, “What matters is that we know what we have to do. Since some of the work has already been started, we might as well finish it up.”

Nodding their heads in agreement, the five of them approached the ship again.

“Twilight, do you think you can do what you did before and open that nose a little more?” asked Sonic.

“I’ll give it a shot,” said Twilight as she approached the nose of the ship. Focusing her magic, she got a grip on either side of the nose compartments, causing them to radiate the maroon aura from before. Concentrating as much as she could, she began to strain herself, trying very hard to open the doors more and more. Magical sparks began flying out of the tip of her horn as she continued to struggle to get the door open. She only managed to get the door open a few more inches before she released her grip on them, collapsing to the ground when she did.

“I can’t do it,” she said, panting and sweating, “Whatever it is protecting the ship is too strong. My magic can’t seem to budge it.”

“Magic?” Sonic mumbled to himself. “Is that what that is?”

“It looks like the only way to get the doors open is from the inside,” said Kim as she looked up at the blackened windows, “We have an entry point, so let’s crack it open.”

Wasting no time, Kim made her way to the ship. Then, in only a few bounds, she managed to get up to the blackened windows in no time. She investigated the windows, looking for some kind of way to get inside. She tapped her fist against the windows and listened to the sound it made. When she did, she confirmed that it was glass.

“Well, it’s clearly glass,” she called out to the others, “Now, if we can only break it open, we can get inside of-”

Before she could finish her sentence, Sonic jumped into the air as high as he could. When he did, he entered his ball form again, spinning in a fast circle. When Kim saw this, she began to move to the top of the ship, unsure of what the hedgehog was doing. Then, Sonic homed in on the glass, his spinning body colliding with it. Once he made contact with it, the glass shattered into pieces, scattering across the ship and onto the sand. When it was broken, he released himself from his ball state and landed on the ship, a smile on his face.

Kim approached the now broken glass, shot the hedgehog a sly smile and said, “Show off.”

Sonic simply shrugged his shoulders as the red-haired girl looked inside of the ship. When she did, she saw that the inside was clearly hollow. However, the space inside of it was too small for anyone or anything to fit; the only one that could fit in there was Mew, judging by the size.

“What do you see?” asked Sonic.

“It looks like this thing is some kind of drone,” explained Kim, “There’s no pilot inside nor does it look like there’s room for one.”

“You mean this thing was flying on its own?” asked the blue hedgehog.

Kim nodded and stood to her feet. “What kind of things are we dealing with here?” she asked aloud, “They seem technologically advanced.”

“Apparently,” said Sonic, “Whoever or whatever they are seem to know what they’re doing on all aspects, from erasing our memories to the types of machines they’re using.”

Then, a small flash appeared next to the two of them as Twilight teleported from the ground to the ship, joining the others. Since they didn’t expect her to teleport, both Sonic and Kim jumped back in surprise at her sudden appearance.

“Surprising, much?” asked Kim as she put her hand on her chest.

“Sorry,” said the unicorn, “So, what’s going on?”

“It seems we can’t get inside of it,” said Sonic, “It’s too small for anyone of us. This thing isn’t piloted by anything either.”

“Maybe I can fit,” said Twilight, as she poked her head inside of the broken window. She managed to fit most of her body inside, but no more than that; her flank was still outside of the ship.

“What do you see?” asked Kim.

“I can see a screen of some kind,” she called out to her, “It looks like some kind of strange writing is on it.”

“How is that possible?” asked Kim, “I thought we took out the fuel. How is the screen working then?”

Sonic thought about it for a second. He recalled what they had seen earlier and said, “Well, the fuel was still seeping through the cables when we saw it, right?”

Kim nodded. “Well, maybe enough fuel has gone through it now to activate whatever screen is there.”

“Wait, you mean like a computer screen, right?” Kim asked Twilight.

“Depends, what’s a ‘computer’?”

Sonic and Kim gave each other a look of confusion and surprise.

Shaking her head, Sonic said, “Never mind that now. What’s on the screen?”

“It has some strange markings on it,” said Twilight, “They look like symbols of some kind. Celestia only knows what they mean.”

“Celestia?” Kim mumbled to herself, raising an eyebrow as she did.

Sonic shrugged at her once again and said, “What else do you see?”

“It looks like many buttons are below it,” she said. There was a small moment of silence before she called out, “Every time I touch one, the symbols on the screen seems to change.”

A few moments of silence went by when Sonic said, “Alright Twilight, maybe you should get out of-”

“Wait a moment,” called the equine, interrupting Sonic, “One of the buttons just began to glow!”

“What?” asked Kim, “What do you mean ‘glow’?”

“It’s shining red right now. It just turned on a second ago. What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know, but you should get out of there,” said Sonic.

Wasting no time, Twilight began backing out of the ship. When she was out, she shook her head back and forth, fixing the frazzled mane she had from being in there.

“A red button,” said Sonic as the three of them rejoined with Sailor Moon and Mew, “I wonder what that could mean.”

“How’s it looking?” asked Sailor Moon.

“I’m not sure exactly,” said Sonic, “It looks like we can’t really use that machine to get out of here, though.”

“Maybe we can,” said Kim.

“How?” he asked, turning to face her.

“Well, like you said before, maybe enough fuel has gone through it now, enough to activate the ship long enough to open the nose again.”

Sonic’s eyes went wide at the realization of her statement. “What?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“If that’s true,” he began, looking at the beam of energy again, “Then, that could only mean...”

He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence when the ship began to move again like it had before. Wasting no time, the ship used whatever power it had to fully open the door on the nose, shooting out the purple-white energy at full force. The five of them watched as the energy shot out of the nose and hit the air like it had before; it flattened against whatever invisible wall was there, spreading higher and higher with each passing second.

Soon, the purple and white swirl they saw earlier was only a few feet away from them, towering over everyone and everything in its path. They all stared at it, eyes wide and hearts racing.

Everything that happened after went by in a second. One moment they were staring at giant wall of energy. Next, they saw a blinding white light engulf them all. Then, they were falling. It was like something had picked all of them up and dropped them to the ground. Even the ones who were able to fly, like Mew, didn’t have time to react. The five of them fell like stones to the ground, colliding with it beneath them.

Luckily for them, they didn’t fall from an extremely high distance, but since they still had injuries on them, their landing was something to be desired. They all rolled on the ground, groaning in pain with eyes shut tight. Even the ship had fallen with them, colliding with the ground and rolling with them.

Several moments of this went by before they all found themselves able to talk again.

“What happened?” asked Sonic as he struggled to his feet.

“I don’t know,” said Kim, as she stood up as best as she could.

Before any of them could say anything more, they all looked at the ground beneath their feet. Instead of seeing sand, like they had before, they saw they were standing on dirt and grass. Looking around where they were, they saw dead trees and a dirt path leading down a road. The sky was no longer a blinding sun, but blanketed with gray clouds, slowly moving over head. Bits of paper and garbage were blown around with a much more frequent breeze than before as the five of them managed to stand to their feet.

After spending several seconds exploring their new environment, the five of them looked at one another with confused glances.

“What is this place?” asked Twilight, “We’re not in the barren wastelands again, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t know,” said Sailor Moon, does anyone recognize this place?”

All of them shook their heads as the continued to look around.

After a few moments, a small piece of paper blew by and caught onto Sonic’s leg. He saw it and picked it up from his leg to see that it was a small piece of a newspaper. He examined it, looking for a clue as to where they were. Fortunately for him, the bottom of the paper was still intact and showed where the paper had been published. He ran his finger on it and saw the name of the city next to the address.

“What do you see?” asked Kim.

Lowering and releasing the newspaper piece, Sonic looked at them all and asked, “Have any of you heard of a place called, ‘Heatherfield’?”

Author's Note:

You get a cookie if you can guess the name of the next dimension before advancing to the next chapter!