> "ARE YOU INSANE!!!" > by Dontaskaboutit > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Can't decide. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hell ya today is the day!". There I was yelling in my bathroom, excited as all hell. Today is the day of the anime convention around where I live and I was defiantly ready. I worked my ass off saving up for it, spent a lot on my cosplay, and got all my buddy's to come along with... *BANG BANG BANG * "JOHN GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW, WE'RE READY TO GO!!!" ... speak of the demons. "Just come in I'm almost done!" three seconds later I hear my door being opened then followed by, what sounded like, a small bull stamped going threw my house. "Hey John what's up!" "Nothing much just putting on the finishing touches on my costume, how about you Josh, and what's with the German accent?" "O, you vwill see!" "OK ... you four are in my fridge aren't you?" "You can only blame yourself!!!" said a voice with a crack at the end. "We'll sorry you know how picky I am about details!" it was at this time i finished up and came out to see my ... very strange group of friends all different characters from a variety of franchises. "I can tell." said Alec who was dressed in a butler outfit with VERY dark black hair that is mostly on his right side, two small chains that connected to his lower most left jacket pocket and button with one hanging lower than the other and he had red contacts that complemented his Sebastian Michaels cosplay very nicely along with the single lock of hair in front of his face. "Same goes to you demon." "Yeas, Yeas very good indeed." when I heard the thick (fake) German accent I looked to the right of Alec ... and almost died of laughter. There was Josh wearing a white suit with gloves, glasses, blonde hair, and had the biggest grin. He was a perfect Major. “Hahahaha, it works so well, Ahahaha!” I thought his cosplay was just fantastic, but I then saw Jimmy… holy shit I think I’m going to bust a gut. No lie, he looked just like Scooter from Borderlands. Short hair, dirty mechanic cloths, everything. “Jim-Ji-Jimmy,are you- are you trying to kill me!” I say in between my giggling fit. “Wha’dia mean? Really whatsta the difference between me know an what I look like daily?” “It’s because my thoughts are now materialized into reality.” I say wiping the tear from left eye. I then glance over to chad wearing nice looking red suit with round glasses and a lizard's tail. “Shit dude, nice job on the Demiurge cosplay, you know I love Overlord.” I compliment him. “Right back at you Shounen fanboy.” he replies with mischief in his voice. “Oi! I’m not a Shonen fanboy, but I love this character too much not to cosplay as him!” I heft my jagged edged (fake) sword onto my right shoulder With a huge, excited grin on my face. As I do so the bells in my hair jingle as I shift under my black shihakusho and torn sleeveless white haori. I adjust the bandages underneath on my stomach. All while still trying to get used to the tabi, which are a lot more comfortable than I’m used to. I even had a fake scar on my left eye that looks so real. and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. “But there is one problem with it… where’s the eye patch?” he asks pointing to his right eye. I put my hand up to my right eye… I forgot the god damn eyepatch… “Dammit!” I yell feeling more and more pissed by the second. Josh saved the day though, “Calm down dear friend, Imz sure they havez at least one at der convention.” I just grumble to myself. Also when did he get so good at that character? “Fine.” Alec got into character real quick, “Then shall we get going, if we dilly dally here any longer we will miss out on all the goods being sold.” he put his arm across his abdomen and bowed. “Right this way please.” Chad joined him on the bow as well. I smile at that and jimmy thought it was a golden opportunity to get into character too, “CATCHA RIIIIIIIDE!!!” making us all burst out laughing. Damn this has been fun. We mostly just spent most of the day taking pictures with other cosplayers, random people, even ran into some other friends, ate, joked around, and even went and bought some stuff. Well everyone else bought some stuff, I just want to wait before we leave to shop around, I’m lazy like that. Which is around this time since it’s closing in an hour. “Oi, guys I’m going to going do some rounds and finally buy some shit, I’ll meet you back at jimmy's truck, alright?” I tell them, with Alec taking a picture with some girls because he is sebastian and that’s what happens. “Just make sure you’re there within the hour, I ain’t waitin for you for too long yahere?” Jimmy tells me, giving me a smile again because of how much he is like Scooter, I still can’t get over it. I start walking away waving my hand in the air, “Ya, ya, I know MOM!” Josh laughed at that. So here I am walking around and checking out the stalls, I see some cool stuff, but nothing really catching my eye. Eye… I forgot about the eye patch. “Well I know what I’m getting first.” I say out loud. I’ve checked about every stall bleach related, and I havn’t found a single eyepatch for Kenpachi, you gotta be kidding me! *sigh* what time is it… shit I’ve only got fifteen minutes! I’m not leaving here without that eye patch! I start scanning the stalls from a distance, I have pretty good eyes, grr can’t see anything even remotely related, and what’s tugging on my haori? I turn around and see some guy in a damn good Resident Evil Merchant cosplay, hell even his eyes look cool as well, are they some kind of contacts or something. He let’s go of my clothes and take’s a few steps back, looking pleased he got my attention, I think, hard to tell with the get up. “Yo.” I greet him. He put his hands together, “Hello stranger.” damn, voice on point too, props to you dude, “I see you are lookin for some ware’s there, wadda ya buyin? Does have something to do with your outfit? I see you are missing a key component.” he points to my right eye, being bare and patchless. I smile, “Ya I am, but I can’t seem to find an eyepatch anywhere here, it’s actually pissing me off a little.” I tell him with some irk in my voice. He chuckles a little, “Fear not, dear captain, follow me, i think I have the ware’s you speak of.” he gestures me to follow him to some table with green cloth on it, having all sorts of random junk on them. Ok, I have some serious red flags going off in my head right now, this guy seems… I don’t know, mischievous maybe? Untrustworthy? I’m not sure, but he says he might have what I need.. damn it greed, you win over instinct yet again. I walk over to the table and look over what’s on the table while the guy fumbles with something underneath the table. There is quite a variety here, and it all looks to be of good quality. He even has a Yachiru doll too. My little niece would love this! He seemed to have found what he was looking for and came back up. “Is this whatcha lookin for?” he holds out a perfect replica of Kenpachi’s eyepatch, even looks to be some kind of high quality leather! But it seems almost too perfect, “I really want this, but what’s the catch? You're not going to abduct me or something?” I ask him with a very questioning tone and look. “You’re talking about the disappearances at the cons as of the past few years aincha? Boy I may be a great actor, but I’m not young enough to take on some young spark like you, stranger. Now, the price for this is fifty bucks, whaddya say, you buyin?” I take a look into his eyes, “How much for the Yachiru doll as well?” He looked down at the table and saw the doll, right next to a replica of the alicorn amulet from My Little Pony… what, I have a niece you know. “Heh, forgot I even had that, just take it, I don’t want it.” he picked up the doll and handed it to me. “Hmm, alright then…” I’m still feeling on edge with this guy, but I think that’s just my paranoia of anyone I don’t know kicking in, I hand him the fifty bucks and take the eye patch. I was about to walk away, only having little under a minute to leave before he stops me. “Hey, if you wouldn’t mind, could you put on the eye patch before you go, I like you outfit and would love to see it complete.” he asks me, sounding very genuine. I sigh and turn back around, “Sure, why not.” I put the little Yachiru doll on my shoulder, and i start putting on the eyepatch, but something feels off with in on… I feel weaker, so much so I can’t hold myself up, “Wh-what’s happening?!?!” The world around me started to fade away, like some sort of black fog forming around me, I hear the Merchant laughing slightly, I look up and see him waving at me before everything faded to black. “Farewell stranger.” “K- an!” “Ken--an!” Ugh, who is that? “K-n-chan!” A little girl? I think so, but who is she talking to? “Ken-chan!” I feel something on top of me, ugh what happened, what the hell did that merchant do? I should sit up a little. I do so, but instantly get pushed back down a little by someone. “Ken-chan you're awake!” the one hugging me exclaims, right in my ear. I open my eyes and push this little girl away slightly, “What?” It’s Yachiru, it’s actually Yachiru. Little girl, pink hair, lieutenant outfit and all. I look around me to see I’m in a clearing within some forest, my sword is in the ground, tip down, next to my head. What’s going on, where am I, why is she so close to my face? She looks worried, “Are you okay Ken-chan?” ok I should be worried that there is some little girl, sitting on top of my chest, close to my face, and roleplaying, but something inside me told me this was alright and that I know her. “I’m fine Yachiru, what about you, what’s with my voice!” it’s deeper, and it sounds just like Kenpachi. “I’m ok ken-chan, and what do you mean? You sound like you!” she giggles cutely before getting off me, allowing me to stand up, and holy hell am I taller! I was six foot, but now I’m probably around six seven and a half, maybe even six eight! My body is also a lot bulkier too, but it feels much easier to move as well. What the hell is going on? I hear some growling and look around, seeing green sickly eyes in the foliage. Yachiru jumped on my left shoulder, “Ooh, looks like there is some competition Ken-chan, should be a fun exercise!” she exclaimed cutely, after that some kind of… things, wolves maybe? I don’t know, because wolves aren't typically MADE OF WOOD! They start coming out of the brush, there is seven of them all circling around me. Ok normally I would be freaking out right now since I’m about to get mauled by some fantasy beasts made of timber, but I’m not. I actually feel a little excited. I reach out to my right and pull my zanpakuto out of the ground and feel a surge of adrenaline thrash through me. “Let’s go!” Two of the wolve’s jump at me from the right, so I reacted, and quicker than I thought possible, I cleaved both in half, sending the pieces flying across the clearing. Another one tries from the left but my reaction time was impeccable as I snatch it out of the air by its upper jaw and send it hurdling into the wooden wolf directly behind me. The last o0ne reached as soon as I released the one wolf, and I couldn’t react quick enough to catch it or block it with my sword, so I blocked it with my left arm… and it did nothing to hurt me. It’s teeth didn't puncture my skin, and I kick it so hard it hurdled towards a tree and shattered on impact. I feel Yachiru slouch and pout on my shoulder, “Well that wasn’t any fun!” damn is she cute when she pouts. “Yea it was, let’s find somewhere to stay shall we?” I turn around and start walking away and the clearing start forming some kind of green mist. Wood flies past me, almost hitting my head. “Ken-chan look!” I turn around and see a giant version of the things I just fought, standing about eight feet tall on all fours. Again I should be scared, but all I can do it smile. “Let’s see if you are any stronger than the others!” I charge at the beast, and it did so in return, and quicker than I wanted it to, the fight was over as the thing shattered in one hit. I look up at the sky, “*sigh* That was disappointing.” “Yea… I guess we should find some shelter huh?” I nod and start walking in some random direction. I hear a gurgling noise from my left, “Ken-chan I’m hungry.” Yachiru wines in her adorable nature. Not to far away a zebra watch from some bushes as some weird creatures left a clearing in the Everfree after the bigger one destroyed an entire pack of timberwolves and an alpha wolf. “An intriguing one, you are, and in the future you will not be far. But until that day comes, may the skies watch you and the little one.” > Let's Fight! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Well… I think we’re lost.” I say as I stand in the middle the woods, looking in every direction I could trying to find some sort of indication of shelter or civilization, it’s been dark for a while now. Yachiru stuck one finger in the air, “Leave it to me Ken-chan, my nose can find us some kind of food to eat!” she announces to the world, most likely alerting every predator in the area of our location. “That really isn’t our main priority right now, but I could go for some grub right now,” I smile in anticipation, “go for it Yachiru!” Shortly after that she perks up and points left, “I smell water that way Ken-chan, that means there might be fish!” For some reason I feel so excited and I do something I was not expecting to do, almost as if I’ve done it a hundred times over, my muscles all tensed, and it felt like they all focus on my legs, and in a flash the world got slower, birds and bats barely moving, leaves falling with almost no movement whatsoever, and I was running without any thought besides where she pointed, all with this crazed smile plastered on my face. It just feels natural. “We're almost there Ken-chan, faster, faster!” I start to smell the water as well, that combined with Yachiru's encouragement makes me run even faster than before until I see a river and instantly stop causing everything around me to return to normal, dust kicking up in the process. “Good job Ken-chan!” the small girl jumped off my back, “Now I can catch us some fish!” she runs over to the river bank and stares at the water with a cute smile. I don’t see anything here but river and trees, but if I know one thing, it’s following a river should lead to civilization. “Hey Yachiru I’m going to follow this river for a bit, see if I can find anything, stay here alright it’s pretty dark.” “Sir yes sir!” Hmm which direction should I go? Right, I’ll go right! This overwhelming speed thing is a little jarring, but damn if It’s not efficient. I’ve had to cover at least a kilometer by now and it’s only been a few seconds since I left Yachiru (in real time). Still haven’t seen much- wait what’s that? I stop at what looks to be a path leading deeper into the forest. Should I go back to get Yachiru? No, she will be fine on her own for a little while, as long as she stays put at least. Well, time to go deeper into the rabbit hole. Well time to go! Everytime I do this I ignore it for some reason. I just can’t get over how natural this feels to move at this speed with little to no effort. It’s actually quite fun! But why am I so accepting of all of this, everything that has happened today has been, well absolutely jarring and confusing. I should be asking more question, panicking, angry, or all of the above… but I don’t feel any of that. I actually feel happy for some reason, and also very eager. Eager to find someone, to fight them! To find someone from wherever the heck we are, see if they are strong, and have some fun! I mean I should be working on how to get back home, but playing is important. You can work anytime. Wait, what's that now? In front of me is what looks to be a castle across a canyon, a very ruined one, but a castle nonetheless. It looks fairly old, but I think someone has been here recently, but I can’t quite tell with all this fog. Wait there is a bridge over to the left, perfect! I flash step over to the other side to get a better look, but there are these… things in my way. They look like tiny horses wearing black and purple spandex with a yellow bolt of what I will presume to be lightning, and yellow goggles. “Stop right there creature! Where do you think you’re going?” said the smallest of the three. I just stop and stare with a look of confusion, “Well I believe I’m going to that castle over there.” The larger one on the left walked up to me, trying to look intimidating as possible even though he came up to my abdomen, “That’s not going to be happening, now turn around and go back to wherever in Tartarus you came from freak!” My look went from confused to irked, with my lip lifting in disgust, “Well I AM going to that castle whether you like it or not you little shits, now out of my way!” I start to walk towards the castle, pushing the small horse in front of me to the side, which caused the one on the right to fly at me, wait they have wings? Well no matter, it flew at me trying to tackle me down with great force, but all I heard was a crunching sound and it disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke. After that the other two also disappeared in a puff of smoke. “... well that was interesting.” I look back up at the castle, “Now why were they trying to keep me out of you?” I run up to the entrance and then walk inside. The inside looked worse than the outside, as if it could collapse at any moment. It also felt errey, almost like an abandoned house. After walking around with only the sound of my footsteps to accompany me I hear an irritated growl come from deeper within the structure. I make my way to where I heard it to find what looks to be some kind of throne room with tattered banners all around that depicted the sun and moon. In the center was some kind of art piece holding concrete balls with gem like designs carved on them. But what caught my eye the most was the taller pitch black horse thing with wavy starry like mane and a tattoo on it’s flank which depicts the night sky and crescent moon. It looked angry destroying and ripping apart the banners that had the sun on them. “Argh! I want nothing to do with these! They just irritate me more and more when I look at them!” she yelled, or at least I think it’s a girl, sounds like one. “But I need to calm down, my plan is almost complete afterall! Celestia is sealed away within the sun, the elements are worthless in their current state, and eternal night is at hoof! So long as everything keeps playing out this way there will be no one strong enough to stop me, Nightmare Moon!” For some odd reason I just got really excited all of a sudden. I wonder how strong she really is? Well might as well make myself known. I walk out of the hallway and start advancing towards her. “So you’re the strongest huh?” I ask aloud causing her to jump and turn around. She has both wings and a horn huh? That's a thing I guess. She looks at me with a shocked expression, “What? Who are you and how did you get in here without me knowing?!” I just feel even more irritated and furrow my brow in anger, “It doesn't matter who I am, just answer the question!” I yell in anger. She gets into a defensive stance flaring her wings, “Yes I am the strongest what is it to you!” My frown turns into a smile “You know everyone who searches for power,” I unsheathe my zanpakuto and throw it’s sheath to my left, “without exception,” I get into an all too natural fighting stance, “also searches for battle.” I then point my sword at her causing her to jump backwards with a scythe appearing out of thin air. “What about you? Do you fight to become more powerful? Or do you want more power so you can fight?!” I then charge at her, the bells in my hair ringing madly as she quickly moves her weapon in front of her blocking my light strike with the handle of it. She gives me a panicked look, “What do you think you are doing! Are you insane!?!” “Sanity? Sorry, but I don't remember having such a useless thing in the first place.” Yachiru sat near a fire she made and was cooking some fish on it, humming a happy tune to herself with some drool escaping her mouth. She was very excited to eat these fish and couldn’t wait for Ken-chan to get back from exploring. She perked up for a moment after hearing some voices coming from the woods. They all sounded like they were female. She should check out the voices, for that would help find some sort of civilization for both her and Ken-chan, but the fish! What should she do! “Dang it!” she quickly dumps the fire into the water using a big branch and takes the fish with here as she runs over to where she heard the voices to find a group of ponies talking to some kind of serpent think crying about it’s mustache. The one with the purple mane and tail took one of it’s scales and cut off a good portion of her tail, sounds like a girl at least, and then attached it to the serpents torn mustache. They all start praising the white one while the serpent rejoices. Taking a bite of the fish while think of what to do, she hummed in delight, revealing her position in the bushes. One of the ponies, specifically the yellow one with the light pink mane, heard her and turned towards her. “What are you?” the yellow one asked coming closer to her with a curious eye. Yachiru just kept eating the fish without fear. “What’s that you got there? Did you catch yourself some fish huh?” she cooded, petting Yachiru on the head making her smile. “Hey what are you doing there Fluttershy? Come on we have to go!” called out a brash voice. Yachiru found the source of the voice to be a light blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail with wings. “Sorry,” called out the one now dubbed as Fluttershy, “I was just giving this little cutie right here some attention.” she said softly, still petting Yachiru on the head. The rest of the group came over to see what they were doing and they all dawed when they saw her. She finished up the last of the fish, forgetting about some of it for Ken-chan. “What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it before?!” said the purple one. “I’m Yachiru!” announced the little girl to everyone. Fluttershy’s petting stopped as she stared along with everyone else. “Did it just talk? I reckon it just talked.” Said the orange one with the blonde mane and tail wearing a stetson. She also smelled like apples. “I should be asking you the same thing! When did pony’s learn to talk?” asked the small girl not really confused, but just playing along with them. “What are you doing here darling?” asked the white one that cut off her own tail. “Me and Kenny are lost, so while he went to find help, I stayed and caught us some food!” she went to hold up the fish, only to find bones. “Wha! But- I- I ate them all! Oh no I at them all! Now I’m mad, who are you all!” she pouted, causing her to be more cute than anything. The white one spoke first, “I’m Rarity dear.” Purple step up, “I am Twilight Sparkle.” The blue one was next, “I’m Rainbow Dash, Fastest flyer in Equestria!” she boosted with a pose. “I’m Applejack little critter.” said the one in the stenson. “And you are Fluttershy!” said Yachiru pointing to the yellow one who nodded. She then felt the ground underneath her move as she rose into the air. “AndI’mPinkiePie!NicetomeetyouYachiru,doyoulikecupcakesIlikecupcakesIcangeyouawholebunchofthem!” burst out Pinkie Pie, excited to meet something new. Yachiru grew a great big smile, “I love cupcakes! I actually just like sweets in general.” Pinkie gasped dramatically, “We are going to be such good friends!” she said while hugging the small girl. Twilight walked up to her, “What are you doing out here, and who is kenny?” she then shook her head, “Wait no time, we have to stop Nightmare Moon! Come with us Yachiru so you’ll be safe, I’m sure we can find your friend.” At that moment there was an explosion and quake followed by a burst of magic energy racking everything with such great force. “WHAT WAS THAT!” yelled RainbowDash. Yachiru chuckled, “Whatever it was, I bet Ken-chan is there fighting it.” she says with a knowing smile. “Hurry up girls let’s go!” says Twilight. I unison they all say, “Right!” including Yachiru. I’m sent flying through the castle walls by a blast of some kind of energy, but I flip mid air and push off the next wall behind me and launch myself towards my enemy, grabbing her face and then dragging her on the ground for about twenty feet down a hall before chucking her into a wall, causing a part of the castle to crumble, laughing the entire time while doing it. “Whatever you hit me with hurt quite a bit,” I tell her while cracking his neck, “but I think you underestimate how durable I really am!” She launched herself full force out of the rumble at me, only to get blocked by my smiling ass, “What are you and why won’t you die!” a light like last time comes from her horn before a small orb appears and starts growing, acting quickly I headbutt her causing her head to jerk and misfire the orb and the ground causing it to quake again. I push her away before slashing her across her muzzle, splattering blood on the wall next to us, and for some reason making me feel very disappointed. “You can even take a lazy slash like that without taking damage…” I put my zanpakuto up on my shoulder while watching her recoil from the pain, not even making an attempt to get back up as blood ran down into her mouth. I just sigh and start walking away. “Where do you think you’re going! We are not done here!” she screams out, shaking the castle walls, causing some of it to crumble. I look over my shoulder slightly, “We are done here. There is no reason for me to fight a weakling like you.” I start walking again, “You can’t cut me, overpower me, outlast me, or do anything that would actually make this battle fun, so I’m done here. You’re just too weak.” I can hear sobs coming from her as I enter the main room again, and turns out Yachiru is there with a group of epilepsy horse things. “Kenny!” She runs over to me and stops about a foot away from me, “I found these nice people and they helped me find you!” she looks behind me and points, “Who’s that?” The technicolor crowd in front of my gasped and I turn around and see my former opponent practically force herself into the room, trying to hide her tears and remain intimidating. “You think I’m weak…” everything just felt like it got a little more heavy, and the air seems thicker now, “I'M NOT WEAK! I’LL SHOW YOU WHO”S WEAK!” At that moment a shockwave of some sorts bursts outwards from her knocking everyone back but me and Yachiru. She hid behind me while I put up a hand to cover my eye so no dust gets in it. But when I put my hand down, everything changed. She was now decked out in a full suit of armor, I don’t think even a single part of her was left uncovered, with blue and black energy spewing out from every opening. The armor looked sturdy, sharp, and it was all colored a dark purple. Around her floats four spinning crescent blades, and in front of her now double sided scythe. In a new, power enhanced voice she yells, “IT'S YOU!” > Choose > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I take another glance at her, my interest peaked by her new attire. “NIGHTMARE MOON!!!” I hear from behind me, probably coming from those weird things Yachiru dragged along with her, speaking of Yachiru… “Hey, get somewhere safe, got it?” I say looking directly at her, she smiles and nods running over to the statue thing and hopping to the top of it, the others following her as well, the purple one inspecting the stone art. I turn my attention back to the one dubbed Nightmare Moon, “Heh, you changed a little since a few moments ago, huh? I can feel it to, you are leaking power right now-” she sent one of the crescent shaped blades at me at immense speeds, which I blocked with my sword, being pushed back a little by the force behind it. She then charged at me sending all her blades hurling at me except her scythe, which she kept close. I run past them all of the blades effortlessly dodging all but one of them, and it cut me on the left side of my face and my ear as well. I felt the pain, before it was replaced with adrenaline and excitement. I sucker punched her in the head, denting the metal before she brought her weapon down, just barely nicking my right arm before I head-butted her, making her fly back, doing a flip before recovering. I heard the air displacing as I jump into the air having all those little blades miss me, or so I thought before one lodged itself into my back, causing me to grunt at the sudden intrusion as I heard the others gasp, as I fell I looked over seeing the stone orbs that were on the statue on the ground shattered, along with the rainbow one on the ground as well with a deep gash. I land with a strong thud. I stand up and crack my neck, “Is that all you got?” I say with a slight smile. I rip out the blade and shatter it in my grip before rushing her with a flurry of blows, cutting threw her armor with every hit I landed, but she did the same to me, I kick her through a wall before using my speed to appear behind her and grabbing her mid air and throwing her through another wall back into the room with the statue landing a few meters away from it… I think, can’t tell with this damn eye patch on, but nevertheless she got back up some of the armor being fixed by the glow of hers while other pieces fell off. The glow is coming from that horn of hers… I make another mad dash and make contact before she could even react hitting her with the hilt of the blade as she soars she disappears in a flash, and then I feel something pierce my stomach I look down and find all the crescent blades in me along with the scythe blade. The blade is removed as blood gushes out of me, stumbling to regain my balance. Nightmare giggled as she walked into my field of view. I could see her smiling since a portion of her helmet was gone from the hilt making contact with it. “I think I’m the stronger one here ‘Kenny’, and your death will just prove it.” she says mockingly. I look down and see the hole left in me by her weapon, along with the blades still in me. I should be scared, I should be in agonizing pain, I should be DEAD… but instead I just find this funny, I just find this so fucking humorous. I shouldn’t, I should be screaming in pain, but instead I just start laughing, hell I’m busting a god damn gut just laughing like a madman. “That hurt! Hahahaha, that really hurt,” I reach out quicker than I thought possible and grabbed her horn, “Let me return the favor!” I yell with gusto as I bring my blade around, she tried to block it but my sword just passed right through hers and then through her armor, and finally that horn. Blood spewed out from what was left of the appendage and a shock wave went off throwing me and my opponent back into walls, yells and shrieks coming from everyone but me and Yachiru. I grunt on impact, luckily impacting a rather thick part of the wall and didn’t go thru along with Nightmare who screamed in pain on impact, and kept doing so as I got back up with a victorious smile. The glow was gone and it seems like my wound is nearly gone just like in Bleach. I pull out the other blades completely since they were pushed almost all the way thru when I hit the wall. I hear the pain filled wails of my enemy stop, reducing to pained grunts and gasps as she shakily stands back up. With a painful yell the glow comes back slowly, and more dull colored as she brings her broken weapon back to her side with multiple pain filled grunts and moans. I shake my head at her attempt before looking at her with a soft smile. She looks at me with anger, “I will not die here today! Just because you cut off my horn doesn't mean this battle is over!” another shockwave went out, this one almost as strong as the last. ‘Seems she still got some reserves.’ “Sorry but I’m not interested in weaklings who can’t fight any more. Besides, I don’t have any obligation to finish you off.... I got some advice for ya, Don't just accept loss or defeat Moon! Accept it after you're dead. If you lose without dying... it means that luck is on your side. If that happens - focus on surviving! Survive and Kill the one who couldn't kill YOU!” I recite smiling at how natural saying all of that felt, even adding a little to it. She stomps the ground “NO! I WILL WIN, I REFUSE TO LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YO-” she was cut off as she looked to her left where a white light was coming from. I do the same and see those six Yachiru dragged with her floating in the air all now wearing jewelry with some kind of rainbow ribbon coming from five of the things necklaces and swirling around the crown thing on the purple one before shooting into the air a descending upon my shocked opponent. It wasn’t until I heard her shriek in pain that I knew she was being harmed by it, I looked closely into the beam and see her being ripped from some other thing like her but smaller, and weaker looking. Everything slowed down as i thought about what to do, my opponent is being hurt right in front of me in the middle of our fight by the rainbow beam of righteousness and I think she is now being disintegrated if her fading is anything to go by. ‘I could save her’ ‘Or just let her die, it isn’t our job to protect her’ ‘But we haven't finished our fight! If we save her we could finish it!’ ‘But if she does die, then that means she was weak, and that group over there is stronger! That means we can have an even better fight against even more opponents just as strong!’ ‘But why can’t we have both?’ ‘Why do we need both?’ ‘Because it’s more fun!’ ‘Decide on something already!’ > Unexpected > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I finally process the situation and I go with my gut on this one, ignoring the other voice I apparently have I decide to save her, after all if she is strong enough to cut me, she’s worth keeping around. But how do I save her, if that beam is hurting her and keeping her still, what are the chances of it doing the same to me. It would be too late if I went after those six, plus they seem to be protected since the rainbow one’s wound is gone, and I believe the white one was missing her tail right? Well it’s back.... ah fuck it. I run at the beam raising my sword and focusing on moving this power I feel to the blade, awwing at how my vision is turning yellow I swing the sword as hard as I could at the beam's path in front of Nightmare, hoping my idea will work, because I definitely can’t stop now. A destructive wave of yellow energy is released at the bright rainbow beam, ripping and tearing at the ground, releasing a shockwave that made the beam fluctuate before the wave made contact. As the two energies struck each other it did exactly what I was hoping it would do, it disrupted the beam for a brief moment, creating a gap to which I could get in and get out before being hit by it, and I plan to do just that. I kick it into gear seeing Nightmare and some other thing, but that doesn't matter to me. I quickly grab Nightmare, who now looks even more battered than before, and continue to run before I tripped trying to hit the brakes before running into the wall. I wrap my arms around her and tuck her into my chest, flipping to my back as I skidded across the ground and hit a pillar, causing it to collapse on me. I now throw Nightmare under me as I take the brunt of the damage. Everything starts to settle as I hear chatting and complements, along with Yachiru running, probably over to me. ‘Smooth move idiot.’ ‘Piss off.’ I hear a collective gasp, and shifting movement before I feel another being appear, along with a clip clop of hooves. Another gasp. “Luna are you ok?!” I hear a new voice say in a panicked, yet soft voice. Who the hell is Luna? After that I heard something about a sister and surprise. I hear some labored breathing and look down at Nightmare Moon. She seems to have none of the injuries she sustained from our battle, but she looks just as beaten. Her entire body has singe marks, her entire body is smaller, but not too much smaller, and she looks younger. Also her mane is a deep purple instead of the starry sky pattern it once had. But still, she looked terrible when it came to damage, and her breathing tells me there is a bit of internal damage, I need to get her out of here. ‘You saved her life already, just leave her.’ ‘And just leave her here to get killed by the ones who already tried to kill her?? How about no.’ I stand up and shrug off all the ruble, holding Nightmare in my arms. Good thing I’m now VERY durable, or that would have all ended badly. I feel somthing hop on my right shoulder and hug my neck. “That was a great fight Ken-chan-” she stopped speaking and looked down, “and you saved her too! Never let a good opponent go to waste huh?” “I guess you could say that.” I smile and turn around to see that group all surrounding some big white horse thing with a horn and wings, along with a smaller blue one, with half a horn and broken wings. Actually that blue one seems to have the same amount of injuries Nightmare had, horn missing and all. It seemed to be breathing slowly, with the white one crying, surrounding it in a golden glow saying “Please don’t die. Please don’t die.” over and over again. I look down to my left and see my zanpakuto's sheath and ask Yachiru to get it for me, to which she smiled and nodded her head and did so, even sheathing my zanpakuto and agreeing to hold it for me while I carried Nightmare and she rides on my shoulder. I hear air being displaced, I quickly dodge to my right, seeing a rainbow blur pass by my face before it hit the wall behind me. “Rainbow Dash!” I hear someone yell In worry before the same voice yelled, “Nightmare Moon!” Before I could check the owner of the voice the one now dubbed Rainbow Dash got up and charged at me again, to which I head butted her causing her to fall down unconscious. I turn my attention back to the group to see them all staring at me in shock, except for the white one who looked very pissed, “You dare hurt not only my sister, save a monster, but harm my subjects as well! I, Princess Celestia, will not stand for it!” she fires a blast of fire at me, and I quickly dodge it, seeing as how is melted through the castle walls I decided I was in no position to fight at this current moment, so with a heavy ‘and angry’ heart I ran out of the castle and into the forest. “I think we’re lost. Again.” I deadpan talking to myself since Nightmare is still out cold, and Yachiru fell asleep. I groan, feeling a bit tired from all the walking and running. “To be lost in this forest is a fate most bleak, perhaps I might offer the refuge you seek.” I hear someone rhyme. I look to my left and see a weird looking zebra with a mohawk for a mane and gleaming bands of gold ringing her neck, it sounded female as well. She waves a hoof, signalling me to follow her. I decided I have no better options, plus nothing to really fear, so I start walking in her direction. We walk slightly for a good ten minutes before some weird hut comes into sight. It’s made out of the some sort of tree, with tribal masks on the outside, and bottles hanging from the branches from twine. It had moss in various places that glowed an eerie yellow, along with the flickering of candles coming from the windows. She walks up to the door, “Come in.” I stare a bit more, “Alrighty then.” I shrug before moving forward. I lumber my way in, having to duck to not hit my head on the doorway, which was high, but not high enough. The zebra closes the door behind me as I look around my new environment. Very tribe like if you ask me, with herbs, spices, and masks everywhere. I see some weapons as well on the far wall, consisting of traditional African weapons like a Akrafena, Mambele, and a Iwisa ’from one weapon lover to another I can respect having a lot of them.’, along with a cot in the right hand corner. ‘Why is this place so cluttered?’ I walk over to the cot and place both Nightmare and Yachiru on it. I turn around to look at the place some more, trying to get a feel for my host before my eye sets itself onto something interesting, a short length zanpakuto on a katana stand, and a folded white haori with a symbol on it, the symbol for the fourth division in the Gotei Thirteen. I look over to the zebra to find her gone, I highteen my guard before I hear her voice. “It seems you are surprised by my uniform, trust me when I say so am I with yours.” she says before walking into the room from what I guess is the kitchen, carrying a platter on her back with a tea set. She sets it all on a table before taking a seat on the ground. “So tell me who you are, and I might help you go far.” she pours two glasses, one she places in front of herself, and one se places on the other side of the table, which I guess is for me. I walk over and take a seat. ‘I’ve got the body, guess I should use the name.’ “The name’s Kenpachi Zaraki,” I calmly state, thumbing my chest, “Captain of the Eleventh Division in the Gotei thirteen, and you are? Oh, and by the way, drop the rhyming and shit, it’s annoying.” She chuckles, “I guess I will comply for the time being. I am Zecora, Captain of the Fourth Division of the Gotei Thirteen, so I know you are definitely not the eleventh captain, since I know the eleventh captain already, but yet you were an official captain's uniform? How is that might I ask?” ‘You dare question my rank little zebra?’ “Because I am a captain. Who is it that you say is the captain? I’ll kill the bastard!” I say, feeling really angry all of a sudden. I take a sip of my tea. She giggles, “With that much emotion you mustn't be lying about your rank… so that means you are not from around here.” I give her a questioning look, she leans over and looks at what I assume to be Nightmare, “ Seems your friend is hurt, would you like me to heal her? It is my specialty.” “Are you going to try anything?” I ask giving her a look that seemed to make her a bit defensive. “No, if I’m not a fighter anymore. I’m a healer now.” she responds getting up a grabbing some bottles for a shelf. ‘She’s not a threat.’ “... alright then, go ahead, I’m too tired for this right now.” I scratch my head. “There is another bed in the room next to you if you want to rest. If you want I can stitch up the holes in your uniform as well if you’d like. If so set them down beside the bed and I will mend them.” she tells me while gathering more supplies and setting them down next to Nightmare. I get up and yawn, “Alright then, thanks.” I walk over to the cot and grab Yachiru before turning to Zecora. I then grab her muzzle and lean down so I’m right in her face, “Just know if I find out you hurt either her or Yachiru here, I will rip you to shreds like a chew toy, got it?” I threaten her, to which she nodded slowly in response. I stand back up and walk to the other room, ducking again before walking over to a surprisingly large bed. I set Yachiru down and then undress down to my bandages and a pair of white boxers. I fold my uniform and lay it beside the bed before lying down myself. I close my eye’s and reflect on all the crazy things that has happened today. I feel something land on my chest, ‘must have bumped into one of the cluttered shelves, whatever this is it feels oddly course’. I pick it up and bring it to my eye to find some kind of orb made from very shiny gold sand. I look at it confused before it started to morph. It startled me a bit, but then it kept changing into multiple things, all completely unrecognizable before it just quit and stayed an orb. I give it one final look before clutching it in my hand, “I wish I had some answers…” I then close my eyes, feeling like the events of everything I’d done and felt since I first woken up in this place had decided to take their toll all at once, and clocked out. > A New Ally > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’m running. Running as hard as I can. My breath is starting to get to me as I panic even more. I look around, trying to figure out where I am but this… this place is just twisted. The trees are have arms, veins, hands for leaves and green eyes within their grasp. The eyes just watch as I run past, and the veins pulse with every step. The ground around me is covered in bloodied bones and shattered swords that cut up my feet as I run from the demon behind me as he laughs at the chase while crushing all the bones in his path with a sickening crack. “Stop running!” Kenpachi yells with cheer obvious in his voice. “It will make things easier for us both, you’re too weak to use MY power!” he looks like the one from the Quincy arc with the same riveted eyepatch and let down hair without bells in it. I just keep running, hoping that he will give up… I’m getting tired and my chest is starting cramp, “Help! Anybody!” I scream in desperation knowing I can’t take him. The trees react to it… but not in a good way. They start peppering us both with the eye’s they held in their hands. They hit me and they hurt along with sticking to me, slowing me down as more and more stuck, I eventually stop since I couldn’t move. I hear Kenpachi swinging at the eyeballs, most likely not getting hit a single time. ‘Why is this happening!? Am I going to die here? I don't want to die! But I’m too weak to fight him… I can’t do anything… I’m helpless here…’ ‘Fight.’ ‘I’m too weak.’ ‘Fight.’ ‘I’m scared… wait, I’m scared? Why does it feel… good?’ ‘Fight because it’s scary.’ ‘I should fight… because I’m scared to lose… to lose myself…’ I start to grow as the eyes all around my start to shift into my new attire. MY captains outfit. I feel something start to form in my hand as the bandage wrapped grip of my zanpakuto reacts to the tightening of my grip. I turn around and look at Kenpachi, bells jingling in my hair as I do so, and give him the biggest smile I could muster. He gives me a sneer as the ground beneath us turns into a black plain of nothing. I see him look to his upper left… and smile. He looked back at me with his signature yellow aura radiating around him as the air grew cloudy and heavy. He then reached up to his eyepatch and ripped it off. The darkness around us was blasted away as the force of a fucking earthquake shook the ground beneath me, the air crackling with power as everything felt like it was now underwater. I regain my composer just in time to block a swing from him, the sheer force behind it bypassing my blade and breaking my nose before he grabbed me a threw me far away. I got up and felt my nose… before laughing and ripping my own eyepatch off. The air now tearing in some places as my own power surges all around us. He gives me a smile when I look at him as I stand back up. I then point my sword at him. “Nozarashi!” I yell in delight while he gives me a shocked look. I chuckle a bit and draw back my sword, “Dr-” My eye shoots open as I take in a large gulp of air, I smell blood, it being very pungent as I feel something, someone, touching m- KENPACHI! I quickly feel my sword and grab it with my right hand, grasping it tightly before shooting my left hand towards whoever this is and grab them by their throat. I grip tightly before picking them up and chucking them through the wall next to me. I hear a gasp, in both surprise and pain before I get up and rush at them. My vision is foggy right now, but it doesn't matter, “I WON’T LOSE!” I shout as they grunt in pain, I run up and slash at them the thing just barely moved out of the way before my blade had a chance to connect, the missed slice causing a shockwave of force to destroy a few tree’s as it traveled. “Stop runnin!” I yell before swinging at them again, this time actually making contact with something. I keep looking around but with how bright it is outside my vision only got that much worse. Whoever this was is saying something, but I just ignore it as the dark thing with some kind of weird, abnormal spiritual pressure moves a little. I cut threw the being in front of me, turning the weak thing into a shimmering pile of black sand, “Are you really this much of a coward! Using cheap tricks like this won’t save you!” I look around trying to find my target ‘Where’d he go?’ I look around some more “Come on! You wanted to fight so let’s go!” I say trying to taunt my opponent, hopefully getting them to react, “Are you really this weak!?” Another black mass forms in front of me, again trying to say something, but my growing irritation only makes whatever it was trying to say even more unoticable. I growl at the puppet and raise my sword, channeling all my current strength into it and take a swing, and oh what a swing it was. The ground tore apart as it connected, cracking and crumbling as if it was just hit by a meteorite, the trees behind the puppet all blew back, snapping, twisting, and some even crumbling at the sheer amount of force. The dust kicked up all around, making my already blurry vision that much worse as the particles went into my eyes and mouth leaving the taste of dirt within. The sonic boom alone caused all of the windows within the hut to shatter because of the sheer force and intensity of the blow. As the dust settled and the wind died down I saw nothing in front of me but sheer and utter destruction, leaving nothing left of the doll there but a few bits of sand… I think, “These puppets won’t fool me, now where are you!?” “Right behind you,” I finally hear, a black mass from the shadow shooting out and slamming into my kidney. ‘Well that was uncomfortable.’ I sneer a little before swinging my left hand around an demolished yet another puppet, “I’m getting real tired of this shit. I swear I will destroy everything in my path to find you if you don’t come out!” I stomp my foot, the ground cracking in response. I feel my rage start to get to me as my blurry vision starts to get a yellow hue to it, “You got the the count of three before I start wrecking shit! ONE!” I grunt as I feel something akin to sand go up my nose and in mouth, despite the slight irritation, none of it really harming or cutting anything within me, “TWO!” I grunt out before reaching up to my eyepatch, preparing to remove it. “Thr-” I say before feeling a massive pain in my chest before blood gushes from my mouth, I fall as I just taste blood and flesh. ‘What the hell just happened?’ “You will not harm the girl.” I hear the being, I think it’s a guy, state before I heard and felt his footsteps go towards the house. After a few seconds I couldn’t feel or hear them so I tried to use this newly discovered ability of mine to feel for his soul pressure. Ok he is heading for the house… and he is now by Yachiru. My eye quickly opens. ‘Yachiru!’ I then quickly got up and rushed my opponent from behind, despite disliking this tactic. But that doesn't matter since Yachiru could get hurt while she is sleeping. I finally feel my blade enters something. I smile as I hear some coughing, “Gotcha.” I say, though it hurts a bit to do so, I remove my zanpakuto from my opponent, blood gushing as I did so. After a second he ‘at least I think it’s a he’ fell on the ground with pained grunt. I raise my sword into the air, “You gave me quite the test, but yet this fight was far from enjoyable, but I must commend you for your attempt, any last wor-” my vision finally clear up, adjusting to the not so bright light within the tree hut. I see someone in front of me, a very pale guy, some would even say he’s grey, looking at me with very tired looking eyes. I squint my one eye and lower my zanpakuto onto my right shoulder, relaxing a bit, “Who the hell are you?” I grunt out with a bored expression. He struggles to snap his fingers as I see some kind of black stuff, I think it’s sand’ spell out a name across the floor. “Who the fuck is Wayde Molan?” I see the man look back up at me with anger in his eyes, “Wait, you’re Wayde Molan aren't you?” I see him try to lift an arm to the hole in his chest… ‘shit’. I crouch down and pick up the man. He tries to fight but is ultimately to weak. His weird black blood starts to fall down my own chest as he keeps bleeding. I hurriedly walk into the next room and set him down on the table before going over to Zecora’s zanpakuto stand and ripping off some of the white cloth underneath the stand itself. I rip it up into smaller pieces to use as improvised gaze. I turn around and see the man trying to get up and leave, I go over and sit him up, “If you leave now idiot you’re going to bleed out. Just stay still,” I start wrapping the cloth around his torso, “I’ll get you patched up, then Zecora will fix the rest when she gets back… well after she flips out on me that is.” I grin at the thought of the little cute zebra lady yelling at me. I look back down at the floor and see more sand, this time spelling out, ‘Why are you healing me?’ “Because I want answers.” Failing to snap again, the sand formed a question mark. “I want to know why you tried to jump me in my sleep. Plus, I don’t kill those weaker than me.” His lips twitched in what I geuss was an attempt to sneer. ‘ Same as when I told you before. Your head was bleeding. Had to wake you up. Then I could go for help.’ “My head was bleeding? So that’s why I smelt blood, ha! I thought you were the one that made me bleed! That’s one of the reasons I thought you were trying to kill me. Well that and the fact you were in the same room as me in the bloody dark looming over me like some kind of serial killer inspecting his prey before chopping them up and eating them. But the smell of blood was a factor.” I joked brushing off whatever ill will I felt towards this man. “Also sorry about before, I was being defensive so anything you said just never reached my ears.” I shrug before walking over to the cot Nightmare was in and grabbing the pillow she wasn’t using. I then walk into the room Yachiru and I stayed in and grabbed another pillow, chuckling at the sight of Yachiru sprawled out, trying to take as much room as possible on the big bed. I walk back into the main room and look at Wayde “Ok here’s what I want you to do. I patched you up the best I could, but you are still bleeding pretty bad, so I’m going to put this pillow underneath you and you are going to lay on it to apply pressure to your back, while this other pillow you are going to hold on your front and squeeze/ hug it to apply pressure to your front. Got it?” He nods in response before I hear the sand shifting again and I look down at it. ‘ I can’t feel my arms. And, you should probably get a doctor or something.’ “That’s what we are waiting on, as for your arms, guess I’ll just have to get more cloth and apply the pressure myself.” I walk over to the stand and tear even more cloth before I went back with a thick bundle of it and pressed down on Wayde’s chest, holding back as much as I can as to not break the man, “So how did you get here? By the way nice Pitch you got going on there, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him.” I tell him in full honesty, don’t see someone like him every day The sand starts shifting again, guess he can’t talk at the moment, understandable. ‘And is the little girl your sister then?’ That made me think for a second, “The little girl, you mean Yachiru? Well, it’s hard to explain, she is my adoptive daughter, but we treat each other more like brother and sister. So the best answer I can give you is that she’s family to me.” I try to explain to him the best I can, but talking about Yachiru brings a calm smile to my face. For some reason it seems like I’ve known her my whole life. I then remember that he hasn’t answered my question yet, “By the way you still haven’t answered my question, how did you get here?” ‘From experience, I’m stolen away from my Equestria by a small golden orb of sand.’ ‘What the hell is Equestria? And a golden orb… wait?’ “Does this orb shift into other stuff and then turn back into an orb? If so then I think I’m the one who brought you here. My bad, didn’t even know what the blasted thing was, I’ve only been in this new world for a day at most.” I remove my left hand from the improvised bandages on his chest and scratch the back on my head with a sigh, “Don’t even know how I got here, I just remember meeting this shady merchant, I bought an eyepatch and Yachiru doll from him, and BAM I’m here! I mean this is cool and all, but… what about my friends?” I then start to feel a little down as the realization hit me, “I doubt there is a way back, nor would I go back since that might mean Yachiru gets turned back into a doll, and that’s not something I would let happen.” ‘No I would never allow that to happen, no matter how much my friends and family mean to me, I won’t let Yachiru perish just to see them again,’ I look back at wayde with resolve, “Are there others like us?” I look back down at the sand, getting used to this ‘Yes. And few and far between are particularly healthy either.’ it spells out “So the rumors were true… well shit.” but wait..., “How strong are they?” The sand starts to shift, ‘Poor to Titan in power, but that doesn’t mean they know how to use their power. And, I hate to be a stickler, but, since you don’t seem like you’re going to kill the little girl any time soon, unless she decided to wake you up, I’m going to find some medical attention.’ ‘Shit I can’t let him leave, I still have questions for him,’ I feel someone strong coming this way and my bells react to it, giving off their calming chime as the back of my head starts to hurt, “Well I think Zecora is back if that feeling of someone piercing the back of my head with their gaze means anything.” I turn around and put on my most apologetic smile I could possibly muster and look at the zebra. ‘Fuck, she’s PISSED! Well time to try and talk my way out of this.’, “Hey Zecora, hehe, I know this looks bad-” “To call this bad for such a disturbance, does not even begin to scratch the surface.” she states calmly, her venom etched words practically hanging in the air. ‘Come on, bullshit your way out of this John!’ “But you see me and my friend here got into a little bit of a fight, and right now he needs help because I might have probably, definitely stabbed him and is in urgent need of medical attention.” I say chuckling, trying to read her. “Is that the cloth from beneath my zanpakuto” she hummed, “gifted by the previous captain from so long ago?” Shit, well better to be honest, “...yes?” Zecora then exhaled slowly before walking up the the table, ‘She isn’t that mad!’ I think before getting hit with enough force to actually hurt me AND send me flying into the next room before hitting a wall. ‘Hahahaha, That’s a riot!’ ‘Again, Piss. Off.’ I slam open the front door to Zecora’s home, rubbing the back of my neck, “Hey, crazy striped horse, the patch job’s done!” I then take two more steps into the home before being assaulted by cuteness. “Ken-chan!” yells Yachiru in delight as she glomps my face. ‘How can she even jump that high?’ I just smile and return the hug, but not without roughing up her hair a bit, “Finally awake huh? I swear you could sleep through a war if you wanted to.” I joke before she scales onto my head like a mountain and points to Wayde. I grab her and place her on my shoulder like normal, “This here is- actually I’ll let him introduce himself.” “Hello little miss,” he nods, his stony face cracking into what would have been a charming smile but for the off-grey teeth beneath, “my name is Wayde Molan. What’s yours?” She just giggles at him, “I’m Yachiru Kusajishi Mr. Boogeyman! I’m Ken-chan’s first lieutenant and I’ve been with him for as long as I can remember!” she exclaims while hugging the side of my head and rubbing our cheeks together affectionately. “Anyway’s Mr. Boogeyman, why are you here?” she asks with a tilt of her head and putting a finger on her bottom lip. I just ruffle her hair some more, “He’s here to help us, he’s informed me of a few things that will help us in the future, why don’t you see if Zecora has any snacks?” I suggest to her. She gasped before putting on the biggest smile, “Ok!” she then jumped off of my back and ran towards the kitchen waving at Wayde, “Nice meeting you Mr. Boogeyman!” After she left the room I exhaled quickly. I then turned to Wayde, “Do not let her know we fought while she was asleep, ok? If she finds out she will get really upset.” I then walk over to the table and take a seat on the floor like before, “ I don’t think there are any chairs here, but you can just use one of those pillows if you want.” “I’m fine,” he says, snapping his fingers. A short, four-legged stool sanding up below him as he sat down. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell her anything.” I smile at the response, “Thanks, last thing I want is her crying. By the way that sand stuff of yours is convenient. I mean I might be powerful and all, but that’s the thing, most of it is just raw power, but that” I point to the sand stool, “that’s cool.” I then start taking the bells out of my hair, since I need to get a bath and redo my hair. “Anyways, do you know anything else about those displaced you told me about? Maybe a way they could contact me?” “It comes at a cost,” he says, tilting his head. “As near as I can tell it’s almost like an artificial intelligence, but rather than logic its bases its operating procedures on emotion, fear specifically. And,” he frowns, a thin stream playing in between his fingers, “if I begin to feel too much fear myself, it physically harms me. But ah,” he straightens up, “I can’t say that I do. They say you channel energy into something you want to represent you, and after that it supposedly multiplies and crosses multiple dimensions all without your express knowledge or ability to even control. And of those that I’ve seen, none of them appeared to have the power let alone the knowledge of how to pull off such a feat. But,” he sighed, “ I don’t suppose I’m one to talk, I don’t even know how I even made what is supposedly my token.” I scratch my chin, “Interesting, so pretty much this whole displaced thing is just different cosplayers being thrown around the multiverse through different mediums, and end up summoning each other via a similar way they were brought here in the first place?” I ask aloud, Wayde giving me a weird look, “What? You got a problem or something with what I said?” I ask with a smile, knowing full well why he was giving me that look. “No, I just think it’s a little weird you’re essentially repeating what I already told you while we were outside making the patch,” he replied. “Well you finally gave me the last piece of the puzzle, I just want to make sure I got my facts straight here.” I then look to my right and see Yachiru running over with a plate of pastries and candy, Zecora following behind her with a smile and tea set as Wayde stood up, his stool disappearing. Yachiru placed the platter down, “Kenny look! Zecora gave me all these treats!” she exclaimed happily before sitting on my lap and unwrapping a cupcake. Zecora then placed down her own platter before pouring some of the tea into cups, “Now, now little Yachiru, not all of those snacks are for you.” she then gives Wayde, Yachiru and I a tea glass filled with some kind of red liquid. I pick up my glass and take a good sip of it feeling the burn as it went down my throat, “By the way Zecora you can drop the rhyming again, it shouldn’t hurt him to much now that he’s healed, and sit the hell down Wayde you're making a fool of yourself.” I say taking another sip of this very spicy, but very well brewed tea as Yachiru moves on to her third cupcake. “Thank you for the tea, Miss Zecora,” he nods to her, ignoring me. “He’s is right you know, you are making quite the fool of yourself, proper manners are important, but you are far from an uninvited guest, afterall you are my patient.” she then takes a sip of her tea, closing her eyes and humming at the taste, along with completely missing Wayde’s flinch thanks to her soul pressure’s presence. He probably feels like he’s a few meters underwater right now. “Th-” he mumbles. ‘Maybe he is too much of a lightweight,’ I chuckle, before he frowns, closing his eyes as the shadows pull away from all the corners of the house, his fear tinted spiritual aura strengthening. Shaking his head, opening his eyes, he inspected his free, now, blackened hand, “Um,” he looks at Zecora, “thank you?” he says before making his way to the low table, sitting cross-legged on the cushion, wincing again, now that he was closer to the source. ‘Well, credit where credit’s due.’ He then goes to reach for a cupcake, only to find them all gone. He looks confused for a moment before looking over to Yachiru to find eight cupcake wrappers and a nearly completed pile of caramel candy wrappers. I just chuckle before catching the carmel she was about to throw in her mouth and eating it myself. “Kenny!” Yachiru wines, “That was mine!” she then starts to playfully hit my chest, I just laugh at the light blows and give her a bear hug. “If you want something on that plate there Wayde I’d get it now!” I laugh while wrestling with the small girl. He smiles, grabbing three caramels for himself before unwrapping them in quick succession and dropping them into his tea, stirring them into the steaming cup. “Got a sweet tooth yourself, huh?” He coughs, taking a swallow of his tea before answering. “Something like that,” he grins. “But, about the help you mentioned earlier,” he said, his face folding back to that calculating look, “what exactly did you want?” “Well you already gave me it really.” I grunt as I try and get out of a headlock, courtesy of Yachiru, “I really just wanted some answers as to why this all was happening, and why I’m here.” I turn the tables on the pink haired menace as I start to tickle her, “But there is one more thing you could help me with- I got you now you little brat!” “Then please be quick about it,” he calmly stated. “It’s bad enough I have to frighten the people of one universe to stay alive, so I don’t relish the thought of doing it in another.” “Well that’s the thing- ouch damn it why the hell did you bite me! See that black horse thing with a horn and wings over there?” I ask while pointing in the general direction, trying to pry the pink piranha off my hand, “If you could do one last thing for me, can you check her mental state for me? I can’t have someone basically brain dead following me around, they might get hurt if- dammit that hurts, why did you bite my nose!” I yell in pain while she just giggles, “Well I think you understand what I mean.” “I don’t think giving her a scare would do her much good,” he frowns, eyes narrowing, “and isn’t the fine doctor beside us more qualified for such work?” nodding to Zecora. “I can only do so much I’m afraid. She hasn’t moved from her current position since yesterday. I can check on and heal her body, but I can’t check on her mind.” Zecora replies actually looking upset since she can’t help with that. But I understand, she can only do so much. “I can only give her bad dreams, but,” he said, turning to Zecora directly in the eyes, “if you think it would be of benefit, I will do it.” Zecora smiles, “It would, it would set me at ease knowing she is healed, in both body and mind.” I sit back up, Yachiru now over at the platter stealing the rest of the sweets, “It would put me at ease too, I don’t know what that rainbow beam did to Nightmare over there, but whatever it was, it didn’t want here to live through it.” I say looking at Wayde sadly, “I wasn’t about to let a good opponent die.” Remaining silent, he stands up and walks over to her, taking the shadows with him. We stay where we are, not wanting to get in his way. He sits, cross legged, at the head of the cot. Taking a breath, he brings both his hands forward, stopping inches before he could touch her, then exhaled, that black sand of his wisping out of his mouth and from the deep shadows beneath his coat, netting out from of his palms before slowly folding into Nightmare’s head. At first nothing happens, she stays just as still and quiet as she always has, like you reallshe’s just asleep, but then, then she lets out a sound, a tiny gasp, and her eyes scrunch close as she wraps her wings tighter against herself, shuffling the blankets down her sides. “Nooo. Please don’t send me back,” she whispers in a groan, as Wayde pulls back his sand. Remaining seated, he fades into shadow, sweeping past us and back to his seat, rising up from the cushion. “She’s healthy enough to have a nightmare it seems,” he says after taking a long sip of his tea, “How exactly did you manage to make a living nightmare anyway?” I just take a long swig of my tea I carried along, “I just jumped in and saved her from some frickin rainbow beam caused by six pony’s. I don’t know how she appeared and why that smaller blue horse was in her place, but all I know is I did what was right at the time.” I sit back and think, “What exactly did you see in there?” I look directly into his eyes, “What does she fear?” “The moon, which I made. She wasn’t doing all that much dreaming. And as for fear, that would be you,” he glanced towards me, “and being forced back into Luna to be be stuffed with all her negative emotions again.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just took another sip from his cup. Whatever he might not be telling me, it’s most likely private to Nightmare over there, I can respect keeping another's secrets, “ Well,” I stand up and crack my back, “ thanks for the help man, you really put my mind at ease for now.” I walk over at pat his back while laughing a little, sending the skeletal lightweight forward a bit, “Sorry about the mishap earlier, didn’t mean to spook ya! With you showing up out of nowhere I didn’t have on any clothes, you startled me!” I wink with Yachiru still in the room. He stands up, only coming up to a little bit past my waist before his sand circles around him, raising him in a pillar to look me directly in the eye. “I can’t say I would have reacted any differently in front of my own daughter either,” and thrust his hand out. I grab it and pull him into a headlock giving him a nuggie, “You better visit you stone skinned bastard!” I laugh, considering him one of the few friends I now have. He laughs back before I release him, with him looking a little annoyed by my playfulness, smoothing out his coat, but a smile still creeps onto his face. “Guess it’s time to send you bac-” “Wait!” Yachiru yells, apparently she left the room since she is now running back in carrying two pieces of wood. Coming up to us both, she hands us each a piece of wood, but this isn’t just any wood, it’s specifically a badge for the eleventh division. It was a rectangular piece of wood with a pointed bottom and raised edges on one side, on that same side in black paint lies the symbol of the eleventh division. “I heard you two talk about those token thingies and them being a way to meet new people, so I made these! One for Ken-chan to give away to that void thingy, and one for Mr. Boogeyman! I made it special for you, it has your face on the back!” Wayde flipped his over to find a child like drawing of him looking really goofy, making a face like he was trying to be scary but failing. Above it was a text bubble that had BOO! written in it with very nice calligraphy. She then jumped up and hugged him, “I’ll miss you Mr. Boogeyman.” she said sweetly. Wayde gasped quietly, his eyes going briefly wide. Seems he wasn’t quite ready for that level of cuteness. “Thank you,”he said, “This is very well done. I’ll make sure to keep it safe,” sliding it into one of his jacket’s inner pockets, Yachiru beaming at the praise. I put my left arm around the guy’s neck and pull him close before holding up the badge, “Oi, softy, what to see me send this out before you go?” I ask him with a large grin on my face, trying to save him ‘and myself’ from contracting anything deadly from all of Yachiru’s cuteness. He just nodded in response with a grin of his own. I take a few steps back and look at the badge in my hand, trying to think of something, anything that sounds remotely cool to say, but I just kept shooting blanks… that was before Yachiru climbed on top of my head, and then it just came to me. “To whoever is in possession of this badge, I would like for you to know that if you plan to call upon me you better be ready for a fight.” “You betcha! Or you should be ready to have fun!” “What’s the difference?” “True, anyway I’m Yachiru Kusajishi I hope we become friends!” “And I’m Kenpachi Zaraki, I hope we get to know each other well, I can be the best of allies-” “Or your worst nightmare!” Yachiru grabbed the badge from my hand, “Me and Ken-chan can’t wait to meet you, call if you need some help ok?” I then instinctively put my hand on the Badge, and at that moment a dark portal opened up in front of us, with different shades of black swirling together like a vortex. I then felt Yachiru nod her head yes, and we both threw the badge into the portal. When the portal closed we saw Wayde looking down into his jacket, a patch of it glowing white before returning to normal with a fizziling sound. Sighing as Yachiru jumped down, I scratched the back of my head, “Now that that’s done, we can send you off on your way Wayde, just need to find your token, where did I put it?” I say trying to remember where I threw it in the commotion. “You mean this thing?” asks Yachiru holding gold sand in the shape of me smiling. “Yep that’s it.” I reach down and she hands it to me, when she does it starts to freak out like before, trying to turn into something but failing before just going back to an orb, “Weird… anyways Wayde if you ever need something, you know what to do, right?” I ask, just so he knows it’s clear that I’m willing to help him no matter what. Looking up at me, he remains silent, then, looking down to his jacket and the slight bulge of the wooden trinket, he looks me in the eye and simply says, “Thank you.” I smile, knowing I got across to him in some way, “Alright then, I guess I just say something and you go?” I look to Wayde and he nods, “Ok, Wayde, you have completed your task here,” a swirling circle of golden sand opens up behind him, “Now get the hell out!” I yell with a smile before pushing him back into the sand, it quickly disappearing as soon as he went through.