Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 13

EchoBeat carried a small bucket of water in his teeth over to the new garden. It was the tent that CharmingRhythm had brought back from Los Pegasus. Echo placed the water down inside and overlooked the rows. He already felt proud of the small stems that were beginning to sprout. The tent was set up on the east side of the village, just south of the base building. Echo wasn’t sure this was where the gardens would stay, but it was a good start.

The red Earth Pony made his way out of the tent into the open air. Something caught his left eye. Turning, Echo glared out onto the horizon. He thought he could make out some movement. Indeed he could. At first, Echo tried to make himself believe that it could be some wild animals, and not Hybrids. Sure enough, Echo could make out the shiny metal outer bodies of pony-like figures. His heart lurched.

With maroon hooves racing against the stone path, Echo sought out one of his friends, any of them. He found FeatherTune first, who was cleaning ivy off of a roof.

“H-Hybrids!” Echo called out.

“Seriously?” Feather shot back with a raised brow.

“Yes! That way!” Echo pointed in the direction he saw them.

FeatherTune launched off of the roof and analyzed the area. Echo watched his winged friend circle around the camp and come back to him.

“I see them. I’ll go tell the others. I think Rhythm is in the base. Go get him,” Feather directed.

Echo nodded and dashed off. He found Rhythm inside of the main room. The Unicorn was reading something on a computer screen.

“Um, Rhythm,” Echo said. Rhythm turned his attention to him. “We’ve got Hybrids.”

Rhythm did not speak, but processed Echo’s statement. Rhythm jumped off the chair and trotted towards the door. Just as he was about to turn the knob, he glanced back at EchoBeat.

“I want you to come with us this time,” He ordered.

“W-what? Okay, fine,” Echo huffed.

“Bring some potions with us, we don’t know what we’ll need,” Rhythm stated before leaving the base.

Echo found his way back to his room. He equipped his armor, which was engraved with a thorny vine decal. He took his saddlebags too, and filled them with healing potions and bandages. He met up with the rest of his team where the paths converged in a circle in front of the base.

“Alright, let’s look at what we’re dealing with,” Rhythm announced and took the lead.

The stallions moved to the last rows of houses in the village. They stood behind a small fence, halfway hidden. Echo noticed that the Hybrids had moved closer to the village. He could make out there details now. One of them caught his eye. It was heavily armored and had a large saw for a foreleg.

“What kind of Hybrid is that?” Echo uttered as he saw the massive cyborg.

“It’s the one that cut off Hyper’s wing,” Rhythm growled, recognizing its shape.

“We’ve got to get revenge!” Spinning snapped.

“Obviously. But how? Don’t you remember? None of our attacks affected it,” Rhythm shot back.

“I’ve never seen that style before, or similar iterations,” Echo mused aloud. “It must be a new kind of Hybrid.”

“A stronger Hybrid…” Blazing guessed grimly.

“Hmm,” Rhythm was stumped on what to do.

“Maybe we can lure it into an Energy well,” Spinning suggested.

“What?” Rhythm spat with a head whip.

“But there are fences around them now,” Echo reminded him. “How are we supposed to get it inside?”

“I dunno. Maybe levitate it?” Spinning shrugged.

“Seriously?” Rhythm grumbled with a slanted mouth. “Who do you think I am, SilverFlash? Look at that thing; it’s heavy as fuck. There’s no way either of us could lift it.”

“Alright, geez,” Spinning sneered.

“Well, it has to have some sort of weakness,” FeatherTune said from atop a roof. “Maybe there’s a soft spot in it’s armor. We could pierce it with some metal. I know there’s a metal scrap pile somewhere. Hang on.” Feather flew off the roof and darted to the west.

“He didn’t even let me consider it,” Rhythm muttered and shook his head.

“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” Spinning announced, and added, “crabby” to Rhythm.

“We should seperate them,” Echo advised. “And deal with the ones we are used to first. That way we can focus on the big one all together.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rhythm declared, giving Echo a grateful nod.

The four of them pressed forward to the Hybrids. Echo kept up the back, still a bit weary of the cyborgs.

Rhythm stated blasting a sea green Hybrid, who had a clawed back leg. It appeared to be a mare, whose mind was long lost with the additions to her body. She charged forward and began firing lasers from guns on her shoulders. A few of those shots hit against Rhythm’s armor and fur, but he stood tall. He kept assaulting her with charged energy shots, which began to slow her down. Spinning finished her with a blast to her side belly, toppling her over.

A small armored Hybrid was chasing after BlazingFlair. It was what they called a “scout” Hybrid. None of its fur was visible, but it had a purple and blue streaked mane. Just behind Blazing’s tail, the creature started shouting something, but it was too hard to make out. BlazingFlair whipped around and shot up his right foreleg right in front of it’s muzzle. A rush of fire spewed out of his EPD, igniting the Hybrid’s head.

Echo glanced over to the right of Blazing. The heavy saw Hybrid was quickly gaining on him. Blazing was still struggling with the scout, and didn’t take notice of the enemy behind him. EchoBeat dashed forward. He had to distract it.

Echo positioned his EPD in front of him and started firing. “Over here!” Echo shouted. The saw Hybrid diverted it’s path as it saw Echo hurtling towards it. It raised its bladed limb up, ready to strike. Echo ran right past it, and shot at it’s behind as he swirled around.

“Foolish pony,” The Hybrid said in a low voice. “Surrender and we will show mercy.”

“No way!” Echo yelled back. “You just want more of your own!”

“Don’t you know what happened to your friend?” The Hybrid mocked. “I will do worse to you.”

It was talking about Hyper. Anger filled up inside of Echo. He backed away as he continued to shoot energy at the cyborg. It chased after him. Echo saw in the corner of his eye that FeatherTune was flying overhead. The Hybrid was too close to Echo. His heart hammered as he turned tail. Just as he fled the Hybrid struck it’s blade down. It raked across one of Echo’s back legs, leaving a gash. Echo kept sprinting, he couldn’t let the pain stop him.

There was a crackle of electricity from the sky. A bolt shot the heavy Hybrid, but it didn’t take notice. It's prey was Echo, and it would not stop until it got him. The rest of the Hybrids had been dealt with, so the other members of the team began attacking the Hybrid pursuing Echo.

“Echo!” He heard Rhythm call. “Try to bring it back this way!”

Echo took a wide turn to the right. He saw where the ground slope upward and dashed towards it. Maroon hooves scrambled against the loose soil. Echo heaved himself up and glanced behind once he was on flat ground. The Hybrid had a hard time climbing and slowed to a walking pace.

Suddenly, there was a streak of periwinkle that rushed to the Hybrid’s side. Inside of Spinning’s magic field was a sharp piece of iron. The metal impaled into the side of the Hybrid, right behind it’s right shoulder where there was an opening in the armor. The cyborg crashed to the ground.

“No!” It cried out.

The metal piece had been at least a leg’s length, and was barely visible in the Hybrid side. It was a grave injury, one that the team hoped was enough to kill it. Echo saw his friends were still firing energy into the mass of pony and metal. Following their example, Echo raised his EPD and shot at his enemy. Its screams soon silenced.

“Alright, I think it’s dead,” Rhythm announced with a huff. “Good distraction, Echo!” He complimented.

“Glad I could help,” Echo replied with a small smile.

“Now that these fuckers are out of the way,” Blazing said, “Why don’t we get that node?”

“I guess so,” Rhythm considered. “We should bury these Hybrids though.”

“Or just throw them into the energy wells,” Spinning proposed.

“Ugh, I don’t feel like dragging them all the way to the energy mill,” Rhythm groaned. “Besides, their metal parts won’t disintegrate in the wells.”

“Hey Echo,” He turned to the Earth Pony. “Do you think you can do some digging while we go disable the node?”

“I guess,” Echo answered, feeling a rock in his belly. He really did not want to be left with the dead Hybrids.

Almost as if to address his concern, Rhythm assured, “We’ll come help you when we get back. All you need to do is dig.”

“Alright,” EchoBeat accepted.

He watched his friends travel south to the site of the node. Echo turned and headed for a tool shed that was in between a couple village houses. There would have to be a shovel in there somewhere. But before he entered, he noticed the pain in his left back leg as he walked. He needed to patch up his bleeding gash before doing any work. Instead, Echo sat down and took out some bandages from his saddlebag.